Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of domestic abuse services in the UK in each year since 2018.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Support for domestic abuse services is a devolved matter, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) holds data relating to England.
On 1st May 2023, according to Women’s Aid, throughout England, there were 236 domestic abuse service providers delivering a range of local services. Some providers deliver multiple services. The table below shows total number of domestic providers since 2018:
Total number of domestic abuse service providers in England | |||||
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
219 | 220 | 222 | 229 | 226 | 236 |
Since 2021 £507 million has been allocated to support local authorities across England to delivery their statutory duty under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to ensure that all victims, including children, have access to support within safe accommodation when they need it.
DLUHC has allocated over £4.2 million of funding to Warwickshire County Council to support domestic abuse victims in safe accommodation since 2021.
Further funding has been provided by the Ministry of Justice to Police and Crime Commissioners with £38 million of funding ring-fenced for Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors across England.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of trends in the level of funding given to domestic abuse services in Warwick and Leamington constituency since 2018.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Support for domestic abuse services is a devolved matter, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) holds data relating to England.
On 1st May 2023, according to Women’s Aid, throughout England, there were 236 domestic abuse service providers delivering a range of local services. Some providers deliver multiple services. The table below shows total number of domestic providers since 2018:
Total number of domestic abuse service providers in England | |||||
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
219 | 220 | 222 | 229 | 226 | 236 |
Since 2021 £507 million has been allocated to support local authorities across England to delivery their statutory duty under Part 4 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 to ensure that all victims, including children, have access to support within safe accommodation when they need it.
DLUHC has allocated over £4.2 million of funding to Warwickshire County Council to support domestic abuse victims in safe accommodation since 2021.
Further funding has been provided by the Ministry of Justice to Police and Crime Commissioners with £38 million of funding ring-fenced for Independent Sexual and Domestic Violence Advisors across England.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) Birmingham City Council and (b) other Local Authorities designate an adequate number of authorised Gypsy and Traveller Sites.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Responsibility for the assessment of and provision for traveller sites is with local authorities.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding Angus constituency has received from (a) all funding schemes put in place to replace EU structural funding, (b) the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, (c) the Levelling-Up Fund and (d) the Long-Term Plan for Towns in each year since 2016.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
There is no single fund that directly replaces EU structural funding. Levelling up funding comprises various measures that include, for example, the Levelling Up Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Long Term Plan for Towns, the Community Renewal Fund, the Community Ownership Fund, and pre-existing programmes such as the City Region and Growth Deals. These come alongside the largest block grant ever for the devolved administration in Scotland which the Chancellor recently confirmed, and other measures such as the Green Freeports and Investment Zones Programme which cover four areas across Scotland.
In general, details of funding support are held at local authority rather than constituency level. The UK remained a member of the European Union until January 2020.
Since then, Angus Council has been awarded nearly £5 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, as well as £26.5 million from the Tay Cities Deal. It has also received nearly £300k from the Community Ownership Fund awarded to a project in Brechin for Davidson Legacy Cottage SCIO, and over £230k awarded via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme including to replace the 3G pitch at Forfar Community Football Trust, for floodlights at Station Park and Market Muir, and for solar panels at Arbroath Football Club. At Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced that Arbroath in Angus will be a Long-Term Plan for Towns location and will receive £20 million of funding.
Asked by: Sarah Edwards (Labour - Tamworth)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2024 to Question 11923 on Levelling Up Fund: Tamworth Borough Council, whether officials from his Department drafted any materials related to this visit.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
No departmental resources were deployed in facilitating the visit to Tamworth. No briefing materials were prepared by my department in preparation of the visit.
As I said in response to Question UIN 13191 on 8 February 2024, this was a political visit arranged through political channels at no cost to the taxpayer.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of regulation for emergency temporary accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities procure temporary accommodation from a range of sources, including council-owned stock, from housing associations, and from private landlords, and must ensure it is suitable.
Government has an ambition to increase quality of all accommodation, including temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of trends in levels of profits made by private landlords by letting emergency temporary accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Local authorities procure temporary accommodation from a range of sources, including council-owned stock, from housing associations, and from private landlords, and must ensure it is suitable.
Government has an ambition to increase quality of all accommodation, including temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15545 on Muslim Council of Britain, when a MCB leader most recently took a position that contradicts the UK's fundamental values.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 15545 on 29 February 2024.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2023 to Question 6351 on Local Government: Debt Collection, whether his Department monitors adherence by local authorities to the guidance it publishes.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As has been the case under successive administrations, the collection of council tax is a responsibility of local authorities.
Asked by: Baroness Sherlock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the letter of 19 January from the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to the Inter Faith Network (IFN) about the possible withdrawal of the offer of funding for the financial year 2023–24, what representations they have received from the IFN in response to the Minister's letter; what reply they have made, if any, to these representations; and when a final decision will be taken on funding for IFN's work during the current financial year.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
On 19 January, the Secretary of State wrote to the Inter Faith Network (IFN) informing them that he was minded to withdraw the offer of funding for 2023/24. This is in view of a member of the Muslim Council of Britain being appointed to the IFN’s Board of Trustees.
Representations made by the IFN were considered by the Secretary of State. This included the role of their trustees and the process of appointing trustees to their board, and what the effect of withdrawing government funding might be.
The Secretary of State concluded that these points were outweighed by the need to maintain the government’s long-standing stance on engagement with the MCB, and the reputational risk involved.
This Government is supportive of efforts by faith groups and others to bring together people of different faiths and beliefs.