Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many projects have been funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer to Question UIN 142810 21 February 2023.
The UK Government is committed to levelling up parts of the UK, including Enfield, and that is why the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is investing in all areas. The Greater London Authority is the lead local authority for UKSPF purposes and will receive a total allocation of £185,390,561 over three years of the Fund.
Delivery for UKSPF funding began in earnest when investment plans were approved in December 2022. DLUHC await end-of-year reporting to know which projects lead local authorities have decided to fund. We have published our UKSPF Evaluation Strategy which sets out the evaluation plans for UKSPF over the remaining lifetime of the Fund.
Local authorities are responsible for managing the funding allocation for their area, including assessing and approving project applications, processing payments and day-to-day monitoring.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress he has made on the cost variation request summitted in October 2022 in relation to Fitzgerald House and the associated cladding remediation quotation in Tooting constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Fitzgerald House's application to the Building Safety Fund has been approved for full works and costs. The Applicant is working with their delivery partner (Greater London Authority) to provide the information required for the Fundings Approvals Board to confirm eligibility of the cost variation.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to transfer additional powers to combined authorities in 2023; and if so, what powers to which authorities.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We want to see every part of England reap the benefits of devolution and have made significant progress with the six new deals announced in 2022. The Government is in discussions with places to identify potential candidates for new devolution deals in 2023 and we will set out more detail in due course.
This Government is committed to not just extending the benefits of devolution to new parts of England, but to deepening existing devolution settlements. As the Chancellor set out at the Autumn Statement, the government will deliver the Levelling Up White Paper commitment to sign new 'trailblazer' devolution deals with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Combined Authorities by early 2023. The government is in discussion with the mayors of these areas to devolve powers to deliver levelling up in areas such as skills, transport and housing. These 'trailblazer' deals will act as a blueprint for other areas to follow.
This Government has set itself a mission that by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal. The Levelling Up White Paper made clear that devolution is essential for Levelling Up. For too long, decisions impacting many communities of England have been taken in Whitehall. Devolution is about giving local areas more flexibility, freedom and accountability to deliver. Before 2010 the only significant devolution in England had been in London. Now, strong mayors in our major cities are acting as agents of economic growth. Levelling up requires strong and dynamic local leadership, that can understand how complex issues come together in a place; tailor policy to local priorities; attract investment; and seize each area's opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what further devolution deals they expect to conclude in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We want to see every part of England reap the benefits of devolution and have made significant progress with the six new deals announced in 2022. The Government is in discussions with places to identify potential candidates for new devolution deals in 2023 and we will set out more detail in due course.
This Government is committed to not just extending the benefits of devolution to new parts of England, but to deepening existing devolution settlements. As the Chancellor set out at the Autumn Statement, the government will deliver the Levelling Up White Paper commitment to sign new 'trailblazer' devolution deals with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Combined Authorities by early 2023. The government is in discussion with the mayors of these areas to devolve powers to deliver levelling up in areas such as skills, transport and housing. These 'trailblazer' deals will act as a blueprint for other areas to follow.
This Government has set itself a mission that by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal. The Levelling Up White Paper made clear that devolution is essential for Levelling Up. For too long, decisions impacting many communities of England have been taken in Whitehall. Devolution is about giving local areas more flexibility, freedom and accountability to deliver. Before 2010 the only significant devolution in England had been in London. Now, strong mayors in our major cities are acting as agents of economic growth. Levelling up requires strong and dynamic local leadership, that can understand how complex issues come together in a place; tailor policy to local priorities; attract investment; and seize each area's opportunities.
Asked by: Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the state of devolution in England; and what plans they have to publish any such an assessment.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We want to see every part of England reap the benefits of devolution and have made significant progress with the six new deals announced in 2022. The Government is in discussions with places to identify potential candidates for new devolution deals in 2023 and we will set out more detail in due course.
This Government is committed to not just extending the benefits of devolution to new parts of England, but to deepening existing devolution settlements. As the Chancellor set out at the Autumn Statement, the government will deliver the Levelling Up White Paper commitment to sign new 'trailblazer' devolution deals with Greater Manchester and the West Midlands Combined Authorities by early 2023. The government is in discussion with the mayors of these areas to devolve powers to deliver levelling up in areas such as skills, transport and housing. These 'trailblazer' deals will act as a blueprint for other areas to follow.
This Government has set itself a mission that by 2030, every part of England that wants one will have a devolution deal. The Levelling Up White Paper made clear that devolution is essential for Levelling Up. For too long, decisions impacting many communities of England have been taken in Whitehall. Devolution is about giving local areas more flexibility, freedom and accountability to deliver. Before 2010 the only significant devolution in England had been in London. Now, strong mayors in our major cities are acting as agents of economic growth. Levelling up requires strong and dynamic local leadership, that can understand how complex issues come together in a place; tailor policy to local priorities; attract investment; and seize each area's opportunities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 24 February 2023 to Question 143816 on Social Rented Housing: Greater London, what funding will be made available to social housing providers in London to meet that objective.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government provides landlords with funding for new supply of affordable housing, including for regeneration schemes where that investment delivers net additional housing. However, we generally expect landlords to fund repairs and other regeneration themselves from the income they get from rents and their own market activities.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
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 27 February 2023 to Question 150593 on Regional Planning and Development: Local Government Finance, what (a) capability and (b) capacity funding his Department has provided local authorities in those funds.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
As we have set out previously, this department has provided capability and capacity funding to local authorities bidding across each of the funds mentioned.
For the Levelling Up Fund, £125,000 in capacity funding was provided to all category 1 Local Authorities in England, and equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, to help develop bids across the life of the Levelling Up Fund.
For the Community Renewal Fund, £2 million was provided to the lead authorities of each of the 100 priority places ranging from £20,000 to £100,000 to help them coordinate and appraise bids.
For the UKSPF, £20,000 was provided for each lead local authority and £40,000 for each Mayoral Combined Authority, the Greater London Authority and lead local authorities coordinating regional investment plans in Wales and Scotland. This funding supported initial preparatory work, including developing local investment plans.
For Town Deals, £21.4 million in capacity funding was paid out to lead Local Authorities, and support was also available through the Towns Fund Delivery partner. Places shortlisted for Future High Streets Fund were each awarded up to £150,000 revenue funding (totalling £14.5 million across the programme) to support the development of final business cases.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 improve the quality of social housing in London.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
In the Levelling Up White Paper the government set out its ambition to reduce the number of non-decent rented homes by 50% by 2030, with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas.
Most recently, the Secretary of State confirmed he will table an amendment to the Social Housing Regulation Bill to introduce 'Awaab's Law' which will require landlords to fix reported health hazards within specified timeframes.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
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 estimate of the average increase in rent for private properties in London following the increase in the cost of living in the last 12 months; what comparative assessment he had made of the affordability of those increases on people on average earnings in London; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The latest data published by the ONS shows that private rents in London rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to November 2022, compared to 4.1% on average across the rest of England. The most recent English Housing Survey from December 2022 shows that between 2021 and 2022, the average proportion of household income (including housing support) that private renters in England spent was 33%.
Asked by: Nickie Aiken (Conservative - Cities of London and Westminster)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress his Department has made on amending provisions within the Housing Act 1988 on the treatment of long residential leases as rental tenancies when a leaseholder’s annual ground rent exceeds £1,000 in Greater London or £250 in the rest of England.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The government is committed to ensuring that where a leaseholder's ground rent exceeds £1,000 per year in Greater London or £250 per year outside London, they will not be subject to mandatory possession orders for arrears of ground rent in the future.
Whilst we cannot set out the precise details of legislation at this stage, we have been clear about our commitment to addressing this issue.