Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to improve social mobility in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
My Department is driving forward the devolution agenda in England. Across government we are making huge strides towards rebalancing the economy and empowering local government. 33 per cent of England’s population now has a directly elected mayor, with new powers to create jobs, improve skills, build homes and make it easier to travel. Across the whole of England we are devolving over £9 billion between 2015 and 2021 to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) through our Growth Deal programme to spend on their priorities for growth. We have also agreed City and Growth Deals in Scotland and Wales and are in the process of negotiating more, including in Northern Ireland, making sure all parts of the UK benefit from the benefits of devolution.
Our place-based Industrial Strategy sets out a bold vision for the future of the UK. We are strengthening the role of LEPs and agreeing new local industrial strategies that build on local strengths and deliver on economic opportunities. We have also committed to replacing EU Structural Funds when we have left the EU, delivering the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which will be aimed at reducing inequalities between communities across all four nations.
My Department is also fixing the broken housing market, supporting first time buyers to get on to the housing ladder while ensuring the housing market works for all parts of our community, getting more of the right homes get built in the places people want to live. The reforms my Department has announced put us on track to raise housing supply by the end of the current Parliament to its highest annual level since 1970.
The Troubled Families Programme commits £920 million from my Department to make sure local services intervene early to support families with multiple problems, including for example those affected by domestic abuse, parental conflict, drug, alcohol or mental health problems and where children are in need of help. This programme makes sure children are in education, parents in work and families have better outcomes and are able to be socially mobile.
Asked by: Chris Ruane (Labour - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department has taken to improve social mobility in each of the last seven years.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Improving social mobility is at the heart of the government’s ambition to make Britain a country that works for everyone. A strong economy means there are more job opportunities and that wages are higher, both of which are vital to improve social mobility. The Autumn Budget committed to tackling poverty, improving skills, and ensuring that every generation can look forward to a better standard of living than the one before.
Since 2010 there are 600,000 fewer people, including 200,000 fewer children, in absolute poverty (before housing costs), and employment has risen to near record levels in the UK, accounting for the bulk of GDP growth over the last seven years. The Autumn Budget announced further action to raise living standards by increasing the National Living Wage and to make progress on delivering the manifesto commitment to raise the personal allowance to £12,500. Furthermore, the Budget announced £406m of investment in skills, with a focus of mathematics and digital skills, thereby helping people obtain the abilities they need to secure better paid and highly skilled jobs.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18 of the Social Mobility Commission Report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, what assessment he has made of the effect of poor housing conditions on social mobility.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Tackling social mobility is at the heart of the Government’s ambition to make Britain a country that works for everyone. All homes should be of a reasonable standard and everyone should have a safe place to live. In rented housing, the Government is committed to ensuring tenants enjoy decent standards and receive a service which represents value for money for their rent. Local authorities have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality, unsafe accommodation.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18 of the Social Mobility Commission's report, Time for Change: an assessment of government policies on social mobility 1997-2017, published on 28 June 2017, what assessment he has made of the effect of poor housing conditions on child development.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Good housing plays a very important role in helping children develop and reach their full potential. All homes should be of a reasonable standard and everyone should have a safe place to live. In rented housing, the Government is committed to ensuring tenants enjoy decent standards and receive a service which represents value for money for their rent. Local authorities have strong and effective powers to deal with poor quality, unsafe accommodation.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implementation of the Armed Forces Covenant by local authorities.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Covenant’s principles were enshrined in law in the Armed Forces Act 2011. This Government has demonstrated its commitment to upholding these principles, which is evident in the work reported in each of the four annual reports laid in the House. We will continue to report progress to Parliament. Next month’s Annual Report will detail the considerable progress made across government and with wider public, private and third sectors, including in the key areas of education, healthcare, accommodation and access to commercial services.
Every Local Authority in mainland Great Britain and two in Northern Ireland have signed a Community Covenant. We are working with them to help them deliver the support they have promised to the Armed Forces community, with good work in many areas including housing, education, health and social care.
Together we have taken a number of steps forward in this area, such as allocating funding from a £20 million budget to improve childcare facilities for Service families at 40 locations in the UK and Cyprus. In order to help Service children through local schools’ admissions processes, we have changed the Schools Admission Code in England to give them priority by allowing Service families to apply for and be allocated a place before they move into an area.
This year approximately £21 million was allocated in Service Pupil Premium payments for the pastoral needs of almost 70,000 Service pupils in state schools in England. In 2015, £6 million in grants was given to 154 applicants for Education Support Funding, to help UK state schools mitigate issues caused by exceptional mobility and deployment.
Furthermore, we have worked closely with the Department for Communities and Local Government and Devolved Administrations to ensure that Service personnel do not experience any disadvantage as a result of their military service when applying for social housing.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will ensure that parents who share custody of a child are exempted from the under-occupancy penalty.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
With 1.7 million households on the social housing waiting list in England alone, 250,000 households living in overcrowded conditions, and around 820,000 spare bedrooms being paid for within the social sector it was important that something be done to address this and the housing benefit bill that was spiralling out of control.
The removal of spare room subsidy was introduced in April 2013 for these reasons as well as to strengthen work incentives; encourage both mobility within the social sector and the better use of available social housing by social landlords. More importantly, this measure was required to bring about parity of treatment between private and social rented sectors tenants because it is only fair that housing benefit claimants living in the social sector should make the same considerations as private sector tenants about the affordability of their rent rather than relying upon the taxpayer to meet the costs of housing that may be too large for their needs.
Providing blanket exemptions to the policy were not considered to be the most effective or affordable approach to targeting resources for those who are vulnerable. Nor was it considered right that the taxpayer should provide bedrooms in separate households for the same child where parents are separated especially as this could act as a disincentive to work.
To mitigate the impact for those facing difficult situations money was added to the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme. For instance this financial year £60 million has been added specifically for this measure. This however forms only part of the overall funding of £125 million for 2015/16, and since April 2013, £470 million has been provided in DHP funding. This is a proportionate approach which is effective and provides local authorities, who administer Housing Benefit, with the right level of flexibility to ensure that those who are vulnerable receive the help they need, an approach that has also been upheld by the Courts.
Asked by: Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what changes to housing policy they have introduced since 2010; and how any such changes have been evaluated.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Since publishing “Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England”, the Government has implemented a range of policies to get Britain building again, to fix the broken housing market and to help hard-working people get the home they want.
In particular, we have created a streamlined and locally-led planning system and removed unnecessary burdens that were restricting the supply of housing; and built more affordable housing and a new generation of council housing.
We have supported home ownership, restoring confidence in the housebuilding sector and helping more first time buyers to enter the housing market, and created a bigger and better private rented sector, including building more homes to rent. We have also provided infrastructure and development finance; promoted self-build and custom-build; made better use of surplus public sector land; and helped bring empty and redundant land and property back into use.
During this Parliament, a significant number of our housing policies and programmes have been evaluated by the Select Committee, by external bodies and by the DCLG itself.
For instance, in February 2014, DCLG published an evaluation study by Sheffield Hallam University on “Promoting mobility through mutual exchange: Learning lessons from the housing mobility demonstration projects”. This report distilled the key lessons to be learnt from 12 authorities or partnerships of authorities which participated in a mobility demonstration project, allowing social tenants to swap homes. The report was published on the Gov.uk website and a copy was placed in the Library of the House.
As a further example, in December 2014 DCLG published its “Evaluation of the New Homes Bonus” in the first four years of its implementation. This reflected externally-commissioned research by the University of Sheffield and others, plus internal DCLG research (including use of data from the 2013 British Social Attitudes survey). This was announced via a Written Ministerial Statement on 16 December 2014, Official Report, column WS20, and a copy was placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Sadiq Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on marketing in relation to the Right to Buy scheme in London in each year since 2010.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government is committed to supporting home ownership, and giving a helping hand to social tenants to move up the housing ladder. But our reinvigorated Right to Buy can only be exercised by eligible tenants if they know about it. It is also important that social tenants have sufficient information about their rights to make an informed decision, and to ensure that home ownership is the right choice for them in light of their financial circumstances.
Precise figures on spending in London cannot be disaggregated from the national Right to Buy campaign. We can identify £378,393 of spending in 2012-13 and £68,500 in 2013-14; there was no London-specific spending in 2010-11 or 2011-12. Figures for 2014-15 are not yet available.
I appreciate that the Labour Party in London has effectively called for the Right to Buy to be abolished, and will oppose social tenants being informed. Such are the enemies of aspiration. The Right to Buy improves social mobility and helps build mixed communities. As well as increasing home ownership and supporting new build construction (from replacement affordable homes), it gives something back to families who have worked hard, paid their rent and played by the rules. It allows buyers to do up their home, change their front door, improve their garden – without getting permission from the council. It gives people a sense of pride and ownership not just in their home, but in their street and neighbourhood.
Total national spending was £0 in 2010-11, £17,728 in 2011-12, £1.4 million in 2012-13 and £1.0 million in 2013-14. To place our information campaigns in context, DCLG has cut spending on marketing and advertising from £9.9 million in 2009-10 to £2.0 million in 2013-14.
The rt. hon. Member is a former Minister in this Department, so will be well acquainted with communications activity under the last Labour Government, such as departmental spending of:
We run a tighter ship. Right to Buy and the Fire Kills campaign are now the two primary campaigns we run, and both have a clear public benefit, in strong contrast to the culture of spin and excess in the spendthrift Labour years.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the availability of suitable housing for housing benefit claimants eligible for the under-occupancy charge who are willing but unable to move to smaller accommodation due to a lack of social housing available.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The 2015-18 Affordable Housing Programme encourages housing providers to build social homes of sizes that match local household needs. Of the successful bids so far, 77% have been for 1 and 2 bedroom homes. This will make more housing available for households in social housing who wish to downsize.
The Government has also taken steps to support mobility among tenants in the social rented sector. Our social housing reforms have given councils and social landlords much more flexibility in the allocation of housing. Our statutory guidance on social housing allocations encourages local authorities to prioritise under-occupying tenants wishing to move, and to consider whether there are provisions in their allocation scheme that might make it difficult for under-occupiers to move. In February, we issued a guide to help landlords facilitate mutual exchanges; the guide highlights various steps landlords can take to make mutual exchange a more attractive and viable proposition for tenants. The introduction of the national HomeSwap Direct scheme has made it easier for tenants wanting to move to find a suitable property. Since its launch in October 2011, tenants have carried out over 18 million searches of the property data held on HomeSwap Direct. The Government has also made clear its intention to introduce a Right to Move for social tenants who need to move to take up a job or be closer to work – we intend to consult soon on proposals.
In addition, many social landlords (both housing associations and councils) are helping affected tenants to move to more suitable accommodation by holding “mutual exchange fairs” (where tenants who want to downsize can meet with tenants who want a larger property), running transfer incentive schemes, and repairing properties which are being swapped through mutual exchange.
Asked by: Lord German (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their recent <i>Evaluation of Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy: Interim Report</i>, what incentives they intend to make available to social landlords to encourage offers of alternative housing to be made to people affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy.
Answered by Lord Freud
The Government has already taken steps to support mobility of tenants in the social rented sector.
Our social housing reforms have given social landlords, including councils, much more flexibility when allocating housing. Our statutory guidance on social housing allocations stresses the importance of giving under-occupying social tenants appropriate priority for a transfer. It also encourages authorities to re-consider the parameters of their allocation schemes which may prevent under-occupiers from being able to move.
The introduction of the national HomeSwap Direct scheme has made it easier for tenants wanting to move to find a suitable property. A guide was issued in February 2014 to support landlords seeking to facilitate mutual exchanges; highlighting various steps landlords can take to make mutual exchange a more attractive and viable proposition for tenants.Indeed, many social landlords are helping affected tenants by holding “mutual exchange fairs”, where tenants who want to downsize can meet those looking for larger properties.
The 2015-18 Affordable Housing Programme also encourages housing providers to build appropriately sized social homes to meet local need, 77% of successful bids have been for 1 and 2 bedroom homes, increasing the stock of housing available for those working to downsize.