Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of withdrawing listed status from buildings that have been left derelict for long periods, in order to facilitate regeneration or development.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State has a duty under Section1 of the Planning Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas Act 1990 to list buildings of special architectural and historic interest. Buildings that have been left derelict for long periods of time may still meet the statutory criteria for listing. Delisting just in circumstances where a building has been left to disrepair would not be appropriate.
Local Authorities have powers to take action where a designated heritage asset has deteriorated to the extent that its preservation may be at risk. This includes undertaking urgent works and recovering those costs, as well as compulsory acquisition, including provisions for minimum compensation where an owner has deliberately allowed a building to fall into disrepair in order to justify its demolition and secure permission for redevelopment of the site. Listed buildings represent some of our most significant heritage assets and should not be neglected by owners.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the impact of crown court backlogs on (a) custody time limits and (b) the number of violent offenders at risk of being released due to these limits expiring.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Judges continue to work to prioritise cases involving custody time limits to ensure they are listed at the first available opportunity, as well as prioritising cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses (including youth cases), domestic abuse and serious sex cases. Judges have the discretion to extend custody time limits on a case-by-case basis. We continue to monitor volumes of CTL cases closely.
Last year we temporarily increased custody time limits from 6 months to 8 months to ensure dangerous defendants are not free to roam our streets while awaiting trial.
We have allocated over a quarter of a billion pounds on recovery in the last financial year, making court buildings safe, rolling out new technology for remote hearings, recruiting additional staff and opening Nightingale courtrooms, including retaining 32 Nightingale Court rooms until the end of March 2022.
The Ministry of Justice’s Spending Review settlement provides £477 million to improve waiting times for victims and to reduce Crown court backlogs caused by the pandemic.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the practical outcomes of the maintenance of the at risk register of listed buildings in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Historic England’s Heritage at Risk programme identifies designated heritage assets – including Listed Buildings, Scheduled Monuments and Protected Wreck Sites – that are deemed to be at risk of damage or destruction (whether by human interventions or natural processes). It also helps to focus efforts to find creative solutions, and provides opportunities to celebrate successful outcomes.
The last five years have seen a steady net decline in the number of entries in the Heritage at Risk Register, from 5,478 in 2015 to 5,073 in 2019. Notable successes from the last 12 months include the Grade II* listed former School of Art (Moseley Road, Birmingham), now a community hub and studio space; and the Grade II* listed Holy Trinity Church (Bristol), now a thriving arts centre.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the nominated undertakers are (a) aware of the unique foundations of the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate in South Hampstead, (b) taking steps to survey the estate individually and (c) planning for mitigation measures including but not limited to (i) compensation grouting, (ii) underpinning and (iii) jacking to ensure the stability of the foundations of the estate as set out in Phase 3 Clause 6 of HS2 Information Paper C3.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
(a) Yes. HS2 Ltd has identified that part of the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate is built on piled foundations. As the planned tunnel is approximately 40m deep at this location, there is no risk of the piles intersecting the tunnel. The significant depth also means the ground movement and differential settlement at the surface is likely to be small. A Phase 1 green field ground movement assessment and a Phase 2 ground movement has been undertaken along the route. As these buildings are listed, there will also be a phase 3 assessment, which will take account of the unique features of the building and its foundations.
HS2 Ltd has received no representations on these issues.
(b) Yes, HS2 Ltd has identified that part of the Alexandra and Ainsworth estate is built on piled foundations. The building will be subject to a survey in accordance with Information Paper C3 which forms part of the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Act 2017.
(c) The ground movement at the building, using conservative volume loss assumptions, is between 1 and 7mm. In practice the experience of driving tunnels on Crossrail and HS1 in similar ground conditions demonstrates that the tunnels will be driven to a lower volume loss resulting in less movement. The tunnel boring machines specified for HS2 are high performance machines designed to minimise ground movement at source. This means there should be no need for the mitigations referred to.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has (a) identified and (b) received representations on the problems during the construction of the listed Alexandra and Ainsworth estate which led to (a) additional costs and (b) unique foundations being used to stabilise its buildings.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Yes. HS2 Ltd has identified that part of the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate is built on piled foundations. As the planned tunnel is approximately 40m deep at this location, there is no risk of the piles intersecting the tunnel. The significant depth also means the ground movement and differential settlement at the surface is likely to be small. A Phase 1 green field ground movement assessment and a Phase 2 ground movement has been undertaken along the route. As these buildings are listed, there will also be a phase 3 assessment, which will take account of the unique features of the building and its foundations.
HS2 Ltd has received no representations on these issues.
Asked by: Graham P Jones (Labour - Hyndburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to ensure that (a) churches and (b) other places of worship continue to have adequate insurance for metal and stone theft after making a claim.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government believes that it is important that everyone has access to suitable insurance products at the right price.
As a rule, insurers use their claims experience and other industry-wide statistics to set the terms and price at which they will offer insurance cover. Insurers make a risk assessment based on the likelihood a claim being made and the potential cost of that claim.
To assist with building costs, the Government made up to £42 million per annum available for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme which provides grants towards the VAT paid on repairs, maintenance and alterations to listed buildings that are used principally as places of worship. Since its inception in 2001, the scheme has made 48,196 individual grants to 17,324 places of worship at a total cost of over £223m. The scheme applies to all faiths and denominations and is delivered UK wide.