Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many of the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its report on leasehold enfranchisement, entitled Commonhold and the right to manage, published on 21 July 2020, have been incorporated into the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill delivers the most impactful of the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, which will make it cheaper for leaseholders to buy their freehold or extend their lease, and the Right to Manage. This includes increasing the non-residential limit to 50% to give more leaseholders the right to take over management and changing the rules to make each party pay their own process and litigation costs, saving leaseholders many thousands of pounds.
The Government has and will continue to set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the continued progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
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 tackle forfeiture of leasehold properties.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill delivers the most impactful of the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, which will make it cheaper for leaseholders to buy their freehold or extend their lease, and the Right to Manage. This includes increasing the non-residential limit to 50% to give more leaseholders the right to take over management and changing the rules to make each party pay their own process and litigation costs, saving leaseholders many thousands of pounds.
The Government has and will continue to set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the continued progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he last met the Law Commission to discuss leasehold reform.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill delivers the most impactful of the Law Commission’s recommendations on enfranchisement, which will make it cheaper for leaseholders to buy their freehold or extend their lease, and the Right to Manage. This includes increasing the non-residential limit to 50% to give more leaseholders the right to take over management and changing the rules to make each party pay their own process and litigation costs, saving leaseholders many thousands of pounds.
The Government has and will continue to set out its position on leasehold reform as part of the continued progress of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff have left the Charity Commission in each year since 2015.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
454 staff members have left the Charity Commission since 2014/2015. The Charity Commission publishes monthly transparency data on its workforce management which includes staffing headcount data. Additionally, yearly data on the Commission’s workforce is available online.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on potential insurance claims and damages as a result of wildfires in Surrey.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office are the lead Government Department for Wildfire Response and own the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) wildfire risk. Government departments including Home Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities and key stakeholders work closely to mitigate the risk of wildfire.
The published Wildfire Framework outlines the work being undertaken to improve the UK’s preparedness for wildfires in England. The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.
The Home Office have committed to scoping a wildfire strategy and action plan by mid-2024, with support from Defra and its agencies. This commitment is outlined in the third National Adaptation Plan and includes considering prevention, response and recovery actions.
In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor who will assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Surrey County Council has overall responsibility for fire and rescue services in Surrey. The county council will receive an un-ringfenced grant for all of their services including fire, through the Local Government Finance Settlement and they will allocate funding according to their priorities.
All Fire and Rescue Authority’s including Surrey, are required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfires) through their Integrated Risk Management Plan. This will include plans to prevent and respond to incidents.
Individuals should contact their own insurance providers with regard to any potential claims for damage as a result of wildfire.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the risk of potential wildfires in Surrey.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office are the lead Government Department for Wildfire Response and own the National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) wildfire risk. Government departments including Home Office, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities and key stakeholders work closely to mitigate the risk of wildfire.
The published Wildfire Framework outlines the work being undertaken to improve the UK’s preparedness for wildfires in England. The Home Office maintains regular engagement with National Bodies including the National Fire Chiefs Council and England and Wales Wildfire Forum to monitor and review sector led improvements to wildfire response and mitigation.
The Home Office have committed to scoping a wildfire strategy and action plan by mid-2024, with support from Defra and its agencies. This commitment is outlined in the third National Adaptation Plan and includes considering prevention, response and recovery actions.
In 24/25, the Home Office is funding a new National Resilience Wildfire Advisor who will assess what additional wildfire national capabilities might be needed to increase resilience to the wildfire risk and to ensure coordination of approaches across the sector.
Surrey County Council has overall responsibility for fire and rescue services in Surrey. The county council will receive an un-ringfenced grant for all of their services including fire, through the Local Government Finance Settlement and they will allocate funding according to their priorities.
All Fire and Rescue Authority’s including Surrey, are required to plan for the foreseeable risks in their area (including wildfires) through their Integrated Risk Management Plan. This will include plans to prevent and respond to incidents.
Individuals should contact their own insurance providers with regard to any potential claims for damage as a result of wildfire.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent estimate he has made of the number of rough sleepers in England.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The annual autumn snapshot statistics remain our official and most robust measure of rough sleeping on a single night given they are independently verified and are published in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The most recent snapshot showed the number of people estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2023 is 3,898.
The Government also collects monthly management information from local authorities, which is published on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the sustainability of transport infrastructure.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
DfT formed the Infrastructure Decarbonisation Division (IDD) in April 2023 to drive action on the decarbonisation of transport infrastructure. DfT requires all transport infrastructure projects that it funds to produce carbon management plans (CMP) that include a comprehensive whole life carbon assessment, and a plan to reduce carbon across the project lifecycle in line with PAS2080 principles.
DfT maintains frequent engagement with its Arm’s Length Bodies to support progress against their own carbon reduction plans.
In addition to taking action on transport infrastructure decarbonisation, DfT is also strengthening transport adaptation policy by launching a consultation on the Department’s first transport adaptation strategy on 3 April. The strategy sets a vision for a well-adapted transport network that is flexible, reliable, operates safely and is responsive to a changing climate. This strategy will raise ambition and ensure that adaptation becomes a part of ‘business as usual’, ensuring the transport network is more resilient in the face of climate change.
The Environment Act 2021 has introduced new requirements that will support action to improve the sustainability of transport infrastructure. Since 1 November 2023 Ministers have had a legal duty to have due regard to the Environmental Principles Policy Statement when making policy.
Network Rail and National Highways are progressing work to support nature recovery including through commitments to deliver no net loss in biodiversity across their estates.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the highest value overpayment has been for Carer’s Allowance in the (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 financial years.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants have a responsibility to ensure they are entitled to benefits they claim and to inform the DWP of any changes in their circumstances that could impact their award.
Where overpayments do occur due to not being entitled to the benefit, the Department has a duty to the taxpayer to protect public funds and to ask for money to be paid back. We remain committed to working with anyone who is struggling with their repayment terms and will always look to negotiate sustainable and affordable repayment plans.
Our most recent statistics show that Carer's Allowance overpayments relating to earnings/employment represents just 2.1% of our £3.3bn Carer’s Allowance expenditure.
The information requested has been provided in the table below. To avoid potentially disclosing personal information, we have bucketed the values requested.
Highest Value Carer’s Allowance Overpayment | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Total | £60-70k | £30-40k | £40-50k |
The data has been sourced from internal DWP management information, which is intended only to help the Department to manage its business. It is not intended for publication and has not been subject to the same quality assurance checks applied to our published official statistics.
Note that the values represent the original overpayment amount when raised on Debt Manager. As the year relates to when the overpayment was raised as a debt for recovery, it does not necessarily relate to the period as to when benefit was overpaid. The overpayments above all span periods of many years.
Note that the data provided is for all categories of overpayment. It is not necessarily the case that these overpayments arose due to claimants breaching the earnings limit.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full time equivalent staff in his Department worked on investigation of earnings alerts for carer’s allowance in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2022-23, (d) 2022-23 and (e) 2023-24.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department allocated the following resources to full time equivalent to the investigation of earnings alerts for carer’s allowance as outlined below;
| FTE |
19/20 | 46.43 |
20/21 | 55.20 |
21/22 | 80.92 |
22/23 | 59.75 |
23/24 | 48.70 |
Data is correct as of March for each of the following Financial Years: (a) 2019/20, (b) 2020/21, (c) 2021/22, (d) 2022/23 and (e) 2023/24.
Figures were derived from the Department’s Activity Based Model (ABM), which provides Full Time Equivalent (FTE) figures based on point in time estimate by Line Managers. They cover only FTE of staff with paid employment.
The number of colleagues employed in these directorates is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. As the Department holds the information, we have released it.