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, what criteria a company must meet in order to be included on the Homes England Fire Risk Assessor Panel and authorised to carry out FRAEWs for buildings in the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
To join the Fire Risk Assessor Panel firms must sign a participation agreement which sets out the terms for the panel and eligibility criteria. Along with agreeing to follow Homes England processes set out in the scheme guidance and use the correct scheme documents, firms must have:
Membership is renewed annually with firms having to provide evidence of their PII insurance and self-certification of qualifications and experience of firm assessors. The use of PAS 9980 and proportionality is assured by sample audit.
Since the scheme went live, four firms have left the panel through their own accord. Two pulled out due to resourcing issues and their inability to commit to meeting service level agreements and two others left due to them not receiving any business from being on the panel.
To date, Homes England have not had to remove any firms due to performance however Homes England can exercise this option should they need to.
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, whether any companies have been removed from the Homes England Fire Risk Assessor Panel for the Cladding Safety Scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
To join the Fire Risk Assessor Panel firms must sign a participation agreement which sets out the terms for the panel and eligibility criteria. Along with agreeing to follow Homes England processes set out in the scheme guidance and use the correct scheme documents, firms must have:
Membership is renewed annually with firms having to provide evidence of their PII insurance and self-certification of qualifications and experience of firm assessors. The use of PAS 9980 and proportionality is assured by sample audit.
Since the scheme went live, four firms have left the panel through their own accord. Two pulled out due to resourcing issues and their inability to commit to meeting service level agreements and two others left due to them not receiving any business from being on the panel.
To date, Homes England have not had to remove any firms due to performance however Homes England can exercise this option should they need to.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with healthcare professionals on minimum service levels during strikes in the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As part of the consultations on introducing minimum service levels in both ambulance and hospital services, the Department hosted workshops to which a wide range of representative groups were invited. This included employer and provider organisations, and unions representing healthcare professionals.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment her Department has made of the impact of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 on the ability of healthcare professionals to participate in industrial action.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 allows for regulations to be laid in Parliament in the health sector. The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels: NHS Ambulance Services and the NHS Patient Transport Service) Regulations 2023 came into force on 8 December 2023.
As we set out in in our consultation response on minimum service levels in the ambulance sector, in our engagement with representatives from ambulance trusts, they indicated that establishing a minimum service level at the level specified in the regulations would require approximately 80% of an ambulance service’s resources on a typical shift. Therefore, if an employer chose to issue work notices during a strike, it is likely that a high proportion of all levels of paramedics, emergency care assistants, and other staff in the ambulance teams rostered to work on a strike would be named, and this would have a significant impact on the ability of employees to participate in strike action. The Department has consulted on whether to implement similar regulations for hospital services, and will set out its response in due course.
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, what data his Department holds on the number of buildings expected to have remediation paid for by a building owner that meets (a) the Developer Test (b) the Contribution Condition as of 15 April 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Data on Building Safety Remediation progress is published on gov.uk.
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, how many audits conducted by his Department from April 2023 to March 2024 under the Developer Self Remediation Terms have required the developer to undertake corrective action in relation to (a) Building and (b) Post-remediation Qualifying Assessments.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that developers who began work under Self Remediation Terms before 6 April 2024 continue to make progress on that work.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that best practice under the developer remediation contract is (a) captured and (b) shared.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, how many audits his Department has conducted under the Developer Self Remediation Terms in relation to (a) building assessments and (b) post-remediation qualifying assessments between April 2023 and March 2024.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.
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, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that signatories of the developer remediation contract are taking responsibility for buildings where they are a contractor.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Publicly available data on the developer contract can be found here.
The Department encourages developers to discuss challenges and successes with the oversight team. Best practice examples are shared with other developers as appropriate.