Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to increase the provision of (1) extra-care housing, and (2) retirement villages for older people.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Both my Department and the Department of Health and Social Care are committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people. We are engaging closely with both the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models including proposals from the sector for a cross-Government taskforce.
Asked by: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress they have made in setting up the task force on housing with care; and what is its remit.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Both the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health and Social Care are committed to further improving the diversity of housing options available to older people. We are engaging closely with both the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models including proposals from the sector for a cross-Government taskforce.
Asked by: Harriet Harman (Labour - Camberwell and Peckham)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to increase extra care housing options for older people.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 49106 on 22 September.
Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
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 plans to take with the Department of Health and Social Care to expand housing options that include social care provision.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Offering vulnerable people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs can help them live independently and feel more connected to their communities. Housing-with-care allows individuals to choose where they want to live, with whom, how they can best be supported, and what happens in their home. Both the Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health and Social Care provide capital funding to incentivise their supply.
We are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, where 10 per cent of delivery over the course of the programme will be used to increase the supply of much needed specialist or supported housing, including retirement housing. The Department of Health and Social Care are also continuing to subsidise new supply of specialist housing for older and disabled people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.
The Government's plan for health and social care, announced on Tuesday 7 September, also recognised the important role of housing, and supported housing in particular, in providing care and support to people in the community.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will provide guidance to local authorities on planning provision for extra care housing communities,
Answered by Christopher Pincher
This Government is committed to the provision of suitable homes for older people, including extra care housing, which contributes to levelling up across communities.
Our planning rules already mean councils must consider the needs of older people when planning for new homes. In 2019, we published guidance to help councils implement the National Planning Policy Framework policies.
We continue to work closely with the older people's housing sector and across Government to look at how we can further support its growth. I look forward to engaging with representatives in the sector further and value their insight.
Asked by: Angela Richardson (Conservative - Guildford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the announcement by his Department that people who have lived in a homeless hostel will be exempt from the shared accommodation rate, whether that exemption will include people living in supported accommodation.
Answered by Will Quince
The exemption is for those who have spent at least three months in a specialist hostel (or hostels) for homeless people, where the main purpose of that hostel is to provide accommodation, care, supervision or support, with a view to assisting homeless people to be rehabilitated or resettled in the community. Further, to be eligible for this exemption they would need to have been offered and accepted support services to enable them to be rehabilitated or resettled in the community during their time in the hostel.
Supported housing covers a broad range of accommodation types including sheltered housing for older people and long-term housing for people with care needs. However, short-term supported housing could meet the definition above if it is hostel accommodation and its main purpose is to support and re-habilitate or resettle homeless people into the community.
Asked by: Huw Merriman (Conservative - Bexhill and Battle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has plans to (a) reduce or (a) zero rate VAT charges applied to the costs of onsite staff of sheltered housing schemes for older people where those staff are supplied by property management companies.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Although the supply of staff is generally standard rated, in order to keep costs down for older people, the supply of sheltered housing schemes is exempt from VAT, meaning no VAT is charged to the final consumer
Going further would come at a cost to the Exchequer and must be viewed in the context of over £50 billion of relief requests from VAT since the EU referendum. VAT makes a significant contribution to the public finances, raising about £130 billion in 2019/20, and helps to fund key spending priorities including on health, schools, and defence. Given this, there are no current plans to change the VAT treatment of supplies of staff.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to include housing with care accommodation as part of the Government’s proposals for senior housing.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
Offering older people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs can help them live independently for longer and feel more connected to their communities. Housing with support and care plays a vital role in enabling older people to live independently, as well as delivering wider benefits to society.
We are investing over £12 billion in affordable housing over 5 years, the largest investment in affordable housing in a decade. This includes the new £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme, where 10 per cent of delivery over the course of the programme will be used to increase the supply of much needed specialist, supported and retirement housing, including housing with care for older people. In addition, the Department of Health and Social Care continue to subsidise new supply of specialist housing for older and disabled people through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) Fund.
We are working closely with the sector and across government to look at how we can further support growth and diversity of older people’s housing. This includes considering the merits of different engagement and delivery models, including housing with care accommodation.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what further steps officials in his Department plan to take with officials in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to increase housing-with-care provision for older people.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Housing-with-care has a vital role in enabling older people to live independently, with the necessary care and support available if required. Both the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provide capital funding to incentivise their supply. Both Departments are working closely together to improve the diversity of housing options available to older people, including housing-with-care and are engaging with the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool, Riverside)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to improve housing-based social care provision for older people.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Housing-with-care has a vital role in enabling older people to live independently, with the necessary care and support available if required. Both the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government provide capital funding to incentivise their supply. Both Departments are working closely together to improve the diversity of housing options available to older people, including housing-with-care and are engaging with the sector and a range of other stakeholders on this issue.