To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


View sample alert

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Buildings: Insurance
Thursday 28th March 2024

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 discussions officials in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Treasury on the potential merits of introducing a Government-sponsored building safety insurance pooling scheme.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Government is very aware that leaseholders in some affected buildings have been burdened with paying extremely high premiums for too long. We have repeatedly called for an industry-led scheme.

It has taken far too long but the Fire Safety Reinsurance Facility is due to launch on 1 April and the Government will monitor the implementation and impact of the Facility and will remain engaged with industry regarding whether any further steps may be required.


Written Question
Churches: Mid Derbyshire
Friday 15th December 2023

Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)

Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what support the Commissioners provide to churches in Mid Derbyshire constituency on Historic England's Heritage at Risk.

Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner

In the Mid Derbyshire constituency the Church of the Holy Trinity in Belper, and All Saints Church in Ockbrook and Borrowash, are on the 'At Risk Register'. Support and advice for parishes about the management of their building is available from their local Archdeacon, the Diocesan Advisory Committee and from the national ChurchCare website, including on available grants: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare

Around 2,500 Church of England buildings are listed by Historic England, with 45% of all England's Grade I listed buildings being cathedrals and churches. The average annual cost for the maintenance and repairs to parish churches is estimated at £150 million, and the maintenance of churches across the country is mostly financed by generous local donors and volunteers.

The Church remains grateful for the continuation of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. Money invested in church buildings brings positive benefits to the wider community: the 2021 House of Good report by the National Churches Trust (https://www.houseofgood.nationalchurchestrust.org/) found that "the annual social and economic value of church buildings to the UK is worth around £55 billion. This sum, calculated using the latest HM Treasury Green Book guidance, includes the contribution churches make to wellbeing and to local economies."

The Government commissioned an independent review of the sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals in 2017, known as the 'Taylor Review'. The Church is still awaiting the formal response from the Government to this report; however, the National Church Institutions have started to implement several of the recommendations. The Taylor Review can be read here: The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In November 2023 the Church of England awarded £9 million to dioceses for repairs and specialist advice to parishes. This will fund 30 support officers across the country to give specialist advice on the management, conservation, repair and development of church buildings, including community use alongside worship. A further £6.2 million has been allocated across 41 dioceses for making grants of up to £12,000 for repairs to churches. The grants will focus on small-scale but urgent works and projects that could save larger sums in the long term. The fund will also be able to help cover the cost of essential improvements for the mission and ministry of a church. More information can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media-and-news/press-releases/church-england-announces-ps9-million-help-parishes-repairs-and


Written Question
Schools: Concrete
Tuesday 5th December 2023

Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing additional funding to remove the presence of RAAC in schools.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Education is a devolved matter; and the response outlines the information for England only and not Northern Ireland.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in education settings at the heart of its policy decisions.

The department will spend whatever it takes to keep pupils safe and is funding the emergency work needed to mitigate the presence of RAAC in school and college buildings in England, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary. Where schools and colleges in England need additional help with revenue costs, all reasonable requests are being approved.

The department will also fund the removal of RAAC from the school and college estate in England. Schools and colleges in England will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, including through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from His Majesty’s Treasury on a range of issues. The department’s immediate support will be managed from unallocated departmental budgets. This will not have an impact on existing programmes. The department will provide further information about funding at relevant points in due course.

The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
Wednesday 29th November 2023

Asked by: Baroness Hayman (Crossbench - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward the remaining funding for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to give the social housing sector certainty to plan for decarbonising their housing stock beyond 2025.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) is a 10-year, £3.8bn 2019 manifesto commitment. £6 billion of new Government funding will be made available from 2025 to 2028 in addition to the £6.6 billion allocated in this Parliament to energy efficiency and clean heat in buildings. Conversations are continuing with HM Treasury to assess SHDF’s share of the £6bn to be made available from 2025 to 2028, and provide long-term funding certainty, support the growth of supply chains and ensure we can scale up our delivery over time.


Written Question
Abbey Lane Primary School: Concrete
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the cost to Sheffield City Council of the removal of RAAC at Abbey Lane Primary.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues. The department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.

The department will fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

The department recognises that some responsible bodies will already have carried out emergency mitigation works, where RAAC was deemed ‘critical,’ based on the advice of the department’s surveys or from other qualified professionals, and in most cases we will reimburse these costs.

Prior to 31 August, the point at which the department’s advice on the risks of RAAC changed, some responsible bodies or schools may also have chosen to take action on RAAC in their buildings where it was not deemed critical, and others may have chosen to go further and removed RAAC entirely. In these cases, as with any other capital works, the responsible bodies will have taken decisions as part of their own estate strategy, based on their assessment of any professional advice they had received and the affordability of the project.

This work would typically have been funded through annual capital funding provided by the department to the sector, or from other sources of funding, such as a responsible body’s reserves. In these cases, the department is not providing additional funding to the funding already provided to responsible bodies to pay for this and other maintenance work.

The department will carefully consider claims submitted by responsible bodies for essential RAAC related works, taking into account the particular circumstances of each case, to determine how the approach above should apply. This includes any claims submitted in relation to Abbey Lane Primary School, and the department will work with the school to understand the scope of the work that has been carried out and its cost.

In addition to the department’s support on RAAC, it has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In 2023/24, Sheffield local authority received a school condition allocation of £3,592,655 for improving the condition of its school buildings. Alongside this, the department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Schools: Sheffield
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has received representations from Sheffield City Council on funding for the removal of RAAC from schools.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues. The department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.

The department will fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

The department recognises that some responsible bodies will already have carried out emergency mitigation works, where RAAC was deemed ‘critical,’ based on the advice of the department’s surveys or from other qualified professionals, and in most cases we will reimburse these costs.

Prior to 31 August, the point at which the department’s advice on the risks of RAAC changed, some responsible bodies or schools may also have chosen to take action on RAAC in their buildings where it was not deemed critical, and others may have chosen to go further and removed RAAC entirely. In these cases, as with any other capital works, the responsible bodies will have taken decisions as part of their own estate strategy, based on their assessment of any professional advice they had received and the affordability of the project.

This work would typically have been funded through annual capital funding provided by the department to the sector, or from other sources of funding, such as a responsible body’s reserves. In these cases, the department is not providing additional funding to the funding already provided to responsible bodies to pay for this and other maintenance work.

The department will carefully consider claims submitted by responsible bodies for essential RAAC related works, taking into account the particular circumstances of each case, to determine how the approach above should apply. This includes any claims submitted in relation to Abbey Lane Primary School, and the department will work with the school to understand the scope of the work that has been carried out and its cost.

In addition to the department’s support on RAAC, it has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In 2023/24, Sheffield local authority received a school condition allocation of £3,592,655 for improving the condition of its school buildings. Alongside this, the department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Abbey Lane Primary School: Concrete
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will reimburse Sheffield City Council for the cost of RAAC removal at Abbey Lane Primary.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues. The department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.

The department will fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

The department recognises that some responsible bodies will already have carried out emergency mitigation works, where RAAC was deemed ‘critical,’ based on the advice of the department’s surveys or from other qualified professionals, and in most cases we will reimburse these costs.

Prior to 31 August, the point at which the department’s advice on the risks of RAAC changed, some responsible bodies or schools may also have chosen to take action on RAAC in their buildings where it was not deemed critical, and others may have chosen to go further and removed RAAC entirely. In these cases, as with any other capital works, the responsible bodies will have taken decisions as part of their own estate strategy, based on their assessment of any professional advice they had received and the affordability of the project.

This work would typically have been funded through annual capital funding provided by the department to the sector, or from other sources of funding, such as a responsible body’s reserves. In these cases, the department is not providing additional funding to the funding already provided to responsible bodies to pay for this and other maintenance work.

The department will carefully consider claims submitted by responsible bodies for essential RAAC related works, taking into account the particular circumstances of each case, to determine how the approach above should apply. This includes any claims submitted in relation to Abbey Lane Primary School, and the department will work with the school to understand the scope of the work that has been carried out and its cost.

In addition to the department’s support on RAAC, it has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In 2023/24, Sheffield local authority received a school condition allocation of £3,592,655 for improving the condition of its school buildings. Alongside this, the department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Schools: Concrete
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the costs of the removal of RAAC in schools will be reimbursed.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues. The department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.

The department will fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

The department recognises that some responsible bodies will already have carried out emergency mitigation works, where RAAC was deemed ‘critical,’ based on the advice of the department’s surveys or from other qualified professionals, and in most cases we will reimburse these costs.

Prior to 31 August, the point at which the department’s advice on the risks of RAAC changed, some responsible bodies or schools may also have chosen to take action on RAAC in their buildings where it was not deemed critical, and others may have chosen to go further and removed RAAC entirely. In these cases, as with any other capital works, the responsible bodies will have taken decisions as part of their own estate strategy, based on their assessment of any professional advice they had received and the affordability of the project.

This work would typically have been funded through annual capital funding provided by the department to the sector, or from other sources of funding, such as a responsible body’s reserves. In these cases, the department is not providing additional funding to the funding already provided to responsible bodies to pay for this and other maintenance work.

The department will carefully consider claims submitted by responsible bodies for essential RAAC related works, taking into account the particular circumstances of each case, to determine how the approach above should apply. This includes any claims submitted in relation to Abbey Lane Primary School, and the department will work with the school to understand the scope of the work that has been carried out and its cost.

In addition to the department’s support on RAAC, it has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In 2023/24, Sheffield local authority received a school condition allocation of £3,592,655 for improving the condition of its school buildings. Alongside this, the department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Abbey Lane Primary School: Concrete
Thursday 23rd November 2023

Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations her Department has received on the costs of RAAC removal at Abbey Lane Primary in Sheffield.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

It is the responsibility of those who run schools – academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies – to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the department is made aware a building may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.

The department will spend what it takes to keep pupils safe. Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from HM Treasury on a range of issues. The department will fund emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including installing alternative classroom space where necessary.

The department will fund refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to remove RAAC from the school estate. Schools and colleges will either be offered capital grants, or rebuilding projects through the School Rebuilding Programme. The department will set out further details for affected schools and colleges in due course.

The department recognises that some responsible bodies will already have carried out emergency mitigation works, where RAAC was deemed ‘critical,’ based on the advice of the department’s surveys or from other qualified professionals, and in most cases we will reimburse these costs.

Prior to 31 August, the point at which the department’s advice on the risks of RAAC changed, some responsible bodies or schools may also have chosen to take action on RAAC in their buildings where it was not deemed critical, and others may have chosen to go further and removed RAAC entirely. In these cases, as with any other capital works, the responsible bodies will have taken decisions as part of their own estate strategy, based on their assessment of any professional advice they had received and the affordability of the project.

This work would typically have been funded through annual capital funding provided by the department to the sector, or from other sources of funding, such as a responsible body’s reserves. In these cases, the department is not providing additional funding to the funding already provided to responsible bodies to pay for this and other maintenance work.

The department will carefully consider claims submitted by responsible bodies for essential RAAC related works, taking into account the particular circumstances of each case, to determine how the approach above should apply. This includes any claims submitted in relation to Abbey Lane Primary School, and the department will work with the school to understand the scope of the work that has been carried out and its cost.

In addition to the department’s support on RAAC, it has committed £1.8 billion of capital funding for the financial year 2023/24 to improve the condition of school buildings, as part of over £15 billion allocated since 2015. In 2023/24, Sheffield local authority received a school condition allocation of £3,592,655 for improving the condition of its school buildings. Alongside this, the department will transform poor condition buildings at 500 schools and sixth form colleges over the coming decade through the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.


Written Question
Home Upgrade Grant
Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has plans to increase funding for the Home Upgrade Grant scheme.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) was a 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment of £2.5 billion for homes in fuel poverty living off the gas grid. To date, the Government has allocated £1.1 billion to the HUG as part of the 2020 and 2021 spending reviews which is being delivered from 2022 to March 2025. A further £6.05 billion was announced for Net Zero Buildings & Industry at the Autumn Statement in 2022 for the period 2025 to 2028. Allocation of this by His Majesty's Treasury to individual schemes will take place at future fiscal events.