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169417

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Neighbourhood Plans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what (a) number and (b) proportion of neighbourhood plans have been produced by areas that are in the top (i) 25 per cent and (ii) 50 per cent most deprived areas as ranked by the Index of Multiple Deprivation.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	218187
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2015 answer text <p>This information is not collected centrally.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 12/01/2015 18:55:47 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 33701 answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt answering member 4017
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90004

	registered interest
	date	01/09/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Private Rented Housing: Alarms
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 24 March 2014, Official Report, column 50W, on smoke alarms, when he expects to publish the Government's response to the consultation on requirements for smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in the private rented sector.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	207598
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/10/2014 answer text <p>DCLG published a discussion document earlier this year, which invited views on what more could be done to improve property conditions in the private rented sector. Responses are now being considered on the responses submitted to questions 15 (Smoke alarms) and 16 (Carbon Monoxide alarms). We will publish our response along with a summary of the views submitted later this year.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 14/10/2014 16:24:40 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 18199 answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt answering member 4017
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

174370

	registered interest
	date	19/01/2015
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Affordable Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect on the delivery of affordable housing of his Department's policy on section 106 affordable housing exemptions for small sites.
	tabling member constituency	Wolverhampton North East
	tabling member printed	Emma Reynolds
	uin	221278
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2015 answer text <p>The Department for Communities and Local Government carried out a public consultation in March 2014 to invite views and local evidence on proposed changes to national policy on section 106 affordable housing and tariff contributions. All evidence submitted was carefully considered.</p><p> </p><p>As a consequence of the consultation, we amended our proposals to introduce a lower threshold of 5 units for rural areas, as outlined in my Written Ministerial Statement of 28 November 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 55WS. Rural exception sites are also exempted.</p><p> </p><p>I can confirm that we have also undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment, which I will arrange to be placed in the Library of the House. We do not consider our reforms will have a negative impact on discrimination, fostering good relations or advancing equality of opportunity.</p><p> </p><p>We estimate that the policy will save, on average, £15,000 in Section 106 housing contributions per new dwelling in England—some councils are charging up to £145,000 on single dwellings. Further savings will be made from scaling back Section 106 tariffs, which may add additional charges of more than £15,000 per dwelling, over and above any housing contributions. Taken together, these reforms will deliver six-figure savings for small-scale developers in some parts of the country.</p><p> </p><p>We do not believe that our reforms will have any significant adverse effect on our affordable housing programme. We have so far delivered 217,000 new affordable homes since 2010, and are bringing in £19.5 billion of public and private in affordable housing over the current Spending Review period. In the next Parliament, we are on track to deliver a further 275,000 new affordable homes, backed up by £38 billion of public and private investment.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Builders Federation has confirmed that these changes will provide a boost to small and medium builders, stating: “This exemption would offer small and medium-sized developers a shot in the arm. The time and expense of negotiating Section 106 affordable housing contributions on small sites, and the subsequent payments, can threaten the viability of small developments and act as another barrier to the entry and growth of smaller firms”</p><p> </p><p>Similarly, the Federation of Master Builders has said: “The new ten unit threshold for affordable housing contributions is a sensible and proportionate approach to help alleviate the pressure on SME house builders who have been squeezed out of the housing market in recent years. This is important because without a viable SME house building sector we won’t be able to build the number of new homes that are needed to address the housing crisis”.</p><p> </p><p>We also listened to representations from the hon. (Labour) Member for Bassetlaw (John Mann) who has campaigned vigorously against such levies. Indeed, I would observe that under the majority of the last Labour Government, the national threshold (as stated in PPG3) was actually 15 units.</p><p> </p><p>Loading stealth taxes on new housing just makes housing less affordable and cuts house building. Unrealistic Section 106 charges result in no development, no regeneration and no community benefits: reducing them can result in more housing and more affordable housing. Our reforms will help unblock small stalled sites and provide a boost to self-builders and small house builders.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 12/02/2015 17:08:26 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 39802 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043
	tabling member	4077 label Biography information for Emma Reynolds

100114

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Local Plans
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what percentage of local planning authorities in England have (a) not published, (b) not submitted and (c) not adopted a local plan as of 21 October 2014.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	211286
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>I refer the rt. hon. Member to my written answer of 9 October 2014, PQ 208138.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 28/10/2014 15:48:50 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 24174 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

100320

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Social Rented Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what was spent on the Decent Homes Programme in each year since 2005.
	tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
	tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
	uin	211623
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>The last Administration failed to meet its Decent Homes target. It pledged in 2000 that: “We... are committed to ensuring that all social housing is of a decent standard within 10 years” (DETR, <em>Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All: The Housing Green Paper</em>, April 2000, p.11). But 16 per cent of local authority homes were not decent by 2010.</p><p>That last Government also cut the Decent Homes programme by £150 million in July 2009, cannibalising the housing programme to pay for other policies. I also observe the last Prime Minister planned to cut back housing investment, remarking before the general election: “Housing is essentially a private sector activity. Let's be honest about this... I don't see a need for us to continue with such a big renovation programme” (<em>BBC Newsnight</em>, 30 April 2010).</p><p>However, the Coalition Government is investing £2.3 billion from 2011 to 2016 to improve the quality of existing social housing through the Decent Homes programme and large-scale voluntary transfer gap funding The funding is for clearing the backlog, and therefore is less than under the last Administration – as by intention, there should be an increasingly smaller number of homes to pay to refurbish.</p><p>The table below shows spending since 2005.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>£ million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004-05</p></td><td><p>£578</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005-06</p></td><td><p>£864</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006-07</p></td><td><p>£814</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>£1,005</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>£1,017</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>£1,079</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>£756</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>£494</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>£563</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>£631</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>est. £532</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>NB. The figure for 14-15 contains £15 million funding for South Tyneside which was brought forward from the 2015-16 allocation.</p><p>The number of non-decent local authority dwellings across England has fallen from 292,000 in 1 April 2010 to 146,000 in April 2014, with a forecast of a further fall to 113,000 by April 2015. This shows clear progress in refurbishing these homes.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 23/02/2015 16:51:14 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 24440 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

100321

	registered interest
	date	22/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Social Rented Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes in (a) Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, (b) the borough of Tower Hamlets, (c) London and (d) England failed to meet the decent homes standard in each year since 2010.
	tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
	tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
	uin	211624
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/10/2014 answer text <p>I refer the Hon. Member to my written answer of 21 October 2014, PQ 206256.</p><p> </p><p>Figures are held by local authority area, not parliamentary constituency.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 29/10/2014 16:35:05 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 24450 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

101534

	registered interest
	date	29/10/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Planning: Health
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the planning system addresses (a) size and quality of housing, (b) opportunities for physical activity such as cycling and walking, (c) air and noise pollution, (d) access to green space, (e) isolation and loneliness and (f) other factors known to affect wellbeing.
	tabling member constituency	Cheltenham
	tabling member printed	Martin Horwood
	uin	212386
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, which includes the health, social and cultural well-being of local communities. It:</p><p> </p><p>- sets out that good design is indivisible from good planning and should contribute to making places better for people;</p><p> </p><p>- asks planners to work to create safe and secure layouts which minimise conflicts between traffic and cyclists or pedestrians, and give priority to pedestrian and cycle movements;</p><p> </p><p>- enables local communities, through the preparation of local and neighbourhood plans, to identify for special protection green or open areas of particular importance to them as Local Green Space; and</p><p> </p><p>- seeks to conserve and enhance the natural environment and reduce pollution.</p><p> </p><p>My Department has this year published planning guidance which:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Sets a strong focus on design and includes tools which local authorities may use;</li><li>Sets out how local strategies to improve health and wellbeing and the provision of the required health infrastructure can be taken into account in local and neighbourhood plan making and when determining planning applications;</li><li>Seeks to promote walking and cycling, whilst avoiding unfairly penalising drivers;</li><li>Asks that councils’ Local Plans consider how to support walking and cycling facilities, and assess cycle safety;</li><li>Promotes the provision of bike storage space in new developments;</li><li>Recommends removing street clutter, to make pavements clearer and more spacious for pedestrians;</li><li>Sets out how the impact on air quality and noise can be mitigated, including using green infrastructure, promoting infrastructure to promote modes of transport with low impact on air quality and incorporating good design to minimise noise transmission through the use of screening.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p>Furthermore, through the Housing Standards Review, the Government has developed a nationally described space standard to offer a consistent set of requirements with regard to the size of new homes. Local authorities will not be required to adopt a space standard, but where they choose to do so, it should be the nationally described space standard.</p><p> </p><p>I also refer the hon. Member to the Government’s cycling delivery plan, published on 16 October, which can be found online at: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/cycling-delivery-plan-informal-consultation" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/consultations/cycling-delivery-plan-informal-consultation</a></p><p> </p><p>It is for councils and local communities to use their local and neighbourhood plans and existing planning powers to shape where development can go and create well-designed, safe and attractive places.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 11/11/2014 16:21:02 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 25727 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	1499 label Biography information for Martin Horwood

114650

	registered interest
	date	05/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Private Rented Housing
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to publicise its How to Rent guide; and whether his Department evaluated its success in communicating with private tenants.
	tabling member constituency	Westmorland and Lonsdale
	tabling member printed	Tim Farron
	uin	213490
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>The How to Rent guide which was published on 10 June 2014, has been viewed on the gov.uk website over 30,000 times and is promoted by a large number of organisations (included Shelter and Citizens Advice) on their websites. We have also used social media to raise awareness of the guide and wrote to all MPs in England asking them to promote the guide amongst their constituents. We closely monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of our marketing strategy to make sure the information reaches as many tenants and potential tenants as possible and continue to promote it through working with tenants organisations, the tenancy deposit protection schemes, advice services, landlords, agents and property search websites.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 17/11/2014 11:42:27 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 27249 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	1591 label Biography information for Tim Farron

164446

	registered interest
	date	24/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Private Rented Housing: Evictions
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to protect renters in the private rented sector from being evicted in retaliation for making complaints to landlords about their properties.
	tabling member constituency	Coventry South
	tabling member printed	Mr Jim Cunningham
	uin	215759
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/11/2014 answer text <p>We have given our backing in principle to my hon. Friend, the Member for Brent Central's (Sarah Teather) Tenancies (Reform) Bill, which seeks to protect tenants from the small minority of rogue landlords who, rather than meet their legal duty to keep their properties at a reasonable standard and remove health and safety hazards, instead evict tenants simply for asking for essential repairs to be made.</p><p> </p><p>But we need to ensure that the Bill does not impose unfair burdens on the whole sector, as the overwhelming majority of landlords are responsible. The Bill should be balanced, such that tenants cannot make vexatious complaints, and that it does not bring in excessive red tape.</p><p> </p><p>The Bill will have its 2nd reading on 28 November, and this will give the House an opportunity to debate its merits.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 27/11/2014 16:57:03 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 30499 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	308 label Biography information for Mr Jim Cunningham

166261

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Housing: Northumberland
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish housing projections for 2012; and what those projections were for (a) Northumberland and (b) Ponteland.
	tabling member constituency	Hexham
	tabling member printed	Guy Opperman
	uin	216135
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/01/2015 answer text <p>The Department is working on the 2012-based Household Projections and publication is planned for February 2015.</p><p> </p><p>The same methodology is being used as for the 2011-based projections. This means that the ONS 2012-based population projections (already published at local authority level) provide a good initial indication of likely household growth to feed into local authorities’ assessments of housing requirements.</p><p> </p><p>Household projections are a starting point for local authority assessments of housing need but local factors are also important. It is for local planning authorities to determine the impact that they have on their Local Plans, which will inevitably differ from area to area.</p><p> </p><p>The specific publication date will be pre-announced in the usual way for National Statistics.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 05/01/2015 16:16:31 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 30971 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman