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1139045

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Local Government Finance: Audit
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the National Audit Office and Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd in protecting the interests of council tax payers and improving value for money in local authorities.
	tabling member printed	Lord Black of Brentwood
	uin	HL17130
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>The National Audit Office (NAO) is independent of government and directly accountable to Parliament, therefore, it would not be appropriate for a government department to review their effectiveness.</p><p>Through the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 (the 2014 Act), both the NAO and Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd (PSAA) have roles relating to the audit arrangements for local public bodies in England.</p><p>The Redmond Review, which is due to report in Spring 2020, will consider important aspects of the local audit and accountability framework and how the various elements of the framework interrelate, including PSAA’s role as the specified audit procurement body and the NAO’s role in relation to the Code and guidance for local auditors. But the NAO’s general role and wider powers, including its value for money studies, are outside the scope of the Redmond Review.</p><p>Audit is only part of the wider assurance and accountability system that protects the interests of tax payers. This includes clarity about who is responsible for resources; statutory codes and rules which require councils to act prudently in their spending; a framework of internal and external checks and balances including audit and whistleblowing; transparency and publication of data; and requirements to have strategies and action plans on fraud.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 24/07/2019 16:19:26 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
	tabling member	4171 label Biography information for Lord Black of Brentwood

1139044

	registered interest
	date	15/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Leasehold: Reform
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government when they plan to respond to the Law Commission's consultation and report on leasehold enfranchisement reform; and what assessment they have made of the case for removing exemptions under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 in respect of the Duchy of Cornwall.
	tabling member printed	Lord Berkeley
	uin	HL17129
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>The Government has asked the Law Commission to review the enfranchisement process to make it simpler, easier, quicker and more cost effective, to help existing and future leaseholders.</p><p>Their consultation, <em>Leasehold home ownership: buying your freehold or extending your lease </em>closed on 7 January 2019, and they are now analysing the many and detailed responses received.</p><p>We will consider their recommendations when they report, and look to assess their proposals and respond in due course.</p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 24/07/2019 16:12:01 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
	tabling member	3526 label Biography information for Lord Berkeley

1138552

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Homelessness: Veterans
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government how many ex-armed services personnel have been classified as (1) homeless, and (2) rough sleepers, in each year since 2013.
	tabling member printed	Lord Browne of Belmont
	uin	HL17110
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>Annual England totals for the number of homeless or rough sleeping armed forces leavers from 2013 onward are not available.</p><p>In April 2018, MHCLG introduced a new homelessness data collection called Homelessness Case Level Information Collection (H-CLIC). H-CLIC captures information on all those who engage with local authority homelessness services, including those eligible for temporary accommodation and collects information on the support needs of a household, including support need resulting from being in the armed forces. These show that during October to December 2018, of the 61,410 households owed a homelessness duty in England, 440 required additional support because they formerly served in the armed forces. There are no plans to expand this collection to cover all former armed service personnel to include those who don’t require additional support.</p><p>The latest statistics are available here:</p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804329/Statutory_Homelessness_Statistical_Release_October_to_December__2018.pdf" target="_blank"> https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804329/Statutory_Homelessness_Statistical_Release_October_to_December__2018.pdf </a></p><p>The annual single night snapshot of people sleeping rough across all local areas in England provides some basic demographic information (age, gender, nationality).</p><p>The latest statistics are available here:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rough-sleeping-in-england-autumn-2018 </a></p><p>The Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) is a multi-agency database which records information about people seen rough sleeping by outreach teams in London across the year. Overall, 6 per cent of people seen sleeping rough by outreach workers across London during 2018/19 had served in the armed forces at some point in their lives. 2 per cent of these were UK nationals - around 115 people. The latest statistics are available here:</p><p><a href="https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports" target="_blank"> https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports</a></p> answering member printed Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth question first answered 24/07/2019 16:44:28 answering member 4282 label Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
	tabling member	3801 label Biography information for Lord Browne of Belmont

1141035

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Temporary Accommodation: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people living in temporary accommodation; and what steps he is taking to improve the living conditions of those people.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Dr Rosena Allin-Khan
	uin	280456
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>The total number of households living in temporary accommodation, provided by local authorities under their statutory homelessness duties is 83,700 as at the 31 December 2018.</p><p>Homelessness is a big priority for the government. In the rough sleeping strategy, the previous Secretary of State indicated the Government is committed to taking steps to tackle wider homelessness issues, including the numbers of families in Temporary Accommodation (TA) and poor-quality accommodation.</p><p>The Government has targeted funding streams focused on reducing the number of households in TA as part of our £1.2 billion spending programme. Earlier this year, we announced £19.5 million for 54 projects through the Private Rented Sector Access Fund that will enable thousands of households to be supported away from TA and into long term Private Rented accommodation.</p><p>We have also committed £37.8 million of funding to launch the London Collaboration Project (Capital Letters) - a project which works with London boroughs to improve the supply of homes, reduce the cost to local authorities of procuring these homes and achieve better outcomes for homeless families through a centralised procurement process.</p><p>We are working with other government departments to assess what more can be done to address the number of people in TA. This work is being overseen by the Ministerial Taskforce on homelessness and rough sleeping. This may result in joint Spending Review bids to address the issues of homelessness as well as its causes and consequences. We will consider the potential to publish a wider cross government action plan on homelessness in the future, which will build on the work we already have in train, ensure progress is made on wider issues relating to all forms of homelessness and homelessness prevention’</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Derbyshire answering member printed Mrs Heather Wheeler question first answered 24/07/2019 16:27:33 answering member 4053 label Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler
	tabling member	4573 label Biography information for Dr Rosena Allin-Khan

1141034

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Homelessness Reduction Act 2017
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish an impact assessment of the effectiveness of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.
	tabling member constituency	Tooting
	tabling member printed	Dr Rosena Allin-Khan
	uin	280455
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>We have committed to reviewing the implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act, including the resourcing of it and how it is working in practice for a wide group of people, by March 2020. We have published a call for evidence and are inviting all with an interest to respond by October 15 2019, and have commissioned ICF to undertake an independent review of how the Act has been implemented by different areas.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Derbyshire answering member printed Mrs Heather Wheeler question first answered 24/07/2019 16:20:01 answering member 4053 label Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler
	tabling member	4573 label Biography information for Dr Rosena Allin-Khan

1141096

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Health Services and Social Services: Northamptonshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with the Department of Health and Social Care on the proposed pilot scheme merger of the provision of social care and health care in Northamptonshire under one new organisation.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	280338
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, together with my officials, met Hon Friends from Northamptonshire on 22 July to discuss the integration between health and social care services in Northamptonshire. It was agreed that local leaders from across health and social care in Northamptonshire should be invited to set out clearly their ambitions for integration including formalised ways of working together. I and my fellow Ministers look forward to hearing more from Northamptonshire health bodies and councils when their plans are further developed.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 24/07/2019 15:42:11 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1141064

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Unitary Councils: Northamptonshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure that local authorities in Northamptonshire transition successfully to the two new unitary authorities on time and on budget and (b) prepare for the proposed new unitary authorities not being operational on time and on budget.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	280314
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>The Secretary of State made his decision to implement the Northamptonshire councils’ unitary proposal with one modification. This modification was to extend the period for implementing the new arrangements so the new councils are operational from 1 April 2021. We took this step to ensure a successful transition to the two new unitary authorities and that there would be confidence locally about a safe and effective transition to all the new service delivery arrangements across the whole of the area, including for those crucial services supporting the most vulnerable.</p> answering member constituency Richmond (Yorks) answering member printed Rishi Sunak question first answered 24/07/2019 15:30:15 answering member 4483 label Biography information for Rishi Sunak
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1141063

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Roads: Construction
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that developers are accountable to local authorities when appointing sub-contractors to build roads and other infrastructure; and what powers local authorities have to ensure that developers contribute adequately to the cost of maintaining roads once adopted by the local authority.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	280313
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and section 106 contributions can be used to provide and maintain roads and other infrastructure. Our recent reforms enable local authorities to hold developers to account when infrastructure is provided as part of new development. Where developers do not deliver on contributions, this can be enforced through legal proceedings.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Derbyshire answering member printed Mrs Heather Wheeler question first answered 24/07/2019 16:30:26 answering member 4053 label Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1141062

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Owner Occupation: Service Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure fairness between freeholders and leaseholders on challenging high service charges.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	280312
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>We have committed to protecting leaseholders who are suffering at the hands of rogue managing agents every day from unexpected costs or excessive fees for poor quality repairs.</p><p>We set up a working group, chaired by Lord Best, to look at regulating and professionalising property agents. This included reviewing the standards around the transparency of service charges and other fees and charges, how they are presented to consumers and putting them into a statutory code for managing agents. The working group has now completed their considerations and made recommendations to ministers. The working group’s final report was published on 18 July.</p><p>The Government will consider the recommendations set out in the report and will respond in due course</p><p>We are also looking at the future use of charges and restrictions beyond service charges – such as permission fees, administration charges and other restrictions and covenants faced by leaseholders and resident freeholders, and consider whether they should be capped or banned, and will consider this alongside the working group’s proposals.</p><p>The Government has committed to ensuring that residential freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed tenure estate can access equivalent rights to those of leaseholders to challenge their reasonableness. This will include a right to change the provider of maintenance services by applying to the tribunal for the appointment of a new manager.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Derbyshire answering member printed Mrs Heather Wheeler grouped question UIN 280309 280310 280311 question first answered 24/07/2019 16:45:55 answering member 4053 label Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom

1141061

	registered interest
	date	22/07/2019
	answering body	Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Housing, Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Service Charges
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure accountability and transparency in service charges.
	tabling member constituency	South Northamptonshire
	tabling member printed	Andrea Leadsom
	uin	280311
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2019 answer text <p>We have committed to protecting leaseholders who are suffering at the hands of rogue managing agents every day from unexpected costs or excessive fees for poor quality repairs.</p><p>We set up a working group, chaired by Lord Best, to look at regulating and professionalising property agents. This included reviewing the standards around the transparency of service charges and other fees and charges, how they are presented to consumers and putting them into a statutory code for managing agents. The working group has now completed their considerations and made recommendations to ministers. The working group’s final report was published on 18 July.</p><p>The Government will consider the recommendations set out in the report and will respond in due course</p><p>We are also looking at the future use of charges and restrictions beyond service charges – such as permission fees, administration charges and other restrictions and covenants faced by leaseholders and resident freeholders, and consider whether they should be capped or banned, and will consider this alongside the working group’s proposals.</p><p>The Government has committed to ensuring that residential freeholders who pay charges for the maintenance of communal areas and facilities on a private or mixed tenure estate can access equivalent rights to those of leaseholders to challenge their reasonableness. This will include a right to change the provider of maintenance services by applying to the tribunal for the appointment of a new manager.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Derbyshire answering member printed Mrs Heather Wheeler grouped question UIN 280309 280310 280312 question first answered 24/07/2019 16:45:55 answering member 4053 label Biography information for Mrs Heather Wheeler
	tabling member	4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom