The Government fully recognises the important role small and medium sized house builders (SME) play in delivering the much needed housing in this country, including contributing to social and affordable housing. Our priorities are to boost housing supply and to build more affordable homes, supporting the different needs of a wide range of people and built by a range developers, including SMEs. This is done through over £9 billion Affordable Homes Programme to March 2022 which will deliver 250,000 new affordable homes of a wide range of tenures, including social rent. Since 2010, we have delivered over 407,000 new affordable homes, including over 293,000 affordable homes for rent.<\/p>
SMEs also contribute towards the production of affordable housing, including social housing through section 106 agreements with local authorities. The national policy on developer contributions from small sites seeks to strike a balance between increasing self-build and small-scale housing development, while recognising the role of section 106 in helping to provide affordable housing. We continue to provide support to SMEs to build more homes through the £2.5 billion Home Building Fund\u2019s short-term fund, a £1 billion SME guarantees scheme announced at Budget 2018 and changes to the small sites policy in the National Planning Policy Framework.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4282", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-12-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-12-18T16:17:56.743Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "7"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Housing, Communities and Local Government"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-12-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Social Rented Housing: Construction"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, what steps they are taking to ensure that small and medium sized building firms are able to contribute towards the production of social housing as part of efforts to reduce homelessness and rough sleeping.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2018", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hylton"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hylton"} ], "uin" : "HL12031"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1020058", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1020058/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it and this Government is committed to delivering a fair and humane asylum system.<\/p>
Our current policy is consistent with EU law and asylum seekers are permitted to work, in jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, if they have been waiting for a decision on their claim for 12 months or more and the delay is through no fault of their own. This approach aims to maintain the distinction between those who need protection and those who want to come to the UK to work, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. It is essential that we avoid creating further incentives for migrants to come here illegally, risking their lives in the process, instead of claiming asylum in the first safe country they reach.<\/p>
The Government is considering recent calls to change the current policy and reviewing the evidence available. Additionally, we are tackling delays in decision making and have plans in place to improve the speed at which outstanding claims are decided.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-12-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-12-18T15:18:11.207Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-12-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Asylum: Employment"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal from the Lift the Ban coalition to permit asylum seekers to seek employment six months after arriving in the UK.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2018", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hylton"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hylton"} ], "uin" : "HL12032"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 2, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }