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1347353

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
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	Housing Revenue Accounts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 July 2021 to Question 29857 on Housing Revenue Accounts, what assessment he has made of the impact of (a) fire safety remediation works and (b) carbon reduction retrofitting on the levels of debt of housing revenue accounts.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	33987
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government has made a series of funds available to local authorities in support of necessary fire safety remediation works. This includes the £400 million Social Sector Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) Cladding Remediation Fund, to fully fund the remediation of unsafe ACM cladding on social sector residential buildings over 18 million in height, including council-owned blocks. <del class="ministerial">All eligible publicly owned buildings have started remediation and 69% have completed</del><strong><del class="ministerial">.</del></strong><ins class="ministerial">Remediation has either completed or started on 157 social sector residential buildings (98% of social sector buildings, equating to 100% of buildings identified at 31 December 2019).</ins></p><p>The Government has also provided support for local authorities carrying out important and necessary carbon reduction retrofitting, including the £3.8 billion Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), to support local authorities and housing associations to improve the energy performance of social rented homes. In addition, there will be around £160 million total funding for the first wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund programme in 2021/22, to make further progress towards delivering the government's commitment to invest in the energy performance of homes.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 20/07/2021 16:34:06 question first ministerially corrected 21/07/2021 12:07:52 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher previous answer version 15565 answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1347354

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
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	Housing Revenue Accounts: Coronavirus
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 level of debt accrued by local authorities in their housing revenue accounts during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps he is taking to support local authorities that have accrued that debt.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	33988
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government has continued to monitor the effect of Covid-19 and consequential pressures on local authorities and their housing revenue accounts.</p><p>In the last year, the Government has provided additional support for local authorities by extending the quarterly expenditure deadlines for returning unused Right to Buy receipts for the whole of 2020/21, introducing a lower Public Works Loan Board rate for housing revenue account borrowing, and extending the existing £9 billion Affordable Homes Programme for a year to preserve developments that might otherwise have been lost following site closures and delays.</p><p>Authorities are subject to the constraints of the Prudential Code, which means that no authority can borrow more than it can afford to service.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 20/07/2021 16:36:01 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1347355

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
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	Housing Revenue Accounts
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 recent assessment he has made of the abilities of local authorities to renegotiate their housing revenue account debt settlement under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	33989
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>In 2012, the Government agreed self-financing settlements with local authorities that held housing revenue accounts. Debt levels were calculated and rebalanced across those local authorities with housing revenue accounts (HRAs), so that authorities could repay loans without jeopardising expenditure on necessary day-to-day expenditure on management, maintenance, and major repairs. There are no current plans to revisit the self-financing settlement.</p><p>Authorities are subject to the constraints of the Prudential Code, which means that no authority can borrow more than it can afford to service.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 20/07/2021 16:36:38 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1347356

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
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	Council Housing: Insulation
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 local authorities are adequately resourced to undertake fire safety remediation works on council homes.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	33990
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government is investing over £5 billion supporting the owners of residential buildings over 18m in height to carry out necessary fire safety remediation.</p><p>This includes £400 million for the full funding of remediation of unsafe aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on social sector residential buildings over 18m in height, including council-owned blocks. 98% of social sector buildings in the Fund have started remediation and 69% have completed.</p><p>In addition, social sector landlords including councils are eligible to apply to the £4.5 billion Building Safety Fund to support the costs of remediating non-ACM cladding that would otherwise be borne by leaseholders in their buildings, including shared owners.</p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher question first answered 20/07/2021 16:34:46 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1347357

registered interest
date	15/07/2021
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	Council Housing: Carbon Emissions
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 local authorities are adequately resourced to undertake carbon reduction retrofitting of local authority homes.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	33991
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2021 answer text <p>Undertaking carbon reduction retrofitting is a crucial step in achieving our commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and will contribute towards our Carbon Budget targets and our legally binding fuel poverty targets. The 2019 Conservative Manifesto included a commitment to a £3.8 billion Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) over a 10-year period, ​administered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, to support local authorities and housing associations to improve the energy performance of social rented homes. £62 million has so far been awarded to 19 local authority-led Demonstrator projects across the country, covering over 2,300 social homes, to test innovative approaches to retrofitting at scale. Beyond these projects, there will be around £160 million total funding for the first wave of the SHDF programme in 2021/22 to make further progress towards delivering the government's commitment to invest in the energy performance of homes.</p> answering member constituency Walsall North answering member printed Eddie Hughes question first answered 20/07/2021 16:06:55 answering member 4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1345182

registered interest
date	08/07/2021
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	Housing Revenue Accounts
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 recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of housing revenue accounts to meet future investment needs in social housing.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	29857
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing. 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, which will leverage up to £38 billion of private finance and provide up to 180,000 new homes across the country, should economic conditions allow. We are keen to see local authorities playing a key role in the delivery of this programme alongside Housing Associations. Alongside this we have introduced a package of reforms to give local authorities increased flexibility over how they can spend their Right to Buy receipts on replacement homes. This package will make it easier for authorities to fund homes using Right to Buy receipts including homes for social rent; allow authorities greater flexibility over the types of homes they provide to reflect the needs of their communities; give authorities more time to use receipts and to develop ambitious build programmes; and make sure more new build replacements are delivered instead of acquisitions, contributing to net supply. Government abolished the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap in 2018, enabling local authorities to borrow for building.</p> answering member constituency Walsall North answering member printed Eddie Hughes question first answered 13/07/2021 15:51:32 answering member 4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1342280

registered interest
date	30/06/2021
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
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) reform the leasehold sector and (b) support leaseholders presented with high bills for major works.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	25096
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. The Government is taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.</p><p>This includes making it easier for leaseholders to buy their freeholds, extend their leases or exercise their right to manage buildings. We will reform the process of enfranchisement valuation that leaseholders must follow to calculate the cost of extending their lease or buying their freehold. The Government will abolish marriage value, cap the treatment of ground rents at 0.1% of the freehold value, and prescribe rates for the calculations at market value. The Government will also introduce an online calculator, further simplifying the process for leaseholders and ensuring standardisation and fairness for all those looking to enfranchise. These changes to the enfranchisement valuation process will result in substantial savings for some leaseholders, particularly those with less than 80 years left on their lease. Our reforms to enfranchisement valuation also ensure that sufficient compensation is paid to landlords to reflect their legitimate property interests.</p><p>The measures will be translated into law as soon as possible, starting with the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rents) Bill, which was introduced into Parliament on 12 May. This Bill will make homeownership fairer and more transparent for thousands of future leaseholders, by legislating to prevent landlords under new residential long leases from requiring a leaseholder to pay a financial ground rent.  This will be the first part of major two-part legislation to implement leasehold and commonhold reforms in this Parliament.</p><p>The law is clear that service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard.</p><p>The ‘Section 20’ consultation process (of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985) aims to ensure that leaseholders contributing towards the upkeep and maintenance of the building where they live have sufficient input into how their money is spent on major works.</p><p>Where the works relate to building safety, we have made direct funding of an unprecedented £5.1 billion available for cladding remediation on buildings of 18 metres and above, which will protect hundreds of thousands of leaseholders from the cost of remediating unsafe cladding on their homes.  We are also stepping in to provide a generous finance scheme for the removal and replace of unsafe cladding on medium rise buildings.</p> answering member constituency Walsall North answering member printed Eddie Hughes question first answered 05/07/2021 14:15:25 answering member 4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1342281

registered interest
date	30/06/2021
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
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 assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a cap on bills for major works to support leaseholders.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	25097
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/07/2021 answer text <p>The Government is committed to promoting fairness and transparency for homeowners and ensuring that consumers are protected from abuse and poor service. The Government is taking forward a comprehensive programme of reform to end unfair practices in the leasehold market.</p><p>The law is clear that service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard. We believe very strongly that any fees and charges should be justifiable, transparent, and communicated effectively and that there should be a clear route to redress if things go wrong.</p><p>The ‘Section 20’ consultation process (of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985) aims to ensure that leaseholders contributing towards the upkeep and maintenance of the building where they live have sufficient input into how their money is spent on major works.</p> answering member constituency Walsall North answering member printed Eddie Hughes question first answered 05/07/2021 14:15:58 answering member 4635 label Biography information for Eddie Hughes
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1310294

registered interest
date	19/04/2021
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	Planning
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's consultation, Planning for the Future, which closed on 29 October 2020, what steps his Department has taken to facilitate cross-sector consultation to develop policy proposals on planning reform in advance of the Planning Bill.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	183214
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2021 answer text <p>Our Planning for the Future White Paper was published in August 2020. It sets out our vision for a reformed planning system which would be simpler, quicker and more accessible for communities to engage with, providing a more certain system for all.</p><p>Alongside the publication, we ran an extensive series of roundtables with representatives from across the planning system, including with local authorities, SMEs, environmental groups, heritage bodies and representatives from civil society.</p><p>In addition, the accompanying consultation received over 44,000 responses – providing valuable feedback on our proposals and demonstrating just how important this is to people.</p><p>Since the close of the consultation, we have continued to regularly engage with stakeholders. This has included representatives from local government, as well as the planning, development and environmental sectors, statutory consultees, and other users of the planning system. Their perspective and knowledge have been vital in helping us to develop and refine the ideas set out in the White Paper, and we look forward to continuing to engage with a wide range of stakeholders throughout this process.</p><p>As we are in an active state of policy development, I hope you will appreciate that we are not able to share further details at this time. We will publish a response to the consultation setting out our next steps shortly, which will provide a basis for further engagement with the sector.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 183215 183216 183218 183219 183220 183221 question first answered 22/04/2021 16:33:31 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes

1310295

registered interest
date	19/04/2021
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	Planning
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's consultation, Planning for the Future, which closed on 29 October 2020, which sectors his Department invited to participate in its co-production or policy sprint discussions on reform of the planning system; and if he will publish a full list of all of the organisations that have (a) been invited to participate and (b) attended co-production or policy sprint discussions to date.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Helen Hayes
uin	183215
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/04/2021 answer text <p>Our Planning for the Future White Paper was published in August 2020. It sets out our vision for a reformed planning system which would be simpler, quicker and more accessible for communities to engage with, providing a more certain system for all.</p><p>Alongside the publication, we ran an extensive series of roundtables with representatives from across the planning system, including with local authorities, SMEs, environmental groups, heritage bodies and representatives from civil society.</p><p>In addition, the accompanying consultation received over 44,000 responses – providing valuable feedback on our proposals and demonstrating just how important this is to people.</p><p>Since the close of the consultation, we have continued to regularly engage with stakeholders. This has included representatives from local government, as well as the planning, development and environmental sectors, statutory consultees, and other users of the planning system. Their perspective and knowledge have been vital in helping us to develop and refine the ideas set out in the White Paper, and we look forward to continuing to engage with a wide range of stakeholders throughout this process.</p><p>As we are in an active state of policy development, I hope you will appreciate that we are not able to share further details at this time. We will publish a response to the consultation setting out our next steps shortly, which will provide a basis for further engagement with the sector.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Tamworth answering member printed Christopher Pincher grouped question UIN 183214 183216 183218 183219 183220 183221 question first answered 22/04/2021 16:33:31 answering member 4075 label Biography information for Christopher Pincher
tabling member	4510 label Biography information for Helen Hayes