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  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that suitable brownfield sites are prioritised for development over greenbelt sites under the proposed Housing Delivery Test.

    Brandon Lewis

    We are still considering responses to the proposed changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, including on the housing delivery test.

    The Government has put in place the strongest protections for the Green Belt. The Framework is clear that inappropriate development will not be allowed unless there are very special circumstances, and that Green Belt boundaries should be adjusted only in exceptional circumstances, through the Local Plan process. The Framework also encourages development of brownfield land, and we have undertaken to ensure that 90 per cent of brownfield land suitable for housing will have planning permissions for new homes in place by the end of this Parliament.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he has taken to improve mobile telephone coverage in the Liverpool City Region.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Improving mobile coverage remains a priority for the Government, and our landmark agreement in December 2014 with the four mobile network operators (MNOs) for each to provide voice and SMS text coverage to at least 90% of the UK landmass by 2017 will significantly improve coverage in the UK, including the Liverpool City Region. The additional licence obligation on Telefonica, which the other MNOs have publicly stated they will match, will deliver significant improvements in 4G coverage – covering 98% of UK premises by the end of 2017.

    In support of this work, the Government is also reforming mobile planning laws (in England only) and the Electronic Communications Code to make it cheaper and quicker for industry to invest and deliver coverage improvements.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what exemptions there will be from the Government’s proposed enforced sale of high-value council homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    Through regulations, government has the power to exclude categories of housing when calculating local authority’s payment in respect of their higher value vacant housing. During the passage of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, government committed to exclude housing that is in a National Park or an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and confirmed that it would consider other suggestions that had been made during the passage of the legislation and by stakeholders for excluding other categories of housing.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what criteria his Department plans to use in determining which council houses will be deemed to be higher value for the purposes of implementing the provisions of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 relating to the sale of such houses.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the Housing and Planning Act, local authorities have a duty to consider selling vacant higher value housing and must, if the Secretary of State has made a determination under the Act, make a payment to government in respect of their higher value vacant housing. The definition of ‘higher value housing’ will be set out in regulations made under section 69(8) to (10) of the Act, and will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to apply the pay to stay provisions of the House and Planning Act 2016 in all areas regardless of the levels of market and social rents.

    Brandon Lewis

    My officials are considering how the policy should apply to properties where market and social rents are close and the cost of operating the policy may be greater than the additional rent collected. We will be setting out the approach in detail in the pay to stay regulations and guidance will be provided to local authorities to support them through the implementation of the policy.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether there has been any evidence of fraud relating to the Right to Buy scheme; and what steps the Government has taken to prevent such fraud.

    Brandon Lewis

    This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.

    We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.

    We have recently set up a Right to Buy Working Group with representative of housing associations, local authorities and lenders to identify additional safeguards to curb fraud when the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme is rolled out to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Work is underway developing the detailed design of the scheme in collaboration with the housing association sector, specifically looking at how fraud and opportunistic practice prevention measures can, as far as possible, be designed into the sales process.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what resources the Government has allocated to anti-fraud measures relating to the Right to Buy scheme; and how that allocation compares to measures aimed at preventing or detecting benefit fraud.

    Brandon Lewis

    This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.

    We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.

    We have recently set up a Right to Buy Working Group with representative of housing associations, local authorities and lenders to identify additional safeguards to curb fraud when the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme is rolled out to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Work is underway developing the detailed design of the scheme in collaboration with the housing association sector, specifically looking at how fraud and opportunistic practice prevention measures can, as far as possible, be designed into the sales process.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps (a) local authorities, (b) housing associations, (c) his Department and (d) the National Audit Office have taken to investigate the extent of fraud relating to the Right to Buy scheme.

    Brandon Lewis

    This Government takes fraud extremely seriously. The Prevention of Social Housing Fraud Act 2013 increased the deterrent to tenants considering cheating the system, ensuring those who do cheat are detected more easily and punished more severely, and encourages social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling tenancy fraud.

    We also provided £19 million funding to help councils tackle tenancy fraud as part of over £35 million government funding to tackle fraud across local government.

    We have recently set up a Right to Buy Working Group with representative of housing associations, local authorities and lenders to identify additional safeguards to curb fraud when the Voluntary Right to Buy scheme is rolled out to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Work is underway developing the detailed design of the scheme in collaboration with the housing association sector, specifically looking at how fraud and opportunistic practice prevention measures can, as far as possible, be designed into the sales process.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants who receive social security benefits have been granted the Right to Buy.

    Brandon Lewis

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Gerald Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Howarth on 2016-07-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants who receive social security benefits have paid cash for properties sold under the Right to Buy scheme to date.

    Brandon Lewis

    The information requested is not held centrally.