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  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will assess the merits of requiring developers who need retrospective planning permission to refund the costs incurred by the planning authority.

    Gavin Barwell

    The enforcement of planning control is a statutory function of local authorities for which they need to budget and the costs of which are not generally recoverable.

    The primary purpose of a retrospective planning application is to give those who have made a genuine mistake the opportunity to rectify the matter. Introducing additional charges would penalise those people unfairly and might deter them from submitting applications.

    We believe this remains the right approach and have no plans to amend it at this time.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce (a) homelessness and (b) rough sleeping.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many, and nobody should ever have to sleep rough. That is why the Government is clear that prevention must be at the heart of everything we do to reduce homelessness. We are investing £500 million to prevent, relieve and reduce homelessness in this Parliament, including protecting £315 million homelessness prevention funding for local authorities to help them continue to provide quality advice and assistance to everyone who approaches them for help.

    We have also increased central government investment to tackle homelessness to £139 million. This includes £10 million to help those new to the streets, or at imminent risk of sleeping rough, building on the success of projects such as No Second Night Out. Alongside this, we have £10 million of Social Impact Bond funding to support entrenched rough sleepers with the most complex needs, building on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority.

    In addition, we committed £100 million at Budget to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to provide at least 2,000 places for people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis.

    I am also considering Bob Blackman MP’s Homelessness Reduction Bill and the role that further legislation might play in preventing homelessness.

  • Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will consider the potential merits of introducing legislative proposals to reduce the notice period for a landowner who has secured a court order to evict travellers from 48 to 12 hours.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    The accelerated procedure for obtaining a possession order to evict trespassers (which may include travellers) is set out in the Civil Procedure Rules, Part 55.

    There is no notice period once a landowner has obtained an order to evict. The standard order for a successful claim for possession would be an order for immediate possession.

    The Government does not consider that the process requires change.

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help strengthen local authority powers to deal with rogue landlords.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Government introduced a package of measures in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords. They comprise civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution, the expansion of Rent Repayment Orders to cover a wider range of offences, a database of rogue landlords and property agents and banning orders to prevent serious and prolific offenders from being involved in the renting out or management of private rented properties. In addition, over the past five years, we have have made £12 million available to a range of local authorities to help them tackle acute and complex problems associated with rogue landlords. This has resulted in the inspection of over 70,000 properties with more than 5,000 landlords now facing further enforcement action.

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the cost to the public purse is of dealing with rogue landlords in each year since 2010.

    Gavin Barwell

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has made an assessment of whether retrospective planning permission is more likely to be granted if the development in question is occupied.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Department has not made such an assessment.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-10-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will continue to allow entry fees for chess tournaments to remain VAT exempt.

    Jane Ellison

    Entry fees for chess tournaments have always been taxable at the standard rate of VAT.

  • Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make representations to the BBC as part of the Charter renewal process on the level of coverage of (a) World Youth Day 2016 and (b) the canonisation of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

    Matt Hancock

    Under the terms of the BBC’s Charter and Agreement, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent of Government and there is no provision for the Government to intervene in the Corporation’s day-to-day operations

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the amount of its own capital that BT has invested in the rural broadband rollout programme to date.

    Matt Hancock

    BDUK does not hold data on BT’s total capital investment to date in the Superfast Broadband Programme. As each project completes, BT is required to confirm that either its contracted capital commitment is fully drawn down, or that any unused capital contribution is committed to an investment fund which is managed by the Local Body to support further delivery. BT’s total capital commitment for Phase 1 of the programme is £348 million.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether bids can continue to be made by British cities to become European capital of culture after the vote to leave the EU.

    Matt Hancock

    DCMS is currently reviewing the impact of the referendum result on the UK’s ability to participate in this competition, and will provide clarity to all interested cities once we are in a position to do so.