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  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of nationals from other EU member states who are on social housing waiting lists.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department’s annual Local Authority’s Housing Statistics provide information on the total households on local authority waiting lists in England but do not record nationality. The Department’s English Housing Survey does ask whether respondents are on a waiting list and also records nationality. The sample size, however, is not sufficient to provide a robust estimate by nationality.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) proposed future Right to Buy replacement houses in the development and planning stage and (b) properties expected to be sold under the Right to Buy scheme in each of the next three years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Working with the National Housing Federation, the Government has secured an agreement with the housing association sector to give their tenants the opportunity to buy their home with an equivalent discount to the Right to Buy. This will deliver the manifesto commitment to extend the benefits of Right to Buy to 1.3 million tenants. Under the terms of the agreement housing associations will deliver an additional home through new supply nationally for every home sold – increasing overall housing supply.

    Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, delivering more than a one for one replacement on the 3054 sales following the first year of reinvigoration.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that a home is built to replace every house sold through the Right to Buy scheme.

    Brandon Lewis

    Over 2 million tenants in England have already realised their aspiration of owning their own home, and the voluntary agreement between the Government and the housing association sector will extend this opportunity to a further 1.3 million families the chance to purchase their home at Right to Buy level discounts – unlike Scottish residents who will not be able to benefit at all thanks to the Scottish government’s decision to put an end to Right to Buy as of August this year. Under the terms of the agreement for every home sold housing associations will deliver an additional home nationally, through new supply.

    Under the reinvigorated Right to Buy we are firmly committed to making sure that for every additional home sold an additional one will be provided. There is a rolling 3 year deadline for local authorities to deliver additional affordable homes through new build or acquisition under the reinvigorated Right to Buy, and so far they have delivered well within sales profile. By March 2013 after the first year of reinvigoration there had been 3,054 additional sales and by December 2015 there had been 4,594 starts and acquisitions, meaning councils are delivering within this 3 year profile.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.129 of Budget 2016, HC 901, from which part of his Department’s budget the £100 million allocated to deliver low-cost second stage accommodation for rough sleepers will come.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness.

    We announced at Budget an additional £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living. We will reprioritise money within our existing capital budgets to deliver this accommodation. This will not affect delivery of the Government’s Starter Homes and Shared Ownership programmes.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many cases have been received by the Housing Ombudsman in each year since 2009-10.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Housing Ombudsman is an independent body whose objective it is to resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords and their voluntary members.

    The levels of complaints and enquiries have increased year on year since 2006 and there was a 64% increase between 2012-13 and 2014-15, which is due to an extension of The Housing Ombudsman’s remit to cover local housing authorities. The total number of enquiries and complaints received by the Housing Ombudsman are provided in the table below:

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    8,360

    8,643

    9,010

    9,958

    12,782

    16,337

    15,984

    The majority of these cases are resolved informally but the following table shows the number of formal determinations made by the Housing Ombudsman each year.

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    Within jurisdiction

    458

    559

    501

    543

    520

    579

    976

    Outside jurisdiction

    108

    73

    104

    100

    160

    240

    125

    Total

    566

    632

    605

    643

    680

    819

    1101
  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what average time the Housing Ombudsman has taken to allocate a case in each year since 2009-10.

    Brandon Lewis

    We do not hold this data centrally.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the annual budget of the Housing Ombudsman has been in each year since 2009-10.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Housing Ombudsman, is funded by subscriptions from member landlords, and the majority of members (83%) are private organisations.

    The annual budget of the Housing Ombudsman in each year since 2009-10 is as follows:

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    Budget Expenditure

    £3,333,971

    £3,537,072

    £3,910,742

    £4,425,735

    £4,886,112

    £4,913,500

    £5,085,751

    Actual Expenditure

    £3,198,478

    3,239,693

    £3,374,908

    £4,280,909

    £4,240,126

    £4,447,759

    £4,746,068

    The Localism Act 2011 extended the jurisdiction / remit of the Housing Ombudsman from 2013 to local authorities as well as housing associations, resulting in increases in the number of cases, dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what average time the Housing Ombudsman has taken to complete a case in each year since 2009-10.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Housing Ombudsman is an independent body whose objective it is to resolve disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords and their voluntary members. The average times taken to complete a case, which are within the Housing Ombudsman’s formal remit are provided below.

    2009-10: 23 weeks

    2010-11: 15 weeks

    2011-12: 17 weeks

    2012-13: 23 weeks

    2013-14: Not available

    2014-15: Not available

    2015-16: 41 weeks

    The levels of complaints and enquiries have increased year on year since 2006 and there was a 64% increase between 2012-13 and 2014-15, which is partly due to an extension of The Housing Ombudsman’s remit to cover local housing authorities.

    At a DCLG Select Committee hearing, in January 2016, the new Housing Ombudsman made a commitment to reduce the backlog of older cases within their formal remit dating back from previous years. Very substantial progress has been made and by 31 March there were only 9 cases outstanding over 12 months old.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the English Housing Survey, how many household reference people (HRP) of each nationality held housing of each tenure type in each of the last five years; and what proportion each nationality represents of the overall number of HRPs for each tenure type in each such year.

    Brandon Lewis

    The department collects details on the nationality of all household reference persons in the English Housing Survey. However, the sample size of the English Housing Survey does not permit us to report detailed nationality statistics.

  • Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Anne-Marie Trevelyan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of nationals of other EU member states who are living in social housing in the UK.

    Brandon Lewis

    The department collects details on the nationality of all household reference persons in the English Housing Survey. However, the sample size of the English Housing Survey does not permit us to report detailed nationality statistics.