The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of housebuilding.
Brandon Lewis
Housing starts have almost doubled since 2009. Over 608,000 new homes have been built since April 2010 – there are now 795,000 more homes in England than in 2009.
Trends in housebuilding are published in the quarterly House Building Release.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Churchill on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent progress has been made on increasing the provision of affordable and sustainable social housing in the East of England.
Brandon Lewis
To date, £1 billion has already been allocated towards our commitment to deliver a further 275,000 affordable homes by 2020.
Of this, £155 million will deliver affordable homes in the East and South East of England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tommy Sheppard on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress has been made on the proposed Edinburgh City Deal.
James Wharton
We are working with Edinburgh and South East Scotland on their proposals to drive local economic growth and will continue to do so in partnership with the Scottish Government. As a One Nation Government, serious about rebalancing our economy, we will consider strong, credible ideas from all areas of the UK.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marie Rimmer on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the building of homes for social rent.
Brandon Lewis
We have already allocated £1 billion towards our commitment to deliver 275,000 affordable homes by 2020. This will be the fastest rate of affordable housing building in the last 20 years.
Since April 2010 we have delivered over 260,000 affordable homes, with almost 60,000 delivered last year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of the charges deferred to local authority budgets as a consequence of a school with a deficit joining an Academy Trust with an external sponsor, in each of the last five financial years.
Lord Nash
The Department does not hold this information on local authority budgets.
It is right that the deficits of sponsored academies remain with their local authority when they convert. These schools were the responsibility of the authority when they were found to be failing or underperforming and it is the authority’s responsibility for ensuring the school managed its expenditure satisfactorily.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Pinnock on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much funding has been allocated via the academy conversion grant in each of the last five financial years.
Lord Nash
There have been 3,327 converter academies opened during the current and preceding four financial years, each receiving the standard conversion support grant of £25,000 to spend on the conversion process.
Further details are in the table below:
|
Financial Year |
Converter academies opened |
|
2014-15 |
608 |
|
2013-14 |
573 |
|
2012-13 |
786 |
|
2011-12 |
1,100 |
|
Total |
3,327 |
Figures for 2015-16 are not available at this stage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 3 November (HL2678), what steps they propose to take following the European Court of Justice’s judgments in case C-362/14, Maximillian Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner.
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
I refer the noble Lord to my answer of 3rdNovember [HL2678].
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 27 October (HL2714) concerning activity under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, whether any representatives of the government of the Republic of Ireland were present at the most recent talks under Section 1 of the Belfast Agreement.
Lord Dunlop
I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answers on this subject. The involvement of the Irish Government is in accordance with the established three-stranded approach to Northern Ireland affairs and the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 27 October (HL2879) concerning the 1998 Belfast Agreement, whether any change to the name of a town or city in Northern Ireland requires the majority support of both communities.
Lord Dunlop
I refer the Noble Lord to my previous answer of 29 October 2015 (HL2879). The Government remains fully committed to supporting the institutions and principles established under the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon on 2015-11-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are their plans to deal with the increase in the United Kingdom population to 70 million within 12 years and 74.3 million by 2030, as projected by the Office for National Statistics, and what estimate they have made of the cost of those plans.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
The recent 2015 Office for National Statistics projections predict the United Kingdom population to reach 70 million in 2027. This is consistent with their previous 2013 projections which also predicted the UK population would reach 70 million in 2027. The new projections forecast the population to increase to 71 million by 2030, as did the previous projections.
Population growth does not necessarily cause an equivalent increase in demand for all public services, because at different points in their lives people will use different services. For instance, population increases caused by people living longer than previously, might increase demand for health services but probably would not increase demand for classroom places.
However, as these increases are largely consistent with the previous population projections, they are well covered by existing plans and planning processes. Public services are provided local authorities and central departments. Local Government and Departmental budgets are set in advance through multi-year Spending Reviews. This allows the Government to make decisions on all areas of public spending in the context of projected demand and available resources while ensuring the public finances remain sustainable in the long term. Departments are responsible for deciding how this money is then allocated, subject to strict Treasury rules on the proper management of public funds. This allows money to flow to where it is most needed, given demographic pressures and other considerations.
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility produce 50-year forecasts of the sustainability of the public finances in the biannual Fiscal Sustainability Report. For instance, the most recent report highlighted pressures from growth in health spending, state pension costs, and the costs of long-term social care. In response to these pressures, the Government introduced reforms that will save £500 billion over the next 50 years.