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  • Ruth Cadbury – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Ruth Cadbury – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the number of homes to be sold under the right to buy policy which are likely to become private rental properties (a) in total and (b) in London.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under Right to Buy there are financial restrictions in place for re-sale within 5 years, and councils have the right of first refusal to buy back the property for up to 10 years at market value.

    What a Right to Buy owner chooses to do with their property after they’ve bought it is up to them, just as it is for other home buyers on the open market. Mortgage providers and landlords may place restrictions on letting in the terms of the sale.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Greg Mulholland – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on marketing the Right to Buy scheme’s extension to housing associations since 8 May 2015.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department recently set up a ‘register of interest’ to promote extended Right to Buy using our existing Right to Buy website and we also signposted the register across other channels, resulting in over 2,000 expressions of interest to date from existing housing association tenants. As the set up costs have been borne from existing Right to Buy website hosting services, it would not be possible to disaggregate the costs of marketing extended Right to Buy alone but it is a very small proportion of the overall costs.

  • Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Melanie Onn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the homelessness prevention grant.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Homelessness Prevention Grant is part of our £500 million investment in local authority and voluntary sector homelessness services. It has helped local authorities to prevent 935,800 households from becoming homeless since 2010.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much and what proportion of its total budget each local authority Adult Social Services department in England spent on employment support services in the most recent year for which figures are available.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Information on expenditure by local authorities in England on employment support services is not held centrally.

  • Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Catherine West – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandatory electrical safety checks for dwellings in the private rented sector.

    Brandon Lewis

    Landlords are already under a general legal duty to ensure that electrical installations in the property are safe and kept in good working order. The Government published the How to Rent guide which recommends that electrical installations are checked every 5 years. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ Code of Practice on the letting and management of property makes clear that landlords must repair and keep in proper working order installations for the supply of electricity. In addition, local authorities already have strong powers to deal with unsafe property conditions and we expect them to be used.

    The Government believes that the current regulatory framework, which puts a duty on landlords to ensure electrical installations in the property are safe, provides an adequate level of protection. We do not, therefore, have any plans to introduce a requirement for regular checks. However, we will keep the situation under review.

  • Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the provisions of the Housing Bill on the supply of affordable housing for rent in each of the next five years; and if he will publish the data on which that assessment is based.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government will continue to assess the impacts of the Housing and Planning Bill as it progresses through Parliament. We will publish our assessments on Parliament’s website at:

    http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2015-16/housingandplanning/documents.html.

    These will be updated as further assessments are undertaken.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what forecast he has made of whether the total stock of local authority homes will increase or decrease in the next five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    Whilst we have made no forecast of what the stock of council homes will be over the next 5 years, I do note that more council houses have been built since 2010 than were built in the entire 13 years of a Labour Government.

  • Stephen Hammond – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Stephen Hammond – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Hammond on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken to prepare for the implementation of the proposed General Data Protection Regulation; which non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and agencies overseen by his Department will be affected by that regulation; and what estimate he has made of the potential liability of his Department, its agencies and NDPBs in connection with that proposed regulation.

    Brandon Lewis

    Negotiations on the proposed General Data Protection Regulation are still continuing and our negotiating position has taken into account the likely impact on Government Departments, NDPBs and agencies. Once the outcome of trilogue negotiations between the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the Commission are complete, and the Regulation has been adopted, the liabilities will be further assessed. There will then follow a maximum implementation period of two years. Between now and then, Government departments who will be affected by the Regulation are closely involved in work led by the Department for Culture, Mediaand Sport to consider the implications of the text as it develops through the negotiating process.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made on land disposals for residential housing by the Church Commissioners at (a) Paston Reserve and (b) Norwood urban extensions near Peterborough; and if she will make a statement.

    Mrs Caroline Spelman

    The Church Commissioners have two strategic land sites at Peterborough; Paston Reserve and Norwood. Both sites are allocated as residential urban extension sites in Peterborough City Council’s adopted Core Strategy and Site Allocations Development Plan Documents. It is the Commissioners’ intention, over the long term, to make these sites available to facilitate the delivery of housing and other infrastructure.

    The construction of Paston Reserve, which has planning permission for over 1,000 houses, local facilities (including a primary school), open space and other infrastructure, began in 2014. The first residential phase of development comprises 87 houses and the first houses on site were sold by the developer, Keepmoat Homes, in early 2015. Discussions in regard to a second phase of development on the site are underway and it is expected that work on site will commence in late 2016.

    With respect to Norwood, the Commissioners worked with the local planning authority through the development plan process, which saw the site’s allocation for 2,300 new houses, and are committed to bringing forward the land for development. Pre-application work is currently being progressed with the other landowners across the site and initial discussions have been had with Peterborough City Council about the site’s delivery and potential timescales for an outline planning application.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership on food prices in the UK.

    Anna Soubry

    An independent assessment of the potential economic impact of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) on the UK was carried out for the Government by the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). This assessment demonstrated that TTIP offers an enormous economic benefit: in growth, exports, high quality jobs and reduced prices, worth up to £10 billion a year to the UK economy.

    The CEPR study did not look at food prices specifically but it projects that output in our agricultural sector will be largely unaffected by TTIP.