The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the cost in each year between 2016 and 2021 of young parents under 25 years old, who are single claimants and care leavers, receiving the same rate of standard allowance in universal credit as single claimants who are parents aged 25 years old; and how many people this would affect.
Lord Freud
The information requested is not available.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much the Homes and Communities Agency awarded in (1) 2012–13, (2) 2013–14, and (3) 2014–15 to the Empty Homes programme.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Homes and Community Agency made available £110.6 million to bring empty homes back into use over two rounds of funding:
The Homes and Community Agency’s Affordable Homes Programme will continue to provide funding to bring empty homes back into use. The Affordable Homes Programme is a competitive scheme and the amount of funding allocated to empty homes will depend on the quality of the bids received.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many houses have been brought back into use through the Empty Homes programme.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Empty Homes Programme created 9,044 homes from empty properties between 2012-2015. The number of empty homes is now at its lowest level since records began.
Local authorities have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes, and through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. In addition, councils may also charge up to 150 per cent council tax for homes empty for over two years. Given these levers, the Government has no plans for a further empty homes funding programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many houses they expect to be brought back into use through the Empty Homes programme in 2015–16.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Empty Homes Programme created 9,044 homes from empty properties between 2012-2015. The number of empty homes is now at its lowest level since records began.
Local authorities have powers and strong incentives to tackle empty homes, and through the New Homes Bonus they earn the same financial reward for bringing an empty home back into use as building a new one. In addition, councils may also charge up to 150 per cent council tax for homes empty for over two years. Given these levers, the Government has no plans for a further empty homes funding programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-01-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the Affordable Homes Programme they expect to be spent on bringing empty homes back into use.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Homes and Community Agency made available £110.6 million to bring empty homes back into use over two rounds of funding:
The Homes and Community Agency’s Affordable Homes Programme will continue to provide funding to bring empty homes back into use. The Affordable Homes Programme is a competitive scheme and the amount of funding allocated to empty homes will depend on the quality of the bids received.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2016-02-24.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the national consultation on the future of children’s centres will be launched, and what is the timetable for responses to be received and for them to announce their proposals following the consultation.
Lord Nash
The government is considering its future policy on children’s centres as part of the development of the cross-Government Life Chances Strategy, and plans to publish details in the summer. At that point we will make it clear how stakeholders and members of the public can contribute.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many kinship care households they estimate will be affected by the combined impact of the proposals in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill to limit child tax credit to two children and to reduce the benefit cap in each year between 2016 and 2021; what is their estimate of the cost of exempting kinship care households from those measures; and what impact assessment has been carried out as to how many potential kinship carers may be unable to afford to take on the children as a result of those measures and any consequential cost to the state of such children remaining in the care system.
Lord Freud
It is fair that families on benefits have to make the same financial decisions as families supporting themselves solely through work. These measures are being actively discussed in the Committee stage of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill (as the Minister informed the House) and there will be further discussion at the Report stage.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2015-12-10.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many single parents aged between 18 and 25 currently receive Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance; and of those, how many they estimate are care leavers.
Baroness Altmann
The Department collects information for those aged 18 to 24 and the latest information available at May 2015 shows that for this age group there were 121,950 lone parents receiving Income Support and 3,500 people, without an additional payment for a partner and with at least one dependent child, receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).
Please note that the figures are rounded to the nearest ten.
The information requested for those who are care leavers is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top on 2014-06-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the pilot schemes on discharge from hospital of the homeless.
Earl Howe
We have commissioned Homeless Link to undertake an evaluation of the Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund and expect to receive a full report in September.