Tag: John Healey

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the level of change of housing benefit for tenants in supported accommodation as a result of changes to housing benefit announced in the Autumn Statement 2015.

Justin Tomlinson

The introduction of Local Housing Allowance limits to social sector tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit will only apply from April 2018 where new tenancies have been taken out or renewed after April 2016.

The Department is working on the exact policy design details for tenants in supported accommodation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which builders have been contracted to build new homes at the direct commissioning site at (a) Daedelus Waterfront, (b) Lower Grayling Well, (c) Connaught Barracks, (d) Northstowe and (e) Old Oak Common.

Brandon Lewis

These will be detailed commercial arrangements that will be established through a competitive procurement process. Existing public procurement processes will apply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 14 December 2015 to Question 19365, on supported housing, if he will place the remit of the evidence review in the Library.

Brandon Lewis

A copy of the specification for the review has been put in the Library of the House.

The Review began in January 2015. The Department of Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government commissioned Ipsos MORI in partnership with Imogen Blood and Associates and Housing and Support Partnership Limited to undertake the evidence review. The report will be published later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, from which budgets in his Department funding for expenditure on the right to buy pilots will be reallocated.

Brandon Lewis

Capital budgets (including funding for the Right to Buy pilot) were set from 2016-17 to 2020-21 as part of a zero based exercise across Government Departments at the Spending Review / Autumn Statement.

Therefore no budget has been reallocated to fund Right to Buy pilots.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.149 of the Budget 2016, how much of the increased funding available to prevent and reduce homelessness is in addition to the funding allocated to his Department in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

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 have protected the homelessness prevention funding local authorities receive, totalling £315 million by 2019-20.

This builds on our Spending Review commitment to increase central government funding to £139 million over the next four years. We announced in the Budget that £10 million of this would be spent to support and scale up innovative ways to prevent and reduce rough sleeping, particularly in London and that funding for the Rough Sleeping Social Impact Bond announced in the Spending Review will be doubled from £5 million to £10 million.

We also announced in the 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 re-prioritise 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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects the first sale of higher value council housing allowed by the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to take place.

Brandon Lewis

Under the Housing and Planning Act, local authorities have a duty to consider selling vacant higher value housing. Local authorities will know which homes will be defined as higher value, and therefore which homes they have a duty to consider selling, once Parliament has scrutinised and approved the regulations, including the higher value regulations which are subject to affirmative resolution.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the application of local housing allowance rates for housing benefit paid in the social sector will take into account core rent and housing service charge elements.

Justin Tomlinson

The introduction of Local Housing Allowance limits to social sector tenants in receipt of Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit will only apply from April 2018 where new tenancies have been taken out or renewed after April 2016.

This reform will prevent social sector tenants from receiving more than if renting privately and the Department will set out the exact policy design in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the total area of the direct commissioning site at Old Oak Common has planning permission for housing development.

Brandon Lewis

The planning process is ongoing for these sites. This will be completed in due course working closely with the local communities and local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what consultation his Department has undertaken with councils with statutory responsibility for vulnerable people in supported housing (a) before and (b) since the announcement that housing benefit for tenants in supported housing will be capped at the local rate of local housing allowance.

Brandon Lewis

Ministers from the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Department of Work and Pensions regularly consult with a wide range of organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Ministers and officials from both Departments are meeting relevant organisations from all sectors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23606, if he will estimate the proportion of housing association tenants that will become eligible for Right to Buy in each of the next three years.

Brandon Lewis

The Government is working with the National Housing Federation and the sector on the implementation of the voluntary agreement, which will make Right to Buy equivalent discounts available to 1.3 million housing association tenants. Ahead of full implementation, on the 25 November, we launched a pilot scheme with five housing associations, which will inform the design and delivery of the main Voluntary Right to Buy scheme.