Every parliamentary written question tabled by Paul Holmes this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 161–169 of 169 · Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Communities and Local Government, what plans she has to set a council tax referendum threshold for combined authority mayoral precepts in the 2025-26 financial year.
Details of the proposed council tax referendum principles for 2025-26 will be set out in the local government finance policy statement in late November.
Communities and Local Government, for what reasons her Department plans to close its offices in (a) Birmingham, (b) Exeter, (c) Truro, (d) Sheffield, (e) Warrington and (f) Newcastle; what estimate her Department has made of the cost of closing each office; and what plans her Department has for the existing staff in each location.
The department has made the decision to close these six offices over the next two years, as existing leases end, in order to create a more coherent estate across the UK with strong office communities. The department will continue to have an office in every English region, and in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We will also continue to have a wider office footprint than similarly staffed departments.The department plans to invest more in some locations and that work is ongoing, we expect to provide net benefits in the long term as a result of these changes. All staff in the six offices which will close will be able to continue in their roles and there will be no compulsory redundancies.
Communities and Local Government, If she will publish a list of (a) people and (b) organisations who made representations to her Department on the call-in of the planning application for the Chinese Embassy in London.
Requests to call in these applications were made by the Foreign Secretary and by the Cyber-Physical and Digital Twins, Innovate UK.
Communities and Local Government, what public procurement process was followed by Homes England when establishing the MADE Partnership.
It is estimated that the MADE Partnership will bring forward in excess of 5650 homes by acting as master developer to unlock large, complex residential sites that have stalled due to lack of market capability, coordination capacity, patient capital and resource.The Levelling Up Home Building Fund, from which the MADE partnership investment was made, operates based on continuous market engagement and therefore its investments are not subject to procurement.Homes England is always looking to invest with partners whose ambition and activities align. Homes England encourages interested groups to apply for funding and details of its investment offer and contact details can be found on their website.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of additional homes that will be provided by the MADE Partnership.
It is estimated that the MADE Partnership will bring forward in excess of 5650 homes by acting as master developer to unlock large, complex residential sites that have stalled due to lack of market capability, coordination capacity, patient capital and resource.The Levelling Up Home Building Fund, from which the MADE partnership investment was made, operates based on continuous market engagement and therefore its investments are not subject to procurement.Homes England is always looking to invest with partners whose ambition and activities align. Homes England encourages interested groups to apply for funding and details of its investment offer and contact details can be found on their website.
Communities and Local Government, how much has been paid by (a) Kingspan and (b) all cladding manufacturers towards remediation of eligible buildings under the Developer Remediation Contract where their products have been used on eligible buildings.
The Developer Remediation Contract requires developers to take responsibility for fixing or paying to fix buildings which they developed. The Ministry will shortly begin issuing payment demands to developers - who are contractually required to pay back monies spent on their buildings by government funds - after which, we expect developers to begin repayments. The value of debt that we will pursue with developers is reported in our Trust Statement, for our latest reported accounts in 2022/23 this is £417 million.The Developer Remediation Contract is a contract between eligible developers and government. It does not apply to product manufacturers.Other industry actors will also be held to account for their role in constructing unsafe buildings. We are reviewing the Grenfell Inquiry report and have written to all organisations (including manufacturers) found by the Inquiry to have been part of the failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. The Building Safety Act created avenues for parties to pursue a range of responsible parties for compensation. We will bring forward further reforms to the construction products regime in due course.
Communities and Local Government, whether other lenders and housebuilders will be able to access equity investment from Homes England in similar arrangements to the MADE partnership.
It is estimated that the MADE Partnership will bring forward in excess of 5650 homes by acting as master developer to unlock large, complex residential sites that have stalled due to lack of market capability, coordination capacity, patient capital and resource.The Levelling Up Home Building Fund, from which the MADE partnership investment was made, operates based on continuous market engagement and therefore its investments are not subject to procurement.Homes England is always looking to invest with partners whose ambition and activities align. Homes England encourages interested groups to apply for funding and details of its investment offer and contact details can be found on their website.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the amount that has been reimbursed to the Building Safety Fund from signatories to the Developer Remediation Contract.
The Developer Remediation Contract requires developers to take responsibility for fixing or paying to fix buildings which they developed. The Ministry will shortly begin issuing payment demands to developers - who are contractually required to pay back monies spent on their buildings by government funds - after which, we expect developers to begin repayments. The value of debt that we will pursue with developers is reported in our Trust Statement, for our latest reported accounts in 2022/23 this is £417 million.The Developer Remediation Contract is a contract between eligible developers and government. It does not apply to product manufacturers.Other industry actors will also be held to account for their role in constructing unsafe buildings. We are reviewing the Grenfell Inquiry report and have written to all organisations (including manufacturers) found by the Inquiry to have been part of the failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. The Building Safety Act created avenues for parties to pursue a range of responsible parties for compensation. We will bring forward further reforms to the construction products regime in due course.
Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the proportion of revenue spent which has been generated by the Residential Property Developer Tax.
The Residential Property Developer Tax has raised £157 million in 2022-23 and £103 million in 2023-24. Revenue raised from the tax goes into the UK Consolidated Fund, which contributes to the government’s ambitious Building Safety Package aiming to bring an end to unsafe cladding, provide reassurance to homeowners and support confidence in the housing market. Spend on interventions in 22/23 alone was £713 million [22/23 trust statement] with the accelerated pace of remediation being a key government priority.