Written questions by Rosindell.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking with relevant organisations to help tackle anti-Christian hate crimes.

We are absolutely clear that all forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Christians, and we committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion. Churches and Christian charities occupy a valuable position in society through their access to active citizens, their role within local communities and their good relationships with other faith groups. Government and police routinely assess potential threats to ensure that protective measures are in place to protect Christian communities and their places of worship against terrorism and hate crime. Government however does not hold detailed hate crime data broken down per constituency.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require housing associations to carry out Section 11 repairs within a specific timeframe.

Social housing tenants deserve to live in decent homes, to be treated with fairness and respect, and to have their problems quickly resolved.Under the Regulator of Social Housing ‘s Safety and Quality Standard, housing associations must provide an effective, efficient, and timely repairs service for their homes, including setting timescales for completion, and clearly communicate this to tenants.The government have committed to bringing forward the regulations necessary to introduce Awaab’s Law in the Social Rented Sector. This will set new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards, including damp and mould.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken with relevant authorities to support armed forces veterans with (a) housing and (b) financial support in Romford constituency.

On 18 December 2024, the government brought into force regulations to exempt all former members of the regular armed forces from local connection and residency tests to facilitate their access to social housing. The regulations removed the five-year limit and will ensure that no veterans of the regular armed forces will need to meet a local connection test for social housing regardless of when they last served.As announced at the Budget, £633.2 million will be provided to councils in England in the financial year 2025 to 2026 through the Homelessness Prevention Grant, to support them to deliver services to tackle and prevent homelessness. This includes an uplift of £192.9 million compared to 2024 to 2025. This funding can be used to tackle veteran homelessness. London Borough of Havering is receiving a total of £4,556,948 over 2025-26. All Homelessness Prevention Grant allocations for 2025-26 can be found here.On 8 November 2024 the government also committed a further £3.5 million to the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme from March 2025, including Op FORTITUDE, the homelessness pathway for homeless veterans, including those rough sleeping. This is in addition to £8.55 million of funding made available to support veterans into housing over 2023-25.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, updated 24 September 2024, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that design codes reflect local circumstances.

The government’s recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear the importance of achieving well-designed places and how this can be achieved holistically through local design policies, design codes and guidance.A clear framework exists through policy and guidance to support local planning authorities deliver well-designed places and to enable them to work together with the communities they serve to ensure the development of new homes responds to the positive and distinctive context and characteristics of an area. This can be through policies in the local plan, masterplans, guidance and design codes that are locally led.Our continued commitment to well-designed homes and places is further supported through proposed updates to the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code in Spring 2025.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, updated 24 September 2024, whether she plans to use architects to help utilise complex brownfield sites for development.

I refer the hon member to the answer to Question UIN 16502 on 5 December 2024.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Institution of Civil Engineers’ policy position statement on evolving the UK strategic infrastructure planning system, published on 12 July 2021, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of the ICE's recommendations on publishing a national policy statement for infrastructure.

The government is committed to improving National Policy Statements and in the July speech, the Chancellor announced an immediate 12-month review of National Policy Statements. To build on the review, we will legislate, through the Planning Infrastructure Bill, to mandate the updating of National Policy Statements every five years.Longer term, Government is developing a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy and establishing the National Infrastructure Strategy and Transformation Agency, which will play a crucial role in shaping the future of national infrastructure.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken with local authorities to help prevent (a) mould-related illnesses and (b) rodent infestations in housing provided by local authorities.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 11562 on 6 November 2024.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to work with relevant authorities to improve social housing fire defences in Romford constituency.

This government has committed to accelerating remediation of unsafe housing in response to the Grenfell Tower fire.Registered Providers of social housing are responsible for making sure their buildings are made safe in a proportionate and timely way. We expect all Registered Providers to identify and assess their housing stock and to remediate their buildings quickly. We are working with the regulators to make sure that this happens.Work to fix unsafe cladding has been too slow.  Ministers recently met regulators and other industry partners to press for action to make buildings safe. We are contacting all metro mayors in England to ask for their support in implementing local remediation acceleration plans. We will announce further steps to accelerate remediation shortly.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reforming the local government funding formula.

After years of delays to much needed fair funding reform, the Government will update and improve the approach to funding allocations within the Local Government Finance Settlement by redistributing funding to ensure that it reflects an up-to-date assessment of need and local resources.This will start with a deprivation-based approach in 2025-26 with additional funding targeted to the places that need it most. Broader redistribution of funding will follow through a multi-year settlement from 2026-27.We will be publishing a policy statement in late November, where we will set out our intentions for reform of the local government finance system.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce delays to cladding remediation works.

MHCLG are committed to fulfilling the Government’s ambition to accelerate the pace of remediation. We will work with partners across the construction and building safety sectors to make sure buildings are safer, faster. The Deputy Prime Minister is holding national roundtables to press home the urgency of this work and agree a joint plan for accelerating remediation.The Recovery Strategy Unit is continuing to take action against the worst offenders to hold them to account in fixing their buildings and paying for remediation. We will set out our Remediation Acceleration Plan containing further steps this autumn.

Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring all local authorities to provide drivers with the option of paying for parking by cash.

There is no guidance or legislation currently which specifies that local authority parking should be available in cash. However, all local authorities have statutory duties to ensure that they do not discriminate in their decision making against older people or those with vulnerabilities. Cash remains legal tender and it will continue to be used by people who favour its accessibility and ease. Local authorities should ensure that there are alternative provisions for parking payments available so that no part of society is digitally excluded.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to meet with the Chief Executive of London Councils in the next 12 months.

I am clear that resetting the relationship with local government is a priority. I was pleased to be joined at the Leader’s Council meeting two weeks ago by the Chair of London Councils, Cllr Claire Holland, alongside colleagues from across local government. My department, both ministers and officials, regularly meet with senior leaders from across local government, including London Councils.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she has taken to work with local authorities to help prevent mould-related (a) deaths and (b) illnesses of people living in local authority provided housing.

The respiratory effects of damp and mould can cause serious illness and, in the most severe cases, death. The tragic death of Awaab Ishak was the result of a severe respiratory condition due to prolonged exposure to mould in a home with inadequate ventilation. The presence of damp and mould can also affect tenants’ mental health. This could be due to worries about the health impacts of damp and mould, unpleasant living conditions, and destruction of property and belongings, among other concerns. Everyone is vulnerable to the health impacts of damp and mould, but people with certain health conditions, children and older adults are at greater risk of more severe health impacts.The Government is committed to working with social housing providers to ensure that homes are safe, decent, warm, and free from damp and mould. We have committed to bringing forward the regulations necessary to introduce Awaab’s Law in the Social Rented Sector this Autumn. This will set new time limits for social landlords to fix dangerous hazards, including damp and mould. We have also committed to extending Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector.Social rented sector homes must also meet the Decent Homes Standard and all rented homes must be free of serious ‘category 1’ hazards, including damp and mould, as defined by the Housing Health and Safety Rating System. The Government has published consolidated guidance on the health impacts of damp and mould.We also intend to consult on and implement a new Decent Homes Standard and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards early next year.

Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an estimate of the proportion of green belt land that could be re-designated as grey belt land in (a) Romford constituency and (b) Havering.

In our consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) and other changes to the planning system, it was suggested that grey belt land be defined as Green Belt land which makes a limited contribution to the Green Belt's purposes, as set out in paragraph 143 of the current NPPF. The Government is proposing that assessments of what land is identified as grey belt be undertaken by local planning authorities themselves, informed by relevant guidance. As such, the department is unable to provide the estimate requested.

Communities and Local Government, how many buildings have registered for the Cladding Safety Scheme in Romford constituency.

To date, there have been four applications to the Cladding Safety Scheme that have been started for buildings located within the Romford constituency.Two applications are at Apply for Grant stage where information is being gathered and submitted by one applicant. The other application is currently undergoing an eligibility check. Once this process has been finalised, we will confirm eligibility in no more than 10 days.The remaining two applications are at Grant Funding Agreement stage. Both Grant Funding Agreements have been issued, one has so far been returned by the applicant.

Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been provided through the Disabled Facilities Grant in Romford constituency in each year since 2022.

Romford constituency is part of the Havering London Borough Council area. Government provided the following Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funding to Havering London Borough Council for each financial year since 2022-2023.DFG Funding2022-20232023-20242024-2025£2,056,802£2,056,802£2,242,458This information is publicly available on the Foundations website: Disabled Facilities Grant Annual Allocations.

Communities and Local Government, what recent progress her Department has made on simplifying the planning process for house building.

We recently consulted on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a Government response before the end of the year. As set out in the King’s Speech, the Government intend to introduce a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to extend funding for the (a) Night Shelter Transformation Fund and (b) Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme.

As announced by the Chancellor on 29 July, spending plans for 2025-26 will be set alongside the Budget on 30th October. Following departmental review and processes, funding allocations for rough sleeping services will be announced via gov.uk.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of children living in temporary accommodation.

The Government is clear that homelessness is too high and too many families are living in temporary accommodation. We want to take a long-term approach and, working with Mayors and councils across the country, we will develop a new cross-government strategy to get us back on track to ending homelessness. The Deputy Prime Minister will chair an Inter-Ministerial Group to drive this forward.We are also tackling the root causes of homelessness, including by delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation. We will abolish Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions with immediate effect, preventing private renters being exploited and discriminated against, and empowering people to challenge unreasonable rent increases.

Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to increase funding for Trading Standards officers.

For 2024/25, the Local Government Finance Settlement made available £64.7 billion. The majority of this funding is unringfenced for local authorities to use as they wish, including funding for Trading Standards officers.Future local authority funding decisions will be a matter for the next Spending Review and Local Government Finance Settlement in which we are engaged. The department will work with local government leaders to ensure they are better able to fulfil their statutory duties.