argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Residential Property Management — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What progress he has made on improving standards in the management of residential property in the (a) private rented and (b) social housing sectors. [R]
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): With his usual accuracy, my hon. Friend identifies an issue critical to getting this matter right. As he knows, the working group will be looking at the entire property agent sector to ensure that any new regulatory framework is joined up across letting, property management and estate agents. One of the key issues in making that new regulatory framework land will be the transition from the old to new, and I will be more than happy—indeed it would be foolish of me not to agree—to meet a former Housing Minister of such standing.
Residential Property Management — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What progress he has made on improving standards in the management of residential property in the (a) private rented and (b) social housing sectors. [R]
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Lady knows, the database was introduced earlier this year and it will take time to populate in order for landlords to appear on it. There will obviously have to be investigations, prosecutions, and penalties levied so that they can properly be entered on to the database. She will know that the introduction of banning orders and a rogue landlord database will have an enormous impact in future. We just have to make sure that we get the right names on it.
Residential Property Management — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: What progress he has made on improving standards in the management of residential property in the (a) private rented and (b) social housing sectors. [R]
Marcus Charles Jones (Conservative, Centre-right): Having man’s best friend by one’s side can make a massive difference to somebody who is suffering from loneliness, social isolation or mental health issues. I am aware of at least one local authority that has taken the retrograde step of banning its tenants from keeping a pet. Will my hon. Friend please look at the guidance given to local councils, because, to many people, having a pet is their lifeline?
Residential Property Management — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What progress he has made on improving standards in the management of residential property in the (a) private rented and (b) social housing sectors. [R]
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): I am afraid that I will have to write to the hon. Lady with that answer as I do not have it to hand at the moment, but she is quite right that we have been reviewing standards generally in the private rented sector and considering what more we can do to make sure that private rented homes are as safe as they can possibly be.
Residential Property Management — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What progress he has made on improving standards in the management of residential property in the (a) private rented and (b) social housing sectors. [R]
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): We certainly want to make sure that the phenomenon of revenge evictions is stamped out and that there is an equality of power between tenants and landlords in both the social and the private rented sectors.
Local Authority Funding: Allocation — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): We are undertaking a fair funding review of local authorities’ relative needs and resources to address concerns about the fairness of the current system. This will determine the new funding allocations for local authorities through a more up-to-date and fairer funding formula.
Local Authority Funding: Allocation — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Robert Alexander Courts (Conservative, Centre-right): Rural areas are historically underfunded and in West Oxfordshire we need more funding for road repairs, upgrades to the A40 and adult social care. How is fairer funding progressing and will this be addressed in the spending review?
Local Authority Funding: Allocation — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): Decisions about local council tax support are rightly for individual local authorities to make themselves; it would not be appropriate for me to dictate to them. The fairer funding formula is designed to determine the equitable nature of funding distributed to all local authorities. The hon. Gentleman will know that the current system dates back to 2013-14, and indeed many elements date back decades before that. We are determined to fix it and bring it up to date.
Local Authority Funding: Allocation — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Stephen Daniel Double (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for supporting the measures in the Budget exempting public toilets from business rates and providing a commitment to take action regarding second home owners who are avoiding business rates. I very much welcome his words on a fair funding formula, but when the fair funding formula was previously introduced, it was dampened away. Will he make a commitment that rural councils really will see the benefit of a new fairer formula this time?
Local Authority Funding: Allocation — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and, indeed, to my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall (Scott Mann) for successfully placing in the Budget measures on public toilet relief and second homes. With regard to my hon. Friend’s second point, I am determined to ensure that the new formula is transparent and that all local authorities—not just those in rural areas—have a clearer idea about their allocation under the new formula, and transition to those new allocations in a relatively short timeframe.
Local Authority Funding — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have listened and responded to the pressures faced by local authorities. The autumn Budget helped to support financial sustainability of local authorities and provided more than £1 billion of additional funding across this year and next year for local authorities to deliver local services, support vulnerable residents and build vibrant communities.
Local Authority Funding — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): It may be worth pointing out to the right hon. Gentleman that core spending power per household in the most deprived local authority areas in the country is 23% higher than that in the least deprived. This Government support all communities with the resources that they need.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): Since 2010, we have delivered over 378,000 new affordable homes, including 129,000 for social rent. We are investing over £9 billion in the affordable homes programme to deliver more than 250,000 new affordable homes, including at least 12,500 for social rent.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): As the hon. Gentleman will know, we are throwing literally everything we have got at the housing market at the moment in the hope that we can build the homes that everybody in the country needs. In particular, in the social sector, we have increased the size of the affordable homes programme. We have reintroduced the idea of social rent; removed the housing revenue account borrowing cap for local authorities; and are setting long-term rent deals for councils and housing associations, enabling them to plan. We have also committed funding beyond 2022 for housing deals and partnerships with housing associations, which we think will deliver significant numbers of houses. It must be remembered that the Labour Government the hon. Gentleman supported induced local authorities to get out of house building. I was a councillor at the time. We were offered large amounts of money to get rid of our housing stock. That has to end. We want councils to start building to address exactly the needs he raises.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Victoria Grace Ford (Conservative, Centre-right): In Chelmsford, we are building a new garden community of 10,000 homes, more than one in four of which will be affordable, but the council wants to do more. What measures will there be to allow councils that do not have a housing revenue account also to take advantage of the new schemes that will enable them to borrow and build their own properties?
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is right. Quite a number of local authorities, having been induced, as I say, to get out of the house building industry and home-owning function, do not have housing revenue accounts. At the moment, if they construct, build or own more than about 200 council homes they have to open a housing revenue account. We hope that the new freedom we have introduced will enable councils to create innovative partnerships with other social housing providers to build the next generation of council houses.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): I am engaged in an intensive amount of activity on the subject of public land with my ministerial colleagues and those elsewhere. Hon. Members will have seen that we have recently changed the rules so that local authorities can dispose of their own public land at less than market value if they deem there is a social need to do so. Whether or not we can give them first refusal on acquiring that land will depend on their ability to deliver the homes that people need. I am very focused on numbers of homes rather than principles of disposal.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is one of the most innovative thinkers in housing policy generally, certainly on the Conservative Benches—not that there is much innovation on the Labour Benches, but there we are. He points to an area where there is strong demand. Very large numbers of people who would otherwise be tenants have a strong desire to own, and we would love to see them owning on a discounted basis. Hon. Members will have seen in the Budget the announcement of funding for neighbourhood plans to enable an allocation of discounted homes for sale, particularly in rural areas, and I would be keen to explore the idea further with my hon. Friend.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I have no reason to think that the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake) is anything other than an innovative thinker on this and other matters, but it might be of interest to people to know that he is also a distinguished estate agent.
New Homes for Social Rent — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): One issue that we are considering as part of our work on the social housing Green Paper is whether the tenant voice is heard strongly enough at the highest levels of housing associations. We must remember that some of these organisations are extremely large. The largest ones are huge and complex, looking after many hundreds of thousands of people, and the individuals who run them shoulder enormous responsibility and, indeed, risk. It is for those boards, suitably informed by the tenant body, to make decisions about remuneration.
Midlands Engine — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Peter Brokenshire (Conservative, Centre-right): My recent visit to India provided an important opportunity to promote the midlands engine in that significant market. This month, we announced funding to support the creation of a new locally led development body for Toton, as well as £70 million for the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, and we will refresh the midlands engine strategy.
Midlands Engine — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Peter Brokenshire (Conservative, Centre-right): I note my hon. Friend’s fingers are crossed. I am delighted to hear that Talgo is considering investing in the UK. I hope he will understand that as there are still a number of locations under consideration, it would be wrong for me to comment further—although, having visited the potential site in his constituency this summer, I can say that it is clearly an excellent site for investment.
Midlands Engine — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
James Peter Brokenshire (Conservative, Centre-right): As my hon. Friend says, that is a good try. I recognise the way in which the hon. Gentleman has championed Stoke, this initiative and the funding. All I can say is that we will look at that carefully, but I hope he gets a sense of the attention and focus we are giving to the midlands engine.
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank my hon. Friends for their questions. We are spending more than £1.2 billion through to 2020, and we have implemented the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, published our £100 million rough sleeping strategy and taken immediate action to begin to reduce the number of people on the streets.
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Kevin John Foster (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the Minister for her reply, and it is great to see her back in her place. As she will know, Torbay is very keen to take forward a Housing First pilot for our bay, to end the scourge of rough sleeping. Can she update us on what plans the Government have for that approach to be adopted?
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): We are delighted to be piloting Housing First at scale across England for the first time. The impact of that approach will be measured by a rigorous evaluation, which will ensure that we have the robust evidence base needed to demonstrate its effectiveness and inform future spending decisions.
Homelessness — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): I am very sorry that the charities are telling the local Member that, because overall we are putting in place a £1.2 billion fund for homelessness. I would certainly be very happy to write to the hon. Gentleman. His area is part of the greater west midlands project, and the greater west midlands Mayor, Andy Street, has many millions of pounds to help with homelessness—going to Coventry as well as the other parts of the greater west midlands.
Leasehold Changes — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): It is right that developers who sold leaseholds with onerous terms should support their customers to amend them. Some developers have introduced assistance schemes, which is welcome, but these must go further and faster. We are meeting developers shortly to discuss progress, and we will take further action as necessary.
Leasehold Changes — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Heather Kay Wheeler (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady has a particular problem with a particular trust. The good news is that, following last year’s discussions, the trust has now made an offer to some of her constituents to enable them to purchase their freeholds. I am aware that her constituents have found the freehold purchase price of the leasehold properties to be prohibitive. We are also aware that different formulas are in use to establish the cost of enfranchisement. The Government are looking to standardise enfranchisement processes and have asked the Law Commission to review current arrangements, including the valuation methodology. This will support existing leaseholders by making buying the freehold or extending the leasehold easier, faster and cheaper.
First-time Buyers: Help to Buy and Stamp Duty — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect on first-time buyers of (a) Help to Buy and (b) the reduction in stamp duty.
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): In the interests of providing a good service, Mr Speaker, I hope you will indulge me if I refer to my answer to the hon. Lady from north of the border, the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Alison Thewliss). I just want to say that there is no fixed date at the moment for bringing in the affirmative statutory instrument that will make it mandatory to have five-year electrical checks in the private rented centre, but we are searching for a slot as soon as possible in a crowded and exciting legislative timetable In answer to Question 14, the Government are working together to help more people on to the housing ladder. Help to Buy equity loans have helped over 169,000 house- holds to March 2018, 81% were to first-time buyers and 121,500 people have benefited from first-time buyers relief from stamp duty since June 2018.
First-time Buyers: Help to Buy and Stamp Duty — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect on first-time buyers of (a) Help to Buy and (b) the reduction in stamp duty.
Robert Andrew Raymond Syms (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful for the cuts in stamp duty for those at the lower end and the help for home ownership, but the higher rates of stamp duty may be having an adverse effect on the housing market. It could cost the Treasury £300 million, so a cut leading to more income, leaving more resources for those at the lower end could be in prospect. Has the Housing Minister raised that with the Treasury?
First-time Buyers: Help to Buy and Stamp Duty — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect on first-time buyers of (a) Help to Buy and (b) the reduction in stamp duty.
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is a political toxophilite of the highest order and has fired his arrows into a subject that is the cause of constant discussion between us and the Treasury. He knows that we all acknowledge the effect that stamp duty can have on the market; that is why he may have seen changes in the Budget to stamp duty on shared ownership, which we hope will benefit first-time buyers. However, I will keep him apprised of conversations as we have them.
First-time Buyers: Help to Buy and Stamp Duty — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Questions: What discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the effect on first-time buyers of (a) Help to Buy and (b) the reduction in stamp duty.
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): At this stage, there is no indication from the early returns on Help to Buy that the situation that the right hon. Gentleman raises is occurring. Indeed, early numbers show a higher level of successful redemption than we expected and we hope that that will continue.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
James Peter Brokenshire (Conservative, Centre-right): This week, I am meeting developers at a leasehold roundtable to press them to tackle onerous ground rents, and I will attend the Locality Convention in Bristol to acknowledge the hard work of our community organisations and set out our ambition for increased localism. Wednesday’s celebration of Diwali will be a special moment to reflect and celebrate the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. As we mourn the tragic events in Pittsburgh, especially in the context of this week’s 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht, we are clear that racism and xenophobia in whatever form have no place in our society and will be confronted in the strongest terms.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Other
Questions: Like the Minister, I welcome the Budget’s announcements of £650 million extra for social care and £84 million for children’s social care programmes over five years. Will he confirm when local authorities, including Torbay Council, will be told what their share of this new money will be?
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. I can scarcely hear the hon. Gentleman. I want to hear his question. I do not know what all this baa-ing is about—something may have been said that has escaped my attention—but that does not remotely concern me at this moment. What does concern me at this moment is that the hon. Gentleman must be heard and he will be heard, however long it takes.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Mixed Topics
Questions: Like the Minister, I welcome the Budget’s announcements of £650 million extra for social care and £84 million for children’s social care programmes over five years. Will he confirm when local authorities, including Torbay Council, will be told what their share of this new money will be?; The money announced in last week’s Budget to help to revitalise our high streets was warmly welcomed in my constituency of Southport. Will the Minister confirm when that money will be available?
James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (Conservative, Centre-right): Mr Speaker, if you ever take the opportunity to visit Southport, like Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, you will find out that its famous high street, Lord Street, inspired the wide boulevards of Paris. The £675 million future high street fund, which that historic high street will hope to access, will be subject to a prospectus published by my Department by the end of the year.
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2018-11-05
Topic: Housing
Questions: Like the Minister, I welcome the Budget’s announcements of £650 million extra for social care and £84 million for children’s social care programmes over five years. Will he confirm when local authorities, including Torbay Council, will be told what their share of this new money will be?; The money announced in last week’s Budget to help to revitalise our high streets was warmly welcomed in my constituency of Southport. Will the Minister confirm when that money will be available?; When I was a local authority executive member back in 2012, we were often warned about the “graph of doom”, which showed that by about 2018 local authorities would be running out of money for everything but statutory services. At the time, the Government accused the Local Government Association and the National Audit Office of scaremongering, but given what has happened in Northamptonshire and elsewhere, those warnings were accurate, were they not?; I am delighted to say that Solihull has one of the highest proportions of home ownership in the country. However, there is still real pent-up demand, particularly among the young. Will the Minister tell me what progress the Department has made on the midlands voluntary right-to-buy pilot?
Christopher Laurie Malthouse (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is a doughty champion for his constituents, including those who are tenants. He is right. We have had an enthusiastic response to the midlands right-to-buy pilot, with over 9,000 people applying for a code in the ballot. Over 6,000 of them have been given a code, and we hope that a significant number will come forward to seek the ownership they desire, funded by the £200 million being put towards the pilot.