My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for giving us the opportunity to reflect on the future affordability and quality of higher education in this country. Her interest in HE is of long standing, and I recall her very effective role as inaugural chair of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education. I will not attempt to address some of the issues that the noble...
My Lords, home ownership is important, but social housing must play a central role in meeting the housing needs of young people. Over the past year, government decisions have put the social housing sector in a much better financial position, so can the Minister confirm that enough funding will be made available in the first years of the social and affordable homes programme to match the...
My Lords, Clause 12 and Schedule 1 introduce important new protections for social housing tenants experiencing domestic abuse. I welcome these measures, which will help ensure that victims can leave unsafe accommodation or remain in their homes safely without losing their tenancy rights. I also support Amendment 61, tabled by my noble friend Lord Best, which seeks to guarantee continuity of...
My Lords, I will say something about disposals, but as this is the first time I have spoken in the debate, I will make some general comments in support of the Bill. Social homes are a vital resource for low-income families, and the current system has depleted that stock for decades. I therefore welcome measures in this legislation to protect social housing stock by reforming right to buy....
I did realise that, which is why I made the point that I just wanted to make some general references because it is the first time that I have spoken. I will continue on to my point. I had wanted also to say something about the impact on rural affordable housing, but I echo so much of what others have said. I will move on to the point about disposals. Given our acute shortage of social...
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the value for money of automatic enrolment in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for (1) higher education providers, (2) academics, (3) students, and (4) taxpayers.
I thank the Minister for that reply. She will, of course, be aware of the disparity between the main pension schemes in the university sector, with both employer and employee contributions significantly higher in the TPS than in the USS. The Government have emphasised the need for the sector to be financially independent, yet the requirement to commit to the TPS undermines the flexibility and...
More of Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe's speeches and debates
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of increases in the Economic Crime Levy on not-for-profit housing associations.
To ask His Majesty's Government why they have designated the Housing Ombudsman the preferred provider of the Landlord Ombudsman Service without an open and transparent process to find the best provider.
To ask His Majesty's Government whether financial support has been provided to the Housing Ombudsman in relation to the Landlord Ombudsman Service and, if so, the amount and the terms under which it has been provided.
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to ring-fence funding for housing related support to match 2010 levels of £1.6 billion a year allocated to local authorities for that purpose.
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to reinstate the £300 million Housing Transformation Fund to support the development of specialist housing for those such as veterans who want to live independently but require some assistance.
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made on developing a new kitemark scheme for higher education, as recommended in the final report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published on 23 May 2022; and what is their assessment of how this kitemark will work alongside the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers Quality Mark.
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Police Foundation and The People’s Pension Protecting People’s Pensions: Understanding and Preventing Scams, published on 7 September, what action they are taking to protect people from pension scams.
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many of the apprenticeship standards approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education have had fewer than 10 apprentices enrolled in any year since their approval; and for each of those apprenticeship standards, how many apprentices were signed up in each year since they were approved.
