Rachel Maclean: No, that is not the case. It is a pleasure to respond to the hon. Gentleman. This Government are taking the delivery of affordable housing across the whole country incredibly seriously. That is why more than 243,000 affordable homes have been provided in rural local authorities in England, such as those represented by Members across this House, between April 2010 and March 2022. We must get...
Rachel Maclean: ...) set out. I want to be very clear that there has been no U-turn, as some have tried to characterise it. This is about timing. As hon. Members will know, it is a long-standing tradition of this House that Ministers cannot comment on precise timescales and details of forthcoming legislation, but I can reassure the House today that officials in my Department are working flat out to bring...
Rachel Maclean: On 7 February the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities published the Final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2022/23. The Settlement sets out a core council tax referendum principle of 2%, which means North Yorkshire FRA will be able to increase their average Band D council tax by up to 2% next year without requiring a local referendum. The referendum principles were...
Rachel Maclean: ...of England. We welcome ideas from existing and new partners who have an ambition to deliver more affordable homes. More details are online here. The Mayor of London, through the London Plan and Housing Strategy, sets out where homes should be built and what level of affordable housing is required.
Rachel Maclean: ...the hon. Lady on the detail of the clauses in the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill, but I am proud of the Government’s record in bringing forward levelling-up across the whole country, with house building backed by billions of pounds of public funding and taxpayers’ money. As I said in answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), our house building record is...
Rachel Maclean: Variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard. We believe that charges to leaseholders and social housing tenants should be transparent and communicated effectively, and there should be a clear route to challenge them if things go wrong. With regard specifically to social housing tenants I refer...
Rachel Maclean: What I would like to see from Members on the other side of the House is an apology for talking this country down, which they have done repeatedly. I am not sure whether the hon. Lady was able to tune in to Treasury questions recently when the Chancellor set the record straight on how we now have one of the fastest-growing rates in the G7. It is this Conservative Government who will get every...
Rachel Maclean: ...232,000 homes for the last year for which data is available – over 75% of the way towards our goal of ensuring there are 300,000 new homes a year. We have announced £10 billion investment in housing supply since the start of this Parliament, with our housing supply interventions due to ultimately unlock over 1 million new homes over the Spending Review 2021 period and beyond. We are...
Rachel Maclean: ...all from her. I saw her work as the Home Secretary, which is definitely the most difficult job in Government. Back to matters connected to Witham, we share my right hon. Friend’s desire for the housing and planning system to work for absolutely everybody. We want to make this a country of home ownership. We are the party of home ownership, and we completely agree with her that we want to...
Rachel Maclean: ...own homes. Funding is un-ringfenced, which allows councils to use the funding as best suits their area, including measures to support guests to access the private rented sector. The Local Authority Housing Fund provides capital funding directly to councils in England to obtain housing for Ukrainian and Afghan families and in the longer term will provide a new and permanent supply of...
Rachel Maclean: The Welsh Labour Government have a shocking record on house building, as they have on many issues. What is more, they are not tackling the issue at source, which is why we are bringing forward our catchment plans and our protected site strategies. A lot of the rivers that are draining from Wales are impacting negatively on constituencies in England. The only thing I agree with in the hon....
Rachel Maclean: ...and I thank every Member for making powerful contributions. I start by reaffirming the unshakeable commitment of the Government to driving up both the quality and quantity of this nation’s social housing stock. It is a core tenet of our levelling-up agenda, and that has been reflected in recent years, starting with our affordable homes programme. The Government have been clear that they...
Rachel Maclean: The Secretary of State set out, in the House, his intention to bring the 'outdated and feudal' tenure of leasehold to an end. The Government wishes to extend the benefits of freehold ownership to more homeowners. That is why we have committed to end the sale of new leasehold houses, and to reinvigorate commonhold so it can finally be a genuine alternative to leasehold; it is why we have...
Rachel Maclean: ...do not have long to wait. They will have all their questions answered in due course. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Milton Keynes North (Ben Everitt) for his excellent speech on social housing. I reassure him that social housing will be part of the infrastructure levy, and it was a pleasure to meet his small builders and business experts. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for...
Rachel Maclean: To improve the length of time taken to process medical licensing applications, the DVLA has recruited additional staff. This includes increasing the number of in-house doctors it employs and temporary administrative staff. Nurse caseworkers are being utilised to deal with specific conditions. The DVLA is also working with the relevant bodies to explore ways of reducing the time taken to...
Rachel Maclean: ...it remains the Government’s policy to ensure that we identify and build on urban brownfield areas such as the ones she mentioned in Docklands, Beckton, Silvertown and elsewhere. We need to see housing delivered there. We have seen 30-year record highs in housing delivery under this Conservative Government, and we intend to continue delivering the right houses in the right places,...
Rachel Maclean: The Greater London Authority has responsibility for delivering Affordable Housing in London, with a delegation of £4 billion to invest in new housing from the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme. Our £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes to rent and to buy right across the country, including thousands of new homes for social rent. Between...
Rachel Maclean: This is exactly why we have introduced to the House the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. If the hon. Lady was listening to my earlier remarks, she would have heard me setting out the stronger sentences, the increase in electronic tagging for these perpetrators and the raft of protections to keep women and girls safer. She will also know through the many exchanges that we have had in...
Rachel Maclean: ...for Manchester, Gorton (Afzal Khan) is not in his place at the moment, but he is an honourable man and I respect his campaign on this issue. Of course he has garnered a lot of sympathy across the House. We have heard about the issues that our constituents have with boundaries, and they are valid concerns. It is right that we should be airing them in this House. However, the assertion seems...
Rachel Maclean: Shared ownership rents are increased annually in accordance with the terms of the lease. We are however aware of the impact that inflation has had on rents. That is why we welcome the fact that housing associations representing 95% of the sector's shared ownership homes have confirmed - through the National Housing Federation - that they will voluntarily limit rent increases to no more than...
