Unlock Private Investment to Get Councils Building, Says Elphicke & House Report

With increasing demands on councils to build more homes, an interim report by Natalie Elphicke and Keith House says they should look to the private sector. The CLG said the independent review highlights how councils are already levering private finance to help deliver the homes their communities need – and how more councils could follow in their footsteps. Download a copy of the update report from the CLG website.

Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy: Interim Evaluation Report

As the post immediately below states, the DWP has issued an interim report presents early findings from the evaluation of the Bedroom Tax or as the Coalition call it the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS). The objectives of this project are to evaluate:

·        the preparation and implementation of the policy changes by local  authorities and social landlords

·        the extent of increased mobility within the social housing sector  leading to more effective use of the housing stock

·        the extent to which more people are in work, working increased hours  or earning increased incomes as a result of the RSRS

         the effects of the RSRS, and responses to it, of:

·        claimants

·        landlords

·        local authorities

·        voluntary and statutory organisations and advice services

·        funders lending to social landlords

Download the report from the DWP website.

Lies, Damn Lies and Failing DWP Bedroom Tax Reports

On the same day as the cabinet reshuffle the DWP released a 163-page interim report into the bedroom tax.  Unfortunately this deliberate burial of a report is the best that can be said for it as it really is that bad. It only records the first 5 months of the bedroom tax from April 2013 to August 2013 and so this report is already ELEVEN MONTHS OUT OF DATE. Let’s begin with the Executive Summary which starts on page 13.

This Interim Report presents early findings from the evaluation of the Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS). A final report will be published in 2015.

We have already been told by Steve Webb, then a minister at DWP, that the final report will be published in Summer 2015, that is AFTER the next general election.  Hence this sham of a report is to be the ONLY coalition report on the bedroom tax in this parliament which you would not know from reading this cleverly worded sentence. Read more on the Speye blog.