Government Takes Another Hit On 300,000-Homes Target

The government has taken another hit on its 300,000-homes-a-year target, with the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee (HCLGC) warning an over-reliance on traditional building methods will see the UK fall far short of such numbers. The Commons Public Accounts Committee told MHCLG to “get a grip” on progressing the housing target, with the resulting report saying the Ministry had no clear plan to make 300,000-homes-a-year happen. In the report, MCLGC has urged the government to unlock the potential for modern methods of construction (MMC) to build homes quicker, more cheaply, while maintaining build quality. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/government-takes-another-hit-on-its-300000-homes-target/

Government ‘Unacceptably Complacent’ In Tackling Homelessness

The cross-party committee of MPs said the CLG’s “limited action” has “lacked the urgency that is so badly needed and its ‘light touch’ approach to working with the local authorities has clearly failed”. The PAC said the CLG is placing “great reliance” on the Homelessness Reduction Act, which comes into force in April next year, to provide the solution to homelessness and while this legislation “will no doubt help”, it cannot be successful unless the government also increases housing supply and makes homes more affordable. The latest government statistics showed there are 79,190 households in temporary accommodation, a 65% jump since 2010. Read more on Inside Housing.

First Right-To-Buy Sales Go Through After Pilots

The first sales have taken place under the government's controversial right-to-buy policy for housing association tenants. A handful of sales have gone through in recent days in London and Merseyside following a pilot project involving five housing associations. The housing minister said every house sold would be replaced. But the chairwoman of the public accounts committee said ministers had no idea how much the scheme would cost. Under the pilot schemes in London, Merseyside, Norfolk, Oxfordshire and Surrey, tenants had to have been resident for 10 years before they could become eligible to buy. Read more on the GovUK website.

CLG To Publish Data On Public Land Homes

Sajid Javid has committed to publishing figures showing the number of homes built on former public land, following stinging criticism from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Melanie Dawes, permanent secretary for the CLG, told the committee of MPs that a figure would be produced and published for homes built in land disposal programmes. Last year, the committee attacked the CLG for not monitoring homes built on land sold by government departments, accusing the department of “wishful thinking dressed up as public policy”. Addressing the committee, Ms Dawes said the new ministers, led by communities secretary Mr Javid, had prioritised monitoring and publishing figures. Read more on Inside Housing.

DWP Has Made 'Little Progress on Universal Credit'

Little progress has been made on the roll-out of universal credit with just 0.3% of the eligible population receiving it by October last year, concludes a damning new report. This is despite the £700m spent on the programme since it began in 2010, says the government’s spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Fewer than 18,000 people were claiming universal credit by October 2014, the committee report explains, out of about seven million expected in the longer term. The watchdog was also critical of the IT infrastructure for the programme, which it says is of ‘particular concern’. It has cost the DWP £344m so far to develop its ‘live’ service systems for claimants. Download the report from the Parliament website.

Losses Due To Housing Benefit Fraud and Errors Rising

Iain Duncan Smith’s department has failed to tackle escalating losses due to fraud and error in the housing benefit system, according to a report by parliament’s spending watchdog. The DWP overpaid claimants with £1.4bn of taxpayers’ money from 2013 to 2014, the public accounts committee has said. The MPs also found that civil servants had “done nothing” to tackle underpayment, which has put thousands of claimants into hardship, they said. Ministers and senior civil servants were pointedly criticised in the report’s conclusions for failing to come up with a strategy to tackle the problem. Read more on the Guardian website.

DWP 'Fails To Stop Billions Being Lost Through Housing Benefit'

A group of MPs has launched a scathing attack on the DWP branding its spend on preventing housing benefit fraud and error ‘completely nonsensical’. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ordered the department to report back within six months ‘with a clear plan to tackle the major sources of loss on housing benefit’. Margaret Hodge, chair of the PAC, said: ‘Billions of pounds have been lost to the taxpayer as a result of the DWP’s failure to tackle housing benefit fraud and error effectively.” Download the report from the Parliament website.

Universal Credit – Parliamentary Written Answer

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2014, by the Cabinet Secretary to Question 32 in oral evidence taken in the Committee of Public Accounts, when the Major Projects Authority informed him that the universal credit project was way off track. 

Mr Harper: The reset rating highlighted in the Major Projects Authority Report (September 2013) referred to the shift in the delivery plan and change in management in early 2013. Since the reset, we have worked to a clear plan to deliver universal credit. We are on track with this plan and we are making good progress. In June 2014, the CEO of the Major Projects Authority reported to Public Accounts Committee that the universal credit programme was stable and on track.

DWP Accused of 'Black Propaganda' In Universal Credit Debate

Glenda Jackson has attacked the DWP for embarking on a programme of "black propaganda" in a deliberate attempt to undermine the UK's benefits system. During a universal credit debate in the House of Commons, the Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn accused Iain Duncan Smith's department of a "bunker mentality" adding that "simple humility is not part and parcel of its make-up". Jackson was responding to the news that civil service chief Sir Bob Kerslake had informed the Public Accounts Committee that the business case for universal credit had still not been signed off by the Treasury, despite an assurance from DWP minister Esther McVey that it had. Read more on 24dash.

PAC Report on Help to Buy: Equity Loan - Government Response

Housing Minister Kris Hopkins responds to the Public Accounts Committee report on the Help to Buy: equity loan scheme. He said:

The Help to Buy: equity loan scheme is helping build more homes and support the economy - in fact we estimate the wider economic benefits of the scheme could be as much as £1.9 billion. So it is offering excellent value for money for taxpayers’, and to suggest otherwise is simply absurd.

Since the scheme’s launch, housebuilding is up a third and now at its highest level since 2007. Over 27,000 people across the country have used Help to Buy to get on the property ladder with a fraction of the deposit they would normally require, with cities including Leeds, Durham and Manchester seeing some of the biggest numbers of sales.

Read more on the GovUK website.

CLG Slammed For Not Reviewing New Homes Bonus

The CLG has been slammed for not assessing the impact of the New Homes Bonus two years into the scheme. The Public Accounts Committee, tasked with assessing the value for money of government policies, attacked the CLG for not carrying out an evaluation of the policy. CLG has yet to demonstrate the scheme, which will see £7.5 billion either granted or redistributed to councils by 2018/19, is funding homes in areas of housing need. The PAC report said: ‘We would have expected [CLG] to have planned a systematic evaluation from the outset…  Read the Committee’s conclusions and recommendations on the Parliament website.

IDS Accused of Misleading MPs over Cost of IT Failures

Iain Duncan Smith has been accused of misleading parliament after it emerged that the DWP could write off up to £161m spent on an IT system for ambitious welfare changes – more than four times what the minister said would be wasted.  The welfare minister also faces further embarrassing disclosures from PwC accountants who found that the universal credit system, which will allow the government to roll six welfare payments into one, has had little ministerial oversight. In one instance, a civil servant's personal assistant was allowed to sign off contracts, they found. The disclosures emerged at a public accounts committee meeting when officials from the department were closely questioned by MPs. Norma Wood, the head of the Major Projects Authority, agreed that the system would have to write off at least £140m. Read more on the Guardian website.

Committee Considers Impact of Welfare Reforms

The Public Accounts Committee - chaired by Margaret Hodge MBE MP - has released a report examining the overall impact of housing benefit reforms implemented by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The paper is broadly critical of the Department's approach. Margaret Hodge said:

"At the time of our hearing, far too many of those who stand to be directly affected were worryingly unaware of the reforms and what they will mean for their finances."  According to the Committee's findings, significant changes are being introduced without comprehensively modelling likely outcomes on individuals or on housing supply. It suggests that there seems to be little understanding of costs which may be incurred by local authorities.  Read the report on the Parliament website.

Committee Attacks Housing Benefit Reforms

The Public Accounts Committee has concluded that the government's housing benefit reforms have not been properly thought through.  Must damning of all, the Committee found that there is a risk that the introduction of direct payments of housing benefit to tenants living in social housing could lead to an increase in rent arrears and evictions. The report reads: "Housing associations are increasing their bad debt provision and concerns are being expressed that homelessness could increase."  The Committee's chair, Margaret Hodge MP, said that the DWP cannot "accurately predict the effects of its housing benefit changes either on individuals or on the housing supply". Download a copy of the report from the Parliament website.

Findings on Financial Viability of Social Housing Sector

The Commons Committee of Public Accounts publishes its 13th Report of Session 2012-13, Financial viability of the social housing sector: introducing the Affordable Homes Programme, as HC 388.  The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “We welcome the 80,000 homes due to be built under the Affordable Homes Programme, but have serious concerns about the impact of financing the scheme partly through higher rents on the Housing Benefit bill and on affordability for tenants. The Programme will be delivered through £1.8 billion of government grants to social housing providers, but the average grant of £20,000 per home is only a third of that under the previous programme. The government expects providers to make up for the lower grant in part by charging tenants higher rents. This will lead to an estimated £1.4 billion increase in the Housing Benefit bill over the next 30 years.”  Read more on the Parliament website.

Affordable Housing 'Trap' Warning From MPs

A government scheme to provide more affordable housing in England could trap some of its poorest residents on benefits, a committee of MPs warns. The Commons Public Accounts Committee (CPAC) said in a report that properties built under the Affordable Homes Programme will cost more to rent.  This is after the government negotiated a much lower grant with providers.  The government says the scheme will deliver 53,000 more affordable homes than under the previous funding model.  In its report, the CPAC also raised concerns about whether the programme would deliver the houses ministers have promised. The committee also said it was also "not yet clear" whether the reduced grants would save money in the long term.  The grants are £20,000 per home on average, a third of those from a predecessor scheme. 

Read more on the BBC website.

Welfare Changes Could Harm Work Programme

The Department for Work and Pensions has failed to consider the impact welfare reform will have on its flagship employment programme, according to a group of MPs.  In a report on the work programme, the Public Accounts Committee warns that the DWP ‘must be vigilant’ over the effect of the introduction of universal credit, adding that it could lead to major changes to the definition of claimant groups.  The committee praises the department’s ‘significant administrative achievement’ in getting the payment by results programme off the ground quickly but said that it must show that it is making sure contractors deliver the promised results.  It further warned that the programme should be judged not just on value for money but on whether it ‘produces the expected wider benefits to society of getting more people off benefit and into work’.  Download a copy of the report from the Parliament website.

Housing PFIs: 'They've Cost More and Been Delivered Late' - Spending Watchdog

Councils and health trusts were forced to use private finance initiative (PFI) contracts to provide housing and hospital services because there was "no realistic funding alternative", the Commons spending watchdog has said. There was no evidence that PFI schemes offered better value for money, according to a report from the Public Accounts Committee, but in many cases they were the only way to fund projects. The Government failed to use its leverage in the market to secure the best possible deal for taxpayers, the committee found. The housing contracts have cost considerably more than originally planned and were, on average, two-and-a-half years late, the report said. Read more on 24dash.

Quango Cull Will Not Achieve Savings

The government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’ has been badly managed and will not achieve the intended savings, a committee of MPs has found. In a report, the Public Administration Committee says there was no ‘meaningful consultation’ on plans to reduce the number of non-departmental public bodies, and tests used to identify which quangos should go were not applied in a uniform manner. A number of housing bodies are to be axed as a result of the government cull, including social housing regulator the TSA, and the Audit Commission. The select committee report says legislation to enact the plans has been badly drafted, and is being ‘significantly re-written’ in the House of Lords. It suggests the government may struggle to implement the changes it has set out because of their complexity. Read more on Inside Housing.

Government Told To 'Get a Stronger Grip' On Decent Homes Programme

The Government was told today to "get a stronger grip" on a multibillion-pound programme to improve social housing in England. The call came after a parliamentary report found ministers did not have precise figures on the cost of the work or the number of homes involved. The Decent Homes programme has improved more than 1.1 million properties since 2001, with 810,000 new kitchens, 610,000 new bathrooms and 1.14 million central heating systems installed, said the report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. But some 305,000 homes will not meet the CLG's December 2010 target for all social housing to reach "decent" standards - with the last work not due for completion until 2018/19. And the report said ministers' original estimate of £19 billion for the programme was "not fit for purpose". Read more of this article on the 24dash website or see the story immediately below this one.