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do. I am afraid we must movd on Urgent question. Mr Owen Smhth. | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
Thank you. May I ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
will make a statement on thd Court of Appeal ruling that the bddroom | :00:13. | :00:16. | |
tax has caused discrimination contrary to article 14 of the | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
European Convention on Human Rights? Justin Tomlinson. We know there are | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
people who need extra support. That is why we are providing loc`l | :00:28. | :00:30. | |
authorities with discretion`ry housing payment. Local authorities | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
are best placed to assess pdople's needs in their area and identify | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
where extra support is needdd. We have increased the amount of | :00:40. | :00:41. | |
discretionary housing support available and on top of the ?56 | :00:42. | :00:47. | |
million, we are providing an extra ?870 million over the next 75 years. | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
People involved are receiving discretionary payments. That is | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
precisely why we have these and shows they are working. We welcome | :01:00. | :01:02. | |
the fact the High Court and Court of Appeal both ruled that the public | :01:03. | :01:09. | |
sector equality measure had been met, with respect to women. In that | :01:10. | :01:20. | |
judgment, the court found that discretionary payments were | :01:21. | :01:24. | |
appropriate for vulnerable people. It is a complex affair and hn terms | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
of these two latest cases, ` very narrow ruling. In these casds, the | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
High Court found in our favour and we fundamentally disagree whth | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
yesterday's Court of Appeal ruling on the ECA chart. This is not a case | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
of people losing money. Thex are in receipt of discretionary hotsing | :01:42. | :01:44. | |
payments. It is about whethdr it is possible to define such exelptions | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
or whether direct housing p`yments through local authorities ghve the | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
right flexibility to help a wide range of those in need. The Court of | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
Appeal has already granted permission to appeal and we will be | :01:56. | :02:02. | |
appealing to the set green court -- Supreme Court. I am flabbergasted by | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
this response and flabbergasted that the Secretary of State is once more | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
ducking responsibilities. Wd knew the bedroom tax was cruel btt we now | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
know that it is illegal. Thhs decisive ruling from the Cotrt of | :02:18. | :02:20. | |
Appeal should mark the end to this pernicious policy. It could not have | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
been more clear. The bedrool tax is unlawful and discriminatory. The | :02:28. | :02:29. | |
Court of Appeal has considered to cases against the Secretary of | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
State, who once again, is not prepared to defend his policy. One | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
from a victim of rape, but hn a panic room installed by polhce and | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
one from a family who I know personally, to whom I pay tribute | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
for the care they provide to their disabled grandson and the bravery | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
they have shown in taking on the Secretary of State. In both cases, | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
it was ruled that the bedroom tax calls discrimination. They `dmitted | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
discrimination had not been justified by the Secretary of State. | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
The question to the Minister in place of the Secretary of State is, | :03:08. | :03:11. | |
what does this really mean for the 450,000 families currently `ffected | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
by the bedroom tax? If the Government is appealing to the | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
Supreme Court, as extraordinarily it seems they are, can the minhsters | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
tell us what specific grounds it is appealing? Crucially, as a latter of | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
urgency, will the Government immediately exempt the two groups | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
that have been found to havd been discriminated against from the | :03:32. | :03:39. | |
bedroom tax? Victims of domdstic and is and the families of severely | :03:40. | :03:41. | |
disabled children. Can the Linister confirm that those who have had | :03:42. | :03:52. | |
panic rooms installed and exempting those people would cost the | :03:53. | :03:59. | |
Government a mere ?200,000? By comparison, can he tell us home in | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
the hundreds of thousands of pounds he has spent already on leg`l fees, | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
defending this vile policy? And how much more he is prepared to spend? | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
Is it a blank cheque to defdnd this to the end? Can the Minister also | :04:13. | :04:16. | |
tell us how many families whth severely disabled children `re | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
currently paying the bedrool tax? Can he informed the House what | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
proportion of domestic by the victims and families with dhsabled | :04:26. | :04:27. | |
children are in receipt of discretionary housing payments? This | :04:28. | :04:35. | |
ruling was on specific crimds. Can the Minister confirm that the | :04:36. | :04:38. | |
bedroom tax is failing in every regard? He talks of discrethonary | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
housing payments. His own Government report admitted, 75% of victims do | :04:44. | :04:52. | |
not receive PHP. Three quarters of those hit by the bedroom tax are | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
cutting back on food. Only 4% had been able to move. 80% regularly run | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
out of money. Politics is about choices. The choice which f`ces the | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
Secretary of State today was very clear. He could have come to this | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
House and admitted that this is a rotten policy that is punishing poor | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
people across this country. And he could have scrapped it. Instead he | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
sits on the front bench for going back to Caxton House to consult with | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
his lawyers, in order to defend this policy against victims of domestic | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
violence and parents of dis`bled children. Shameful! Justin | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
Tomlinson. To be clear, this is about whether it is possibld to | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
define such exemptions whether local authorities give the flexibhlity to | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
help a wide range of people in need. We will appeal this to the Supreme | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
Court. If you try to set straight categories, people, especially with | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
unique circumstances and issues could fall just below an artificial | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
line. That means they would miss out. Is it realistic to expdct that | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
here in London we could set such an exhaustive list? Direct housing | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
payments, of which we provide ? 70 million over the next five xears, | :06:14. | :06:18. | |
give flexibility. It allows you to work with the police, social | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
services, medical professionals to give co-ordinated support | :06:24. | :06:29. | |
underwritten by the public sector equality duty. Politicians do face | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
choices. When local housing allowance was introduced under the | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
last Labour Government, there was no additional support provided. They | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
would have faced exactly thd same challenges. I am it fine? Why has | :06:42. | :06:52. | |
that changed much now? Wiki making references to tax. What abott the | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
1.7 million people in the social housing waiting list? The 240,0 0 | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
people in overcrowded accomlodation? There is scant regard for them. | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
These are the people we spe`k for. It is right to provide flexhbility | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
and a coordinated approach. This is the right thing to do. Does the | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
Minister agree that this is an issue of fairness? People in overcrowded | :07:17. | :07:23. | |
accommodation and those waiting on social housing lists. We all see | :07:24. | :07:33. | |
through casework, families on the waiting list, 1.7 million pdople | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
across England, 241,000 in overcrowded accommodation, ht is | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
right that we are trying to match the right accommodation to people's | :07:44. | :07:48. | |
individual needs. I cannot believe that we have just heard somdone from | :07:49. | :07:52. | |
the Tory backbenches saying this is about fairness. Because that is | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
exactly what this is about. Is it not a disgrace, when this is the | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
policy the Secretary of State, sitting there whispering into the of | :08:00. | :08:07. | |
his Minister, the decision on the courts follows a series of | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
embarrassing that is for thd Secretary of State. There is also a | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
United Nations investigation into the UK Government welfare policy. | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
The SNP Scottish Government has committed ?90 million to mitigating | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
the effects of the bedroom tax in Scotland. To stop the threat of | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
eviction imposed by this Dickensian Tory policy. We will end thd bedroom | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
tax when we have the powers to do so. The Secretary of State will not | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
heed the warnings of the SNP, when he at least listen to the rtins of | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
some of the highest courts `nd scrap this unfair and discriminatory tax | :08:44. | :08:47. | |
and think again about the pdrsimmons of how those cuts are damaghng vital | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
support? The parliament in London did not stop this. Thank he`vens the | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
court has intervened. It is little wonder the Tories are so unpopular | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
in Scotland. They have returned to being the nastier party thex were | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
under Thatcher. This time under Cameron and Osborne. The honourable | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
gentleman has rather exceeddd his time. This policy is discrilinatory | :09:14. | :09:21. | |
and unlawful. Will he agreed to scrapping this Draconian policy | :09:22. | :09:30. | |
In terms of fairness, we all talk to those families on the housing | :09:31. | :09:39. | |
waiting list. Try explain to them why we shouldn't make more of the | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
accommodation available to them We have already provided greatdr | :09:45. | :09:47. | |
flexibility in Scotland through devolution to do what you whsh to do | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
with discretionary housing payments. Clearly, we shall all wait for the | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
Supreme Court judgment, but there are two points today that mtst be | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
clear. Does the Minister agree with me that the incredible indignation | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
gathered by the Shadow minister is blown apart by the fact that the | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
family in question are in f`ct receiving exactly the same `mount of | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
benefits they were before the introduction of the spare bddroom | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
subsidy, and the opportunisl issued very clearly that it was taken away | :10:19. | :10:24. | |
for the much larger number of people and the private sector? I thank my | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
honourable friend, that is absolutely right. They are hn | :10:31. | :10:34. | |
receipt of payment, which shows discretionary housing payments to | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
work and shows with flexibility you can do a coordinated approach with | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
police, social services, medical professionals and other agencies. Mr | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
Speaker, will the Minister wake up at? The fact of the matter hs that | :10:47. | :10:53. | |
this is even dicta of policx, and it is also a policy that with the | :10:54. | :10:58. | |
selling off of the housing associations, ducks the real | :10:59. | :11:02. | |
question was not holding appropriate housing for people in this country | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
could is a diversion, get on with the real job. That is why otr ? | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
million programme of Doug whether a further 400,000 housing in this | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
Parliament. We will reverse the loss of 400,000 homes under the last | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
Labour Government. Whilst I agree with my honourable friend and I | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
think the question of fairndss is vital. So many in Northumberland | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
really struggled to find a home and I think it is equally -- kex | :11:34. | :11:43. | |
question of equality. I would ask the Minister consider ways to help | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
the local authority to find new systems for matching familids to the | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
right homes? That is why it is so important that we are incre`sing | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
housing building starts. Landlords are already displaying changes to | :11:56. | :11:59. | |
new housing stock in order to match those changes. Has the Government is | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
now effectively abandoned the principle of a benefit systdm which | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
properly assesses people according to needs and circumstances, and then | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
pays them a benefit whatever those circumstances last? Instead, the | :12:17. | :12:19. | |
answer to everything seems to be discretionary housing payments. They | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
are paid on a case-by-case basis. 75% of people on bedroom tax do not | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
get them. And the time limited as well. Does he recognise the enormous | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
uncertainty this creates and a hardship for people in very real | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
housing need? I have a huge amount of respect for his knowledgd of | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
local authorities, but like him I have served on one and trust their | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
ability to work with other `gencies. Remember, this is underwritten by | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
the public sector of qualitx duty, which make sure all this usd are | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
considered. Could my honour`ble friend set out the exceptions there | :12:57. | :13:07. | |
are to the spare room subsidy. We have pensioners, those with disabled | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
children who cannot share a room and foster carers, and those who have | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
got... Those serving in the Armed Forces who are currently deployed. | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
The discretionary payments `llows for that flexibility to look at | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
individual circumstances with a coordinated approach. If we tried to | :13:28. | :13:31. | |
come up with an exhaustive list they would be double who wotld fall | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
below that line and miss out on any support. That is unacceptable. | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
Unpaid family carers, they `re not included in that list. Why should | :13:41. | :13:49. | |
people like carers live in fear of losing their homes, and adapted | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
bungalow in this case? 60,000 carers hit by the bedroom tax. It has | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
always been a logical... Can he not see that what he should do now, | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
what's the Secretary of State should do is to abandon the policy and | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
recognise that carers should not be hit with this? We in this House | :14:09. | :14:14. | |
recognise the valuable role carers play in society. Discretion`ry | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
housing payments is an opportunity to provide that. When this was | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
introduced in the private sdctor, why was there no arguments to say | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
there should be exemptions for carers in the private sector? One | :14:27. | :14:33. | |
will then, one rule now. With the Minister agree that to have a list | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
of strict criteria would undermine the whole point of having a | :14:37. | :14:40. | |
discretionary housing payment system? Would he also agree that it | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
is interesting to see false anger from the party that introduced this | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
for tenants on housing benefit in the private sector? I thank my | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
honourable friend for that. It gives discretion and it allows a | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
multi-agency approach to help people on individual needs. People do not | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
need to lay fall into a convenient box in society. You have to have | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
discretion and flexibility to do the right thing. Thank you very much, Mr | :15:06. | :15:14. | |
Speaker. After his embarrassment, will those affected get an `pology | :15:15. | :15:17. | |
on the bedroom tax from the dispatch box? We think this is a good policy, | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
helping the 1.7 million people on the waiting list, finding dhscretion | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
and not creating artificial lines which people can fall beneath. If it | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
were not out of order, would my honourable friend not agree with me | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
that given that the party opposite introduced this very principle for | :15:40. | :15:42. | |
the private sector, their ottrage now is hypocritical? I thank my | :15:43. | :15:49. | |
honourable friend. I hope it isn't out of order, because I fully agree. | :15:50. | :15:55. | |
If it were, I would have ruled thus, and it wasn't, so I did not. We will | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
leave it at that. I am alwaxs grateful to the honourable gentleman | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
for his advice. In this instance, it suffers from the material at an | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
advantage of being wrong. I would just like to ask a simple qtestion | :16:10. | :16:13. | |
asked by Mr Paul Rutherford. Why would the Government spend tax | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
payers' money on an appeal? We make sure those are vulnerable gdt the | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
right support. Mr Speaker, now my honourable friend has reminded the | :16:28. | :16:30. | |
party opposite of what they did in Government, but can he also remind | :16:31. | :16:33. | |
them it is not a tax when you treat people equally? I thank my | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
honourable friend repeating that point so eloquently. My council has | :16:38. | :16:49. | |
added money above the arbitrary and tokenistic housing payments. Will | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
the Government increased discretionary payments under the | :16:54. | :16:59. | |
Supreme Court ruling? We have committed ?870 million over this | :17:00. | :17:01. | |
Parliament. It is a considerable amount of money. At the halfway | :17:02. | :17:06. | |
point of the year, most loc`l authorities have not even spend 50%. | :17:07. | :17:10. | |
I hope they will continue to look at ways to support vulnerable people. | :17:11. | :17:18. | |
Is there more the Government can do to encourage and enable councils to | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
make discretionary awards? To provide certainty that they can | :17:24. | :17:28. | |
afford rent? That is an important point to make. We are looking to do | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
that, to encourage greater common sense to be applied. Mr Spe`ker the | :17:33. | :17:39. | |
financial conduct for it me this week that 40% of adults in ly | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
constituency are suffering severe debt problems. That is becatse we | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
have over 3000 families suffering the bedroom tax, which is the | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
highest in the land. It is ` debt bondage going on here. Will the | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
Minister come to my constittency, at my request, and meet people | :18:00. | :18:01. | |
suffering the bedroom tax, `nd particularly women in my safe spot | :18:02. | :18:05. | |
the scheme, who suffered dolestic violence and are now being punished | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
by this ruling that the Govdrnment are coming out with? I am a | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
constituency MP as well as ` minister. We have trebled the | :18:21. | :18:23. | |
funding to support victims of domestic abuse to ?40 million a | :18:24. | :18:27. | |
year. Every year is housing have fallen for the last years as well. | :18:28. | :18:41. | |
-- arrears have fallen. Does my honourable friend agree that no | :18:42. | :18:47. | |
change should be considered until the Supreme Court has made ` final | :18:48. | :18:57. | |
ruling? That is absolutely the case. In Northern Ireland, 66% of housing | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
tenants and 62% of all existing housing benefit recipients, under | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
the fresh start agreement, dxcepted just last year, it has been agreed | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
that money is to offset that will come out of the Northern Irdland | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
block grant. Has the Ministdr had any discussions with the other | :19:18. | :19:20. | |
devolved administrations to enable them legally to make further | :19:21. | :19:26. | |
decisions? I have not, but H will look at that. As the Ministdr has | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
said on several occasions, hn both these cases, the appellants were | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
actually in receipt of discretionary payments. Does he therefore agree | :19:38. | :19:40. | |
with me that this demonstrates the fund is working and helping those | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
most in need? This is exactly why we are getting the money to thd people | :19:47. | :19:52. | |
who need it, and rightly so. Given that one of the main drivers of this | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
policy was to force people to find alternative accommodation, but the | :19:59. | :20:01. | |
majority have state puts despite these difficulties, does thhs not | :20:02. | :20:05. | |
sure that not only is this policy inhumane, cruel and is | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
discriminatory, but it is also a failure? I absolutely disagree. 16% | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
had registered to move in Atgust 20 14. Remember those 1.7 millhon | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
people, 241,000 people in overcrowded accommodation. They need | :20:23. | :20:24. | |
the same chance that those people had. It is the right thing to do. | :20:25. | :20:32. | |
Some of my most moving meethngs with constituents have been with those | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
who are in unique circumstances and who need help very gratefully. Does | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
the Minister agree that it hs precisely because there is | :20:40. | :20:42. | |
discretion in the system th`t the Government is able to help those in | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
need? I thank my honourable friend for that. It is just one ex`mple we | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
have of supporting people. There is a 79% increase in the disabhlity | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
facilities Grant for next ydar, which will significantly increase | :20:57. | :20:59. | |
the 40,000 properties per ydar we are helping adapt. Thank yot, Mr | :21:00. | :21:08. | |
Speaker. The bedroom tax is the most unpopular tax since another Tory | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
invention, the Tory tax. Thd poll tax. Given this recent judglent | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
surely this is an opportunity for the Government to review its | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
position? Why will the Government not to take that opportunitx and | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
scrap this tax once and for? I will gently remind the honourabld member | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
that this is not a tax and hf it was so desperately unpopular, why are we | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
in Government? Thank you, Mr Speaker. On the issue of fahrness, | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
I'm sure we will think it is fair they have subsidised social housing | :21:42. | :21:45. | |
so that people pay about 30$ of rent in some cases. They do not think it | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
is fair they subsidise their 2% of market rent, people having spare | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
rooms we do not use or need. If I suspect the Minister is unable to | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
come to the dispatch box and give a definitive list of the cases where a | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
spare room is needed, surelx that shows our discretionary system is | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
the best one and one we must continue with? That is exactly the | :22:05. | :22:10. | |
point. It seems the opposithon wants to create this artificial btyer | :22:11. | :22:12. | |
which will see some people who will miss out, who should be getting | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
support and that is not accdptable. Extraordinary cynicism by the | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
Minister to talk about houshng waiting lists when the Government is | :22:23. | :22:27. | |
forcing the subsidising of housing associations. How can he explain | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
that only 5% of people who have been affected by the bedroom tax have | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
been able to move? More than ten times that number have been unable | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
to. To object to allowing pdople to have the opportunity to buy their | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
own home, we're not all frol gifted backgrounds and people should have | :22:46. | :22:48. | |
an opportunity to do that. That will raise funds for new housing in turn. | :22:49. | :22:53. | |
The amount we spend on houshng benefit scored by 15% in thd last | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
years of the Labour Governmdnt. We now spend more on housing bdnefits | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
than we spend on secondary education, 50% of the Ministry | :23:04. | :23:06. | |
defence budget, and yet, thdre is a chronic 's shortage of soci`l | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
housing. With the Minister `gree with me that there is no -- that no | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
reasonable, confident governorate would be trying to find solttions | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
for these problems? The mondy spent was ?24.4 billion. We will know | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
spends ?26 billion per year. The opposition are according to scrap | :23:28. | :23:30. | |
the spare a subsidy policy `nd that would be an extra ?2.5 billhon in | :23:31. | :23:39. | |
the ever-growing black hole. 71 500 people would be affected for the | :23:40. | :23:42. | |
bedroom tax if it was not the actions of SNP mitigating that. This | :23:43. | :23:47. | |
UK Government policy is verx clearly discriminatory and has eight | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
devastating impact on vulnerable people in society. We have seen an | :23:52. | :23:57. | |
astonishing tax deal with Google, hailed by the Chancellor. Is it not | :23:58. | :24:00. | |
time this Government stopped prioritising sweetheart tax deals? | :24:01. | :24:09. | |
Well, no, because I wonder how the SNP will actually explain to those | :24:10. | :24:12. | |
people on the waiting list why effort are not being made to create | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
more appropriate housing? Whth my honourable friend confirm to me that | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
before this reform, 820,000 spare rooms were paid for by the taxpayer. | :24:26. | :24:34. | |
Not only wasting taxpayers' money, but also going over their hdads | :24:35. | :24:39. | |
Absolutely. That was no help at all to those families in overcrowded | :24:40. | :24:41. | |
accommodation. This is complex but will thd | :24:42. | :24:50. | |
Minister accept that this is about straightforward suffering? People | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
already struggling with hardship who have literally nowhere else to go? | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
Not at all. These people have been given the money that shows | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
discretionary housing payment works. When the party opposite introduced | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
the spare room subsidy for the private sector, there was no | :25:13. | :25:14. | |
discretionary housing payment that went with it. Have we made `n | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
assessment as to whether we can extend it to the spare room subsidy | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
introduced by the party opposite? Why wasn't the case that thdre was | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
no additional support provided to vulnerable people when it w`s | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
introduced in the private sdctor? That not there. My apologies. I have | :25:33. | :25:42. | |
lost my voice. The honourable gentleman has lost his voicd. I am | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
saddened by that. We owe hil a degree of quietude so we might | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
detect what he has two safe. On a point of fact, will the Minhster and | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
his officials, by the end of today, be able to supply me and other Welsh | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
MPs with a list of how many people who are households where thdre are | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
victims of domestic by or dhsabled children, and on the point of common | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
decency, if he and his ministers are not able to issue an apologx today, | :26:14. | :26:19. | |
if this decision is upheld, with even apologise? I am not sure we can | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
get in all that information by the end of the day. We will get through | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
as much of that as has been requested. Irrespective of the fact | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
that the Minister ignores the court ruling, why is housing benefit | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
estimated to go above 25 billion next year? We are not ignorhng the | :26:40. | :26:47. | |
ruling. We are appealing it. We feel discretionary housing payment is the | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
correct way. Reform takes thme to come in. ?24.4 billion in housing | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
benefit, had we not rotten reforms which the party opposite has | :26:58. | :26:59. | |
opposed, it would be ?26 billion this year. Given yesterday's | :27:00. | :27:07. | |
landmark ruling, given the report from the UN on housing which said | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
the bedroom tax damaged livds of citizens and given the fact that | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
there is scarce housing with that particular need, could the Linister | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
indicate today in a compasshonate way that the Government will abandon | :27:25. | :27:35. | |
this bedroom tax? No. When the Government consulted on the bedroom | :27:36. | :27:42. | |
tax, how many disability organisations warned the Department | :27:43. | :27:45. | |
of the discriminatory naturd of this measure? I was there advice ignored | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
at such substantial cost to the taxpayer? There was full and wide | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
consultation in the developlent of this policy. The SNP is building | :27:56. | :28:05. | |
record numbers of council housing in Scotland. The new right to buy was | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
introduced in 2013. There h`s been 30,000 sales of houses in England | :28:12. | :28:17. | |
and Wales and less than 3000 new starts. You cannot they say that | :28:18. | :28:20. | |
your housing bill will solvd this problem. The High Court rulhng says | :28:21. | :28:27. | |
that because BHP cannot be guaranteed, it is disgrace three. We | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
are against the bedroom tax altogether. Is it not time the | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
Government things again? Yot must think again. I have met famhlies on | :28:37. | :28:43. | |
the waiting lists wanting to see properties become available. In | :28:44. | :28:50. | |
Fareham, we have over 1000 people on housing waiting lists. Incltding | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
young families with children. With the Minister please provide a | :28:56. | :29:00. | |
breakdown per constituency, of how many people are on housing waiting | :29:01. | :29:06. | |
lists, so we can better unddrstand the extent of this problem? I cannot | :29:07. | :29:13. | |
provide the breakdown instantly for every constituency but we are making | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
efforts. The ?20 billion worth of measures to increase housing supply | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
will help people get out of overcrowded properties and off | :29:23. | :29:24. | |
waiting lists into appropri`te accommodation. How much mondy so far | :29:25. | :29:36. | |
has been wasted on defending this cruel policy, in terms of ldgal | :29:37. | :29:41. | |
fees? It is not cruel to provide support to the most vulnerable in | :29:42. | :29:47. | |
society. And it is also sensible, 82 and a half billion pound extra cost, | :29:48. | :29:50. | |
if the party opposite was to this policy. Will the Minister agree that | :29:51. | :29:56. | |
not only is discretionary housing payment the right way to address the | :29:57. | :30:00. | |
issue but the fact that somd local authorities are not spending their | :30:01. | :30:04. | |
full allocation is evidence that the Government is fully resourcdd in | :30:05. | :30:12. | |
this matter? Thank you. Not only is the ?870 million proving to be the | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
right amount of money for local authorities but awareness is | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
increasing. It is simply astonishing that the Government is still not | :30:21. | :30:23. | |
listening and facing up to the reality of flaws in this policy In | :30:24. | :30:28. | |
the same way that they blocked the Private Members' Bill in thd name of | :30:29. | :30:36. | |
the former MP for St Ives. Can they not just of that bill and m`ke the | :30:37. | :30:41. | |
changes are clearly need to be made to this policy? We're deterlined to | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
protect those most vulnerable in society. We're getting fundhng to | :30:46. | :30:52. | |
where it needs to be and we are entitled to do that. We havd had | :30:53. | :30:58. | |
half an hour of nonanswers from this Minister when actually, we wanted | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
his boss, the Secretary of State to come to this dispatch box to defend | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
this disgusting and permisshons policy. Will he now answer the | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
question set out by my honotrable friend, the member for Hull North, | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
how much is this Government wasting of public money to defend the | :31:20. | :31:26. | |
indefensible? That level of anger matched some of the families I met | :31:27. | :31:29. | |
waiting on the waiting list that you wish to turn a blind eye to. Order! | :31:30. | :31:44. | |
Hilary Benn. Thank you. Will the Secretary of State make a statement | :31:45. | :31:46. | |
on arms sales to Saudi Arabha in light of the report of potential | :31:47. | :31:51. | |
breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen? @s the | :31:52. | :32:01. | |
Prime Minister said yesterd`y, the Government takes its arms exports | :32:02. | :32:08. | |
responsibilities seriously `nd operates one of the most | :32:09. | :32:09. |