Browse content similar to 14/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Statement, the Secretary of State education, secretary Justine | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
Greening. With permission I would like to make | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
a statement on the second stage of consultation on the government | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
proposals to create a national funding formula for a schools, | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
copies of which can be found on the government website. Since 2010, this | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
comment has protected the core schools budget in real terms | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
overall. But the system by which schools and high needs funding is | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
distributed now needs to be reformed. To tackle the historic | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
postcode lottery in school funding. These crucial reforms said at the | :00:51. | :00:53. | |
heart of delivering the comment's placed to deliver a country which | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
delivers for everyone. -- the government's pledge. The schools | :00:59. | :01:05. | |
funding programme as it exists today is all pagan and outdated. The | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
reality is that patchy and inconsistent decisions on funding | :01:10. | :01:16. | |
Araf build up over many years on data that is sometimes decades or | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
more out of date. Pot has been created over time is a funding | :01:21. | :01:23. | |
system that allows similar schools with similar students to receive | :01:24. | :01:30. | |
levels of funding so different that they put some young people at an | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
educational disadvantage. For example, a school in Coventry can | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
receive nearly ?500 more per pupil than a school in Plymouth. This is | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
despite having the same proportion of pupils eligible for the pupil | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
premium. A Nottingham School can attract ?460 more per pupil than one | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
in Holton, despite having the same proportion of pupils eligible for | :01:56. | :02:00. | |
the pupil premium. As these figures demonstrate, the funding system is | :02:01. | :02:03. | |
broken and unfair and we cannot allow that to continue. Mr Speaker, | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
our overall proposals for the principled and broad design of the | :02:09. | :02:11. | |
schools and high needs funding system is set out in the first stage | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
of the national funding formula consultation by my predecessor, the | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
Right Honourable member for Loughborough, are widely welcomed. | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
Today we set out our response to that and the next final stage of | :02:28. | :02:30. | |
putting in place a final funding formula. Firstly, we are proposing a | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
consistent base rate for every pupil at primary and secondary which | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
steadily increases in value as they progress through the system. This is | :02:41. | :02:47. | |
the largest factor in the formula accounting for 23 billion pounds of | :02:48. | :02:54. | |
annual core schools funding and over 70% of the funding total. Secondly, | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
we are proposing to protect resources per pupil to come from | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
disadvantaged families and are taking a broad view to target ?3 | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
billion annually of funding for those most in need of support. Our | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
formula will prioritise not only children in receipt of free school | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
meals, but also those who living areas of disadvantage, helping to | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
support many more families who are most likely to be just about | :03:22. | :03:28. | |
managing to get by. And this is alongside our broader commitment to | :03:29. | :03:31. | |
maintain the pupil premium funding for deprived pupils in full, which | :03:32. | :03:35. | |
will be protected at current rate throughout the remainder of this | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
Parliament. We have listened also to the responses received to the first | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
stage of the consultation. Sauber funding formula will include a | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
factor firm ability, reflecting the number of children who normally -- | :03:50. | :03:55. | |
often joined the school made here. This is responding to the | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
consultation from London, which called particularly strongly for | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
this. We will also protect those small rural schools which are so | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
important to their local communities by inclusion of a sparsity factor. | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
Thirdly, alongside a basic amount and an uplift for disadvantage, we | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
will be directing ?2.4 billion per year in funding towards pupils with | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
low prior attainment at both primary and secondary school. This will | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
ensure they get the vital support that they need to be able to catch | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
up with their peers. The proposed reforms will mean that schools and | :04:35. | :04:37. | |
local authorities across England that have been underfunded for years | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
will see their funding increase. Our proposed formula will result in more | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
than 10,000 schools now gaining funding and more than 3000 of them | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
receiving an increase of more than 5%. Of course, those that are due to | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
see gains will see them more quickly. There will be increases of | :04:58. | :05:06. | |
more than 3% in pupil funding and a further 2.5% in 1919-1920. At the | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
same time restoring fairness to the funding system but also building | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
significant protections into the formidable stop no school will face | :05:16. | :05:21. | |
a reduction in more than 3% overall as a result of the new formula, and | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
none will lose more than 1.5% per pupil per year. For high needs, | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
which provides local authorities with the funding they need to | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
deliver the extra support required by our most vulnerable children and | :05:35. | :05:39. | |
young people, those with the most extreme special needs, whether they | :05:40. | :05:43. | |
are in special schools or mainstream schools, we propose allocating more | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
than ?5 billion in funding a year, and this will mean that no local | :05:49. | :05:51. | |
authority will see their funding reduced as a result of the formula | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
being introduced. We are also proposing to give local areas a | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
limited flexibility to be able to redirect funding between their | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
schools and high needs budget, through agreement between the local | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
authority and the local schools to be able to support collaborative | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
approaches to provision for special needs pupils. These protections will | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
allow all schools and local authorities to manage the transition | :06:18. | :06:20. | |
to fairer funding, while making the best use of their resources and | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
managing -- ensuring every pound is used effectively to drive up | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
standards and have the maximum impact for the young people we are | :06:32. | :06:35. | |
investing in. In addition, to support schools to using their | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
funding to the greatest effect, we are also putting in place and are | :06:40. | :06:43. | |
continuing to develop a comprehensive efficiency package. As | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
I said on the 21st of July, I recognise the importance of this | :06:49. | :06:52. | |
reform. It is long overdue and I am also very keen to allow the proper | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
amount of time for all schools and stakeholders to have a chance to | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
reflect on what is a detailed for. The consultation will therefore be | :07:03. | :07:08. | |
opened for 14 weeks until the 22nd of March, with final decisions to be | :07:09. | :07:14. | |
made before the summer next year. It is our intention that once we reach | :07:15. | :07:18. | |
a final design, the national funding formula will be properly introduced | :07:19. | :07:25. | |
in 2018, 2019, and this will be a transitional year, during which | :07:26. | :07:27. | |
local authorities will continue to be able to set local schools funding | :07:28. | :07:34. | |
formula, before we then move in 2019-2020, to having our schools | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
funding go directly to schools. So that the great majority of each | :07:38. | :07:42. | |
schools' individual budget is determined on the basis of a | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
national, single national for Miller. It is now -- no time for us | :07:47. | :07:54. | |
to consult on the detailed make-up of that formula so we can get it | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
right. We are keen to hear as many views as possible and I encourage | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
members and their constituents to scrutinise and respond to the | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
details consultation documents we are now issuing. The proposals will | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
mean that all schools and local areas will now receive a consistent | :08:14. | :08:18. | |
and a fairer share of the schools budget, so that they can have the | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
best possible chance to give every child the opportunity to reach their | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
full potential. Once implemented, the formula will mean that wherever | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
a family lives in England, their children will attract a similar | :08:33. | :08:37. | |
level of funding and one that properly reflects their needs. Mr | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
Speaker, this government believes that the funding system we are | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
proposing will ensure that the schools system works fairly. I | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
commend the statement to the house. After so many delays the Secretary | :08:53. | :08:55. | |
of State has finally come Ford with the fairer funding formula. I thank | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
our forgiving site offer a statement. And the documents she | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
sent me just half an hour ago. If only it lived up to its name as a | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
fairer funding formula. Does she recall her commitment to continue to | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
protect school funding in her party's manifesto? Does she accept | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
that the National audit office have confirmed what we have been told, | :09:25. | :09:27. | |
that the government will be cutting the schools budget by at least 8%? | :09:28. | :09:32. | |
That is not changed at all by today's announcement. Does she | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
remember that that same manifesto promised that under a Conservative | :09:37. | :09:39. | |
government the amount of money following your child into school | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
will be protected, yet the National Audit Office has made it clear that | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
funding per pupil will also fall by 8%. Is the National Audit Office | :09:49. | :09:57. | |
wrong or is the new unelected prime minister just ripping up the | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
manifesto her predecessor put to the country? And the Secretary of State | :10:04. | :10:05. | |
herself said that their so-called fairer funding formula would mean | :10:06. | :10:09. | |
that no school would lose more than 1.5% of their funding per year. How | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
could she possibly reconcile this with schools facing projected cuts | :10:17. | :10:25. | |
of hope to 10%? Can the Secretary of State tell the house how exactly a | :10:26. | :10:29. | |
funding formula can be fair when it means that a third of local | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
authorities and around 10,000 schools serving more than 2 million | :10:33. | :10:39. | |
children will be losing money? In a period where pupil numbers and | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
inflation is rising in tandem, the pressure on school budgets will | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
continue to increase. The National Audit Office have told us today that | :10:48. | :10:50. | |
school budgets are facing a real terms reduction. Can the secretary | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
of State tell the House what percentage of the schools budget | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
will be cuts over the course of this Parliament, and how much that cut | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
will be for the average secondary school? Will be Secretary of State | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
tell the house at a time when the pressure on schools is increasing, | :11:11. | :11:14. | |
how can she possibly justify that decision? Her own department has | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
said that schools will need to make 3 billion in efficiency savings over | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
the course of this Parliament, yet the National Audit Office has said | :11:23. | :11:25. | |
the schools are not prepared for that scale and pace of change is, | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
and that the department has failed to make this clear to them. So will | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
the Secretary of State tell the House how exactly her department | :11:35. | :11:38. | |
will ensure that schools can meet our demands? Is the suggestion that | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
schools make 1.7 billion in savings by using staff more efficiently, | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
just a euphemism for cutting the jobs of teachers, teaching assistant | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
and vital support staff, just at the point that the workforce is already | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
facing a crisis? Her department has said the funding formula will be | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
about targeting on the basis of pupils' need rather than postcode. | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
Can she explain why schools up and down the country will be losing out | :12:08. | :12:10. | |
and that many in the most disadvantaged areas will be losing | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
out the most? The only new money being offered is to expand the few | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
remaining grammar schools. 80% of them in Tory held seats, regardless | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
of where the need for places is. Does she accept that this means that | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
only parts of Britain denied new funding are the comprehensive areas | :12:30. | :12:35. | |
in England? Does she acknowledged that nearly 60% of secondary schools | :12:36. | :12:38. | |
across the country already receive less funding than they spent on | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
teaching and are already running at a deficit? Can she tell us | :12:45. | :12:47. | |
projections for increasing pupil numbers over the spending review, | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
and what her forecast is for the rate of inflation facing schools, | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
and what therefore is the rising costs facing schools? The Secretary | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
of State seems to believe that all of these savings and cuts can be | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
managed without any impact on the education of our children. Can she | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
tell the House how exactly she ensures this happens in practice? | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
They used to say the Tories knew the value of nothing but the price of | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
everything. Now they don't even know that. Failed on the economy. Failed | :13:20. | :13:24. | |
on protecting the NHS. And now failed on our children. | :13:25. | :13:34. | |
Mr Speaker, I have to say, I'm absolutely staggered at the response | :13:35. | :13:41. | |
from the shadow Secretary of State for Education. There is cross-party | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
support for reforming the national funding formula because I think we | :13:48. | :13:53. | |
all know that it is impossible to justify the current approach. I | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
think it would have been better if we had had a more thoughtful | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
response rather than just a diatribe of political rhetoric from the | :14:02. | :14:10. | |
dispatch box across. In relation to some of the points she was trying to | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
make we have been trying to protect the schools budget in real terms. | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
That is because we have a thriving economy that is generating the taxes | :14:21. | :14:25. | |
that means we can continue to invest in our public services. | :14:26. | :14:34. | |
She speaks about the funding then seems to have misunderstood or not | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
listened to the statement I just made, Mr Speaker. Perhaps she had | :14:40. | :14:42. | |
already written what she wanted to say then was not interested in the | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
reality. This funding formula absolutely includes making sure we | :14:50. | :14:51. | |
have the right amount of funding going towards children from more | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
disadvantaged areas, and in fact we have taken a broader definition of | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
disadvantaged to make sure it is not just children who are eligible for | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
free school meals, who will be able to get additional support. We have | :15:07. | :15:09. | |
also made sure this formula builds in a strong focus on low prior | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
attainment, so the children who have fallen behind that we need to invest | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
in and support to catch up and get that additional resource on, and | :15:19. | :15:25. | |
schools with more of them get more. She seemed to fail to even hear the | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
statement I made, and I have to say, Mr Speaker, I think based on the | :15:30. | :15:34. | |
lack of engagement from the front bench I am going to sit down and | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
give colleagues with more thoughtful questions at chance to contribute. | :15:39. | :15:45. | |
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I certainly welcome this statement as many | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
parents across the country were also welcome it. It is obviously long | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
awaited, as she conceded, but it is the right tone and context and it is | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
the right capacity, essentially, to make the changes. It will also of | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
course enable schools to plan ahead and that will be very good for all | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
schools in terms of teacher recruitment and teacher retention. | :16:06. | :16:08. | |
That is something else we need to address. Can I ask the Secretary of | :16:09. | :16:20. | |
State, will she be sure to accommodate the issues about the | :16:21. | :16:22. | |
future of local government in this? There will be some changes. This is | :16:23. | :16:24. | |
a national formula and therefore the future of national government has to | :16:25. | :16:27. | |
be considered within that context. We are busy doing that already. But | :16:28. | :16:29. | |
I felt it was quite important to make sure in the second stage of | :16:30. | :16:32. | |
consultation that we recognised the need to understand how a little bit | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
of local flexibility could help us make sure we got this formula | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
working right on the ground, so that is why that is part of the | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
consultation, as I set out. We have set out our plans for the 2018 - | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
2019 transition year. We are asking about how to look at this more | :16:51. | :16:52. | |
carefully in future years and that is precisely why I think it is | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
important colleagues from around the house take the time now to engage | :16:57. | :16:59. | |
with what is a lot of data we have published today, Mr Speaker. Thank | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
you, Mr Speaker. Whilst we would all agree with the aims of a fairer | :17:07. | :17:11. | |
funding formula, does the Secretary of State not recognise she is | :17:12. | :17:17. | |
delivering this now in a context of dramatic and significant overall | :17:18. | :17:20. | |
cuts to schools' budgets, and therefore even the so-called winners | :17:21. | :17:27. | |
in her formula will also be facing school budget cuts? In a | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
constituency like mine which is a loser under this formula, where I | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
have over 50% of children living in poverty, the second-highest | :17:39. | :17:39. | |
constituency in the entire country, losing money to their school budget, | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
that will mean the one-to-one tuition going, the catch-up classes | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
going, the extracurricular, the drama, the Shakespeare, all those | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
vital things I want to see kids in Moss side and Mostyn doing, will be | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
going as a result of her funding crisis, aside from this announcement | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
today? I encourage you to actually look at the detail in relation to | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
your own constituency and the documents will be published once we | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
have got through this statement, as is the normal practice of this | :18:18. | :18:20. | |
house. I would encourage her to look at that. What I would say is, yes, | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
we do need to work with school to make sure they can deliver | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
efficiencies but if one thing can be seen today, I'd funding formula | :18:29. | :18:35. | |
across schools over the years, many schools are able to deliver | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
excellent and outstanding results on a very different cost basis -- it is | :18:39. | :18:46. | |
that a diverse funding formula across schools. We need to make sure | :18:47. | :18:48. | |
this is being protected in terms of the core school funding in real | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
terms over this parliament, need to make sure it was as far as it | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
possibly can. I would also say to the honourable lady, in relation to | :18:57. | :19:03. | |
this on schools, yes, the NAO report flags that up, but there are issues | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
around introducing the living wage, for workers who are among the lowest | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
paid in our country, some of them are in schools, who should benefit | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
from that which being introduced, and the employer also, contribution | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
to teacher pension schemes to make sure we can have sustainable | :19:23. | :19:25. | |
pensions for teachers in the long run. I would hope the honourable | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
members opposite would have welcomed those steps/ we can also work with | :19:29. | :19:34. | |
schools to help them achieve efficiencies. I warmly welcome the | :19:35. | :19:46. | |
statement -- steps. This is so keenly anticipated and looked | :19:47. | :19:53. | |
forward to by underfunded local authority such as my own. We set out | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
a very clear timetable today and in spite of the party opposite that | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
clearly has no interest in having fairer funding and funding going to | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
the most disadvantaged children, the ones who need to catch up, we will | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
press on with this process. The Secretary of State is to be | :20:15. | :20:16. | |
congratulated for grappling with this issue but as she has already | :20:17. | :20:20. | |
indicated, the devil will be in the detail, and I look forward to | :20:21. | :20:26. | |
looking at that. However, 16-19 -year-old education and 16 to | :20:27. | :20:28. | |
19-year-olds in schools as well as colleges, there has been a cut over | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
the last period of the coalition Government and there is a big | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
difference in what they get compared with 14 to 16-year-olds at | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
university as well -- and those that university as well. What will she do | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
about that? We both share a deep interest and passion for technical | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
education and improving that. As he will know we are looking very | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
carefully, and my honourable friend, as well, to make sure we can have a | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
skills strategy now implement that really does make sure our technical | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
education system is at the same gold standard level we are steadily | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
ensuring our education system is that. We have actually protected the | :21:07. | :21:13. | |
per-pupil core funding for pupils post-16, but we want to look further | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
at how we can make sure further education now improves its | :21:19. | :21:20. | |
attainment levels in the same way we have seen happening across the | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
broader school system. West Berkshire and walking education | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
authorities which serve my constituency are some of the worst | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
funded -- and walking. We welcome the statement, therefore. Can there | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
be any transitional relief in 2017 because our financial need is now? | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
My right honourable friend will know that the transitional relief we had | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
in the previous year has been carried over to this forthcoming | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
year and of course beyond that there are now setting up -- we are setting | :21:56. | :21:58. | |
out the steps to make funding figure. It is important and in spite | :21:59. | :22:02. | |
of the debate that no doubt will be kicked off Mike on the back of this | :22:03. | :22:06. | |
consultation, I just do not think we can accept a situation where a | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
similar child with similar needs will get such a different amount of | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
funding put into their education -- kicked off on the back of this. This | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
simply cannot be accepted and should not be accepted and that is what we | :22:23. | :22:25. | |
are setting out today in the solution. Thank you, Mr Speaker. The | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
Secretary of State will be aware that the transformation of London | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
schools... In 1997 when Labour took power schools in my constituency | :22:37. | :22:39. | |
were among the worst. By the time we left they had become among the best, | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
and that has continued in the last Government as well. That is thanks | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
to the London Challenge and continued investment. Can I ask the | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
Secretary of State whether she can confirm that London achievement will | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
not be damaged as part of this formula, and that the ?260 million | :22:58. | :23:02. | |
we heard London schools would lose, that that is not going to happen, | :23:03. | :23:06. | |
because we need to learn from London's success and replicate it in | :23:07. | :23:12. | |
other parts of the country? Well, I think I can reassure her that London | :23:13. | :23:15. | |
under this formula will continue to be well funded. In spite of the | :23:16. | :23:19. | |
percentage of children on free school meals, eligible for that in | :23:20. | :23:26. | |
London, following from 28% to 70% of the last ten years, London does | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
remain one of the most deprived parts of our country in places -- Do | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
I Drink Too Much? . The formula will ensure London still receives some of | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
the best funding of any regions -- 28% to 17%. Other areas in other | :23:43. | :23:50. | |
parts of the country have similar challenges in other areas. | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Additional prior attainment, not being funded, for no other reason | :23:54. | :23:57. | |
than they are not London. It is no time to make sure we have a fair | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
approach and that this is a fair approach for London as well. I | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
wholeheartedly support this announcement. For too long Swindon's | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
children have been short-changed by Labour's hopeless funding formula | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
and the change cannot come soon enough. Can I also urge the | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
Secretary of State to explore options on PFI schemes, frustrating | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
improvements in lots of my local schools? This issue was raised in | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
response to the original phase, so we are going to make sure that as | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
part of that formula we reflect the fact there are PFI commitments that | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
will continue in real terms. I have no doubt that will be good news to | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
his local area. Obviously we do not want to perpetuate them when they | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
have steadily run down. We do think it is important to reflect the | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
reality of those cost pressures on schools in that particular position. | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
The Secretary of State listed a number of factors, mobility, | :24:56. | :24:58. | |
disadvantage, and prior attainment. Crucial factors in many | :24:59. | :25:01. | |
constituencies, particularly in urban areas like the one I | :25:02. | :25:04. | |
represent. Can she give more detail on how big a factor they will be? | :25:05. | :25:08. | |
They will determine how far constituencies like my lose out and | :25:09. | :25:11. | |
the concern in Liverpool will be that coming on top of substantial | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
cuts to local government funding, our schools will lose out at a time | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
when they are finding it challenging to recruit teachers and head. As he | :25:20. | :25:28. | |
points out, in addition to the core base and mode of funding there is a | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
further 25%, roughly, that is uplifted in relation to deprivation | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
and additional needs, but also more vocational needs. We recognised that | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
although mobility was not one of the original factors part of the first | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
phase consultation. In other words, the challenge that some schools in | :25:48. | :25:50. | |
local areas face when children arrive during the year, rather than | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
growth, which of course is in relation to steady demographic | :25:56. | :25:57. | |
change and sometimes in between years. We thought it was important | :25:58. | :26:03. | |
to reflect that in the formula. So we have looked at the cost pressures | :26:04. | :26:06. | |
we think their in relation to mobility, and we were originally | :26:07. | :26:13. | |
going to base the formula of 2018 and 2019 on historic formers, | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
because that is what we have evidence based at the moment but we | :26:17. | :26:19. | |
need a sensible way to look at mobility going forward. Can I | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
welcome this statement? Gloucestershire has been a properly | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
funded local authority and this will be welcomed in my county. -- has | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
been a poorly funded. Taking into account sparsity, something in rural | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
constituencies like mean. -- like mine. Based on the timetable she has | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
set out with the final position being reached in 2020, that we have | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
will have delivered on our very clear manifesto commitment to have | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
delivered their funding on this Parliament. I believe we will have | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
done that. We will have brought in place a formula that works more | :26:57. | :26:59. | |
effectively, we will have transitioned it inappropriately and | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
I think that it will be a big step forward, particularly for schools | :27:04. | :27:06. | |
that have been so underfunded for so long. Mr Speaker, the Secretary of | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
State is right. This kind of funding has to be upgraded in time and I | :27:12. | :27:18. | |
certainly welcome it. But is she also aware that it is the | :27:19. | :27:21. | |
responsible day of this House to check the furnace, over time, | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
through the committee system, and in this House. -- check the fairness. | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
But would you also agree that overall the challenges in our | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
education system are great, when a chief inspector about to retire can | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
point out that so many bright children in our country, good | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
through primary school to 11, we lose them to education post aged 11. | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
Will she do something about that and do something about the fact that the | :27:50. | :27:51. | |
Chief inspector is also deeply worried that many of the big towns | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
and cities in the Midlands and the north that are severely | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
underperforming their pupils? He does set out some of the challenges | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
we continue to face in our education system and of course that is | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
precisely why the National funding formula helps us make sure | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
resourcing does go to those parts of the country and those schools in | :28:12. | :28:13. | |
particular that are in more disadvantaged areas, and also have | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
cohorts of young people and children perhaps starting from the furthest | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
behind. That is not only the sensible approach, but it is the | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
right thing to do for those children and those schools. For too long we | :28:28. | :28:29. | |
have had an approach on school funding that does not build that in | :28:30. | :28:36. | |
to the formula. That is what we are trying to resolve today. This is the | :28:37. | :28:40. | |
second stage consultation. There will be 14 weeks now for everyone to | :28:41. | :28:45. | |
look at whether they feel the way in which we blended together these | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
different criteria is the right way. I think it is, but in addition to | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
what we are announcing today of course he will be aware we have | :28:53. | :28:57. | |
launched six already, six opportunity areas, looking at how we | :28:58. | :29:00. | |
can make sure we have excellent education, especially in those parts | :29:01. | :29:03. | |
of the country where we still have not seen enough improvement. | :29:04. | :29:09. | |
Plymouth and Coventry were both heavily born -- bombed during the | :29:10. | :29:16. | |
Second World War. Both have a similar demographic. Would she agree | :29:17. | :29:24. | |
the discrepancy of premium pupil per year... Can I ask for maximum | :29:25. | :29:27. | |
clarity at the earliest opportunity in terms of what schools will | :29:28. | :29:31. | |
actually get in my constituency to help them prepare for the September | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
2017 budget, which is likely to be challenging? We will be publishing | :29:36. | :29:43. | |
after this statement to the House, Mr Speaker, a lot of detail in | :29:44. | :29:52. | |
relation to individual schools. All members will be able to look at all | :29:53. | :29:57. | |
of the schools in their constituencies to see notionally, | :29:58. | :30:00. | |
illustrator Lee, how this formula would operate for them. -- | :30:01. | :30:08. | |
illustrative leave. We really did want to try and be very clear with | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
the House in relation to how this funding formula will work on the | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
ground, and I would encourage all members to look at the data for | :30:18. | :30:22. | |
their own communities. I think what it shows is that no school is gone | :30:23. | :30:25. | |
to get exactly the same under this new formula as perhaps it has in the | :30:26. | :30:35. | |
past. But it will be is much fairer. The statement is by no means all | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
bad. It is indisputable that school overheads are going up and more | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
secondary schools will go into debt. Why are we continuing to squander | :30:47. | :30:50. | |
money on pointless pet projects? Surely it is a huge though version | :30:51. | :30:56. | |
now. I don't agree with what he has said. We have seen year-on-year | :30:57. | :31:00. | |
improvements in the education system. As one of my predecessors | :31:01. | :31:07. | |
said earlier this week, I do think it is important that we continue the | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
reforms that we have got under way. That is precisely what we will be | :31:12. | :31:18. | |
doing. Can I very much welcome the statement on behalf of schools in my | :31:19. | :31:22. | |
constituency in Kent, who are significantly underfunded and | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
disadvantaged by the current formal. I also welcome our commitment to a | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
rapid introduction of a new formula. In the meantime, can I ask her to | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
seriously consider whether there is any possibility of interim funding | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
for schools onto the new formula is introduced? As I replied to an | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
earlier honourable friend, the additional uplift that was provided | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
last year will be continued to the following year, after which we will | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
then move to the introduction of the funding formula starting in 2018. We | :31:55. | :32:01. | |
are now coming forward with a fundamental solution to what has | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
been a long-term problem, not just over the last decade, but has been | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
building up arguably fur 30 years in the making, and it is neat -- no | :32:12. | :32:17. | |
time to sort this out. Can the Secretary of State confirm whether | :32:18. | :32:25. | |
an area adjustment multiplier will be applied? The funding gap between | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
the national average and that of schools in the Northeast currently | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
stands at ?45 million per year. Will we see that gap increasing or dink | :32:37. | :32:41. | |
resit -- decreasing as a result of this formula? It doesn't include an | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
area cost adjustment. It will be based on a hybrid measure which will | :32:46. | :32:49. | |
look at not only general labour market costs but also those | :32:50. | :32:52. | |
particularly in relation to teachers. This is the consultation | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
feedback. It is also one of the reasons why extensive part of the | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
country such as London will continue to be well funded even under this | :33:02. | :33:09. | |
formula. I call Mr Julian Knight. I welcome the substance and tone of | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
this statement. Schools in Solihull receive ?1300 a year less per pupil | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
than nearby Birmingham. As a result we lose teachers to Birmingham. Can | :33:20. | :33:24. | |
the Secretary of State assure me that at least some of this on | :33:25. | :33:26. | |
fairness will be addressed this Parliament? I have set out the | :33:27. | :33:33. | |
timelines for the rolling out of introducing this national funding | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
formula. He sets out some of the by-products of having the current | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
situation which is unfair, another reason why it is important we | :33:42. | :33:46. | |
address it. It slightly pains me today to call an Everton supporter, | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
but Mr Andy Burnham. Will keep the gloating to a minimum. She is | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
dressing of up very well but isn't the reality of what is announced | :33:57. | :34:00. | |
today that some of the schools in the most deprived parts of the | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
country facing the biggest challenges will see money taken away | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
from them, and that money given to other schools elsewhere? Wouldn't it | :34:10. | :34:12. | |
be much fairer for her to go to the Chancellor and say, have some more | :34:13. | :34:19. | |
money to bring the gap up that way? She is making teachers redundant to | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
pay for this change. Again, there is a lot of rhetoric but in the end of | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
the honourable member does not seem to have listened to the statement I | :34:29. | :34:32. | |
made, which is very clear that this funding formula absolutely does | :34:33. | :34:37. | |
reflect issues of deprivation and low prior attainment, and also | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
issues in relation to local cost. I think it is a step forward in making | :34:43. | :34:46. | |
sure we have a much fairer approach in the future than we have had in | :34:47. | :34:50. | |
the past. I don't think he would be able to justify the current | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
situation too many parents who simply don't understand why their | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
children get less funding than other children purely because of where | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
they are growing up. Can I tell my right honourable friend that I held | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
a round table of the headteachers of my primary and secondary schools in | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
North Dorset. One of the big issues they referenced was the recruitment | :35:14. | :35:18. | |
of an retention of staff Imrul areas where the costs are higher, living | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
costs are higher. -- in rural areas. This is a very welcome announcement. | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
It will be warmly welcomed by those headteachers. On their behalf can I | :35:30. | :35:35. | |
simply say thank you? I'm grateful for that. And as he points out, it | :35:36. | :35:47. | |
is important that this for Miller is able to reflect the very different | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
challenges that school space in different situations in our country. | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
That is why the sparsity factor matters. The Secretary of State will | :35:57. | :36:09. | |
be aware that all over the country schools are finding it difficult to | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
recruit teachers because we are not training enough. But in Slough, for | :36:14. | :36:17. | |
example, where we don't get as much resources, although we have the same | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
kind of challenges as in London, the headteachers are desperate. House | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
prices went up faster than anywhere else in the country in the past | :36:28. | :36:34. | |
year. Can she assure me that schools in my constituency will actually not | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
face a cut as a result of this formula, but will be rewarded for | :36:39. | :36:45. | |
the brilliant work they do? I think she should welcome this formula | :36:46. | :36:49. | |
because at the moment the way in which any amount of money that flows | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
into our are schools takes place is done on and unfair basis. I think | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
for a community like hers, the architecture that we are now | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
proposing for this funding formula, will absolutely make sure that while | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
principally it is a fair amount, an equal amount for children in primary | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
and secondary, we do then have the main drivers of additional funding | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
being deprivation 5 billion a year, but also then driven by low prior | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
attainment. I think that's the right way to have structured this formula | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
to make sure that whilst we have seen progress in many schools in | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
many parts of the country, we have to make sure that re-sourcing flows | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
towards those areas that need a lift as well. | :37:39. | :37:45. | |
The Minister for schools was kind enough to meet with me recently to | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
discuss funding for schools in my constituency. My pupil funding is | :37:51. | :37:57. | |
just over ?4000. My small rural schools face severe challenges | :37:58. | :37:59. | |
because of their small size and location. A heavy read of sparsity | :38:00. | :38:07. | |
is vital if we are to ensure that schools can continue avoiding a | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
brilliant education. She is absolutely right. And of course, | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
when we looked at the National funding formula mechanism, there are | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
some local authorities who don't use a sparsity factor. We will be having | :38:21. | :38:27. | |
one that goes to all schools that should be getting additional | :38:28. | :38:29. | |
support. That is why I think this formula should be welcomed. | :38:30. | :38:39. | |
Children in my constituency start school up to 19 months behind where | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
they should be in terms of development, without fantastic | :38:47. | :38:50. | |
teachers and extra resources, they struggle to fulfil their potential | :38:51. | :38:54. | |
and play catch-up for the rest of their lives. Can the Secretary of | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
State tell me and the schools in my constituency, will they see their | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
funding increase, yes or no? There is a greater focus in this formula | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
on prior attainment, which should address the question she has just | :39:11. | :39:20. | |
asked. Under the current funding formula, our schools are the third | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
worst in London. So having campaigned for changes with | :39:28. | :39:30. | |
teachers, parents and councillors for fairer funding, I look forward | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
to responding to the face to consultation. Can my right | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
honourable friend confirmed that the mobility factor we called the real | :39:38. | :39:45. | |
pressure Londoners face by children joining midterm in large numbers? | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
I think it can. Obviously he will want to look at the detail. This | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
will see us put ?23 million it is supporting those schools and those | :39:58. | :40:00. | |
children who move in the year. I know this has been an issue in | :40:01. | :40:09. | |
London. Not just in London. This was a general response from the | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
consultation document, that we needed to put this into the | :40:13. | :40:15. | |
consultation in phase two and it should be part of the four Miller. | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
That's why we have done that. -- the formula. I am grateful to the | :40:23. | :40:25. | |
Minister of schools for a listing to the case for adding mobility and | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
grateful to the Secretary of State for her announcement. Should she not | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
have secured the support of the Chancellor to make sure that no | :40:38. | :40:40. | |
school will see a cut in the funding per pupil for that school, given the | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
cost pressures she has referred to? I make two points. One is that | :40:47. | :40:52. | |
despite the need to reduce our deficit over time, which is what | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
this comment has set about, we have protected the core schools budget in | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
real terms. In real terms, I recognise there is a need for | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
reducing the year-on-year reductions schools would face. And indeed the | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
overall reduction that any per pupil and will faces no more than 3%. I | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
hope he will welcome that. Following that particular point, in | :41:21. | :41:23. | |
the health service there is a similar fairer funding formula. It | :41:24. | :41:32. | |
never catches up because they are not prepared to reduce the funding | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
the best funded debt. I am slightly worried that that is suggesting that | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
sort of thing will creep into this system. Are we ever actually going | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
to move to the formula? Our schools actually going to get the cash? | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
As I set out, in the transition year and the first year the formula | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
operates in full and properly, some schools will get 3% who are so far | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
behind that they are eligible, and for those schools even further | :42:07. | :42:10. | |
behind, they will get a further 2.5% of the following year. It is now | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
important that the schools that have been underfunded, that we see those | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
changes come through. Schools in areas such as mine have a | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
combination of exceptionally high costs, not least recruitment and | :42:27. | :42:29. | |
retention, and high levels of deprivation. Yet schools are already | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
begging staff redundant. The Secretary of State has blamed | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
policies such as the National Living Wage. Why is the government | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
introducing policies they are not prepared to fund? | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
I am not sure if she supports the Living Wage. From our perspective, | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
we think it is important. But we also think it is important to | :42:54. | :43:01. | |
introduce this funding formula and I hope that MPs can support it as a | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
mechanism to make sure that whatever funding is flowing into schools is | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
delivered fairly. I also hope she can reflect the fact that it does | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
ensure that those communities and those children growing up in | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
deprived areas do see additional funding, and those children wherever | :43:18. | :43:20. | |
they are growing up, whether deprived or might not, that they | :43:21. | :43:28. | |
will receive additional funding. I very much welcomed the statement | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
from my right honourable friend. One group we are overlooking here are | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
our parents. Parents often say to me, I am paying the same rate of tax | :43:39. | :43:42. | |
as people in other areas, why am I getting less money for my children | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
in the state school system? I welcome this statement. And can I | :43:48. | :43:50. | |
arrange my honourable friend that when she gets the backlash to stand | :43:51. | :43:55. | |
fast particularly in support for auroral schools and to deliver it in | :43:56. | :43:56. | |
full? Well, we are at the beginning of a | :43:57. | :44:05. | |
14 week consultation now and I think it is important everyone looks at | :44:06. | :44:07. | |
the formula we are now proposing. I do think it is a formula where we | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
have the right balance and I hope it can command the broad support of the | :44:12. | :44:16. | |
House. Madame Deputy Speaker, thank you. I represent the 19th most | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
disadvantaged constituency in the country and the Secretary of State | :44:22. | :44:25. | |
did speak about this advantage and deprivation. I wonder, can she just | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
confirm for parents and schools in my constituency that they will | :44:30. | :44:32. | |
receive more funding under this formula that is being proposed | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
today, or will it be less? She can look at the details for her own | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
constituency once all of the data is published, but I hope she can | :44:42. | :44:44. | |
reflect on what I said earlier, which is that we have built and | :44:45. | :44:52. | |
ensure funding follows children from particularly disadvantaged | :44:53. | :44:54. | |
backgrounds into this for now, and we have not just looked at formal | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
deprivation factor is that many local authorities had in place, but | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
also some local authorities were virtually all children were from | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
deprived backgrounds and there was not necessarily a formal factor | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
reflecting that, so we try to capture nevertheless if you like the | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
hidden funding flowing through to help deprived children as also as | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
part of that factor. I will sit down now. For decades Staffordshire has | :45:21. | :45:27. | |
language 15 from the bottom in being funded, and may I say to my right | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
honourable friend, I have heard it all before? From Tony Blair, and as | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
the honourable lady so charmingly put it the unelected Prime Minister | :45:39. | :45:46. | |
Gordon Brown. Can I thank my honourable friend for coming up with | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
a firm date for these reforms? Will she assured me the children of | :45:50. | :45:52. | |
Staffordshire will no longer be disadvantaged? I believe this will | :45:53. | :45:59. | |
be a fair funding formula that will be in everyone's and iss, including | :46:00. | :46:06. | |
his constituents. Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. -- everyone's | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
interests. I am extremely alarmed that pupils in Bishop Auckland are | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
going to lose ?452 over the parliament. Could the Minister tell | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
me what is going to happen in my constituency? She has reassured | :46:23. | :46:26. | |
London MPs, has reassured the Home Counties, so in the interest of | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
honesty, who are the losers out of the funding formula? I think in | :46:33. | :46:41. | |
relation to the Nu T, we had terrible scaremongering from them in | :46:42. | :46:44. | |
terms of numbers they put out -- the NUT. Which proved to be incorrect. | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
They were seeing some schools would lose 10% under this funding formula. | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
As I have set out that is absolutely not the case, and I would encourage | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
her like all members to look at the data in relation to her own | :46:58. | :46:59. | |
constituency. We will be publishing a lot of data ones this statement is | :47:00. | :47:08. | |
done, as is the customary fashion, Madame Deputy Speaker, and that is | :47:09. | :47:11. | |
because we want to be clear this is a big step forward in relation to | :47:12. | :47:14. | |
schools funding and it is important we were clear with people about what | :47:15. | :47:16. | |
the implications would be for their schools and that is what we have | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
done. Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. I particularly welcome the | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
reference to sparsity and mobility in her statement, great news for | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
constituencies like mine. Would she agree with me that one of the most | :47:32. | :47:36. | |
mobile populations are the families of Armed Forces? Will she say how | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
she will promote the pupil premium we introduced in 2011 in the funding | :47:43. | :47:50. | |
formula going forward? The pupil premium is largely unaffected by | :47:51. | :47:53. | |
this but as he points out an element of it is now in place to ensure | :47:54. | :48:01. | |
Forces families children do not get disadvantaged by people being posted | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
to different places, as is often the case, and their children have to | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
switch schools, one of the other reasons we were quite keen to make | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
sure we had this issue of mobility carefully within the funding formula | :48:12. | :48:26. | |
itself. I am so sorry... Let's just get some suspense into this debate! | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
Let's just get some suspense into this debate! | :48:33. | :48:38. | |
I met Helen Jones! Thank you. Schools in my constituency are among | :48:39. | :48:50. | |
the worst funded in the country -- I meant. Schools are struggling now | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
because of the actions this government is ticking. Cuts have | :48:55. | :48:57. | |
taken money out of the dedicated schools grants. Schools are not | :48:58. | :49:01. | |
adequately funded for legislation on special needs. What is the Secretary | :49:02. | :49:10. | |
of State going to do to assist these schools now? Before the new funding | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
formula comes in, and before it even more damage is done to the education | :49:16. | :49:25. | |
of children in school now. She raises a number of different issues. | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
In relation to local authorities, we have launched a strategic school | :49:31. | :49:33. | |
improvement fund which makes sure we can see school improvement take | :49:34. | :49:36. | |
place, particularly in those parts of the country where we have seen | :49:37. | :49:39. | |
schools make less progress that we would have wanted. In relation to | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
high needs, nor local areas will see reductions in the funding they get, | :49:46. | :49:49. | |
but we will see those areas most underfunded get 3% gains of the | :49:50. | :49:56. | |
2018, 2019 and 2020 years which I hope she will welcome -- no local | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
areas will see reductions. I welcome this statement because Hampshire is | :50:02. | :50:04. | |
the third lowest funded local authority in the country and faces | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
significant pressures such as needing 9000 more secondary school | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
places by 2025, and with a 40% of its schools largely not upgraded | :50:15. | :50:21. | |
since the 1960s. Does the Secretary of State agree that what this | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
proposal does is address the single biggest factor causing disparities | :50:25. | :50:27. | |
around the country, that being the historical nature of the funding | :50:28. | :50:32. | |
formula, and it will restore equality and fairness to the system? | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
Yes, I do. It was not only arbitrary at central Government level but also | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
at local authority levels for those formulas were set, eight bit in a | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
second set of imbalances, so it is now time to tidy and clear that it | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
but critically make sure it is fair and equal wherever children are. | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. She knows Nottingham schools face | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
enormous challenges in raising educational standards in a city with | :51:02. | :51:05. | |
high levels of deprivation. School leaders are already telling me they | :51:06. | :51:07. | |
are struggling to cope and are facing huge difficulty in recruiting | :51:08. | :51:11. | |
and retaining high-quality teachers. We know that all schools are facing | :51:12. | :51:18. | |
a real terms cut in funding, but how does she suggest Headteachers and | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
staff, parents and pupils, in Nottingham will feel when she says | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
it is fair that their school is being cut even deeper to find | :51:27. | :51:33. | |
increases in other places? I don't think anybody can really argue in | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
favour of keeping a system in place that is simply a postcode lottery. | :51:38. | :51:44. | |
That has very little, if any, relationship now between the needs | :51:45. | :51:48. | |
of a school and indeed the underlying cost base often of the | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
school is operating, baked how much the school and child then gets as | :51:55. | :51:57. | |
funding. What we are setting out today is a formula I think genuinely | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
addresses that. It is a 14 week consultation so there is plenty of | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
time for members to look at the impact on their local area then take | :52:06. | :52:08. | |
part in that consultation and I very much hope MPs will do that, Madame | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
Deputy Speaker. Thank you. Can I warmly welcome this and a half of | :52:15. | :52:22. | |
schools in Nottinghamshire who have been poorly funded role of them. | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
Would she agree this is part of a lazy assumption in not addressing | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
counties? Eye candy like Nottinghamshire has pocketed extreme | :52:33. | :52:38. | |
deprivation, former coalfield communities -- places like | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
Nottinghamshire. I agree strongly with him and I think this formula | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
now enables us to have a proper validated evidence -based approach, | :52:50. | :52:54. | |
including to deprivation, often driven by data, that is literally | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
ten or more years out of date. It is time to fix that and that is what we | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
are launching today. Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. Does she | :53:05. | :53:07. | |
understand and recognise the grave concerns of schools in my | :53:08. | :53:11. | |
constituency across Cumbria with above average numbers of children | :53:12. | :53:20. | |
with high needs. The changes to the funding formula for teaching | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
assistants for schools needing to fund now the first ten hours, rather | :53:25. | :53:29. | |
than eight, is going to significantly impact on existing | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
budgets and mean cuts in those schools? Is it not the case that the | :53:34. | :53:45. | |
proposed floor and maintaining the existing budget will be of little | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
help if current numbers of high needs pupils continue to rise? I | :53:51. | :53:53. | |
would encourage him to look at the consultation and of course alongside | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
having an element of funding for local areas based on historic | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
spending levels which do vary, we will look at population and indeed | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
needs within that. There are strong proxies for understanding how much | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
funding we think should be flowing to different places and I think that | :54:12. | :54:14. | |
will put us in a much clearer position but as I have been clear we | :54:15. | :54:19. | |
will also as part of that make sure no area loses any funding as part of | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
the transition. Thank you, Madame Deputy Speaker. Having wrestled with | :54:27. | :54:30. | |
funding formula in education in local government for 20 years before | :54:31. | :54:34. | |
I got elected to this place, I welcome the principle of fair | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
funding and in particular sparsity and other elements contained. My | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
right honourable friend as fellow London MP will know the cost of | :54:44. | :54:46. | |
living in London is much higher than the rest of the country and clearly | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
with 85% of the schools' budget typically spent on staffing, the | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
need to pay staff extra star Laurie 's for recruitment and retention is | :54:57. | :55:06. | |
paramount. -- extra wages. What will she do to protect schools from | :55:07. | :55:12. | |
losing as a result? The area cost adjustment should enable us to do | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
that effectively and as I said it is not just based on overall labour | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
cost assumptions, but based on cost assumptions with teachers and so on | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
so that should enable us to reflect that in the funding formula we now | :55:27. | :55:29. | |
have in place. Of course he will be able to respond in the consultation | :55:30. | :55:32. | |
but that is what we are trying to do. Thank you, Madame Deputy | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
Speaker. I am grateful for the statement today from the Secretary | :55:38. | :55:41. | |
of State. Would she underline and explain the flexible day between | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
local authorities were for example in one of London tourist borrows, in | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
2010 the funding for children services were ?102 million and will | :55:51. | :55:58. | |
be on hundred and 46 ?9 when the populace has grown and the children | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
are less needing, how will that be addressed in the consultation -- 140 | :56:04. | :56:13. | |
?6 million. In relation to the high needs fund we are now consulting on | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
the ability for the local authorities who will still receive | :56:18. | :56:19. | |
high needs funding to be able to share some of that with mainstream | :56:20. | :56:23. | |
schools if that is how they feel there is a better way of creating to | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
provide for special needs locally. Of course some special-needs | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
children are in special schools and some are not. The figure was also | :56:33. | :56:40. | |
about whether is funding for a local level that the funding should flow | :56:41. | :56:43. | |
the opposite way from the schools' budget, perhaps because of the | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
waiters delivered at a local level. That should be possible if there is | :56:49. | :56:50. | |
agreement from the majority of schools on that -- because of the | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
way it is delivered. There is a long-term approach that. But the | :56:57. | :56:59. | |
whole point of this consultation is to get feedback on proposals. Thank | :57:00. | :57:06. | |
you very much, Madame Deputy Speaker. I warmly welcome the | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
statement on fairer funding for schools. It is not right | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
constituency such as mine have a ?2000 difference per pupil to other | :57:16. | :57:20. | |
constituencies. I noted with interest the Secretary of State | :57:21. | :57:22. | |
identified one of the reasons was that the data is a decade out of | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
date. Going forward it is absolutely fundamental we have the correct | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
data. In areas of high growth, this is fundamentally important. Can she | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
assure me in order to have the right number for the year going forward | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
that the data will be collected sufficiently late in the year so we | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
know the accurate figures for the following school year per pupil? | :57:45. | :57:49. | |
Well, on deprivation we will be using, as part of the figures, | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
essentially an index looking at how deprivation affects children and in | :57:55. | :57:59. | |
particular that was last updated recently so it gives us fresh | :58:00. | :58:01. | |
database to use. Of course in relation to broader characteristics, | :58:02. | :58:08. | |
the census gets updated in October every year and that feeds into the | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
following academic year gear's funding formula detail, so those two | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
think should mean we can have up to date data -- the following academic | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
year's funding formula. This reform to the funding formula, which many | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
of us agree on, would have been much easier had the Chancellor given some | :58:30. | :58:33. | |
additional money to fund some of these changes, which in a degree? | :58:34. | :58:36. | |
Let me say, is it not the case that every single school in the country | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
notwithstanding what she has said will face real term cuts in those | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
doing in their budgets even those who think they have gained from the | :58:47. | :58:50. | |
funding for not? And to pick up on something specific she has said, | :58:51. | :58:54. | |
which she said was one of the ways of tackling disadvantage, the pupil | :58:55. | :58:58. | |
premium, it is interesting what discussion took place around that. | :58:59. | :59:04. | |
The Secretary of State said it will be protected at current rates | :59:05. | :59:06. | |
throughout the remainder of this Parliament. Can she confirm whether | :59:07. | :59:09. | |
that means current rates as they are now or in real terms increase | :59:10. | :59:11. | |
through the Parliament? We will continue to put ?2.5 billion | :59:12. | :59:21. | |
into the pupil premium. That is separate to the funding on top of | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
core funding rates that is part of the consultation we are setting out | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
today. Bowles -- both of these things indicate that the government | :59:32. | :59:39. | |
is supporting children in the toughest part of the country and | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
most likely not to emerge from the system with the outcomes to fulfil | :59:45. | :59:51. | |
their potential. The people of Worcestershire will welcome this | :59:52. | :59:54. | |
statement because funding per pupil is ?1000 per head lower than | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
neighbouring areas. Does the Secretary of State recognise that | :00:00. | :00:02. | |
not everybody who lives in the countryside is living in a rural | :00:03. | :00:06. | |
idyll and that there are pockets of deprivation ride across the | :00:07. | :00:10. | |
countryside, including my constituency? Investing in our | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
children's future based on need and fairness is absolutely the right | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
move. He is absolutely right. That is why it is so important that we | :00:21. | :00:23. | |
move to a sensible approach on looking at how deprivation should be | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
dealt with. We need to take a broader approach than just children | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
eligible for free school meals. We will be looking at three components. | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
Existing eligibility for free school meals. Children who have been ever | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
-- eligible for free school meals in the last three years. And the | :00:44. | :00:50. | |
broader definition of the index that captures a broader definition of | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
deprivation. Teachers are increasingly telling me about the | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
funding they receive. Young people in my constituency are at a | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
disadvantage she specifically quoted Halton. Can I ask a specific | :01:11. | :01:16. | |
question? What is the actual real terms increase going to be for | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
wholesome pupils? She must know that. -- Halton. I quoted what the | :01:21. | :01:30. | |
current position was. He will no doubt be interested to look at the | :01:31. | :01:33. | |
details in relation to his own local community. When the statement is | :01:34. | :01:47. | |
finally finished. Schools in York have some of the lowest it's not the | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
lowest per pupil funding in the country. Some schools in London | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
receive more than ?3000 per pupil more. Leaving schools in York on the | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
brink of making some very difficult decisions despite delivering | :02:05. | :02:07. | |
excellent education. What message will be Secretary of State give to | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
schools that have been waiting for this announcement for far too long | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
and wants to see it implemented as soon a spot of. --? This will be a | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
fairer approach for all schools, including those in your. We are | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
taking steps to introduce it rapidly during the course of this | :02:27. | :02:28. | |
Parliament. Order. I hope that everyone who | :02:29. | :02:33. | |
wishes to ask a question will have an opportunity. Now that the | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
Secretary of State has been answering questions for more than an | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
hour, it would be appropriate if questions were short and sharp, or | :02:40. | :02:47. | |
we will be here all day. Funding should be related to need. | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
This is a long-standing problem. But in Liverpool, one of the most | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
deprived areas, over 58% of the budget has already gone. And the NUT | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
say that over ?602 per year per pupil will be launched -- lost under | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
the government programme. Can she guarantee that the students of | :03:09. | :03:11. | |
Liverpool will not lose out in this redistribution of funds? I would | :03:12. | :03:16. | |
encourage her to look at the details that we will release by area and by | :03:17. | :03:22. | |
school and really just to give her some reassurance, this is a formula | :03:23. | :03:27. | |
that absolutely wants to ensure that we direct funding fairly but also | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
where there is need, whether in terms of disadvantage or low prior | :03:33. | :03:35. | |
attainment. We also think it should be driven by data as has been seen | :03:36. | :03:42. | |
-- that is more up-to-date. I would encourage her to look at the | :03:43. | :03:50. | |
consultation and the details. Madam Deputy Speaker, I welcome the | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
statement today. Schools in Cornwall will be grateful that at long last | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
the historic underfunding of our schools in Cornwall is at last being | :03:58. | :04:00. | |
addressed. I am pleased to be part of the government addressing this | :04:01. | :04:09. | |
issue. I would like to talk about the issue of pupil premium based on | :04:10. | :04:15. | |
eligibility for free school meals. It is difficult to get parents to | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
register for free school meals because of personal choice or | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
stigma. Yet this data is already held by other departments. Can we | :04:23. | :04:29. | |
not ensure that people can be automatically -- pupils are | :04:30. | :04:31. | |
automatically registered for free school meals? I think he raises an | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
important point. We do want to see all children who are eligible for | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
the pupil premium and free school meals properly registered. We have | :04:42. | :04:44. | |
done a lot of work to make sure that is the case. There is still a | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
challenge ahead of us. I am looking forward to that. | :04:51. | :04:58. | |
Thank you to the Secretary of State for answering the questions so far. | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
I do not resent at all the idea that members representing them -- | :05:03. | :05:09. | |
constituents. The problem I do have is that that should not be at the | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
cost of urban schools, where significant levels of deprivation | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
exist. In Oldham there will be a loss of ?400 per pupil under this | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
new formula. For some schools it could be up to ?600 per pupil. The | :05:25. | :05:30. | |
town is already struggling to recruit and retain good quality | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
teachers. It is one of the areas being looked at under special | :05:35. | :05:42. | |
prevention. Can I have a guarantee that we will not get into an | :05:43. | :05:49. | |
argument about us versus them and ensure that every school has | :05:50. | :05:51. | |
sufficient funding to meet demand and need? I have allowed the | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
honourable gentleman some leeway because he has waited a long time to | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
put his question. It doesn't therefore follow that he should take | :06:02. | :06:07. | |
twice as long to put it. I don't criticise him specifically today but | :06:08. | :06:09. | |
I hope that we can be a little faster now. Secretary of State. I am | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
sure that he will want to see the impact on his own local | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
constituency. But I think this formula is a step forward to ensure | :06:21. | :06:31. | |
that... Money follows disadvantage and need. | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
That is the right formula to take. I'm very grateful to the Secretary | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
of State and the schools Minister for listening to my concerns and | :06:41. | :06:43. | |
those of so many in the south-west. I congratulate them on addressing on | :06:44. | :06:51. | |
fairness that schools in the wells constituency have had to ensure. | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
Does she agree this is the start of a series of investment in the | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
south-west that will create an imbalance in funding to our region | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
and that the Secretary of State has blazed a trail that other | :07:05. | :07:12. | |
departments will surely follow? That was a fantastic question. I | :07:13. | :07:14. | |
would also like to take the opportunity to thank my right | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
honourable friend, the Minister of schools, further work E has put into | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
this relatively context piece of work that we have undertaken. We | :07:23. | :07:28. | |
want to see children in the south-west achieve their potential. | :07:29. | :07:32. | |
This is a funding formula that will mean there is fairer funding for the | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
first time. That, I believe, will help children in his local | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
community. Of course I'm delighted today | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
speaking for the county of Cambridge, one of the lowest funded | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
in recent decades. I don't wish to be ungrateful but last year the | :07:55. | :08:00. | |
funding was swallowed by pension and national insurance increases. The | :08:01. | :08:11. | |
number of pupils is going up. High cost of living. Please, please, | :08:12. | :08:21. | |
please look at that funding again. We will be rolling forward. But I | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
think it underlines why it is important we put place a final | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
funding formula. That is what the consultation is on. It will affect | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
areas that have been underfunded for a very long time. That is why we | :08:36. | :08:37. | |
need to on with it. West Sussex has historically always | :08:38. | :08:55. | |
suffered from very low funding and also very high costs outside of the | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
London weighting. Can the Secretary of State give me any reassurance | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
that we will benefit from cost adjustment? I hope he will see some | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
improvement in the way in which funding is working following the | :09:14. | :09:15. | |
adoption of this fair funding formula. He mentions costs. That is | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
why one of the key factors building is an area of cost adjustment, to | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
make sure that schools which are in locations with higher in eight cost | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
bases have that reflected in the funding that pupils have attached to | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
them. I welcome this statement. Does the | :09:35. | :09:38. | |
Secretary of State agree with me that it starts to address the myth | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
that constituencies like Cheltenham and Gloucester do not have areas of | :09:42. | :09:48. | |
deprivation? Cheltenham has intense urban challenges and this addresses | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
funding on the basis of need and not postcode. I strongly agree with him. | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
Until now, school funding has been the ultimate postcode lottery. | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
Funding is being overly determined by where children are growing up. | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
That is completely unacceptable. If we're going to make Britain a | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
country where all children can progress, we have to get on with | :10:14. | :10:15. | |
fairer funding. And the prize for patients -- | :10:16. | :10:26. | |
patience goes to Jason McCartney. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you. | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
How far will the inclusion of a sparsity factor go in protecting | :10:33. | :10:40. | |
small and rural schools, which are so important particularly to my | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
local community? I think it will help. It will go together with a | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
fixed lump sum that is part of this formula. Overall we see that on | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
average small rural schools will benefit from this formula. | :10:54. | :10:59. | |
I thank the Secretary of State. Order. Point of order. | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
I'm very grateful to you. On a point of order, last week government plans | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
were announced this close Havant of Glasgow's jobs centres. They were | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
supposed to be getting a consultation on several of these | :11:18. | :11:20. | |
closures. I have raised this with the minister. It is now a week later | :11:21. | :11:28. | |
and still it doesn't appear on the DWP website. Given it is happening | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
over Christmas, you can understand my frustration and my constituents' | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
frustration. I wonder if you can help me, madam Deputy Speaker, and | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
give me some guidance as to how I can make the Minister gets US -- get | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
it up on the website? It is not on that a week later it is not | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
therefore public consumption. I thank the honourable gentleman for | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
his point of order and for having indicated to me that he intended to | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
make such a point of order. He will appreciate that of course it is not | :12:02. | :12:04. | |
a matter that I can address from the chair. The chair, of course, has no | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
power whatsoever to make ministers do what members are asking those | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
ministers to do. But I do know that the honourable gentleman and his | :12:17. | :12:23. | |
colleagues, with some passion and understandable commitment, have | :12:24. | :12:26. | |
raised this matter several times in the House. I understand the | :12:27. | :12:29. | |
honourable gentleman has an adjournment debate in Westminster | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
Hall next week. I hope that is correct. That is the correct place | :12:37. | :12:42. | |
in which to air a matter like this in some detail. But at the same | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
time, in having raised the matter now at this busy time in the | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
chamber, I'm quite sure that the Treasury bench will have noted what | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
the honourable gentleman has said, will have appreciated that the | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
matter is of great importance in the honourable gentleman's constituency, | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
and that action will come soon from the relevant department. | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
Point of order. Prior to the statement we heard just now, the | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
member for Brighton Pavilion raised an important issue on Southern Rail | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
and the present strikes victimising passengers. But the member for | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
Brighton Pavilion failed to condemn the unions and also failed to | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
declare an interest in the chamber as a recipient of funding from RMT. | :13:33. | :13:38. | |
As a new member of Parliament, can you please advise me on the protocol | :13:39. | :13:41. | |
of declarations of interest in the chamber? | :13:42. | :13:50. | |
I am grateful for the honourable lady for raising an important matter | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
like this. It is vital that in order to keep the proceedings of this | :13:57. | :14:02. | |
place open and accountable, that where appropriate, a member should | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
always declare an interest where that member has an interest. But it | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
is not a matter for the chair or for me at the particular moment to make | :14:13. | :14:16. | |
a judgment as to whether any particular member should have | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
declared an interest at any particular moment. What I would say | :14:20. | :14:21. | |
to the honourable lady and generally to the house, that members would be | :14:22. | :14:29. | |
advised to on the side of and accountability. And where they think | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
there might be an interest to declare, they really ought to | :14:35. | :14:41. | |
declare that interest. Point of order Mrs Goodman. Madam Deputy | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
Speaker, you will understand my delight and pleasure that for | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
international trade and questions tomorrow, I came out at number two, | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
my question was whether or not his department has made an assessment of | :14:59. | :15:01. | |
the potential effect of leaving the EU customs union on level of | :15:02. | :15:08. | |
employment? I subsequently received an e-mail from the Department saying | :15:09. | :15:16. | |
that this matter has been transferred to another department. | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
However Madam Deputy Speaker, the member for Sunderland Central has a | :15:23. | :15:25. | |
question on the order paper, what is the impact of the customs union and | :15:26. | :15:29. | |
levels of foreign investment into the UK. And another member has a | :15:30. | :15:37. | |
question about the potential effect of leaving the custom union on | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
future trade agreements? Madam Deputy Speaker, how can we know to | :15:41. | :15:44. | |
which government department to address our questions? I can quite | :15:45. | :15:50. | |
understand why the Department for International trade doesn't want to | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
answer my question, because it is a very large increase in armed -- in | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
unemployment that would be created. But can we have some consistency for | :16:00. | :16:04. | |
the government benches. I fully appreciate the point that the | :16:05. | :16:09. | |
honourable lady is making. But she also knows that it is not a matter | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
for the chair to decide which department should answer which | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
question. That is and always has been a matter for the government to | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
allocate. I can understand the honourable lady's disappointment, | :16:28. | :16:31. | |
that she was hoping tomorrow to have her question addressed here on the | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
floor of the house. And she is understandably disappointed. I would | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
say two things to her, the first is that regardless of which department | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
her question is answered by, I am sure she will get the same answer. | :16:50. | :16:58. | |
And secondly, that having so eloquently made her point today, I | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
hope that Mr Speaker will look favourably on the honourable lady | :17:06. | :17:10. | |
when he calls the honourable member for Sunderland Central and the | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
others she mentioned to ask that question tomorrow of the Secretary | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
of State for International state -- International trade, that she might | :17:20. | :17:22. | |
have an opportunity to ask her question. Whether she gets an answer | :17:23. | :17:26. | |
or not is not a matter for me. Order. If there are no further | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
points of order, we will move swiftly on to the ten minute rule | :17:34. | :17:44. | |
motion, Mr Neil Gray. I beg to move that leave be given to bring in a | :17:45. | :17:50. | |
bill that requires contracts to be regulated by the Financial Conduct | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
Authority and to amend the financial services and markets act of 2000 | :17:56. | :17:59. | |
accordingly. And for connected purposes. I rise to propose this | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
bill as a result of a Scottish Government commission report | :18:06. | :18:11. | |
entitled "Funeral poverty in Scotland." It was written about | :18:12. | :18:18. | |
citizens in Scotland, from the working group on funeral poverty. It | :18:19. | :18:22. | |
is a report Scotland has accepted and one of the recommendations is to | :18:23. | :18:26. | |
address the regulation of prepaid funeral plans. I thank others for | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
their work on this bill proposal. I also wish to thank the fair funerals | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
campaign who have supported me in the run-up to today. Before I begin | :18:39. | :18:43. | |
in earnest, I should say I am an advocate of funeral plans is the | :18:44. | :18:48. | |
best means to avoid funeral poverty. They allow people to pay in advance, | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
in full or in instalments for their own funeral. I've also had meetings | :18:53. | :18:57. | |
with the SCA and the funeral planning authority which is the | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
industries 's internal regulator to discuss this proposal. They were | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
both constructive in their response to me. It was welcome to the | :19:06. | :19:08. | |
supportive statements this morning from the National Association of | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
funeral directors and from one of the largest funeral plan providers. | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
It seems we approaching a consensus that change is required. I am | :19:19. | :19:26. | |
proposing the bill of a 90% in the cost of funerals in the last decade. | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
North Lanarkshire Council has increased burial and cremation | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
charges by 30 numbers and busy, the steepest rise in Scotland. The | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
average funeral has risen by 7% in Scotland as a result in the past | :19:40. | :19:44. | |
year. An average funeral in the UK, you are unlikely to get much change | :19:45. | :19:48. | |
from ?4000. The Scottish Government is taking action in these areas and | :19:49. | :19:54. | |
will next year published a funeral costs plan to address the main | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
drivers of funeral poverty. It is also committing to process | :20:00. | :20:02. | |
application from the funeral payment in ten working days and to reach | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
more of those in need to reduce the reliance on borrowing to pay for | :20:08. | :20:15. | |
funerals. But the additional costs described earlier are placing an | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
unfavourable burden on the already stretched finances of the aggrieved | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
families now. Many of whom are getting into serious and | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
unmanageable debt when they lose a loved one. Something that has been | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
raised in this house before by honourable members for Belfast East | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
and Swansea, who support this bill, as well as the honourable member for | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
Blackpool and South Shields. People are rightly turning to funeral plans | :20:44. | :20:47. | |
as a way of addressing this incredible financial press which | :20:48. | :20:52. | |
often arises suddenly and is placed on family members. Funeral plans are | :20:53. | :20:56. | |
like vouchers for funerals paid in advance for redemption when the | :20:57. | :21:01. | |
policyholder passes away. People can sign a contract saying how they want | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
the funeral to take place and pay for it in advance. There is also an | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
added advantage that you can secure the funeral at today's prices. | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
Funeral plans are described in part 59 of the financial services act in | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
2000 and in 2001, and in clause 60 and details how these plans can be | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
exempted from FCO regulation if the funeral plan company undertakes to | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
secure the funds paid by the customer through life insurance or | :21:33. | :21:35. | |
if they hold the funds in trust with some further stipulations about how | :21:36. | :21:41. | |
that should be handled afterwards. The whole insurance, life insurance, | :21:42. | :21:46. | |
for the over 50s market needs looking at. But it is not the focus | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
of this particular proposal. I have spoken to the Chief Executive of the | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
FPA and he understands my concerns and those raised by CAS. I also know | :21:58. | :22:03. | |
he is not responsible for all funeral plans but it does its best | :22:04. | :22:10. | |
to satisfy complaints when they arise. There is need for a debate on | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
whether the current system is the best way to ensure consumer | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
confidence in what will be a more important area of the market in | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
coming years. Citizens advice Scotland in compiling the report | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
found evidence of some mis-selling by some funeral salespeople. Some | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
cover the associated costs for the funeral but others only cost basic | :22:34. | :22:38. | |
funeral director costs. It has been suggested that some salespeople are | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
misleading customers as to what is included in the contract they are | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
signing up to. One person said "They were very pushy and I think trying | :22:48. | :22:50. | |
to pull the wool over my eyes. I knew the amount was not enough to | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
cover the cost so I think they can mislead people." This calls into | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
question the practices of some of the salespeople involved in funeral | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
plan contracts. Some of these are third-party salespeople who are paid | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
on a commission basis which makes me a little uncomfortable as this can | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
encourage people to chase harder for sales than two ensure the consumer | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
is aware and happy what they have signed to. Indeed, Charles Flanagan, | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
the manager of the McLaren funeral director in my constituency has said | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
that when he asks is customers why they have chosen to take a plan with | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
him, the majority say that apparently it is because they are | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
fed up of cold calling by funeral plan companies. That is of major | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
concern to me and will concern others in this house as well. He has | :23:42. | :23:45. | |
also given me numerous examples of elderly people who have been coerced | :23:46. | :23:49. | |
into buying plans that are either more expensive than necessary or | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
where the customer has not been asked any questions of relevance and | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
specificity over the funeral they desire. There is a cooling off | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
period, one was told that the funeral director of choice had | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
refused the funeral plans but others might carry it out. The gentleman | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
had specifically purchased the plan in order to be with that particular | :24:16. | :24:19. | |
funeral director, who informed him that he had been mis-sold the plan | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
as it did not include all of what he had wished for his funeral. Mr | :24:25. | :24:28. | |
Flanagan is particular keen to see closer involvement of funeral | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
directors in the selling of funeral plans as to avoid the unintended | :24:33. | :24:38. | |
issues in the contract arising. Heather Kennedy from the fair | :24:39. | :24:40. | |
funerals campaign says there are excellent funeral companies who are | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
rising to the challenge presented by funeral poverty. The prices are | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
transparent and they talk openly about money and make different | :24:51. | :24:54. | |
options available. Mike any other industry, there are others who do | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
not and are charging too much for their plans and at need funerals. I | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
hope that some of those concerns and some of those areas of concern may | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
be addressed here. Another example of a case study was highlighted by | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
the East of Scotland bureau which had a client complaint, the client | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
felt that no matter what she does, she was not going to get the funeral | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
she wanted or planned for. She was told it could be at any funeral | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
director and would cover all the cost. It later turned out after she | :25:31. | :25:34. | |
signed the contract that the nearest funeral director who would honour | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
the contract was 30 miles away and she would only get the basics from | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
the funeral director. The director she wanted to administer the funeral | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
will not do it because it is with another company and it is said she | :25:46. | :25:50. | |
will lose a lot of money if she cancels and she has got nowhere with | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
the complaint. And finally, as provision of funeral plans is not | :25:56. | :25:58. | |
covered by the financial services compensation is scheme that protects | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
against insolvency events and poor they covered by the vital ombudsman | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
service which provides independent complaints and adjudication service | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
free to the customer. I do note that the FPA has taken action to address | :26:14. | :26:17. | |
these criticisms. It would be a bonus if this was enacted by the | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
government that is the schemes would be open to offer additional consumer | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
confidence. In conclusion, what I hope is that by proposing this bill, | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
in my view, a very reasonable bill, the UK Government will looks it was | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
the at this issue and ensure dialogue to make sure that | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
consumers, often in a vulnerable state, are protected adequately. The | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
question is that the honourable member has lead to bring in the | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
bill, as many of that opinion say I macro, to the contrary, no macro. | :26:52. | :26:58. | |
The ayes have it. Who will bring in the bill. Liz Southwell Roberts, | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
Dina Johnston, Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg, Sir David Amis, Debbie Robinson, | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
Calum Harris, Rosie Cooper and myself, Madam Deputy Speaker. | :27:11. | :27:36. | |
Find the regulation of funeral services bill. Second reading what | :27:37. | :27:47. | |
day? 24th every sentence 2017. 24th every 2017. -- 24th of February. We | :27:48. | :27:58. | |
come to the first of the opposition day 16th allotted Day motions on the | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
affect on equality the Autumn Statement 2016. I informed the house | :28:02. | :28:11. | |
that Mr Speaker has selected amendment a in the name of the Prime | :28:12. | :28:18. | |
Minister. I call Sarah Champion. It is a real pleasure to be here today | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
on this important topic. The advancement of equal rights for | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
women is often associated with certain historical milestone such as | :28:27. | :28:29. | |
the right to vote, the moment to end violence against women and girls and | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
reproductive rights. While these are of the hugely important, the key | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
facet of the ongoing battle for gender equality is gender economic | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
equality. Many women never question the right to open a bank account, | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
and property or even buy wine or beer in a pub. These rights are now | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
taken for granted but they were hard-won. | :28:50. | :28:57. | |
Years ago having a job was a sign of financial desperation. It was only | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
in the 19th-century women were allowed to own their own homes. | :29:06. | :29:10. | |
Common law in Britain deprived women of the right to have their own | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
property or hold their own money. As late as the 70s, working women were | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
refused mortgages in their own right and were only granted mortgages if | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
they could secure a male guarantor. It is only since 1980 that women | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
were able to apply for credit in their own names. Did wasn't until | :29:32. | :29:36. | |
1982 that women were allowed to spend their own money in pubs with | :29:37. | :29:40. | |
the confidence they would be served these changes involved their lives | :29:41. | :29:46. | |
and outspoken people challenging the status quo and pushing governments | :29:47. | :29:51. | |
and society to the realisation that economic equality and independence | :29:52. | :29:56. | |
for women must be the norm. Labour are pushing for the next step today | :29:57. | :29:59. | |
in this battle for economic equality. And for the government to | :30:00. | :30:07. | |
make sure their policies advance. And not hinder progress. | :30:08. | :30:10. | |
Unfortunately, all the evidence points to the party opposite turning | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
back the agenda on economic equality and nowhere has it been more | :30:15. | :30:18. | |
apparent than in their major announcements such as the Autumn | :30:19. | :30:23. | |
Statement. Research from the House of Commons library commissioned by | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
this side of the Has has revealed that 86% of net savings to the | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
Treasury through tax and benefit changes since 2010 will come from | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
women. That's up from last year 's Autumn Statement but it has remained | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
the same as the budget from earlier that year. If you are a woman black | :30:45. | :30:49. | |
minority ethnic background you are set to lose out even more by this | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
government. Joint analysis has shown that low income black and Asian | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
women are paying the highest price for this government's failed | :31:00. | :31:04. | |
austerity agenda. Which she agree that when we talk | :31:05. | :31:11. | |
about the disproportionate cuts from women, what it is in practice so | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
often is the children going without and that's why we've seen the huge | :31:18. | :31:22. | |
spike in charge poverty turning back all the good work the previous | :31:23. | :31:26. | |
Labour government did. My honourable friend has long been a campaign in | :31:27. | :31:32. | |
this area and she is right. I don't understand why people don't consider | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
the economic impact on the entire country if we hold back sectors of | :31:38. | :31:42. | |
our population. Will the Honourable lady except that | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
we have more women who have jobs than in the rest of Europe? And we | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
want them to reach their full economic potential rather than at | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
the moment when they get paid less than they ought. Individuals in the | :31:59. | :32:05. | |
poorest households lose most fun tax benefit changes but from every | :32:06. | :32:11. | |
income group, these women will lose a disproportionate amount. The | :32:12. | :32:19. | |
women's budget group has highlighted analysis such showing disabled | :32:20. | :32:25. | |
people lose significantly more as a result of tax and benefit changes | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
than non-disabled people and disabled women lose more than | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
disabled men. Disabled men are losing nine times as much income as | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
non-disabled men. Disabled women lose twice as much income as | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
non-disabled women. Families with disabled adults and children will | :32:43. | :32:50. | |
lose over 5000 a year by 2020 as a result of tax and benefit changes. | :32:51. | :32:55. | |
Families with both disabled adults and disabled children will lose | :32:56. | :33:01. | |
services valuing 9000 year up to 2020. I would ask the minister | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
whether they believe the figure is acceptable and in line with | :33:07. | :33:10. | |
assertions from the Prime Minister and Chancellor that their party | :33:11. | :33:13. | |
other champions of equality and fairness. We know that budget and | :33:14. | :33:18. | |
policy decisions are simply not gender neutral. | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
Thank you. That she recognise that what she seems to be suggesting is | :33:25. | :33:33. | |
no plan, no sustainability? Will she accept that welfare spending tripled | :33:34. | :33:42. | |
in real terms between 1980 and 1981 to 2014 and 2015 and that science | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
does -- unsustainable. What you propose doesn't balance the books. I | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
think I thank the honourable lady for her intervention. Does she | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
recognise that there are groups in our society now that are being made | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
more poor by this government? That is the position we are at and that's | :34:04. | :34:10. | |
what statistics show us. It has been proven that gender differentials are | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
not recognised by this government and assumptions are made that | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
includes diocese. Women are particularly burnable to being hit | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
hard by Gulf -- government policies. Social Security payments make up the | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
greater share of women's income than men. Women pay less direct tax than | :34:30. | :34:40. | |
men. Also because they tend to and less. Women make greater use of | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
public services than men. And use care services. Because a higher | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
proportion of women's employment is in the public sector than men's | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
also. How are these factors taken into account in the draft of the | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
most recent Autumn Statement? Labour has committed to a gender audit | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
statement in government and the game would be for gender equality to be a | :35:07. | :35:09. | |
significant element in considering policy options to ensure that the | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
option contains no legal, economic social cultural constraints in the | :35:17. | :35:23. | |
measures it proposes. It assures the policy is implemented in a gender | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
sensitive and equitable manner. This process is often referred to as | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
gender auditing now takes place in more than 40 countries and was | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
originally inspired by countries such as Australia and given further | :35:39. | :35:41. | |
momentum is by the United Nations commitment to gender monitoring. I | :35:42. | :35:47. | |
would like to draw attention to the house of two examples of best | :35:48. | :35:52. | |
practice. Sweden and Spain. Gender impact assessment is a common -- | :35:53. | :35:59. | |
relatively common instrument. It is strongly embedded in carried out by | :36:00. | :36:06. | |
different levels of government. Gender impact assessments are most | :36:07. | :36:11. | |
regularly performed when drawing up documents such as government bills | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
and in terms of reference for enquiry committees. The impact | :36:15. | :36:21. | |
assessment is conducted in the gender mainstreaming strategy. In | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
Spain, gender impact assessments are required by law in the Basque | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
country since 2005. Since 2007, gender impact assessment reports | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
have been issued on more than 500 decrees and laws and after seven | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
years it is a consolidated practice strongly embedded in the Basque | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
regional government. These are just two examples to demonstrate that | :36:48. | :36:55. | |
when it comes to wider policy, party opposite is light years behind some | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
of our European colleagues. Can I ask what gender impact | :37:01. | :37:03. | |
assessment she has made of the credit crunch and the record deficit | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
we inherited? Does she not recognise the decisions we had to take word to | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
restore the nation's finances which Irene everyone's interests are not a | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
narrow interest group? I hear what you are saying but can I question | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
him that why it is that women need to bear the brunt of this | :37:27. | :37:29. | |
government's posterity? Will the Minister agree that macro I'm sorry, | :37:30. | :37:35. | |
I'm not having a conversation. Following the example set by any | :37:36. | :37:42. | |
other nations, will the Minister produce recommendations on how | :37:43. | :37:44. | |
equality considerations can be better integrated -- integrated into | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
their policy-making process? I think she mentioned Spain as a country | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
doing the gender impact assessment. According to the global gender in | :37:55. | :38:01. | |
Dax of 2016, what did she think about Britain ranking higher than | :38:02. | :38:10. | |
Spain? Then how much better we would be if we actually actively audited | :38:11. | :38:18. | |
what we were doing. The legal and international obligations on this | :38:19. | :38:22. | |
government need to protect and advance women's economic equality. | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
Chapter one of the qualities act 2010 brought forward by this side of | :38:30. | :38:33. | |
the house enshrined public sector equality duties required by public | :38:34. | :38:39. | |
authorities do have due regard to the number of equality | :38:40. | :38:40. | |
considerations when exercising functions. Section 149 of the | :38:41. | :38:49. | |
qualities act, Labour enshrined that any public body must have due regard | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
to the need to eliminate discrimination and advance equality | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
and it includes gender and ethnicity. The case of bragging | :39:00. | :39:05. | |
versus the Secretary of State for work and pay insurance... The | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
principles outlined in the Jesmond were recently summarised by Mr | :39:11. | :39:21. | |
Justice Gilbert. Crucially, they include the following. The relevant | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
duty is upon the Minister or other decision-makers personally. A | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
minister must assess the risk and the extent of any adverse impact and | :39:32. | :39:35. | |
the ways that may be eliminated before the adoption of a proposed | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
policy and not simply as a rearguard action following a concluded | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
decision. The duty of due regard requires public authorities to be | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
properly informed before taking a decision. If the relevant material | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
is not -- available there will be a duty to acquire it. Therefore, very | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
specifically, I ask the Minister today to outline had the most recent | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
Autumn Statement as well as policy announcement since the party came to | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
government come polite with section 149 of the equality act and the | :40:10. | :40:15. | |
requirements laid out by Mr Justice Gilbert. Assumptions and | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
reassurances will not suffice and the public demand to see how the | :40:20. | :40:23. | |
Autumn Statement and government policies comply under relevant | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
sections of the equality act and case law. I would ask the Minister | :40:28. | :40:30. | |
to make this information available to the house through the House of | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
Commons library at the earliest opportunity. We should not have two | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
hold the government's feet to the fire is showing that their policies | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
aren't disproportionately impacting one group and reversing the progress | :40:46. | :40:53. | |
already made on economic equality... But sadly previous words from the | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
party opposite do not feel as with hope. In November 2012, the then | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
Prime Minister spoke at the Confederation of British industry 's | :41:03. | :41:06. | |
annual conference aimed at government departments would no | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
longer be required to carry out equality impact assessment is. He | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
referred to the impact assessment as "Reams of bureaucratic nonsense and | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
tick box stuff". I would like to ask whether the current Prime Minister | :41:23. | :41:25. | |
and Chancellor agree with this? I give way. What does she think about | :41:26. | :41:33. | |
the fact that the gender pay gap is at a record low, virtually | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
eliminated for women under 40 and that we have more women led | :41:39. | :41:43. | |
businesses than ever before? Doesn't she had to acknowledge that process? | :41:44. | :41:50. | |
-- progress? It pains me it is a woman member asking this so shall I | :41:51. | :41:55. | |
ask my constituents to be grateful that it will only take another 60 | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
years before they are on parity of pay? If the government is set to | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
continue in its contemptuous attitude on equality impact | :42:06. | :42:08. | |
assessments, with a minister explain how well the due regard has been | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
given to the Autumn Statement? The government knows how to conduct a | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
product -- proper audit. The qualities and human rights | :42:21. | :42:26. | |
commission and the Briege Wright has outlined suggested methodologies. We | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
have to ask why in the light of these methodologies, does the | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
government continued to be evasive on this. We will continue to | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
commission and publish our own analysis at every future budget and | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
spring statement for as long as it takes until the government does | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
their duty. The question has to be, how long the government will | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
continue to stick their hats -- heads in the stand with regard to | :42:56. | :43:03. | |
their policy impact on women and minority background when the impact | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
rises from 86 to 89%? Or maybe we have to reach 100% before the | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
government carries out an audit? The situation is increasingly | :43:16. | :43:17. | |
embarrassing as the government continues to let women down time and | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
time again. The Treasury refuses to send a minister to appear before the | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
women and equality select committee. They have provided insubstantial | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
data and voted down a motion on this side of the Has last year to | :43:33. | :43:34. | |
public... This document provides no overall | :43:35. | :43:46. | |
analysis on the measures announced on women or black and minority or | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
indeed disabled people. A few days before the Autumn Statement, the | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
women and equality is that committee published a report criticising the | :43:56. | :43:58. | |
government for their lack of clarity. On how the 2015 spending | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
review affected black and the minorities, women and disabled | :44:05. | :44:07. | |
people. And how impact assessments had not been undertaken. The chair | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
of the committee, the highly regarded conservative Right | :44:12. | :44:14. | |
Honourable member from Basingstoke said "Without the information we | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
have asked for, all ministerial evidence, it has not been possible | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
to form a view on the government's work on the public duty quality. It | :44:23. | :44:29. | |
is a central aim of the public sector equality duty requirements. | :44:30. | :44:33. | |
The select committee and numerous organisations and indeed this side | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
of the House have all made clear, that the distribution analysis | :44:39. | :44:41. | |
produced by the government is simply inadequate to be able to judge their | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
compliance with the equalities act. Today, the evasiveness must stop. | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
Women and those with protected characteristics of an done the | :44:51. | :44:52. | |
country deserve and indeed expect better. Various government ministers | :44:53. | :44:57. | |
have refused to accept the analysis produced by the House of Commons | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
library, quoted in the motion today. I would like to ask the Minister, if | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
you disagree with the Independent House of Commons analysis, with the | :45:06. | :45:08. | |
gun being that macro government be willing to produce their own? It is | :45:09. | :45:15. | |
not good enough to criticise the analysis without producing your own. | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
As stated earlier, I will give way. I thank her for giving way. Could | :45:21. | :45:28. | |
she clarify whether the House of Commons analysis includes the | :45:29. | :45:29. | |
national living wage because two thirds of women will benefit from | :45:30. | :45:38. | |
the national living wage policy? The problem with the national living | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
wage is that it is a misnomer. It is a welcomer that it is increased but | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
what we are looking for is a real living wage which actually brings | :45:51. | :45:53. | |
people out of poverty and we are not saying that at the moment. I will | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
give way. The macro I am grateful to her for giving way but if you | :46:01. | :46:09. | |
represent a party whose policy is to preserve the wealth of those who | :46:10. | :46:12. | |
have orally got it but it is inevitable those people are silver | :46:13. | :46:15. | |
bottom of the pile as long as they remain in government. I do agree | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
with that and I am also very proud that I am from a party that wants | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
wealth shared around and for everyone to reach their potential. | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
As stated earlier, I will make some progress. I stated earlier that the | :46:30. | :46:35. | |
government know how to conduct an adequate equalities audit of their | :46:36. | :46:38. | |
financial statements and policies. Clear methodologies have been | :46:39. | :46:42. | |
produced by the equality and human rights commission and they are just | :46:43. | :46:45. | |
choosing not to. Would the Minister today agreed to present to the House | :46:46. | :46:48. | |
how future announcements can be properly taken into account the | :46:49. | :46:55. | |
impact on women, particular those from BME backgrounds. Will the | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
government agreed to put an end to the ducking and diving and send the | :47:01. | :47:04. | |
Minister to the women and equality select committee to answer questions | :47:05. | :47:07. | |
on this matter. Will the government agreed to publish a full impact | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
analysis of their policies since 2010. Will the government outline | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
how this Autumn Statement and future financial policy announcements will | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
demonstrate compliance with the UK's legal and international obligations? | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
I have outlined in my opening remarks gender economic equality has | :47:27. | :47:28. | |
been at the heart of the fight for equal rights in this country. | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
Progress has been all too slow and the victories hard-won. On the side | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
of the House, we can be proud that almost every major piece of | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
legislation that has improved the lives of working women has been | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
introduced by a Labour government. It was a Labour government that | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
introduced legislative protection for women under the equal pay act, | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
the sex and dissemination act and the equalities act. Labour became | :47:55. | :47:57. | |
the first administration since the Second World War to accept state | :47:58. | :48:01. | |
responsibility for developing childcare policy. Introducing | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
paternity leave and maternity leave. Sure start centres, working tax | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
credits and all women short lists. And we have more women MPs than all | :48:12. | :48:14. | |
the other parties in the House combined. But in 2016, under this | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
government, women in the UK are more likely to be working for less pay | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
than men. They are more likely to be in chronically low paid and insecure | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
sectors of the economy and they are disproportionately affected by | :48:30. | :48:32. | |
unprecedented cuts to public services. I'm not going to give away | :48:33. | :48:35. | |
because we have other speakers who want to come in. Unlawful maternity | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
discrimination is becoming an increase under this government's | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
watch. 54,000 pregnant women and mothers forced out of their jobs | :48:46. | :48:51. | |
every years, according to the equality and humans were -- equality | :48:52. | :48:53. | |
and human rights commission for just 1% of those women have taken their | :48:54. | :49:02. | |
case to a tribunal. As I stated at the beginning of my remarks, as of | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
the most recent Autumn Statement, 86% of savings to the Treasury | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
through tax and benefits changes from 2010 will have come from women. | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
Today the government has the chance to decide whether it wants this to | :49:16. | :49:19. | |
be its lasting legacy when it comes to the fight for gender economic | :49:20. | :49:23. | |
equality. He ministers have the choice, does the government stand by | :49:24. | :49:27. | |
and invade its responsibilities and make life worse for women in this | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
country or do they put their warm words into action and rectify their | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
mistake and create a new Iraqi and see and accountability on the impact | :49:38. | :49:41. | |
of government policy on women, disabled and black and ethnic | :49:42. | :49:46. | |
minority people? Minister, we expect you to make the right choice. The | :49:47. | :49:59. | |
question is as on the order paper,. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker, very | :50:00. | :50:07. | |
proud to do it in the name of a female Prime Minister as well. It is | :50:08. | :50:10. | |
the foremost aim of this government that this is a country that works | :50:11. | :50:15. | |
for everyone in our society. Wherever you are from, gender, age, | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
race or background. To deliver that objective, we need a strong and | :50:21. | :50:23. | |
stable economy by boosting productivity, creating jobs and | :50:24. | :50:26. | |
bringing public finances under control. That is how we will be in | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
the best position to create a sustained rise in living standards | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
for all British people. Our entire economic approach has been based on | :50:36. | :50:38. | |
the determination to make people better off now and in the future in | :50:39. | :50:42. | |
all parts of the United Kingdom and the full breadth of society. That is | :50:43. | :50:46. | |
why we reject the assumptions made in today's motion and believe | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
instead that the plans we have set out will deliver a stronger economy | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
that works for everyone. I want to reflect, I will just make little | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
progress and then I will give way. I want to reflect on the measures we | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
have taken to strengthen our economy in this way. People, regardless of | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
their race or gender will benefit from our work to restore the economy | :51:11. | :51:13. | |
to long-term health. That starts with bringing public finances under | :51:14. | :51:18. | |
control. With UK debt soon reaching a 50 year high of 90.2% of GDP, we | :51:19. | :51:26. | |
must assume a credible fiscal path to get it falling. In the last six | :51:27. | :51:29. | |
is, we have cut the deficit by almost two thirds to four percent of | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
our GDP. We confirmed in the recent Autumn Statement that we will do | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
live a surplus as soon as is in the interim bringing in 2% of the end of | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
the parliament and getting public services net debt falling in this | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
armament as well. People across our society also benefit from our | :51:55. | :51:57. | |
business led recovery that has been at the heart of our economic | :51:58. | :52:00. | |
approach. We have been making sure that Britain is open for business | :52:01. | :52:04. | |
from our competitive tax regime to cutting over ?10 billion worth of | :52:05. | :52:09. | |
red tape and are at stencil investment in infrastructure, skills | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
and research. The Autumn Statement took this further with a host of | :52:14. | :52:20. | |
measures, including the new national productivity investment fund of ?23 | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
million over the next five years. It is a result of measures like these | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
that we are seeing over 1 million new businesses started since 2010 by | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
taking us up to a record 5.5 million small businesses at the start of the | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
year. And by the way, I am pleased to say that around 1.2 million SMEs | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
in the KR majority women lead, this is more than ever before and they | :52:45. | :52:50. | |
contribute ?115 billion to the economy in total. I will give way. I | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
thank the Minister for giving way. In regards to the infrastructure | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
spending which he heralds as being part of the recovery, can I ask how | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
we are the jobs created by that will go to women? I can't say exactly how | :53:04. | :53:10. | |
many will be women or men but Ishii objecting to the infrastructure | :53:11. | :53:13. | |
spending because she believes it won't go to women? I will happily | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
give way again. And yellow macro I will be making a more substantive | :53:20. | :53:23. | |
speech about this shortly that currently in the construction | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
industry, 1% of jobs goes to women. 1%. I ask him again, what percentage | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
does he think of the jobs on infrastructure spending will be | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
spent on women. Can I just point out to the honourable member that there | :53:38. | :53:41. | |
are more women now doing stem available subjects than ever before. | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
Which is about ensuring more people go into that. I am trying to | :53:48. | :53:52. | |
understand the point she is making. Is she saying we should not be | :53:53. | :53:55. | |
spending money on infrastructure because it will have a | :53:56. | :53:57. | |
disproportionate effect favouring men? The purpose by the way of | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
infrastructure spending is to improve our infrastructure and to | :54:04. | :54:07. | |
improve productivity. That is why we are doing that. Productivity that | :54:08. | :54:11. | |
House men and women. I will give way again. I am absolutely not saying we | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
shouldn't spend money on infrastructure, what I am saying is, | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
what is the government going to do to make sure that all of the | :54:20. | :54:22. | |
infrastructure spending out of the Autumn Statement is equally shared | :54:23. | :54:31. | |
between men and women's jobs. I welcome back to the question but I | :54:32. | :54:34. | |
will give way to right honourable friend. You lie my honourable friend | :54:35. | :54:39. | |
will surely be aware that Alan Griffith construction based in my | :54:40. | :54:42. | |
own constituency which build motorways as received a | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
Parliamentary award for its commitment to championing women in | :54:46. | :54:48. | |
the construction industry. Perhaps I've could suggest we should make | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
sure that companies like that are considered carefully. There is an | :54:54. | :54:59. | |
important point on how we encourage more women to become involved in | :55:00. | :55:04. | |
engineering and construction. It is the case that there are more | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
employers taking more steps to do that. I think Ross Royle is another | :55:10. | :55:16. | |
example where that is happening. -- Crossrail. The point she is making | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
is that she seems to object to infrastructure spending which seems | :55:24. | :55:30. | |
a strange position. The global entrepreneurship... And develop mid | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
index has also ranked Britain. Order. I can hear the honourable | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
lady and she should not be speaking so loudly, especially when I am | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
speaking, when she is sitting down. She will have an opportunity to | :55:48. | :55:54. | |
speak soon. Minister. Sylla macro thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
Britain has been ranked as the best place in Europe for female | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
entrepreneurs, something this House will welcome and want us to build | :56:05. | :56:10. | |
further on. Our start-up loans programme helping entrepreneurs set | :56:11. | :56:13. | |
up a business or become self-employed, not only through a | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
loan but access. This programme issues a high proportion of loans to | :56:20. | :56:26. | |
BME applicants, ra presenting 24% of start-up loan recipients with almost | :56:27. | :56:32. | |
10,000 loans issued to BME recipients so far. Support | :56:33. | :56:36. | |
businesses goes hand-in-hand with the high employment rate that we | :56:37. | :56:38. | |
currently have in the UK with today's numbers confirming that the | :56:39. | :56:45. | |
unemployed at rate remains at an 11 year low with employment remaining | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
at near record highs. Will he agree with me that the way this government | :56:50. | :56:54. | |
is really helping women at work is by introducing shared parental | :56:55. | :56:58. | |
leave, flexible working hours and 30 hours free childcare. Those are | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
being pioneered by this government, putting women first in the | :57:04. | :57:09. | |
workplace. Indeed, she raises an important point. I will turn to | :57:10. | :57:13. | |
those measures in a moment or so. It is worth pointing out that as well | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
as impressive employment numbers, this is accompanied by rising living | :57:20. | :57:23. | |
standards which last year grew at their fastest rate in 14 years and | :57:24. | :57:26. | |
currently stands at their highest ever level. The benefits of this | :57:27. | :57:30. | |
affects people across society but this House should note the benefits | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
for women and people from black and minority ethnic groups. The number | :57:37. | :57:40. | |
of women in work has increased by over 1.2 million since 2010. The | :57:41. | :57:44. | |
rate has gone up more in the last parliament than in any of the | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
previous three combined. That comes as the gender pay gap also forced to | :57:49. | :57:55. | |
the lowest on record. More women are on boards or leading businesses than | :57:56. | :57:58. | |
ever before. There are no longer any all-male boards in the FTSE 100. I | :57:59. | :58:06. | |
will give way. On the subject of pay and reference to the excellent | :58:07. | :58:11. | |
intervention by the member for Rochester, the honourable lady | :58:12. | :58:14. | |
talked about national living wage and said it was not adequate, is he | :58:15. | :58:19. | |
aware that the only international comparison of minimum wage is the | :58:20. | :58:24. | |
Economist bitmapped index, the own country with a more generous living | :58:25. | :58:25. | |
wage and this one is Luxembourg. I am grateful to him. The national | :58:26. | :58:42. | |
living wage that was brought in by this government is having an effect | :58:43. | :58:47. | |
and disproportionately benefits women. If you look at the number of | :58:48. | :58:57. | |
black and minority ethnic women in work it is at a near record high | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
with nearly 4000 women finding work since 2010 and the employment rate | :59:03. | :59:08. | |
for people in BME groups is at its highest level since records began in | :59:09. | :59:16. | |
2001. I am very grateful to the Minister | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
for outlining what companies are doing to help women and the black, | :59:23. | :59:30. | |
Asian and Minos -- minorities. But the debate is about what this | :59:31. | :59:34. | |
government is doing and how the austerity is adversely affecting | :59:35. | :59:43. | |
these groups. I think the logic of a point that the honourable member | :59:44. | :59:47. | |
makes is that there is no leak between what happens in the economy | :59:48. | :59:51. | |
and government policies but what has been demonstrated over the last ten | :59:52. | :59:56. | |
years is that there is a clear link between government policy and what | :59:57. | :00:00. | |
happens in the economy and it is because of the policies... We are | :00:01. | :00:04. | |
the fastest-growing economy in the G7 at the moment so it's going quite | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
well given we were the economy that was most affected by the crash in | :00:10. | :00:15. | |
2008 amongst the major economies. The reality is that we've put in | :00:16. | :00:20. | |
place and environment where we create jobs, where we're seeing | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
living standards improving and that is happening across the economy for | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
men, women and children. It is right that we continue our work to address | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
long-standing barriers to work for BME people. New support in school | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
and new guidance from job centres and we've set a public target to | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
increase the proportion of apprenticeship starters for people | :00:46. | :00:53. | |
in BME backgrounds to 20% in 2020. We are strengthening our economy by | :00:54. | :01:01. | |
managing our public finances, backing business and creating jobs | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
and we're helping people, regardless of gender or race, make the money go | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
further in their day-to-day lives. That's why we confirmed in the | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
Autumn Statement that we will raise the personal allowance to ?12,500 by | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
the end of parliament and by 2020 we will have increased by over 90% by | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
-- since 2010 and taking millions out of the lowest pay. We've also | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
introduced the national living wage ?7 20 per hour. And we announced | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
that the Autumn Statement we would raise it to ?7 50 in 2017. The | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
national swimming -- living wage also... And the honourable member | :01:51. | :01:56. | |
should know that women account for two thirds of those who will benefit | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
from this with people from BME communities also expected to gain. | :02:01. | :02:07. | |
I understand what he's saying about the national living wage and the | :02:08. | :02:15. | |
increase, but the 40% tax rate... Only 27% of higher rate taxpayers | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
are women said that changes there will disproportionately affect men | :02:23. | :02:24. | |
and not women so what is the government doing about that? When it | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
comes to income tax that is a matter, is got them, that will be a | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
matter for the Scottish Government and I look forward to seeing what it | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
will do on that. From early 2017 we will also introduced tax-free | :02:42. | :02:47. | |
childcare to help working parents with their childcare costs. Parents | :02:48. | :02:52. | |
will be able to receive up to ?2000 child support each year and we're | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
helping around 3 million households to further increase incentives for | :02:59. | :03:01. | |
people to increase the number of hours they work and earn their way | :03:02. | :03:06. | |
out of functional -- financial insecurity and dependency. With our | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
sustained investment in public services, such as our focus on | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
quality schools with the highest ever proportion of children being | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
taught in good or outstanding schools, the pupil premium to | :03:20. | :03:25. | |
support pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, and an investment of | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
?23 billion in the school estate over the next five years. Our | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
investment in infrastructure will help all, from roads and rails to | :03:35. | :03:40. | |
the homes we live in, and the recent Autumn Statement contributed to | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
tackling a long-standing challenge to deliver more homes with a further | :03:44. | :03:50. | |
?5.3 billion investment in housing, including a ?2.3 billion housing | :03:51. | :03:52. | |
infrastructure fund to deliver it infrastructure to unlock new homes | :03:53. | :04:00. | |
and to deliver 40,000 new affordable homes. So our economic plans are | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
based on delivering an economy that works for everyone and that means an | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
economy that benefits all races and genders. I note the efforts to | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
analyse the effect on measures we've taken on BME groups and our members | :04:15. | :04:20. | |
will be aware of research of the House of Commons library and the | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
Women's Budget Group on which the premise of today's motion is based. | :04:25. | :04:28. | |
But a cautious approach should be made when analysing specific impact. | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
Findings should not be considered without making an honest assessment | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
on the flaws inherent in the methodologies. First, the House of | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
Commons library looks only at taxes and benefits which means it | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
overlooks key part of the broader economic picture including benefits | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
for women and people from BME groups. It also fails to take into | :04:54. | :05:00. | |
account the public services that families values such as support for | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
childcare, spools -- schools exaggerate. Assumptions are made on | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
how income is shared in any household. For example, is not | :05:11. | :05:17. | |
reasonable to assume that the measure to reduce child tax credit | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
to the first two children will affect a overwhelmingly women | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
because women are usually the nominal payee. That is what the | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
House of Commons library did in previous analyses. That assumes that | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
other sources of income, such as earnings, are not shared within a | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
household in response to benefit changes. Their analysis compares to | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
a world where benefits are upgraded between 2010 and 2015 by the retail | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
price in set -- in text but that is a flawed measure of inflation. So | :05:54. | :06:02. | |
there are a range of issues and methods to calculate the impact on | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
the findings should be seen in this light. But it is right that we | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
assess carefully the effects of any new fiscal measures on any group | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
across our society and we carefully consider the implications of all our | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
measures and protect -- protected groups which includes gender, race | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
and disability in line with our principal of a fairer society but | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
our legal responsibilities also under the equality act of 2010. We | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
publish information alongside the Autumn Statement on the impact of | :06:34. | :06:42. | |
tax measures and also the impacts on households on our decisions on tax, | :06:43. | :06:49. | |
welfare and spending. That is on a range of different incomes. Madam | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
Deputy Speaker, our commitment to fairness runs through everything and | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
goes to the heart of our economic approach we've taken since 2010. The | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
Prime Minister could not have been clearer about her good determination | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
to take every action to make this country that works for everyone. | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
That is why we've launched at an audit to look at racial disparity in | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
public services that stretches across government, health, | :07:18. | :07:18. | |
education, employment skills and justice. So this government is fully | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
resolved to make this a country that works for all races and genders. | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
That is exactly what we work to deliver through our work to build a | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
stronger economy and to help people in their day-to-day lives. That is | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
what last month's Autumn Statement continued to support. | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
Before I call the spokesman for the Scottish National party, I should | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
warn the house that a great many people want to speak. There were | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
lots of interventions on the opening speeches and quite rightly so | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
because that is how you have a heated debate. I make no criticism | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
but it means there will have to be a three minute time limit on backbench | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
speeches. That doesn't apply of course to our next week. | :08:08. | :08:17. | |
Thank you. I am pleased to take part in this debate particularly since | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
figures recently indicate that there have been 455 female MPs in the | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
history of this House. The same number of male MPs present in the | :08:28. | :08:34. | |
house today. That is an important point in terms of policies this Has | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
pursues because policies are not always in the interests of women as | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
they have not been well was that represented over the years. The | :08:44. | :08:52. | |
women we have here today make their voices known and those of their | :08:53. | :08:56. | |
constituents. I'm very grateful to the member for Rotherham who spoke | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
passionately on this issue and I support her calls for a gender audit | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
because it would make a massive government -- difference in the way | :09:07. | :09:10. | |
government policies are analysed. I noted that women's income will be | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
hit twice as hard by men in 2020 and they will be ?1000 worse off by | :09:17. | :09:24. | |
2020. We know that women up -- of below average income will end up | :09:25. | :09:32. | |
?1600 worse off under this government. For female lone parents | :09:33. | :09:36. | |
they will be ?4000 per year worse off. That is a significant amount. | :09:37. | :09:46. | |
From 2010 to 2020, 80 6% of cuts to social security will cut -- come | :09:47. | :09:50. | |
from women's incomes and I don't understand how anyone can make up | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
that difference. Kurt -- research comes bleaker when we consider women | :09:57. | :10:05. | |
from BME backgrounds. Madam Deputy Speaker, those on the benches | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
opposite love their sound bites. They had a long-term economic plan | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
for a long time which has been abandoned because it is Ivan | :10:16. | :10:23. | |
long-term -- it is neither long-term nor a plan. This was not an Autumn | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
Statement that works for everyone and I attend -- in tender highlight | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
a few missed opportunities. I come to the debate with some degree of | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
frustration. The statement was an opportunity for the government to | :10:39. | :10:42. | |
make changes and start a new cause with a new female Prime Minister. | :10:43. | :10:46. | |
The example I have spoken about many times is that it is 526 days since | :10:47. | :10:59. | |
the 26th -- 26 team budget what it will bring into force next April. It | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
will come Powell survivors of rape to... This policy has been widely | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
condemned by felt -- faith leaders as well as organisations such as the | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
union -- United Nations committee on the rights of the child. They would | :11:19. | :11:23. | |
do well to reflect on the seriousness of the widespread | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
contamination. The Orthodox Jewish community has done research as well. | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
Their figures suggest this policy would push 200,000 more children | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
into poverty which is a significant figure. There is a trap inherent in | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
this policy where families will not be able to earn enough to get | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
themselves out of the trap. In telling reckon for every ?1 extra | :11:51. | :11:57. | |
family and they will use a 5p. The Prime Minister spoke about helping | :11:58. | :12:05. | |
families in our society -- they will lose 75p. When she was Home | :12:06. | :12:13. | |
Secretary, a call to action to tackle gender issues and genital | :12:14. | :12:20. | |
mutilation but her actions gave me some hope that perhaps it's rape | :12:21. | :12:26. | |
clause was utterly unworkable as well as immoral. Perhaps when the | :12:27. | :12:30. | |
consultation reports back it will finally be tackled because I can't | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
see how it compulsively work. In stead of using the Autumn Statement | :12:36. | :12:39. | |
as a means of ditching this rape clause, the government it out to | :12:40. | :12:47. | |
consultation. I await the government's response. I wonder what | :12:48. | :12:54. | |
the government expects the consultation to come back with. What | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
do they expect vulnerable women to say to a question that seems to ask | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
how do you intend to prove your child was born out of rape? The | :13:06. | :13:13. | |
government 's agenda disproportionately impact on women | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
and there was missed opportunity for some women. There are estimates that | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
there are thousands of women affected by campaigners. | :13:24. | :13:36. | |
Those women are not having that injustice dealt with. My | :13:37. | :13:46. | |
mother-in-law is also a victim. The woman in that age bracket herself, | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
the women she is not open with this policy. The government could have | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
done more in the Autumn Statement to address the issue of my honourable | :13:57. | :14:04. | |
friend, who is not well, and we sent her our best wishes. She has been | :14:05. | :14:07. | |
highlighting in recent weeks, the child maintenance service, a 4% | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
administration fee for the collect and pay service which is only | :14:14. | :14:16. | |
imposed on families who don't share bank details. The implication of | :14:17. | :14:23. | |
this is that women who have fled domestic abuse situations are the | :14:24. | :14:26. | |
ones who are disproportionately impacted by this situation. They are | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
trying to rebuild family life, the Autumn Statement was a chance to | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
correct this unfurnished and I call on ministers opposite to make | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
progress on this significant matter. Half of Glasgow's job centres are | :14:45. | :14:51. | |
too close, and discussion last week, Glasgow elected ribs and Steve said | :14:52. | :14:53. | |
the impact assessment on these plans would only be done after the | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
consultation, after the consultation. Which is completely | :14:59. | :15:02. | |
inadequate. Only three of eight are going to consultation, the others | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
will not be consulted on. The plans were drawn up to see how far one job | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
centre was from another and with buses we might get, some of the | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
buses referred to the given exist because they have been withdrawn. | :15:20. | :15:27. | |
Women have been working and finding it difficult to meet their | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
obligations, dropping off their kids and adding the extra burden of | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
travelling across Glasgow on more than one bus will put them at | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
serious risk of being sanctioned and it is an explicit bull that that | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
would not be taken into account by the consultation is being released. | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
It is almost as if the government is making it so hard for people to | :15:51. | :15:53. | |
claim what they are actually entitled to. Another thing missed | :15:54. | :16:03. | |
out was the under 25 's. They are keen to advance the national living | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
wage but if you are under 25, you are not entitled to the same pay. | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
Your days work is not seen as much of value as if you are over 25. They | :16:14. | :16:18. | |
say it is about experience but it is not. If you will can do your job on | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
your first day at the age of 25, the differential is ?3 45 as to somebody | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
who is 16, starting on the same day in the same job. That is unfair. The | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
national living wage is not an actual living wage, it is a revised | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
minimum wage which is out of touch with the true cost of living in this | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
country. The real living wage set by living wage foundation is being | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
implemented by the Scottish Government and we now have 693 | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
companies in Scotland, across a wide range of sectors and sizes of | :16:56. | :17:02. | |
companies that now believe that a fair day 's work deserves a fair day | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
's pay. The government's pretend living wage will not deliver that. | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
In discriminating against under 25s, the government doesn't acknowledge | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
that they will not get a discount on their rent or their cost of living. | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
Also to compound this, they are not entitled to the same benefits as | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
those who are over 25. It is completely ludicrous. There is also | :17:30. | :17:43. | |
an issue of the camp on tax. -- tampon. The then financial Secretary | :17:44. | :17:55. | |
to the Treasury seem to think it was nigh on impossible to achieve and I | :17:56. | :17:57. | |
am glad they have made progress on this. And I thank the honourable | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
member for Dewsbury and my honourable friend on this side of | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
the House who have campaigned on this issue. Without cross-party | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
support, I don't think we would have got nearly as far as we have with | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
the government. In the Autumn Statement, the announcement on the | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
tampon tax was welcomed, when the minister comes to the dispatch box, | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
can he tell us how groups in Scotland have benefited from this | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
and can he tell us when these changes will lead to the abolition | :18:31. | :18:36. | |
of the tampon tax. Every month goes by, the government is still saying | :18:37. | :18:41. | |
that revenue come in. I want to know when I'm not going to have to pay | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
that any longer. I am conscious that other colleagues wish to speak and I | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
want to conclude with agreeing that the Autumn Statement was a missed | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
opportunity. It was a missed opportunity on pay equality, a | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
missed opportunity for the Waspy women and a missed opportunity for | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
all women, thank you. Gray before I call the next Speaker, I have two | :19:08. | :19:15. | |
announced the result of today's decide division, in relating to | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
financial services and markets, the iMac weres 297 and the nos were 151 | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
so the iMac rows have it. -- the ever since the Tory party which did | :19:24. | :19:42. | |
stand for the old landed interest was taken over in the 1800 by a | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
mixture of free traders and Unionists and liberals, this | :19:48. | :19:49. | |
Conservative Party has been absolutely committed to the | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
principle of equality of opportunity. A society where anyone | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
can succeed based on their merit with no regard at all for their race | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
or sexual orientation or their gender. That is absolutely right, a | :20:02. | :20:04. | |
principle which we maintain to this day. As the father of two daughters, | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
I want them to be able to succeed in education and the workplace and in | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
the public space. I am delighted with the progress the government is | :20:13. | :20:16. | |
making so far and that society is making so far. The lowest gender pay | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
gap on record, record numbers of women in employment. If all in and | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
implement announced today, bringing it well below 5% something which | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
both men and women can benefit from and increases in the minimum wage. | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
Yes we have more to do as well but the Autumn Statement was not an | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
opportunity to start spending money from the magical money tree that | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
members think is unlimited. It is an opportunity to maintain the sound | :20:46. | :20:47. | |
financial direction in which we have been going which has led the | :20:48. | :20:51. | |
Guardian to admit that we now have the highest growth rate in the whole | :20:52. | :20:55. | |
of the G-7. It would be disastrous for everyone in this country, men | :20:56. | :20:58. | |
and women, if the government were to go back on that. There are problems | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
out there. The Casey report which came out a week or two ago | :21:05. | :21:07. | |
highlighted some of the many problems we still face in the | :21:08. | :21:13. | |
challenge of getting equality in our society. I am glad the motion | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
mentions the problems faced by black and ethnic minority women which was | :21:19. | :21:21. | |
also referred to in the Casey review. The most worrying statistic | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
in here was that the biggest problems being faced by women who | :21:27. | :21:32. | |
are of Bangladeshi and cultural heritage and that cultural and will | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
adjust attitudes are having an effect here. People popped up to say | :21:38. | :21:40. | |
that it was a disgrace and we shouldn't be worried about drawing | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
attention to this due to fears of being called racist but some of us | :21:45. | :21:48. | |
have been pointing it out in this chamber for many years. I was on the | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
home affairs select committee in 2008 when it had a report into | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
forced marriage, female genital mutilation and so-called honour | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
crimes. That report was horrifying, we had evidence of girls who had | :22:01. | :22:03. | |
been forced to marry rapists and were unable to prevent British | :22:04. | :22:07. | |
authorities to give visas to the rapists because they were unable to | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
speak out in public for fear of what would happen to them at the hands of | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
their own families. We heard about female genital mutilation. We heard | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
that schools were refusing to put up the forced marriage helpline in this | :22:21. | :22:24. | |
country because of concerns it would alienate the local community. We | :22:25. | :22:27. | |
know there are political meetings taking place addressed by members | :22:28. | :22:32. | |
opposite, senior members of the party opposite where men and women | :22:33. | :22:35. | |
are segregated. I pointed out a few weeks ago in this chamber that the | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
Muslim come so for Britain, one of the so-called moderate Muslim groups | :22:39. | :22:42. | |
was linking to a good site which told women that they should not be | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
able to travel more than 48 miles without a male chaperone. I have | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
drawn attention in this to the fact that some girls in schools are | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
expected to wear full dress as part of the uniform. They are worried | :22:57. | :23:08. | |
about the increase of the burqa and the pressure girls are being put | :23:09. | :23:11. | |
under to wear it in some parts of London at the moment. I very much | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
hope Madam Deputy Speaker that people will hope that it is not the | :23:18. | :23:20. | |
Autumn Statement causing a lot of these problems but backward cultural | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
attitudes portrayed by men in certain commute is to the women in | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
those amenities. I am very glad the government announced in the Autumn | :23:30. | :23:32. | |
Statement that the ?3 million tampon tax is going to be used to support | :23:33. | :23:35. | |
women's charities. I would urge them to put it towards charities for | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
campaigns against forced marriage, one law for all who are campaigning | :23:43. | :23:46. | |
against Shara Law and other charities that are reaching out to | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
women in ethnic minorities to bring out the ethnic equality we also | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
want. I rise to speak in this debate because the reality is that this | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
government's so-called long-term economic plan has failed, is failing | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
and continuing to fail women in particular. In the text of the | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
motion before us today, we see that 86% of the net savings from the | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
Treasury come through tax and benefit measures that are coming | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
from women. The Minister questioned that and said it was maybe not the | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
full picture. It is not the full picture because it doesn't take into | :24:22. | :24:24. | |
account the many hours of unpaid caring work that women in our | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
communities do, often plugging the gaps left by cuts to local services, | :24:28. | :24:32. | |
again caused by this government. Some women are paying more than | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
others and it is women in low-paid jobs from the black and minority | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
ethnic communities and women with disabilities that are | :24:40. | :24:41. | |
disproportionately taking the hit from this government. When it comes | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
to social care that is paid for poker, we know that many employers | :24:47. | :24:53. | |
are women and the hourly wage is ?7 ten. That often does not take into | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
account the time taken to travel between employment so it can top as | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
low as 75, well below the national minimum wage of ?6 70. For this | :25:02. | :25:06. | |
Autumn Statement to say nothing on social care, health, the NHS mental | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
health is quite frankly missing the point and not attacking the issue we | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
face as a country. There is nothing in this Autumn Statement for the 2.6 | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
million women who have had their lives changed by this government's | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
attitude towards the equalisation of the pension age. These Waspy women | :25:22. | :25:26. | |
have campaigned with dignity but they got nothing from this Autumn | :25:27. | :25:29. | |
Statement. As this government continues to refuse to act for those | :25:30. | :25:36. | |
women. On the tampon tax, I would like to ask the Minister if she | :25:37. | :25:39. | |
could confirm whether the ?3 million announcement in the statement is new | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
funding or the remainder of the allocation from the 2015 fund? I | :25:43. | :25:46. | |
don't know where to begin with the tampon tax because quite frankly, | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
the fact that women have deep pay a tampon tax does not negate the | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
injustice of a tax that is then given to women's charities. Women | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
should not be funding our own refuges and it is a tax we want to | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
abolish, we would like to abolish it we stand with you on that. It does | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
not offer secure funding for refuges which need long-term secure funding | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
and the government need to step up to the mark on that issue. We should | :26:11. | :26:15. | |
not be needing to have this debate because quite frankly, we should | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
have seen this government publish and equality impact statement before | :26:22. | :26:34. | |
the Autumn Statement. To make some concluding remarks, there is nothing | :26:35. | :26:39. | |
in this debate that is new, quite frankly it has been known for years, | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
decades even. That cuts to public services have a disproportionate | :26:44. | :26:46. | |
impact on women because women are more likely to be working in the | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
public sector, more likely to use services provided by the public | :26:51. | :26:53. | |
sector but yet again, they are the women who are picking up that | :26:54. | :27:04. | |
underpaid work therefore they are now being disproportionately impact | :27:05. | :27:13. | |
on the cuts made by this government. Given this fundamental analysis, one | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
can only assume that this government deliberately presented in Autumn | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
Statement that would disproportionately impact women. A | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
future Labour governed would ensure that women would be gender audited | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
to make sure things work truly for all. Not only has austerity Felder | :27:29. | :27:38. | |
country but a political choice was made for ideological reasons rather | :27:39. | :27:39. | |
than any economic necessity. The opposition's motion today is to | :27:40. | :27:56. | |
attack the government agenda on equality and rape. I am saddened but | :27:57. | :28:01. | |
surprise was that it is typical and frankly and unfounded attack. I | :28:02. | :28:05. | |
would like to ask the opposition to change the record. Any to dump the | :28:06. | :28:13. | |
1980s retro socialism and face the facts. The Conservative Party I have | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
been elected to represent as a woman and as an ethnic minority bears no | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
resemblance to the picture they are trying to paint in this motion. In | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
philosophy or in policy. In fact, quite the contrary. I am proud that | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
on this side that our values of fairness, meritocracy and service | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
inform our policies. We say it doesn't matter where you | :28:37. | :28:51. | |
come from. You can rise up by using the ladder the Conservatives | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
provide. Not hand-outs and dependency and the key to that is | :28:55. | :29:00. | |
working because it engenders teamwork, build confidence and | :29:01. | :29:03. | |
creates responsibility. We believe in the individual and not the state. | :29:04. | :29:11. | |
Taxation stifles enterprise, not powers and that's what the Autumn | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
Statement to pick somewhat attract record reflects. Labour's default | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
position of increasing taxation, spending is unsustainable, it is | :29:22. | :29:30. | |
disempowering to women, disabled people and ethnic minorities. If we | :29:31. | :29:36. | |
want to keep and empower women and ethnic minorities and disabled | :29:37. | :29:39. | |
people we need a strong economy and we get that by managing the books | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
and the finances in a prudent way. This Autumn Statement is a real | :29:46. | :29:56. | |
reflection of how we do that. The commitment to raising the tax-free | :29:57. | :30:00. | |
personal allowance to ?12,500, raising the national living wage up | :30:01. | :30:05. | |
to ?7 50 in April, national insurance thresholds for employees | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
and employers will be aligned, rolling at 30 hours of tax-free | :30:12. | :30:15. | |
childcare, introducing shared parental leave and flexible working. | :30:16. | :30:22. | |
Those are all the conditions that empower women and when you get the | :30:23. | :30:25. | |
conditions right you get the results. The results speak for | :30:26. | :30:31. | |
themselves. Granted, there's more to do, but we can see the gender pay | :30:32. | :30:35. | |
gap is at its lowest on record with more led businesses than ever | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
contributing ?80 billion to the economy per year. We see there are | :30:42. | :30:50. | |
no more all-male boards in the FTSE 100 top companies. Britain has been | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
voted the best country in Europe for women to set up a business. This is | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
a government that creates the conditions to help make work pay and | :31:01. | :31:04. | |
strengthen our economy in a strengthening -- sustainable and it | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
prudent way and in doing so we are all empowered. As women, ethnic | :31:09. | :31:15. | |
people, disabled people and people from a disadvantaged background we | :31:16. | :31:19. | |
are all empowered and that's why we'll -- I will vote against this. | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
It doesn't matter what your background is comic you can achieve | :31:25. | :31:27. | |
your potential and that's why I will vote against the opposition motion | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
today. As of 2016's Autumn Statement, 86% | :31:33. | :31:40. | |
of net savings to the Treasury through tax and benefit measures | :31:41. | :31:43. | |
will have come from women. So here I go again, speaking up for the 2.6 | :31:44. | :31:49. | |
million women at first the affected by this government's chaotic | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
mismanagement of the pension age increased. Action to address those | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
who've lost out now is necessary to ensure that everyone is treated | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
fairly by increasing the state pension age for women. An estimated | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
500,000 women born in the 1950s are being affected by these changes in | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
state pension. Changes to state and public sector pensions will | :32:20. | :32:21. | |
disproportionately affect women who already make up two thirds of the | :32:22. | :32:28. | |
UK's poorest pensioners. I have nothing new to say because you've | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
heard it all before. It needs no further explanation as we all | :32:33. | :32:38. | |
acknowledged on the side of the house that a gross injustice to the | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
1950s women. The WASPI generation who are currently experiencing this | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
gross injustice. Today we talked about equality. Those women are not | :32:49. | :32:55. | |
having equality. This government has an opportunity to redress that | :32:56. | :33:00. | |
inequality, to do the right thing and make the appropriate | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
transitional payments for the nineteen fifties WASPI women. | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
Thank you. I welcome any support for women. They make up half the | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
population and contribute so much to our economy, but we need to focus on | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
ensuring we have a strong economy because that way we protect women as | :33:22. | :33:27. | |
well as men, disabled people as well as able-bodied people and people of | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
all races. Through that, all of those people will prosper. I'm | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
pleased our growth is second only to the US under this government. It is | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
unfortunate that the bench opposite focuses on the negatives and not the | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
positives and don't seek to raise ambition and aspiration for all | :33:49. | :33:52. | |
society. I would like to highlight for positives in relation to women. | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
Those who are young, those who are on low wages, those who are more | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
skilled and by way of international comparison. In relation to young | :34:04. | :34:06. | |
women, I don't think it's appropriate to talk down your own | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
women. Girls often do better in school than boys. More women than | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
men go to university. I'd like to recognise the benefit this | :34:19. | :34:23. | |
government's policies have had on those women on lower salaries | :34:24. | :34:27. | |
because men as when is women benefit from the national living wage going | :34:28. | :34:38. | |
up to ?9 by 2020. If, as the opposition pay -- say, women are | :34:39. | :34:43. | |
less pagan men, this will disproportionately affect women. Let | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
us not forget the strides made for those who are higher paid. Now we | :34:48. | :34:55. | |
had -- have no all-male FTSE 100 boards. The number of women on these | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
boards has gone up to 26% in 2015 from 13% in 2011. Firstly, it's | :35:02. | :35:08. | |
important to consider how we are doing in comparison to other | :35:09. | :35:13. | |
countries internationally. The World Economic Forum gender gap measures | :35:14. | :35:20. | |
and ranks the level of equality of opportunity between men and women. | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
We are 20th out of 144, ranking above Canada, the US and Australia. | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
The member for Rotherham stated she was proud of successive Labour | :35:33. | :35:39. | |
achievements. She failed to mention that according to a Fabian Society | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
only are women and only 16% are only are women and only 16% are | :35:45. | :35:52. | |
council leaders and only 11% as senior Labour star. I want an | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
economy and a society that works for everyone of every race, any gender | :35:58. | :36:10. | |
and of every religion. Thank you. I will talk about the productivity gap | :36:11. | :36:16. | |
and I will stick to the Autumn Statement because that was the | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
subject on the motion today. The product he -- productivity gap is | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
one of the things we pale -- fail on because we forget half of the | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
population. So talking of the infrastructure spending announced in | :36:32. | :36:35. | |
the Autumn Statement, we all know that that will mainly create jobs | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
that are filled with men. What I am asking for the government is to do | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
something about it. The women and equality select committee enquiry | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
into the gender pay gap at minister pledging their desire to do | :36:51. | :36:53. | |
something about it and enquiry found clear evidence that segmentation of | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
jobs is what exacerbates the gender pay gap. Ministers have sat in front | :37:00. | :37:04. | |
of me who were on the bench earlier and said they wanted to see more | :37:05. | :37:13. | |
women in Stem subjects to -- and talk about how brilliant the UK was | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
doing in that field... I am grateful. Does she recognised the | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
question asked by one of my colleagues yesterday that if the | :37:24. | :37:29. | |
half a million jobs from the industrial strategy were all given | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
to disabled, it still wouldn't close the disability gap let alone the | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
gender gap? I do indeed recognise that and I thank her for the | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
intervention. What we have two recognises we all have so much more | :37:44. | :37:48. | |
to do in this area. In the Autumn Statement the announcement of | :37:49. | :37:52. | |
billions of pounds of extra pounds represents an opportunity for the | :37:53. | :37:54. | |
government to invest in construction and ended -- engineering jogs and | :37:55. | :38:04. | |
tech and innovation. It is an opportunity to achieve other aims, | :38:05. | :38:07. | |
aims they have travelled the world saying they care about. I set about | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
asking ministers how they will make sure this money, taxpayers money, | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
included all those women who paid taxes and would it be spent on our | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
prosperity? I asked the Chancellor if he had targets for women's | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
employment and I wonder if we can guess what he said? He is said and I | :38:28. | :38:36. | |
quote, "The government has no plans to step -- set targets for women's | :38:37. | :38:45. | |
employment". It's clear that are not only women losing out in the Cats, | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
we also make no gains from the government when the government | :38:50. | :38:54. | |
finally decides to spend money. There's a huge amount of research | :38:55. | :38:58. | |
that shows that instead of always reaching for the shovels when | :38:59. | :39:02. | |
spending on infrastructure, we need to see investment in child car and | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
target services and that creates more jobs than any road building and | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
has double the effect on productivity by freeing up adults of | :39:13. | :39:18. | |
working age than the responsibilities they have which | :39:19. | :39:21. | |
stopped them from work. That is mainly done by women. I'm asking for | :39:22. | :39:28. | |
the commissioning of all of that money, all the contracts have a | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
condition in the tendering process that providers have to provide a | :39:35. | :39:38. | |
plan of how they will attract more women into the roles. I would ask | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
the government to set targets and quotas. I know they will not do that | :39:43. | :39:50. | |
in opposition to all the evidence. No contract should be allocated | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
without a workable plan being submitted. I also asked the | :39:55. | :39:58. | |
government monitors how many jobs are created by the National | :39:59. | :40:02. | |
productivity investment funds that we women taxpayers can see what we | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
are getting back for our investment and monitoring this will allow the | :40:07. | :40:10. | |
government to see if they are doing a good job for half the population. | :40:11. | :40:18. | |
Government policy cannot be based on the basis of Triumph over hope and | :40:19. | :40:26. | |
experience. Experience and evidence shows that only 1% of direct | :40:27. | :40:30. | |
construction jobs are held by women and 14% across the entire | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
construction industry including Administration and in that field | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
there is a 16% gender pay gap. So we are investing in a sector where | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
women don't have jobs and when they do get them they can be expected to | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
pay -- get paid considerably less than male colleagues. I want this | :40:49. | :40:54. | |
investment but I just want the benefits to be shared equally. Women | :40:55. | :41:01. | |
get 1% at the moment 199% goes elsewhere. I am not sure out waving | :41:02. | :41:09. | |
as we get called on this side of the House. I am literally standing here | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
waving hoping that the government notices that in productivity there | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
is a female of the species. Thank you. While the motion talks | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
about the Autumn Statement, I think we have to except it isn't just the | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
Autumn Statement because we're talking about the key relative | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
effects over a decade. What we see is that the lowest 10% on income | :41:39. | :41:46. | |
stand to lose 21% of their income by 2020. This will affect people with | :41:47. | :41:50. | |
disability. We have debated in this place, the cuts and the changes to | :41:51. | :42:02. | |
PIP that stop someone with disability getting work and we've | :42:03. | :42:07. | |
heard about the impact on black and ethnic minorities. Changes to tax | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
have definitely helped mend. If you are right at the bottom, sadly you | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
are probably not paying tax 08 change in tax threshold does not | :42:17. | :42:23. | |
help you. 72% of those on 42% tax are men so they benefit. In case the | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
government has forgotten some of the things that have been happening in | :42:28. | :42:31. | |
recent years I will put my spectacles on and read the list. | :42:32. | :42:35. | |
Changes to child benefit and important because it is usually paid | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
to the mother. A cat in childcare support within working tax credits, | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
the baby element of tax credits removed, working tax credits or | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
couples with children increased from working 16 hours to 24 hours. | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
Reduction in housing benefit support and most houses with a single adult | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
women so it hits them. The lone parents on income support, once the | :43:04. | :43:08. | |
child is by they need to move to Job Seekers Allowance and 92% of women. | :43:09. | :43:18. | |
The health and pregnancy act axed. Charges for access to child | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
maintenance services and to employment tribunal 's, also | :43:24. | :43:26. | |
affecting women when they are trying to bring in equality cases. And if | :43:27. | :43:35. | |
it Cats and freezes will hit 89% of the people who are hit by these are | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
households with children and 50% are lone parents. Again, 92% of lone | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
parents are women. We know about cuts in universal credits to cut. | :43:47. | :43:54. | |
They reverse U-turn on tax credits which is simply comes in as | :43:55. | :43:59. | |
universal credit being rolled out. Paid to one person in the household | :44:00. | :44:02. | |
and having come from a family where domestic abuse and manipulation was | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
part of that it's a real danger. The key issue is we've not had a key | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
relative impact assessment on all the changes added together for | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
gender, for effortless at a younger disability. | :44:19. | :44:28. | |
The lone parents, as we learned earlier, stand to lose ?4000, that | :44:29. | :44:36. | |
is eye watering, of their income. Women pensioners, 19% pay gap over | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
their lifetime. That means less savings and a bigger reliance on the | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
state pension. And of course we come to the Waspi issue. What this | :44:49. | :44:53. | |
results in is a health impact, the government talk about NHS | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
sustainability but what we have is that the biggest driver of ill | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
health is actually poverty. We talk around smoking and weight and the | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
things people should do but if you look at the marmot report, the | :45:10. | :45:14. | |
differences poverty. The biggest change that ever came previously for | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
public health was changing the London sewers. What we should be | :45:20. | :45:22. | |
trying to do is eliminate poverty and give children a decent start in | :45:23. | :45:33. | |
life. Order. I would like to thank the honourable member for Rotherham | :45:34. | :45:36. | |
for proposing this the bait and highlighting the issue on this | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
matter. Since 2010, women have been hit three times harder by tax and | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
benefits changes than men. 86% of tax and benefit savings have been | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
taken from women. This is an increase of a further 5% since last | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
year 's Autumn Statement. This will affect female headed households the | :45:55. | :45:57. | |
most. They will see the largest rock and standards from 2010 to 2020 | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
under a Conservative led government. The Prime Minister, in her maiden | :46:04. | :46:07. | |
speech on the steps of Downing Street said "If you're a woman, you | :46:08. | :46:12. | |
will earn less than a man. Those quote this is absolutely true. The | :46:13. | :46:16. | |
gender pay gap is an issue that needs to be tackled now. Under the | :46:17. | :46:21. | |
Labour government, we have closed it by a third but now, according to the | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
United Nations, on the current rate of progress, it will take Britain | :46:26. | :46:30. | |
another 70 years to bridge the divide between men's and women's | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
pay. I have highlighted that women are being paid less but they are | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
also paying the price of austerity. The effects of the Autumn Statement | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
according to the women's budget group show that women in work will | :46:45. | :46:48. | |
be an average 1000 pounds a year worse off. Compare to the male | :46:49. | :46:57. | |
counterparts, who will still lose ?555 a year. As has already been | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
highlighted, low earning women will be the most affected of any group. | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
Women who are employed and earn below-average incomes will find | :47:09. | :47:18. | |
themselves ?1678 a year poorer. The effects of the Autumn Statement have | :47:19. | :47:21. | |
also been detrimental to women relying on the welfare system for | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
support. Including the reduction to the benefits cap, cutting tax | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
credits and child support and carers allowance heavily affect single | :47:33. | :47:35. | |
parents. Nine out of ten the single parents are women. And for women in | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
work, the government trumpets the raising of the personal tax | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
allowance as lifting people out of tax. Yet it ignores the 43% of | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
people who do not earn enough to even pay income tax. 66% of whom are | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
women and whom this measure benefit not one bit. Since coming into | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
government in 2010, the Conservatives have stated repeatedly | :48:01. | :48:03. | |
that they have a long-term economic plan. And with a new Chancellor and | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
Prime Minister, in the Autumn Statement, they seem to have changed | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
course. They have now promised to target the just about managing. All | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
I can see is that they are getting themselves into a long-term economic | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
jam. I would ask, who are these people who are just about managing? | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
Are they just about managing needing inheritance tax to be scrapped on | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
homes worth up to ?1 million? Is it helpful to give 21 billion in tax | :48:36. | :48:39. | |
cuts to the richest half of households. Are they just about | :48:40. | :48:44. | |
managing? Is it just about managing to be able to blow ?1000 on design | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
and accessories. Many of my constituents can no longer just | :48:50. | :48:53. | |
about manage, they are in fact not coping at all. Having borne the | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
unfair burden of this government's austerity policy. And if this is a | :48:57. | :49:02. | |
government that once a Britain that works for everyone, it should not be | :49:03. | :49:06. | |
allowing them into the paid less while paying the price for their | :49:07. | :49:12. | |
unequal policies. I would ask, in the spirit of positivity, that the | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
government should begin with addressing the mass inequality that | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
has been dealt to UK women. I would recommend to this House that they | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
start with a gender audit of their own policy and gender analysis of | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
future budgets so we can at least begin to eradicate the imbalance | :49:30. | :49:38. | |
that burdens women here in the UK. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. Quite a | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
lot has been talked about in relation to some of the percentages | :49:45. | :49:47. | |
and things and some of the stats around. I will throw a few more in | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
but not that many. In the hope that we don't bamboozle everybody too | :49:53. | :49:56. | |
much. The government has been saying that things are getting better for | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
women and that this Autumn Statement must be OK. It glosses over the fact | :50:03. | :50:11. | |
that it was written without considering the impact on the | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
different genders. Afterwards they have tried to fudge a response to | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
the question that inevitably came. It is not good enough for the | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
government to just fudge this issue. Women are starting from a position | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
of an uneven playing field. We are starting from a position where over | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
90% of lone parents are female. The gender pay gap in the UK is still | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
13.9% for full-time employees. Women make up 60% of those who earn below | :50:45. | :50:50. | |
the living wage. The real living wage, not the pretence living wage. | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
Women make up 27% of higher rate taxpayers. We are starting from a | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
position we are disadvantaged. There is a gender pay gap and the | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
government can't say they are not doing anything bad in regards to | :51:07. | :51:09. | |
women. Only to stand up and say they are doing good things for women, | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
institute policies that make the situation better rather than just | :51:14. | :51:20. | |
trying to stand still. We are not starting as I said from an even | :51:21. | :51:23. | |
playing field. The other thing the government should be really | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
criticised for is the fact that they keep standing there and saying that | :51:29. | :51:35. | |
many things are wrong. You can't say the evidence is wrong because you | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
disagree with it. That doesn't make it wrong, it just means you disagree | :51:41. | :51:44. | |
with it. Just like the National living wage, the government cannot | :51:45. | :51:47. | |
call it a national living wage and expect people to be able to live on | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
it just because they have called it that, that is not how these things | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
work. What the government needs to do is to actually make these | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
changes. In November 2013, a website produced a piece of work looking at | :52:04. | :52:10. | |
Labour's work around the gender pay gap and the policy. One of the | :52:11. | :52:14. | |
things the website said was "Women just tend to be in those groups more | :52:15. | :52:19. | |
affected by benefit changes." That is absolutely the case, because of | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
the percentage of women who are lone parents and those managing | :52:26. | :52:27. | |
households on their own and the reduction in the numbers of the | :52:28. | :52:31. | |
benefit being given to people with children. Because of all those | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
changes, women are disproportionately affected by | :52:36. | :52:39. | |
these. We are starting off in a position of less privilege and less | :52:40. | :52:42. | |
opportunity and less advantage in society. The government needs to be | :52:43. | :52:46. | |
doing the opposite of what it is doing. It needs to be making | :52:47. | :52:50. | |
positive interventions. The speech made about the ladder and people | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
being able to climb up the ladder is frankly rubbish. People can't climb | :52:55. | :52:58. | |
up the ladder. It seems now that people of my generation are having | :52:59. | :53:02. | |
more trouble climbing up the ladder than the previous generation. Things | :53:03. | :53:05. | |
are going backwards and getting worse. People from less affluent | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
backgrounds, people who are female, people from black and ethnic | :53:10. | :53:13. | |
minority back-ups, people who are disabled particularly, are | :53:14. | :53:16. | |
struggling even more in the last few years to climb up that ladder than | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
they were 20 or 30 years ago. When there was a possibility of that | :53:23. | :53:25. | |
dream and getting out. The government has talked a lot about | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
the FTSE 100 and the fact that 26% on FTSE 100 boards are women, first | :53:32. | :53:35. | |
art that is nowhere near 50%. The only women heading up FTSE 100 | :53:36. | :53:45. | |
companies is just five women. I would like can graduate my | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
honourable friend, the member for Rotherham for securing this debate. | :53:50. | :53:52. | |
I am pleased that in her excellent opening contribution she referred to | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
maternity and paternity leave. I would like to focus in particular on | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
the plight of parents of premature babies who really are a group | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
struggling to manage. It feels to me that the Autumn Statement was a | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
missed opportunity to offer them the better help that they need. While | :54:11. | :54:16. | |
maternity provision in the UK is generally good by international | :54:17. | :54:19. | |
standards, it doesn't work that macro work for parents who are born | :54:20. | :54:25. | |
long before their due date. They can often be on life in Inca baiters | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
weeks or months. The parents are unable to hold them because they are | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
in case in machinery with wires, tubes and bleeping monitors. They | :54:35. | :54:37. | |
are quite literally fighting for their lives. Paid maternity leave | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
lasts for around six months but it is triggered the moment the child is | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
born. There is no flexibility allowed if the baby spends several | :54:48. | :54:50. | |
of those first vital months inside an incubator in a special care unit. | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
That means the child is doubly disadvantaged. First by being born | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
too weak and frail to live without medical support and with illnesses | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
that can often go on for years. At secondary by being denied the full | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
period of time that healthy babies get to physically bond with their | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
parents. Holding, cuddling and breast-feeding are vital to a baby's | :55:13. | :55:15. | |
healthy development but a premature baby never gets the time they spent | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
in an incubator. In are watching their baby struggle to live leaves | :55:23. | :55:24. | |
one in every five mothers of premature babies with mental | :55:25. | :55:30. | |
ill-health. Another issue that the Autumn Statement chose to ignore. On | :55:31. | :55:33. | |
average, the parents of premature babies spent an extra ?2000 on the | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
cost of overnight accommodation, hospital parking and eating in a | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
defensive hospital cafeterias. For many parents, that is simple in | :55:44. | :55:47. | |
money they don't have and it pushes many of them into debt that they | :55:48. | :55:50. | |
struggle to get out of afterwards. It is not just difficult for mums | :55:51. | :55:54. | |
but for dads as well. They still only get ten days paid paternity | :55:55. | :55:59. | |
leave, even if their baby is born months early. At the time where the | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
newborn child is fighting for its life, and the child's mother needs | :56:04. | :56:08. | |
help the most, many dads are sent straight back to work. These parents | :56:09. | :56:16. | |
need an extension of paid maternity and paternity leave that takes into | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
account how premature their baby is. It would be a relatively small | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
upfront cost for the government but it will save or public money in the | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
long-term by keeping parents in work, helping vulnerable babies | :56:31. | :56:33. | |
develop more healthily by having that vital time to bond. Reducing | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
mother 's mental ill-health and reducing the need for a later | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
medical intervention for the child. And the human benefit for those | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
families is way beyond any financial calculation. I took a group of | :56:49. | :56:52. | |
campaigners and mums of premature babies to share their stories with | :56:53. | :56:56. | |
the Minister of State for business a couple of weeks ago. I look forward | :56:57. | :57:01. | |
to her views on what she heard. I do hope the government will reflect on | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
the damage they have done for families in these past six years and | :57:06. | :57:10. | |
in this case at least do the right thing and support these parents who | :57:11. | :57:13. | |
need us to do the right thing for them so they can do the right thing | :57:14. | :57:20. | |
for their families. Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker, I would like to | :57:21. | :57:23. | |
thank the member for Rotherham for championing this issue so very well | :57:24. | :57:27. | |
today. I would also like to thank all of today's fantastic speakers, | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
we have heard from the honourable members for Glasgow Central, | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
Monmouth, Lancaster and Fleetwood, Fareham, Swansea East, South East | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
Cambridgeshire, Yardley, Central Ayrshire, Hayward and Milton, | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
Aberdeen North and Croydon North. And we have heard from them on a | :57:44. | :57:47. | |
range of issues from the gross injustice faced by the Waspi women, | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
the disability work up, the productivity gap, the benefit gap | :57:53. | :57:56. | |
and the universal credit cuts and paternity rights. And ultimately, | :57:57. | :58:00. | |
the fact that austerity and cuts have largely fallen on the shoulders | :58:01. | :58:05. | |
of women in recent years. Last month's Autumn Statement was an | :58:06. | :58:09. | |
opportunity for the new Chancellor to signal a change of direction and | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
repair some of the damage caused by six years of Conservative failure. | :58:14. | :58:17. | |
We were told that our cumulative deficit would be ?122 billion by | :58:18. | :58:25. | |
2021, which is a far cry from the eradicated deficit we were promised | :58:26. | :58:26. | |
by 2015. We've seen six wasted years of | :58:27. | :58:45. | |
pernicious cuts and schemes aimed at dismantling and market housing our | :58:46. | :58:47. | |
public services so that there are no teetering on the edge of a cliff and | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
six years where the wealthiest enjoyed tax giveaways whilst the | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
most vulnerable saw their incomes savagely cut. How did women fare in | :58:58. | :59:03. | |
all of this? Well, I was quietly optimistic before the statement | :59:04. | :59:08. | |
given that we've got a female Prime Minister and she waxed lyrical in | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
the day 's lyrical preceding the statement that the government would | :59:12. | :59:25. | |
help the so-called Jans. But there was nothing for the so-called Just | :59:26. | :59:37. | |
About Managing and no reversal of some cuts and no mess -- mention of | :59:38. | :59:45. | |
social care nor the NHS. Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies | :59:46. | :59:47. | |
shows that real wages will not have recovered to their 2008 levels even | :59:48. | :59:56. | |
by 2021. This is unprecedented in modern British history and that's | :59:57. | :59:58. | |
before we start looking at the gender pay gap. It was more | :59:59. | :00:04. | |
noteworthy for what it missed rather than what it achieved but what was | :00:05. | :00:09. | |
most disappointing was the Chancellor's failure to address the | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
disproportionate impact of the past six years on women. He had his | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
chance. I made it clear we would support him should he fully support | :00:19. | :00:23. | |
cuts to universal credit but he chose not to and announced a meagre | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
changed to the tapering which would changed to the tapering which would | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
do little to mitigate the effects of the wider cuts which affect women | :00:30. | :00:36. | |
disproportionately. The House of Commons library modelled these | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
changes in different situations and are lone parent with one child on a | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
national minimum living wage is set to experience a net loss of ?2600 | :00:46. | :00:53. | |
even with the reduced taper rate. That's a desperate situation for any | :00:54. | :00:59. | |
family to be in, but further analysis shows that single, female | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
adults make up 88% of total single adults in receipt of child and/ or | :01:06. | :01:16. | |
forward -- working tax credits. Not only was the discrepancy not | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
addressed, the systematic failure to properly fund our public services | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
impact on women also. The social care sector is in crisis. It is on | :01:27. | :01:33. | |
the brink of collapse even, which puts even greater pressures on our | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
already creaking NHS. Yet the Autumn Statement did not provide a single | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
penny. Not only is this situation untenable for all in need of care, | :01:45. | :01:50. | |
the chronic underfunding excessively impacts on women. They are the main | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
recipients of social care services and constitute the majority of paid | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
and unpaid carers. About 80% of all jobs in adult social care are held | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
by women and the majority are not well paid, let's be honest. The | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
government seems to suggest that allowing local authorities to raise | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
council tax will address the situation but we know that such a | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
solution creates severe geographical discrepancies that will go nowhere | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
near lagging begat. In my own constituency, it won't even touch | :02:27. | :02:29. | |
the sides of what we need to fund our social care system. I began my | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
remarks by saying that the Autumn Statement was an opportunity for the | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
new Chancellor to change direction. Sadly, he missed that chance. The | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
Minister has another chance today to correct the gender imbalance the | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
economic policies have created over the last six years. Tonight, in my | :02:52. | :02:57. | |
constituency, women will struggle in some cases to put themselves to bed | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
because they've got no access to social care or they will be the | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
unpaid carers putting their loved ones to bed. Women will stay late at | :03:06. | :03:12. | |
work just to counteract the entrenched gender stereotypes in our | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
dog eat dog working lives and often work longer and harder than their | :03:17. | :03:20. | |
male counterparts for less pay and some others who've been hit by the | :03:21. | :03:24. | |
pernicious cuts we've seen in the last six years will struggle to feed | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
their children and themselves. All of these memory and will dream of a | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
future for their daughters, a future that takes them away from the | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
desperation and shattered ambition that has seeped into society over | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
the last six years. The government talks a lot about aspiration. We've | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
heard some of their words today but they are hollow and the clock has | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
been turned back on gender equality over the last six wasted years. An | :03:54. | :03:58. | |
economic plan that has failed Britain and it has failed women. | :03:59. | :04:05. | |
Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. We've certainly had a | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
wide-ranging debate today, a bit curtailed perhaps, but touching many | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
subjects which are fundamentally important to our society and to this | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
government so I would like to thank members on all sides for their | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
contributions. I think we all want to see an economy that works for | :04:28. | :04:34. | |
everyone, women, men, people from black minority ethnic backgrounds. | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
It's right we scrutinise our success in delivering that. Nevertheless, | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
women and minority ethnic groups have historically been | :04:46. | :04:48. | |
disproportionately represented in lower income groups. What we haven't | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
heard today from the opposition is more about broad action to address | :04:52. | :04:56. | |
that long term historical trend and how we address that in the | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
long-term. I thought my honourable friend for Fareham touched on this. | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
We've heard that aspiration is an empty word from the opposition. But | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
it is aspiration that will at -- address the long-term trend and some | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
of the actions we've taken to raise people's aspirations and ensure the | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
next generation does better than the current one in some of those income | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
groups. What are some of the things we've done? Fundamental to | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
everything, and I realise this is something the opposition will never | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
really engage with this, it is a stronger economy and it underpins | :05:36. | :05:40. | |
doing the best for everyone in our society to enjoy a greater level of | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
prosperity and higher living standards. That is the reality. | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
Their failure to engage with this and a mental issue of having a | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
credible plan for our economy and for bringing down debt over time, | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
putting public finances on a sustainable basis, it's that failure | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
to engage with a credible plan on the economy that perhaps explains | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
why only five Labour backbenchers were in this chamber for them | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
beginning of this opposition Day debate and it perhaps explains why | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
Leitch parts of the Labour Party have lost faith in their own front | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
bench -- large parts and is their failure to engage with a fundamental | :06:26. | :06:33. | |
truth of our economy. We've heard nothing about some of these key | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
issues from the Labour opposition. In stark contrast to that, what | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
we've heard from this side of the Has is what we're doing to on the | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
country where someone can grow a business, can succeed we can provide | :06:51. | :06:54. | |
more jobs and opportunities for all working people. There is a start | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
contrast with the Labour record which saw female unemployment rise | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
by a quartered. -- a quarter. We have seen 1.2 million women find | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
work since 2010 and that includes 400,000 women from black and ethnic | :07:12. | :07:17. | |
minority groups. The Has should also note with pleasure that the gender | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
pay gap has fallen to eight new low. All we got was sarcasm from the | :07:24. | :07:31. | |
opposition. Instead of saying, yes, we have made progress. It is all | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
about laying the foundations for rising well for all working people | :07:36. | :07:41. | |
and it means a sensible fiscal plan, it means backing British business to | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
deliver strong growth in our economy and without that we can't create | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
jobs for anyone. I'm slightly mystified at the dismissive tone | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
taken by the Mendip -- member for Birmingham Yardley regarding | :07:56. | :08:02. | |
infrastructure. To dismiss the investment in road-building as being | :08:03. | :08:13. | |
about creating jobs in construction. Mag that bunny in infrastructure is | :08:14. | :08:21. | |
directly intended to help people start businesses and grow businesses | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
quicker. In particular, if you look at the kind of businesses many women | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
have started in this country over the last six years, and I will | :08:32. | :08:38. | |
finish this point and take interventions, if you look at the | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
kind of businesses started by women over the last six years, it's | :08:43. | :08:48. | |
absolutely evident that investment in improving our digital | :08:49. | :08:51. | |
infrastructure is key to some of those businesses because women have | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
been entrepreneurial when it comes to starting new online businesses. I | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
thank the honourable lady forgiving way. In innovation and take it is | :09:02. | :09:08. | |
only 17% of jobs held by women but we can look at that again. | :09:09. | :09:12. | |
Repeatedly words have been put wrongly in my mouth. I have never | :09:13. | :09:17. | |
once said I didn't want infrastructure spending on roads. | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
But that I wanted on care also and I wanted that infrastructure spending | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
to be spent equally on women's jobs and men's jobs. All I'm asking is | :09:28. | :09:34. | |
because the data so we can see if it works. I respond to that point. | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
Investment in infrastructure is about enabling the creation of more | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
jobs and more jobs to grow so we have a point of agreement in that | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
regard, but it's nonsense to say that disproportionately benefits men | :09:51. | :09:53. | |
are not women. We know more women are in employment so things we are | :09:54. | :09:58. | |
doing to enable people to grow businesses and create jobs are | :09:59. | :10:03. | |
directly benefiting workers of all kinds and that is fundamentally what | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
we are about. You've heard from some of my colleagues around the number | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
of women who are going onto boards the number of women in employment, | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
the number of businesses started by women and it is impossible to have | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
this kind of debate if the opposition will not acknowledge any | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
of this. Not acknowledge the fact that when the personal allowance | :10:29. | :10:35. | |
rises to 12,500 next year, 1.3 million people will be taken out of | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
income tax and 59% of whom are women. We've heard from colleagues | :10:41. | :10:49. | |
here about tax free of the credit taper, funding for more info audible | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
homes, more children in good or outstanding schools. But mention of | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
that comes their none and it's as if none of these things have happened. | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
We do consider carefully the applications of all our measures | :11:04. | :11:09. | |
both for protected equality groups and for household that different | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
points of the income distribution. I refer honourable members to the | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
comprehensive analysis we published alongside the Autumn Statement which | :11:19. | :11:26. | |
shows that only the wealthiest households will experience modest | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
losses. That is why in our society today the top 1% of income tax | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
payers pay a greater share of income tax than in any year under the | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
previous Labour government but we don't hear about that either. We | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
want to see women and men of all races, ages in all parts of our | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
country grow increasingly prosperous but the key to doing that is by | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
investing in a strong economy that produces jobs for working people. | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
That's what we'd been working to deliver and that's why today we have | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
more women in work than ever before, while -- more women led businesses | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
than ever before and that's why we've increased support for families | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
and individuals in their day-to-day lives which has said readily been | :12:13. | :12:19. | |
dismissed across the chamber. Or whether by cutting income tax for | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
millions of people. Crucially, women are a much more important part of | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
this country's economy than the opposition give us credit for. We | :12:29. | :12:31. | |
are so much more than they would have it be. I want to make this | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
point that we are here to improve the lot of all working people in | :12:39. | :12:44. | |
this country and, in particular, to support the ever-increasing | :12:45. | :12:46. | |
contribution women make to our economy and long may it be so. This | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
government remains committed to ensuring that this continues into | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
the future. The question is that the original words at stand part of the | :12:58. | :12:58. | |
question. Vote-macro. As many as are of the opinion, say | :12:59. | :13:13. | |
"aye". To the contrary, "no". Any of the people opinion say aye. | :13:14. | :13:21. | |
The contrary no. Order. The ayes to the right, 234. | :13:22. | :21:12. | |
The noes to the left, 307. The ayes to the right, 234, the noes | :21:13. | :25:21. | |
to the left, 307. The noes have it, the noes have it. Unlock. The | :25:22. | :25:28. | |
question is that the proposed words be added. As many of that opinion | :25:29. | :25:37. | |
say aye. To the contrary no. The ayes have it. We now come to the | :25:38. | :25:43. | |
second opposition day in the name of the Leader of the Opposition. I | :25:44. | :25:47. | |
informed the house that selected the amendment in the name of the Prime | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
Minister, I now call for John Healey to move. | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. With ten days to go before Christmas a | :25:56. | :26:05. | |
record number of homeless people are sleeping on our streets, in shop | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
doorways and on park benches. More than 100,000 children will spend | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
Christmas Day in temporary accommodation. Children with no | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
home. Young lives scarred by insecurity and impermanence. Mr | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
Deputy Speaker, this shames us all. Homelessness is not inevitable in a | :26:29. | :26:34. | |
country as decent and as well off as ours. And this is a problem we can | :26:35. | :26:41. | |
solve. We know what works because we've done it before. Our last | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
Labour government reduced rough sleeping by three quarters, and cut | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
statutory homelessness to levels which led the independent audit from | :26:52. | :26:59. | |
crisis and the Joseph Rowntree foundation to declare an | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
unprecedented decline. Mr Deputy Speaker I had hoped this debate, | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
called in the face of rapidly rising homelessness on all fronts would be | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
the basis for fresh thinking and a new national will to put an end to | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
the scandal of people sleeping rough on the street for want of anywhere | :27:17. | :27:27. | |
to stay. I still do, but I'm so disappointed the government has | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
rejected our motion which simply sets out the facts. And I say to | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
ministers and members behind them who may support them two-day, you | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
can delete our motion but you can't deny the facts. And the facts speak | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
for themselves. Rough sleeping fell by around three quarters under | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
Labour. It has doubled under the Conservatives since 2010. The number | :27:53. | :28:01. | |
of households accented legally as homeless fell by two thirds under | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
Labour but has risen by nearly half since 2010. And the total number of | :28:05. | :28:09. | |
children in temporary accommodation has risen every year since 2010 | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
2/100 thousand in England, and 120,000 across the UK. | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
For the avoidance of doubt the source of these figures is the | :28:23. | :28:30. | |
community's centre -- secretary himself. If he needs to check or his | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
colleagues need to check the tables are number one, number 770 and | :28:36. | :28:42. | |
number 775. Let's look in comparison at the feeble facts and figures in | :28:43. | :28:53. | |
the Government's replacement motion. The Government pleased with the | :28:54. | :28:56. | |
provision of temporary accommodation, when this can mean | :28:57. | :29:02. | |
all families sleeping in one bed, it can mean lights that do not work, no | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
fridge, cooker, no locks on the doors. Government spending more | :29:08. | :29:18. | |
money on homelessness when the 315 million, hundred 50 million, the | :29:19. | :29:21. | |
totals of one full year of parliament simply are dwarfed by the | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
scale of cuts, five buildings housing benefit and the supporting | :29:26. | :29:36. | |
people funding of. -- cut in half. And the Government committed to | :29:37. | :29:40. | |
building more homes when number of affordable homes being built has set | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
the lowest level in 24 years and the number of new social rented homes in | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
this country is at its lowest level since the Second World War. In case | :29:49. | :29:55. | |
ministers have any doubt, table 1000, published by the community | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
secretary himself. Let me warn members opposite, picked with a | :30:00. | :30:05. | |
large pinch of salt whatever their front bench are saying, housing and | :30:06. | :30:12. | |
homelessness. Simply ask, is it working? I give way to Housing | :30:13. | :30:15. | |
Minister. The honourable gentleman says we | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
should take what the front bench seat with a pinch of salt, what does | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
he have to say to Labour Mayor of London says that this Government has | :30:23. | :30:27. | |
just given London a record level of funding for affordable housing? | :30:28. | :30:30. | |
I'd say two things, first of all, a large part of that is underspend | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
from the previous period rolled over, and secondly, the Government | :30:35. | :30:40. | |
is in total boost your spending ?1 billion in building new homes we | :30:41. | :30:43. | |
need in this country, in the last year of the last Labour Government | :30:44. | :30:46. | |
when I was a Housing Minister it was ?3 billion. I said earlier that | :30:47. | :30:55. | |
rapidly rising homelessness shames us all. It does what it should shame | :30:56. | :31:02. | |
Government ministers most of all. -- but it should. The hard truth for | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
Tory ministers as it is their decisions since 2010 but have course | :31:07. | :31:11. | |
this homelessness crisis. Record all levels of affordable rented housing, | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
last year at the lowest since 1991. Lack of action to help private | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
renters while eviction or default from a private tenancy is now the | :31:22. | :31:24. | |
biggest single cause of homelessness. And deep cuts to | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
housing benefit and charity funding and helps the most vulnerable | :31:31. | :31:35. | |
people, including homeless. The motion does mention the | :31:36. | :31:41. | |
honourable member for Harrow East's private members bill, I am | :31:42. | :31:44. | |
disappointed he is not in the chamber, but we do back this | :31:45. | :31:49. | |
cross-party bill. We have set to task for the Government. Two tests, | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
if you like, we all hold ministers to account on. First, fund the costs | :31:55. | :32:00. | |
of the new legal duties in full and, secondly, tackle the causes of the | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
growing homelessness crisis. I do welcome the bill because it | :32:06. | :32:12. | |
draws on similar legislation that the Labour led Government in Wales | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
introduced in 2014. Early days, but it seems successfully to have | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
prevented two thirds of all households assessed at the risk of | :32:24. | :32:26. | |
being homeless actually losing their home. This is what good councils are | :32:27. | :32:34. | |
doing the in and day out across the country, despite the toughest | :32:35. | :32:38. | |
funding cuts and toughest service pressures. Exeter Council have cut | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
the number of rough sleepers against the national trend with a new state | :32:46. | :32:50. | |
audits and the firm approach to Street outreach to make sure people | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
can't opt out or help. Manchester Council, they have got to go | :32:57. | :32:59. | |
charities, faith groups and businesses and universities, | :33:00. | :33:02. | |
residents groups in the partnership to end homelessness. Enfield Council | :33:03. | :33:11. | |
set up the Council owned company to purchase 500 properties over five | :33:12. | :33:16. | |
years to house homeless Enfield residents. And, of course, to act as | :33:17. | :33:24. | |
a model landlord. I will give way. I wonder whether his contacts with | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
any of those councils they have highlighted to him what they think | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
the impact of withdrawing housing benefit from under 21s might be? | :33:32. | :33:41. | |
It is a good question. I have not met or talked with anyone who | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
believes that such deep cuts, sort targeted, so harshly on young people | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
will do anything else but compound the growing crisis of homelessness | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
in this country. It is one of the causes of the spiralling scandal and | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
we see -- that we see in this country and one of the things | :34:05. | :34:10. | |
ministers believe must tackle. -- ministers really must tackle. In the | :34:11. | :34:14. | |
media interviews I have done today before this debate the presenter | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
said she was shocked the other day to see someone almost pitching a | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
tent in the middle of central London. It will not shop might | :34:26. | :34:32. | |
Honourable friends on the site. -- it will not shop. You may remember | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
the mass homelessness of the 1980s and 90s with tent cities in central | :34:37. | :34:40. | |
London but in one of the biggest forgotten successors of the last | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
Labour Government which reduced rough sleeping to record levels. We | :34:47. | :34:52. | |
introduced the National rough sleepers unit, the comprehensive | :34:53. | :34:56. | |
intervention plan, ground-breaking legislation, fresh investment and a | :34:57. | :34:58. | |
target to cut rough sleeping by two thirds, which we hit a year early. | :34:59. | :35:08. | |
The time is now, to do better. And to end the rough sleeping so low one | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
lead sleep on the streets. This is unfinished business for Labour. I | :35:13. | :35:18. | |
have today made a pledge on behalf of the Labour Party we will and | :35:19. | :35:21. | |
rough sleeping with them or first-term back in Government. -- | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
and rough sleeping. This is backed by a plan to double the capacity of | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
housing scheme, ring fenced for people with a history of rough | :35:32. | :35:38. | |
sleeping. Moore Street rescue schemes, better health care access, | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
more secure hostel funding is only that but you cannot help the | :35:44. | :35:46. | |
homeless if you do not build the homes. Under our plan 4000 | :35:47. | :35:54. | |
additional housing association homes would be earmarked for rough | :35:55. | :35:57. | |
sleepers to help them move out of hostels and rebuild their lives, | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
with Government funding and new social rented homes to replace them. | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
This would be the first part of a new National rough sleeping | :36:08. | :36:12. | |
strategy. It would in fact renew new install the programme started by a | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
Conservative Housing Minister, Sir George Young, 1991. This scheme | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
works across London pop has never been set up in some of the other | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
large cities in this country, cities like Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
or Leeds. In conclusion, Mr Deputy Speaker a | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
Prime Minister who promises on the steps of Downing Street the country | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
that works for everyone simply should not tolerate the scandal of | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
today's scandal in -- spiralling homelessness. The Government could | :36:49. | :36:52. | |
do this now. It would have wide support. The National Housing | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
Federation today said about Labour's new plan, it will enable them to | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
boost their offer to the increasing numbers of rough sleepers. The | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
largest homeless charity supplied support for rough sleepers said, we | :37:08. | :37:10. | |
strongly welcome this commitment to ending rough sleeping and the call | :37:11. | :37:19. | |
for rough sleeping strategy. We too would back the Government if it | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
acted on Labour's plan. I say to ministers and members opposite, | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
homelessness can and should be a cross-party commitment. With a new | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
national will to solve what is a growing problem. Let us hope this | :37:35. | :37:44. | |
debate helped start to forge exactly that shared determination. | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
As many I call them to move the movement. | :37:49. | :38:00. | |
The Minister will just be as welcome to move the amendment in the name of | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
the Prime Minister. It gives me great pleasure to move the amendment | :38:06. | :38:08. | |
and the Prime Minister's name. Let me start by saying on these benches | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
we welcome this debate. No one is hiding from the facts. Both | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
statutory homelessness and rough sleeping are rising and it is right | :38:18. | :38:20. | |
we discuss why it is happening and what must be done to put it right. I | :38:21. | :38:26. | |
want to start with a couple of party political points responding to some | :38:27. | :38:29. | |
of the points the shadow Housing Minister made and then move on to | :38:30. | :38:32. | |
talk about the substance of the issue and what must be done. The | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
motion that is before us today gives a slightly rose tinted view of the | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
record of the last Labour Government and I am happy to give credit where | :38:43. | :38:47. | |
it is due some members will bear with me I will happily then take | :38:48. | :38:50. | |
interventions. The motion would have to be believed from the moment the | :38:51. | :38:52. | |
Labour Party was elected homelessness began to fall and | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
continue to fall during the appeared on others but the facts are 1990s | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
there was 104,000 accepted as homeless and that figure rose rights | :39:02. | :39:06. | |
were Labour's first term in Government through through into the | :39:07. | :39:11. | |
second term, peaking at 135,000 in 2003 and then, to their credit, it | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
fell significantly, falling to 41,780 by 2010. It has risen, not | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
insignificant at all -- that is not insignificant and I have to give | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
credit. It has risen since then 256,500, not as much the motion | :39:30. | :39:33. | |
suggests but certainly nowhere near the record peak reached in Labour's | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
second term. There are two other measures we should look at. One is | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
the measure of housing supply and the best measure of that is the net | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
additions to the housing stock each year. I will cover the three points | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
and then take interventions. Over the course of the Labour, in the | :39:53. | :40:03. | |
first year 149,000 140,000, 140 6000, 174 185 platoon into --... And | :40:04. | :40:12. | |
not one you the last Labour Government building up homes and in | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
only three of these years that the bill is more than the current | :40:17. | :40:18. | |
Government is achieving and that was at the height of an unsustainable | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
housing boom that ended up crashing our economy. The third measure by | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
which I would suggest we should assess the housing record of the | :40:29. | :40:31. | |
last Labour Government is on affordability. In 1997 the ratio | :40:32. | :40:36. | |
between median earnings and the median house prices in this country | :40:37. | :40:44. | |
was 3.5 four. By 2010 that have increased to 7.0 one. I am happy to | :40:45. | :40:48. | |
acknowledge any subsequent five years of the coalition government | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
increased further to 7.63 but if you look at all of those three points, | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
while there are some good things the Labour Government did and I have no | :40:58. | :41:00. | |
problem giving credit for those, the record is far less rosy than the | :41:01. | :41:06. | |
motion suggests. He sounds like he is rehearsing to | :41:07. | :41:08. | |
become the Chancellor giving an Autumn Statement or a budget | :41:09. | :41:15. | |
statement. This Government has promised in its | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
manifesto in 2015 to seek 1 million new homes built in this country and | :41:20. | :41:24. | |
it is so far off track that it could take until 2025, five years late, to | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
build the number of homes that are needed. The number of new affordable | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
homes built is the lowest on record. Finally, we're talking about | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
homelessness. It is absolutely the case when Labour came into | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
Government in 1997 we were faced with a rapidly rising trend of | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
homelessness then, just like we are faced with a rapidly rising trend of | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
homelessness now. The difference was that Labour acted, it peaked in 2003 | :41:53. | :42:00. | |
other homelessness over that period was cut by two thirds. The question | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
for the Minister is, will the act now, will the Government do anything | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
about this rapidly rising and scandalously spiralling levels | :42:12. | :42:14. | |
homelessness we see today? But is a long intervention but let | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
me deal quickly with each of the points. Firstly, on supply, the | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
Government is behind but not way behind as he suggested. In 2015-16, | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
the first year of the five years in Parliament we delivered an hundred | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
90,000. -- 190,000 and two meet the target we need to get 200,000. The | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
fundamental point I was trying to make it we could do with a little | :42:45. | :42:47. | |
bit less complacency from the opposition front bench. Bear with me | :42:48. | :42:53. | |
for a second. There is no room for complacency on the side of the | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
house. Homelessness... Let me develop the point and then I will | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
give way. Homelessness and rough sleeping are both rising, the right | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
honourable gentlemen quartered the Prime Minister, her speech on the | :43:10. | :43:11. | |
steps of Downing Street but she said the mission is to make this country | :43:12. | :43:18. | |
work for everyone of us and, sorting out our feeling housing market and | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
tackling the moral stain of homelessness is central to that | :43:23. | :43:25. | |
mission and I want to spend the rest of my speech setting out how to | :43:26. | :43:26. | |
propose to do that. Today, as yesterday, I agree with | :43:27. | :43:37. | |
him, Labour did not build enough housing. Those of us on the | :43:38. | :43:39. | |
backbenches pleaded with the government to do so. And I welcome | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
in the amendment from the Conservatives the recognition that | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
supply is absolutely crucial on this issue. Could I tempt the Minister to | :43:49. | :43:51. | |
go further and announced that they will abandon the plan is that | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
they've had to keep jacking up demand by processes such as helped | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
by which simply increases prices and homelessness thereby. Up until his | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
last point I was in complete agreement. He is definitely right to | :44:07. | :44:10. | |
say that the main focus on housing policy should be on supply. And when | :44:11. | :44:14. | |
he sees the White Paper the Secretary of State and I are working | :44:15. | :44:17. | |
on, you will see that is the case. What I would say to him, even if | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
tomorrow we could start building in this country at the level we need to | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
build, we would have to do that for a number of years before we saw an | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
impact on affordability. And to do as he is suggesting in the interim | :44:32. | :44:34. | |
and give up any measures that are trying to help people bridged the | :44:35. | :44:37. | |
gap would be a mistake in my opinion. If honourable members will | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
bear with me, if I could make a bit of progress then I will happily take | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
her intervention. I want to set out now the measures that the government | :44:48. | :44:51. | |
is taking to address this issue. First we want to broaden the safety | :44:52. | :44:54. | |
net and have more focus on prevention rather than cure. Current | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
homelessness legislation gives local authorities responsibility in | :45:00. | :45:02. | |
relation to families, admin people, single people who are vulnerable, | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
other people fall through the gaps. The legislation also encourages | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
councils to intervene at the point of crisis, not upstream when | :45:12. | :45:14. | |
problems are first apparent. I'm not sure if my honourable friend the | :45:15. | :45:17. | |
member for Harrow East is in the chamber but I think we would all say | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
to give him great credit for the legislation he is bringing forward | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
and the government is very proud on what is the 50th anniversary of | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
Cathy come home to support this fundamental and important change to | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
our legislation. I will give way and then come back as I promised. Thank | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
you for giving way. Would he agree with me that on the private members | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
bill, when both sides of the chamber came together to support the member | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
for Harrow's member Bill it was a really positive day and a good sense | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
and indication that both sides can and are coming together to tackle | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
this issue. There is actually much more that unites us on these issues | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
than sometimes would become apparent from our debates and I understand it | :46:03. | :46:05. | |
is the job of the opposition front bench to hold the government to | :46:06. | :46:12. | |
account. Thank you for effing way. Just one rough sleeper is too many | :46:13. | :46:15. | |
and there was one rough sleeper in Ashfield in 2010 when we left | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
office. That has now gone up to eight. When you look at statutory | :46:21. | :46:24. | |
homelessness that has risen from 42 to 93. The record of the Labour | :46:25. | :46:27. | |
government considerably better for those vulnerable people than under | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
his government. Does he accept responsibility, what his answer, why | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
has it happened? I'm the housing minister so of course I accept | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
responsibility. I think I'll speak for the Secretary of State as well, | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
we were appointed to these positions in July and our focus is on solving | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
the housing problems this country faces which I think are deep-seated. | :46:49. | :46:51. | |
The truth is that we have not been building enough homes in this | :46:52. | :46:54. | |
country for 30 or 40 years under governments of both colours, and | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
that is the fundamental driver of the housing problems that we now | :46:59. | :47:03. | |
experience. I thank my honourable friend for giving way. He referred | :47:04. | :47:06. | |
earlier to the homelessness bill that is currently going through this | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
house. I wonder whether he agrees the most important thing is that it | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
mandates councils to provide 56 days of support to homeless individuals | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
for the first time, a really intense programme to ensure that actually | :47:21. | :47:26. | |
instead of no second night sleeping out, there is no first night | :47:27. | :47:30. | |
sleeping out. I think there are two fundamentally important things about | :47:31. | :47:32. | |
the bill my honourable friend has brought forward. One is that it | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
broadens the safety net and ensures single people do not fall through | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
the gap, and the second is it encourages councils to intervene | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
upstream. I will make progress and then take further interventions. | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
I'll come next to my honourable neighbour from Carshalton and | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
Warrington. The second thing the government is doing as the Right | :47:54. | :47:56. | |
Honourable gentleman acknowledges that we are protecting homelessness | :47:57. | :48:00. | |
prevention funding for local authorities, nearly ?390 million in | :48:01. | :48:04. | |
this Parliament. The third thing is that we have increased central | :48:05. | :48:08. | |
government funding for programmes. The Chancellor of the Exchequer | :48:09. | :48:10. | |
announced an extra ?10 million in the Autumn Statement bringing the | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
total to ?150 million over the course of this Parliament. In | :48:15. | :48:18. | |
relation to welfare reform we've increased discretionary housing | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
payments which are so important to ?870 million over this Parliament, | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
that's a 55% increase. I was surprised when I was being briefed | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
to see that 60% of local authorities are not currently spending their | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
full allocation. The fifth area that we are looking at is replacing the | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
way that the government funds local authorities in relation to temporary | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
accommodation which is critical. Replacing what is currently the DWP | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
accommodation management fee with a grant from my department which will | :48:48. | :48:53. | |
more than be an equivalent amount of funding and crucially will introduce | :48:54. | :48:56. | |
a lot greater flexibility. Some honourable members may have received | :48:57. | :49:00. | |
a briefing from the Mayor of London specifically welcoming that change. | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
Since the Secretary of State was appointed we've taken a fresh | :49:05. | :49:07. | |
approach in relation to supported housing, ensuring that the LH a cap | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
won't apply, and we will move to a new model of funding based on | :49:12. | :49:15. | |
current levels but topped up crucially by ring fenced grants. I | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
think we would all acknowledge in our constituencies the fundamental | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
role that supported housing place in relation to some of the most | :49:26. | :49:27. | |
vulnerable people in our community and it is absolutely crucial that we | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
get the detail of this new funding regime right, and I would encourage | :49:32. | :49:35. | |
all honourable members to take part in the consultation because we are | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
determined as a ministerial team to make sure that we get that right. | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
The right honourable gentleman talked about a pledge that he had | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
made today but actually to a degree developed something that the former | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
Chancellor said in the budget 2016 when he announced a ?100 million | :49:51. | :49:55. | |
fund to create 2000 places in low-cost rented accommodation for | :49:56. | :49:58. | |
rough sleepers in hostels and crucially for domestic abuse victims | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
to ensure that we can move people on from short-term accommodation into | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
permanent solutions. I will happily give way. I thank my neighbour for | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
giving way. I appreciate what he's just said in terms of supporting | :50:15. | :50:17. | |
vulnerable people. He'll be aware of what this intervention is about | :50:18. | :50:21. | |
because I made it earlier, on the question of housing benefit for | :50:22. | :50:24. | |
under 21. I don't quite understand how that fits into the government | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
eventually programme in terms of preventing homelessness. Does he | :50:30. | :50:32. | |
recognise the figure put forward by charities that if just 140 extra | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
people are made homeless as a result of this change it will cost more | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
than the government will save. My right honourable friend will be | :50:41. | :50:45. | |
aware because he served with us in coalition for five years that what | :50:46. | :50:48. | |
this government is trying to do is to switch from the high tax, high | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
welfare, low-wage economy that we inherited in 2010 to ensure that | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
people are paid more, that they can keep a great portion of what they | :50:59. | :51:04. | |
earn. I'm still trying, to be fair, to answer the right honourable | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
gentleman's question. What we are looking to do is have a welfare | :51:09. | :51:11. | |
system that is fair, that does provide help and support, that | :51:12. | :51:15. | |
doesn't treat the more generously than equivalent people that are not | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
on welfare can expect. I'll make a bit of progress and then I will | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
happily come to the honourable member. I was working my way through | :51:24. | :51:26. | |
this list of measures the government is taking and next up is trying to | :51:27. | :51:31. | |
deal with the upfront cost of accessing the private rented sector. | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
One of the really shocking things that really underlines the point the | :51:37. | :51:39. | |
honourable member for Wolverhampton South West made is that the main | :51:40. | :51:43. | |
cause of statutory homelessness now is losing a private sector tenancy. | :51:44. | :51:51. | |
That shows how the supply issue is absolutely what is driving the | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
rising statutory homelessness. Rough sleeping is a different matter. | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
Nearly always the acute housing people face when sleeping on our | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
street is a symptom of a wider problem in terms of mental health or | :52:04. | :52:06. | |
drug or alcohol addiction. The briefing I had from my official | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
suggested in London nearly 60% of rough sleepers are not UK nationals, | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
so there are issues in relation to our migration system. But in terms | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
of statutory homelessness, accessed to a private rented sector is key, | :52:22. | :52:24. | |
and that's why the announcement the Chancellor made in the Autumn | :52:25. | :52:27. | |
Statement in ratio to letting agencies which I'm sure the | :52:28. | :52:30. | |
opposition welcome is a really important step. I was going to give | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
way to the honourable lady but she has moved sleep 's. I thank the | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
Minister for giving way. He's a London MP like myself. Does he find | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
increasingly in his surgeries cases of families that are having to be | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
moved to hostels, entire families, cases with no recourse to public | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
funds which is entirely illogical, and also does he not recognise the | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
dismay there will be in Ealing today at the mention of the borough in | :52:59. | :53:03. | |
PMQs today, whether Prime Minister appeared to blame the local | :53:04. | :53:07. | |
authority for ?180 million cut to its budget. We've got 12,000 on our | :53:08. | :53:14. | |
waiting list and it's got very high average cost of buying a home. So | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
can he not recognise why people will be dismayed at what's coming out of | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
this government today? I wasn't at Prime Minister's Questions, I'm | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
embarrassed to say. There was a memorial service for victims of the | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
Croydon champ creche which is why I am dressed in this way, so I can't | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
respond to the point the honourable lady made about PMQs, but I can say | :53:39. | :53:42. | |
as a London MPI see every single week in my surgeries and in the case | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
I deal with the consequences of this long-standing failure of this | :53:49. | :53:50. | |
country for 30 or 40 years to build the homes that we need. It's | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
happened under governments of all kind. Let me just finished making | :53:56. | :54:00. | |
the point. And London is the part of the country where the gap between | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
what we need to build and what we are building is most acute. I'm sure | :54:05. | :54:08. | |
I speak for the Secretary of State when I say that I get up every | :54:09. | :54:11. | |
morning thinking about what we can do to sort out this problem. It is | :54:12. | :54:16. | |
my sole focus and I'm going to come on in a second to address the issue | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
of supply, but I'm happy to give way to another fine south London MP. | :54:22. | :54:27. | |
Thank you Mr Speaker. I find it absolutely remarkable how the | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
Minister is trying to absolve the previous government of any | :54:33. | :54:34. | |
responsibility for the housing crisis that we now face. It's my | :54:35. | :54:40. | |
recollection in 2011 that his government cut the national | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
affordable house-building programme by 63%. Can he set out what the | :54:46. | :54:49. | |
consequences of that were on supply of genuinely affordable homes? If | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
the honourable lady will bear with me I will return at the end of my | :54:56. | :55:02. | |
speech to that central question. What I would say, I can't be any | :55:03. | :55:05. | |
more clear about this, if she thinks that I'm trying to absolve the | :55:06. | :55:08. | |
responsibility of the previous government, that is absolutely not | :55:09. | :55:12. | |
what I'm trying to do. Let me say one more time so that nobody can be | :55:13. | :55:16. | |
in any doubt about it, we have not built enough homes in this country | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
for 30 or 40 years. And all of the governments covering that time share | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
some responsibility. If you want me to make some defences, what I would | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
say in defence of the previous Prime Minister in the previous Chancellor | :55:31. | :55:33. | |
and some of my predecessors as housing minister, is that they | :55:34. | :55:36. | |
inherited a situation after the worst economic crash in generations | :55:37. | :55:41. | |
where the priority had to be to reduce the deficit. I'll come onto | :55:42. | :55:44. | |
affording housing numbers and hopefully my answer will satisfy. | :55:45. | :55:56. | |
I'll give way one more time. He was ignoring me but I'm sure he wasn't. | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
I'd like to commend a positive approach and constructive approach | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
to the debate as the opposition front bench have also taken. He | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
talks about rough sleeping and the need to move away from crisis | :56:12. | :56:15. | |
measures to effective measures. Will he reflect on that about the | :56:16. | :56:18. | |
fragmentation of alcohol and drug rehabilitation services taking place | :56:19. | :56:23. | |
when local authorities have been conditioning those, and how they are | :56:24. | :56:26. | |
completely disengaged from what happens in mental health trusts and | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
the NHS, and how people are falling through the cracks and it does need | :56:31. | :56:34. | |
to be addressed. Mr Speaker I'm very glad that I took my honourable | :56:35. | :56:37. | |
friend's intervention because he speaks with real authority and he is | :56:38. | :56:41. | |
absolutely right to say that we need to look at ways to better | :56:42. | :56:46. | |
integration of services. Many of the people we are talking about have | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
profound multiple needs and we need to make sure all of the agencies are | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
working together. I want to make some final remarks addressing the | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
particular question the honourable lady made. The fundamental thing we | :57:02. | :57:04. | |
need to do is drive up supply. And we will be setting out in a White | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
Paper in the New Year exactly how we propose to do that. Let me say it | :57:09. | :57:12. | |
would specifically about affordable housing that the honourable lady was | :57:13. | :57:16. | |
pushing me on. The Autumn Statement included three really key | :57:17. | :57:19. | |
announcements. First on flexibility of tenure. We inherited an | :57:20. | :57:24. | |
affordable housing programme that was solely focused on shared | :57:25. | :57:28. | |
ownership. We have switched that so that the housing association can bid | :57:29. | :57:31. | |
for affordable rent or whatever is most appropriate in the area. The | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
Chancellor has added an extra ?1.4 billion into that affordable housing | :57:36. | :57:41. | |
programme. As I made clear, we announced the London allocation, | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
?3.15 billion, 43% of the national budget. If honourable members don't | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
wish to take my word from it, let me quote from the Labour Mayor of | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
London, this is the largest sum of money ever secured for affordable | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
housing. And he made that statement before London gets its share of the | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
extra ?1.4 billion that the Chancellor announced in the Autumn | :58:04. | :58:06. | |
Statement. Now let me end just by dealing with this issue of | :58:07. | :58:09. | |
affordable housing supply because the right Honourable gentleman was | :58:10. | :58:12. | |
right on one statistic at least. Last year 's figures in terms of | :58:13. | :58:17. | |
affordable housing were very low, an acceptably low. And the result of | :58:18. | :58:20. | |
that is because the previous year which finished one programme had | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
been moved to the start of the new programme, and it was late starting. | :58:25. | :58:29. | |
It's a feeble excuse and the Secretary of State and I are | :58:30. | :58:31. | |
determined to make sure it doesn't happen again. | :58:32. | :58:37. | |
In three of the five years of the coalition government we build more | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
affordable homes than any of the nine last years of the Labour | :58:44. | :58:47. | |
Government. The records of this Government since 2010, and I are | :58:48. | :58:52. | |
happy to give some credit to our coalition partners, is we have been | :58:53. | :58:56. | |
delivering significantly more affordable housing that was | :58:57. | :59:02. | |
delivered on average on those nine years of the Labour Government and | :59:03. | :59:05. | |
we have now put extra money into the budgets will be should be able to | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
drive up supply and I will end by making this point, and I will drop | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
my remarks to a close. What we need in this country and the honourable | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
lady was quite correct, we need more homes of every single kind, more | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
homes for people to buy, more for private rent, more affordable homes | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
for rent and more shared ownership, more homes and every single kind. | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
That is what we are determined to do and, at the same time, provide the | :59:37. | :59:40. | |
crucial support on our streets to deal with the immediate crisis. And | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
I hope, to enter the positive note, we can build a coalition about this | :59:46. | :59:51. | |
vital change we need. -- to end on a positive note. To get us this change | :59:52. | :59:55. | |
we need. The question is as on the order paper sense when an amendment | :59:56. | :00:00. | |
has been proposed. The question is the original words stands part of | :00:01. | :00:08. | |
the question. I am grateful for the opportunity to | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
speak in this debate on homelessness and I thank the Labour Party from | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
bringing it to the house and I congratulate the honourable member | :00:16. | :00:23. | |
for his contribution. Can I see it is a pleasure to follow my | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
parliamentary football College, the Minister, and can I say from these | :00:27. | :00:35. | |
benches our thoughts are with the families of the Croydon tram crash | :00:36. | :00:37. | |
on the best day of the memorial service. While we would have | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
preferred this motion to be a lot more focused on the causes of | :00:44. | :00:46. | |
homelessness including the brittle benefit sanctions regime, years of | :00:47. | :00:53. | |
impose austerity. We will support the motion tonight in solidarity and | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
we believe action must be taken by the UK Government to drive down | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
homelessness and that includes moving urgently to address the | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
progress of cuts in the system that were supposed to support, not | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
punished, the disadvantage. I wish to highlight one aspect of the | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
motion that is particularly troubling for me and others across | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
this house. That is the prospect of children without a safe, warm and | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
secure housing at anything, but particularly at Christmas. Before we | :01:24. | :01:26. | |
had agreed party political trenches I hope we can agree this is | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
unacceptable and must be addressed. In Scotland's children living in | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
temporary accommodation has fallen since 2007. I am happy to give way. | :01:37. | :01:45. | |
I noted in his speech the honourable member reference the Government | :01:46. | :01:49. | |
should be doing more to reduce homelessness. Will he accept we're | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
working on a cross-party bill committee at Bill, Coward stage in | :01:55. | :01:57. | |
order to reduce homelessness on the homelessness reduction that is | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
supported by the Government. -- at the bill stage. I acknowledge that | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
and my colleague from Glasgow Central sets on that committee so | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
that is something working constructively on but I will come to | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
some of the areas I believe the Government should be doing more and | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
other areas to address some of the issues we face. Housing matters are | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
devolved to each nation of the UK and this debate offers me the | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
opportunity to focus on what actions the Scottish Government have taken | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
with these powers to attempt to address the problem, both of | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
homelessness itself when it does arise, and prevent it from opening | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
in the first place. While housing policy is devolved the reasons for | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
homelessness are largely in a public policy says the result of decisions | :02:49. | :02:51. | |
taken is here. Homelessness is a problem that can take many forms and | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
has a variety of causes and consequences. Whilst that is | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
sometimes thought of as only referring to those living rough on | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
the streets there is an assortment of circumstances that would lead an | :03:04. | :03:06. | |
individual being classed as homes. Many live in temporary accommodation | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
or state on a friend's floors of a family, sometimes in precarious | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
arrangements and under the house in Scotland act 1987 a person should be | :03:17. | :03:24. | |
treated it would not be reasonable for the person to continue to occupy | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
it. Similar to the types of people have enforced cashback find | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
themselves forced to seek asylum when circumstances change | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
homelessness can affect almost anyone eventually and for a number | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
of reasons, domestic abuse, marital breakdown, the treatment of a family | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
member, disputes with neighbours, among others. All reasons why | :03:47. | :03:49. | |
someone could find themselves unable to remain at the cover property will | :03:50. | :03:54. | |
stop in Scotland the key difference in approach that is currently in | :03:55. | :03:57. | |
place regarding homelessness prevention, that from the other | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
three nations of the UK, is local authorities have a duty towards all | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
unintentionally homeless households, irrespective of whether or not they | :04:08. | :04:10. | |
are classed as being a priority need. This is because for any | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
individual family, regardless of other criteria, facing the prospect | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
of losing the rift over one's head means one should be entitled to all | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
possible support -- the roof over one's head. The abolition of the | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
priority need goateed was described by Shelter is providing, the best | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
homelessness law in Europe. According to figures from | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
homelessness in Scotland has been on, earmarked down the path for the | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
past five years. They have also accredited this decline to the | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
introduction of the housing options model which is a process that starts | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
with housing advice when someone approaches the local authority with | :04:54. | :04:58. | |
the housing problem looking at an individual's options, given the | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
circumstances, to best match these up and spot at an early stage in the | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
warning signs for potential problems. The most significant | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
action in this regard has been the abolition of the right to buy scheme | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
in Scotland. The director of Shelter Scotland argues, as the decades | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
passed it became clear at the impact of a right to buy was to create more | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
losers than winners in our housing system, significantly undermining | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
wider efforts to improve social justice. It sorts of the social | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
homes being sold for every new one built. Representing the value for | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
increasingly limited public money. He added, during the right by ever | :05:37. | :05:42. | |
homelessness sword and still today remains at a level beyond those of | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
the 1980s. -- homelessness increased. It is important to ensure | :05:49. | :06:00. | |
that this day supply of social housing and alleviating some of the | :06:01. | :06:03. | |
problems that come with private rented such as short-term tenancy | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
agreements. The SNP are already committed to investing over ?3 | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
billion of investment over the life of this Parliament to deliver at | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
least 50,000 affordable homes were 35,000 being for social reds and | :06:19. | :06:21. | |
housing supply is key to the matter before us today and that is why I am | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
heartened by the statistics for Scotland released this week that | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
show host bolding, social house-building, is up by 77% in | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
April- June this year and by 26% on council homes to September. As well | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
as right to buy the SNP Government also have attempted to address | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
another factor behind homelessness by using its limited powers to | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
mitigate the impact of the Tory bedroom tax. Numerous homeless | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
charities have said that hated policy is partly responsible for the | :07:00. | :07:02. | |
rise in homelessness seen since the start of the decade across the UK | :07:03. | :07:07. | |
and UK Government's own research from December 2015 found on average | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
only 0.5% of those affected by the bedroom tax have been able to move | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
from their home and this means the vast majority of those with the cuts | :07:16. | :07:18. | |
have had to live with this reduced income, unable to move due to family | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
proximity is, school and work and also the shortage of appropriate | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
housing. Last year the Scottish Government provided an additional | :07:29. | :07:30. | |
?35 million to further mitigate the cost of the bedroom tax, 90 million | :07:31. | :07:38. | |
being invested -- being invested since 2013 and 72,000 households in | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
Scotland have been helped through this additional funding with around | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
80% being disabled adults and an round 11,000 households with one or | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
more children. Abolishing the bedroom tax and fuel will be one of | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
the first priority is the transfer of some limited powers to the social | :07:56. | :08:00. | |
system -- of Social security powers to the Scottish Government is | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
completed. Concerning the current state of the Social security system, | :08:06. | :08:18. | |
in Ken Loach's current form and going back to a previous work of his | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
dogma that is clearly a connection in these two works in highlighting | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
the strong social security system to avoid homelessness and what happens | :08:32. | :08:37. | |
when a Government's approach for the Phils take into account individual | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
circumstances. The SNP supported my friend's Bill on the 2nd of December | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
which sought to do that by establishing a review system whereby | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
an individual circumstances would be taken into account before a sanction | :08:53. | :08:57. | |
decision can be made, this would include considering if someone is at | :08:58. | :09:00. | |
risk of homelessness and would go some way to personalising the | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
sanctions system although we would prefer it to be scrapped altogether. | :09:05. | :09:13. | |
The Tory Government's system of sanctions has had many catastrophic | :09:14. | :09:16. | |
consequences for families across the UK and clearly the increase in | :09:17. | :09:18. | |
homelessness must be considered amongst the most serious of these. | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
Leading families and individuals who are often with vulnerable at the | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
time when they are often being hounded by predators such as payday | :09:31. | :09:33. | |
loan companies and can often lead to rent arrears and -- hounded by -- on | :09:34. | :09:42. | |
December 2015 research for the homelessness charity Crisis filed | :09:43. | :09:50. | |
21% of people sanctioned in the last became homeless as a result and 16% | :09:51. | :09:58. | |
of those sanctioned were forced to sleep rough. Only last month, in | :09:59. | :10:02. | |
response to the National Audit Office report that suggested there | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
is no evidence sanctions worth -- what the chief executive of Crisis | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
said the no benefit -- benefit sanctions are a cause of | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
homelessness and have had significant impact on vulnerable | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
people, including those with the homeless and people with mental | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
health problems. For anyone in this position losing support benefits can | :10:24. | :10:28. | |
be disasters admitted even harder to find work. The SNP is clear about | :10:29. | :10:34. | |
the very damage caused by UK Social security cuts and we will keep | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
working with stakeholders to understand the impact of the UK | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
Government's plan local housing allowance changes on social tenant | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
in Scotland. The capping will block those who need support from either | :10:47. | :10:55. | |
sitting be able to afford it. Sanctions of those with mental | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
health issues and those homes, would welcome the recent announcement from | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
the secretary of state to provide discretionary funding are built to | :11:04. | :11:05. | |
help support when they are at their most vulnerable? | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
It is acknowledged that the system has not worked for those people and | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
saw any move to get rid of the sanctions is obviously going to be | :11:16. | :11:18. | |
welcome but there is far more must be done with respect to the | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
honourable member. The proposed capping of the local housing | :11:25. | :11:26. | |
allowance will lock also need support from either sitting it ought | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
be able to afford it and the gap between the gap in support of | :11:33. | :11:35. | |
housing could see many individuals at risk and not to receive the | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
support they need from a residential tenancy. If Apple study carried out | :11:39. | :11:45. | |
-- a sample study found associations in Scotland have provided supported | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
accommodation could lose between 5.2 million and ?14.3 million per year. | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
From 2019 the resources for supported accommodation while | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
transfer to the Scottish Government which leaves us with great concern | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
around, the Scottish Government have said when they have further detail | :12:06. | :12:08. | |
we will work with our partners to ensure supported accommodation in | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
Scotland is put on a secure and sustainable future for the | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
long-term. At a time when the cost of living is set to rise and a | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
damning forecast for the UK economy and little cheer in the Autumn | :12:20. | :12:24. | |
Statement, as we heard earlier, it is important the UK Government | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
realises the damaging impact austerity is having an the country | :12:28. | :12:33. | |
in a variety of ways and this debate has helped to highlight this damage | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
in a particularly crucial area such as homelessness. They should have | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
little to ponder when they consider the emergence and growing emergence | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
of people just about managing. I wish to touch briefly on a more | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
general discussion about homelessness, looking at things from | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
individual's point of view and understanding of the underlying | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
causes and consequences of homelessness, which can be harder to | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
quantify and address. Prices have carried out numerous pieces of | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
important research on the causes and consequences and have uncovered some | :13:10. | :13:11. | |
particular depressing statistics but I wish to mention some. On average, | :13:12. | :13:18. | |
homeless people die at 47 years old, 30 years before the national | :13:19. | :13:24. | |
average. However, poorer physical or mental health, along with dependency | :13:25. | :13:28. | |
issues are problems for the entire homeless population, were that they | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
are sleeping rough on the streets, in hostels or in temporary | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
accommodation. Physical... Yes. He is making a powerful case in | :13:34. | :13:43. | |
respect of this but just to correct a point, it is a rough sleepers who | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
are likely to die at the age of 46 which is a tragedy in this day and | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
age. But the figures the honourable gentleman is probably looking at is | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
of course the problems we have of so-called sofa sleepers, sleeping | :14:00. | :14:03. | |
with friends, family, or anywhere else they can find. The figures for | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
those people, we need to narrow down onto the problems being faced by | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
rough sleepers on the streets. I thank the honourable gentleman for | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
his intervention and I'm happy I've said homeless people die at 47 years | :14:22. | :14:26. | |
old, and I think there are life chances issue is whether people are | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
rough sleeping or whether they are living in varying standards of | :14:31. | :14:34. | |
temporary accommodation. I think that is a point that he will agree | :14:35. | :14:40. | |
with. Physical disabilities, mental ill-health can trigger or be part of | :14:41. | :14:43. | |
a chain of events that lead to someone becoming homeless. Problems | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
such as these can make it more difficult for people to engage with | :14:49. | :14:51. | |
services and get the help and support they need. Too often | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
services are not set up to respond to the particular individual lies | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
needs of homeless people. Two thirds of homeless people cite drug or | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
alcohol use as a reason for becoming homeless and those who use drugs are | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
seven times more likely to be homeless. There are high levels of | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
stress and mental health issues associated with being homeless and | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
it is not uncommon to seek solace in drug or alcohol abuse thereafter. | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
27% of homeless people surveyed reported having or recovering from | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
an alcohol problem. 39% reported taking drugs or recovering from a | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
drug problem. Whilst it is a small percentage of those classed as | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
homeless sleeping rough on the street, all too high a percentage | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
nevertheless, it is worth remembering the particular | :15:43. | :15:46. | |
challenges and problems that such a problem brings and what needs to be | :15:47. | :15:54. | |
done to address it. The report helped to highlight the fact that | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
extreme forms of homelessness and other support needs with nearly half | :16:00. | :16:06. | |
of service reporting substance misuse and street activities is | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
begging as well as homelessness. So in conclusion, these additional | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
challenges and underlying issues mean that was everything must be | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
done by both the Scottish and UK governments to ensure there is a | :16:21. | :16:24. | |
strong safety net in place for those facing the prospect of homelessness, | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
and measures to deal with this as a society, we must also understand and | :16:29. | :16:31. | |
seek to address these underlying causes and consequences that some of | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
those caught up in this horrendous situation face by ensuring that all | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
individuals are able to access support from the agency 's best | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
placed to assist them. On account of the nub of would-be contributed to | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
this debate I'm afraid there will have to be a time limit on backbench | :16:49. | :16:52. | |
speeches with immediate effect of five minutes each. But we will do | :16:53. | :17:00. | |
our best to accommodate everybody. Mr David McIntosh. I welcome this | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
debate from the opposition. I have always said one person homeless is | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
one too many, so every opportunity we have two highlight this problem | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
is helpful. As we approach Christmas I know that all of those taking part | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
in this debate will be particularly mindful of the human stories behind | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
the statistics. And I have one story at the forefront of my mind. On the | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
31st of October I took part in a sleep-out organised by a charity at | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
Lord's cricket ground. I left here after the late-night Monday votes | :17:33. | :17:34. | |
and then slept rough for the night. In reality this gives us some | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
insight into the horrible realities but I knew this was only for one | :17:39. | :17:42. | |
night and that I'd be back in a warm bed the following night. So after | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
sleeping rough I was a little tired and a little jaded but I was back | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
here the following day and my first job was speaking at a conference on | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
homelessness taking place at the hotel just over Westminster Bridge. | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
As I walked over with my assistant, we both saw that a homeless person | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
was on the street. It was clear to us that they had sadly passed away. | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
I don't know the name of that person, who they were, where they | :18:09. | :18:11. | |
came from or anything about that person. But I know that whilst I was | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
sleeping rough a few miles away, this person had been out in the cold | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
and wet and died in sight of Parliament and in the earshot of big | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
Bend. My assistant and I were shocked to witness this visible | :18:26. | :18:28. | |
example of the plight of homeless people on our streets, and I have | :18:29. | :18:31. | |
read of other cases in other cities in recent weeks. I don't profess to | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
have all the answers to solve this problem, but I do know we should not | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
let these people die in vain and for their memories say we should | :18:42. | :18:44. | |
continue to do all we can to prevent people from becoming homeless and to | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
address the many complex causes and challenges that lead to people | :18:49. | :18:51. | |
becoming homeless in the first place. We should also recognise the | :18:52. | :18:56. | |
work that we collectively have already done. As already mentioned | :18:57. | :19:01. | |
in this debate, on the 20th of October, honourable members from | :19:02. | :19:04. | |
both sides of the house agreed the private members bill on homelessness | :19:05. | :19:11. | |
reduction. We all know how important Fridays are for constituency work, | :19:12. | :19:15. | |
to see over 150 MPs here on that day was proof that the issues are being | :19:16. | :19:19. | |
taken seriously by all members and that government support this bill is | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
part of a package of measures which I welcome. I am pleased to be | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
serving with members on both sides of the house on the homelessness | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
reduction committee which is being looked at in great detail with house | :19:31. | :19:33. | |
party support and a positive approach to improving things. The | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
bill will ensure that councils can help even more people but will | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
introduce a duty on local housing authorities to take recent steps to | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
retain or secure accommodation and 56 days before they become homeless. | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
The bill will also require councils to take reasonable steps to provide | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
support to any eligible people who find themselves homeless for a | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
further period of 56 days to help secure accommodation. Alongside | :20:03. | :20:04. | |
support for the Bill I'm pleased the government has also announced a | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
number of other measures and funding to help address homelessness and its | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
causes. The government is providing ?500 million to prevent and reduce | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
homelessness over this Parliament as well as a number of other schemes. | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
Department for Work and Pensions temporary accommodation is being | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
replaced by a grant. This means current levels of funding will be | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
protected with an additional ?10 million of funding introduced for | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
areas with the highest pressures. The new grant will give local | :20:33. | :20:37. | |
authorities more flexibility in managing homelessness pressures. | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
Central government funding of ?149 million will target prevention, and | :20:42. | :20:43. | |
reduction programmes in different ways. The ?20 million Trailblazer | :20:44. | :20:50. | |
programme for example will enable councils to work together with other | :20:51. | :20:53. | |
agencies to prevent homelessness in their area. The ?29 million rough | :20:54. | :20:58. | |
sleeping fund will help those at imminent risk of homelessness while | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
the ?10 million social impact fund will help those rough sleepers with | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
complex needs. In addition a total of ?100 million will also write 2000 | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
places in low-cost rented accommodation to help people move on | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
from hostels and domestic abuse refuges towards independent living. | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
Young people are particularly vulnerable and it's important that | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
they are supported into education and employment. ?40 million worth of | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
funding for the homelessness change a platform for life programme will | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
support young people to improve their lives. And please the | :21:36. | :21:38. | |
homelessness reduction Bill will give local authorities new | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
responsibility and funding. Despite these challenges I'm pleased local | :21:43. | :21:44. | |
authorities have also help to prevent over a million people | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
becoming homeless since 2010. I recognise there is more work to be | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
done and debates like this help to keep the issue at the forefront of | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
all of our minds. We know homelessness is often the result of | :21:57. | :21:59. | |
not one factor, it is very compact and I'm pleased we are talking about | :22:00. | :22:05. | |
this today. I thank my honourable friend for their continued focus on | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
the initiative in respect of a commitment to tackle rough sleeping. | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
And as a member of Parliament for the borough of Westminster, nobody | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
would welcome that more than me because Westminster Council is at | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
the front line of the National crisis in rough sleeping. And there | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
is a draft rough sleeping strategy under consideration which reminds us | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
they have 3000 people sleeping rough over the course of a year at the | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
moment, 300 roughly on any given night. And the many complex causes | :22:35. | :22:44. | |
and drivers of homelessness that has led to the recent rise. One | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
particular figure, because other colleagues have mentioned some of | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
those factors, one particular issue jumped out at me as being an example | :22:53. | :22:56. | |
for the government to learn about the importance of interconnecting | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
services and the role that other government departments actions play | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
in all of this. 32%, a third of rough sleepers in Westminster, have | :23:07. | :23:11. | |
been in prison, a third. It is absolutely extraordinary that we are | :23:12. | :23:13. | |
incapable of preventing people who have come out of prison from ending | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
up on the streets. And one in four of rough sleepers in Westminster are | :23:18. | :23:22. | |
from the register of high risk for reoffending. So it is clearly in our | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
public interest to make sure that this crisis does not continue. We | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
all know also that rough sleeping is only the tip of the iceberg. I just | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
wanted to concentrate for a couple of minutes on the issues that have | :23:36. | :23:39. | |
been brought out particularly by the report into temporary accommodation | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
in London. Because this report by Julie rug from the University of | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
York tells us what is going on, it is a driver of priority and family | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
homelessness in London. And this report points out there are now one | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
in ten Londoners on social housing waiting lists, which of course is a | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
driver of the challenges that we face. There has been a 77% rise in | :24:04. | :24:10. | |
homelessness since 2010. And why is that? Well, we have already spoken | :24:11. | :24:13. | |
about the issue of supply and compared records and so forth and I | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
don't want to do that again. But one of the issues that has to be | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
understood by the government properly is the issue of | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
affordability. So even if supply grows, welcome though that will | :24:26. | :24:29. | |
become if that accommodation is not affordable to people at the lower | :24:30. | :24:32. | |
end of the income spectrum, it will not solve homelessness and the | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
homelessness reduction Bill, which we are all coalescing around and | :24:37. | :24:39. | |
want to see succeed, will be swimming against the tide. Now what | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
we know, and this helps us understand what this is about, is | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
that the various cuts in social security benefits and the benefit | :24:49. | :24:51. | |
cap and others are driving homelessness, they are making it | :24:52. | :24:54. | |
impossible for people on blowing comes to afford accommodation. And | :24:55. | :24:57. | |
they are leading to landlords withdrawing from the market of | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
letting private rented accommodation to people on low incomes with a | :25:02. | :25:08. | |
staggering 81% of landlords are unwilling to consider people on | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
housing benefit because of the threat of universal credit to their | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
income. And we know in inner London I think it's either 7% or 9%, a | :25:19. | :25:25. | |
ridiculously small proportion of accommodation is available to people | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
on lower incomes. We were told when the welfare we form Bill went | :25:30. | :25:32. | |
through Parliament that rents would fall as cuts to housing benefits | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
were applied, the opposite has happened, rents in London went up by | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
32% in outer London and 39% in inner London. So this is a cause of | :25:43. | :25:45. | |
homelessness and unless we do something about this, it is going to | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
get worse. And it is costing local authorities money as well as leading | :25:50. | :25:57. | |
to individual homelessness with 600 62 ?5 million being spent by London | :25:58. | :25:59. | |
local authorities on homelessness alone. Discretionary housing | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
payments which are always brought forward by the government as being | :26:05. | :26:07. | |
the solution to all these problems are simply not because they are by | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
definition temporary. And until the government understands that local | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
authorities will not use discretionary housing benefits to | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
solve the crisis we will end up repeating the problem. I have no | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
time unfortunately to talk about the fact that temporary accommodation | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
is, because of the squeeze put on local authorities, leading to | :26:30. | :26:31. | |
families spending this Christmas in appalling conditions. I would ask | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
the Minister in particular to help me deal with the problem of a two | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
dominion, one particular housing association, leaving residents in | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
many occasions in damp and mouldy accommodation. Children and families | :26:45. | :26:48. | |
should not be spending Christmas homeless on the streets or in | :26:49. | :26:51. | |
bed-and-breakfast, insecure accommodation. They are doing so in | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
record numbers and the government has two act. Mr Speaker firstly may | :26:56. | :27:02. | |
pass it's a pleasure to follow the pass it's a pleasure to follow the | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
member for Westminster North and I entirely agree when she says that | :27:08. | :27:10. | |
Christmas particularly this type Mageean nobody likes to think | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
anybody sleeping rough. Of course rough sleeping is the most visible | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
element of homelessness but as she rightly point out we must not forget | :27:18. | :27:21. | |
those that are sofa surfing and in temporary accommodation up and down | :27:22. | :27:25. | |
the country. So far I must say I have been impressed by the tone of | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
this debate because I think it's important to note that there is no | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
one party that has a monopoly on compassion. Let me be absolutely | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
clear, there is no honourable member in this house that wants to see | :27:37. | :27:38. | |
anybody sleeping rough on our streets or not having a home. In | :27:39. | :27:45. | |
order to tackle homelessness I think we really need to get to the bottom | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
of it and understand it, that's not about attributing blame but it is | :27:50. | :27:52. | |
about understanding complex issues and circumstances which lead to | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
homelessness. 50 years on from the gritty BBC drama Cathy come home | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
where we saw life events such as homelessness, family breakdown, | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
losing her children, 50 years on, surely in the fifth largest economy | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
in the world, how can we have people sleeping rough on our streets? And | :28:12. | :28:16. | |
as Cathy comes home brought homelessness to the attention of the | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
public through their TVs and gave the issue nationwide awareness, now | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
50 years on, can we say we've forgotten? Do we walk past and | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
actually see the people sleeping on cardboard on our streets? | :28:29. | :28:37. | |
Do we judge those who BC shooting up or drinking high-strength lager in | :28:38. | :28:45. | |
doorways. Are they someone else's problem, is it the result of bad | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
life choices and nothing to do with us? Do not think for one minute I am | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
being sanctimonious or in some a patronising because I openly admit I | :28:56. | :28:58. | |
have done it too. Sometimes it is easier to walk on, close our eyes, | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
and pretend we do not see the great stain on our humanity is rough | :29:04. | :29:09. | |
sleeping. The fact that this -- in the stability relatively wealthy | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
country people are sleeping on our streets in below freezing | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
temperatures open to the elements, assault, abuse, violence, sexual | :29:18. | :29:20. | |
assault. Two year we have actually gone further, and much further than | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
just closing our eyes, councils up and down the country of all | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
political clubbers are finding homeless people just for being | :29:31. | :29:39. | |
homeless. -- -- political councils are finding homeless. They are | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
erecting and people rough sleeping spikes in doorways. Have we lost our | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
humanity? I am pleased to say I do not think we have because there are | :29:49. | :29:51. | |
charities and voluntary groups all over the country at work tirelessly | :29:52. | :29:58. | |
late and the running soup kitchens, shelters, facilities up and down the | :29:59. | :30:03. | |
country will stop I have a vision experience whilst waiting for the 91 | :30:04. | :30:07. | |
boss offer -- opposite charring station as a woman approached me. We | :30:08. | :30:13. | |
talked for ten or so minutes and she asked if she could have a hug. I | :30:14. | :30:20. | |
said, of course. I was a little bemused, if I'm being honest and it | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
took me back but what she was really saying was, thank you for treating | :30:26. | :30:29. | |
me like a human being and not just stopping and ignoring me. She never | :30:30. | :30:34. | |
asked for money. She was just the woman down on her luck with the | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
isolated and forgotten by a society and reaching out in hope some one | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
would see her and action listen to her plight. As I said, the issues | :30:43. | :30:48. | |
are numerous and complex and I am proud to serve on the committee for | :30:49. | :30:54. | |
ending homelessness and set on the Bill committee along with my | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
honourable friend for Northampton and Harrow East. This bill is one | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
part of the solution to tackling homelessness and we know the leading | :31:06. | :31:09. | |
cause of homelessness is the ending of a shop full tenancy and this will | :31:10. | :31:12. | |
mean councils will have to give consistent advice and no longer | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
advise tenants to stay put until the bailiffs arrive. | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
I would be delighted to. As my friend back a Greek section 21 | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
notices are often because of problem for people becoming homeless -- does | :31:30. | :31:35. | |
he agree that section 20 one. I do agree the biggest cause for | :31:36. | :31:39. | |
homelessness is ending of the tenancy often via these notices. A | :31:40. | :31:49. | |
system should, from the council when they got into trouble in the council | :31:50. | :31:52. | |
says come back when the bailiffs are at your door. At that point you have | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
arrears and you will never be able to rent again in the private sector, | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
that is filling those individuals and it must stop. The Government is | :32:03. | :32:09. | |
has already taken a large number of steps to tackle homelessness and I | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
will not repeat them because my honourable friend for Northampton | :32:14. | :32:17. | |
South has made those clear. Is it enough? Clearly not. There is always | :32:18. | :32:21. | |
more we can do but in the interest of time I want to touch on the | :32:22. | :32:27. | |
private rented sector. It is part of the problem and we do need to look | :32:28. | :32:32. | |
at security of tenure, we have got to look at rent deposit schemes. We | :32:33. | :32:36. | |
have a scheme for mortgages and we should look at help to rent or a | :32:37. | :32:45. | |
help to rent ice. We need to work with insurers to lift the | :32:46. | :32:47. | |
restriction means they will not allow those buy to let mortgages to | :32:48. | :32:54. | |
a low in the 70s of over one year. I would just say prevention is key and | :32:55. | :33:01. | |
providing assistance at the first available opportunity is so | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
important. This Bill is a step in the right direction but that is much | :33:06. | :33:12. | |
more to do. 29th of November, a young man froze | :33:13. | :33:19. | |
to death in central Birmingham. Sadly, in Birmingham, there is worse | :33:20. | :33:22. | |
to come. If the Government goes ahead with the biggest cuts to any | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
council and local government history and in particular cuts to supported | :33:29. | :33:32. | |
housing, in the words of the chief executive of the YMCA, more will | :33:33. | :33:38. | |
die. In the words of the Chief Executive of Birmingham City | :33:39. | :33:41. | |
Council, there will be catastrophic consequences. I was born under | :33:42. | :33:48. | |
Clement Attlee and I grew up under Harold Macmillan. In an error where | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
Conservative Government -- in the era with the Conservative Government | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
followed the of Labour and building homes on a grand scale I never | :34:00. | :34:02. | |
thought in my life than we would see, first in the 1960s, then in the | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
1970s office blocks, speculation in London was homelessness was rapidly | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
rising. I was one of those who occupied Centrepoint in opposition | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
to that. For those of us on both sides are people who are passionate | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
about the cause of housing over many years I see this, I am proud of what | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
we did in Government, even if we did not do enough. I am proud of the 2 | :34:28. | :34:35. | |
million houses that were built, the 1 million more homeowners, 1.8 | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
social homes brought up to a decent standard. And the fact we cut rough | :34:42. | :34:44. | |
sleeping by three quarters. A generation of drug arrests. Just | :34:45. | :34:51. | |
when this Government -- a generation of progress. This Government should | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
have invested in a major house-building programme to get the | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
economy moving what we saw the reverse. Home ownership falling, | :34:59. | :35:06. | |
social housing in crisis, 140,000 fewer homes, and the rapidly growing | :35:07. | :35:11. | |
private rented sector characterised by its soaring rents for 2000 more | :35:12. | :35:15. | |
over the last five years paid by the average tenants, and and often poor | :35:16. | :35:22. | |
accommodation. All of which contribute towards growing | :35:23. | :35:25. | |
homelessness. And also the doubling of rough sleeping. Mr Speaker, you | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
were good enough to preside over the opening session of the first of | :35:31. | :35:34. | |
homeless young people's parliament but I organised in 2012. It was a | :35:35. | :35:39. | |
deeply moving occasion including challenging the current idea that | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
somehow all young homeless people are drug addicts, drunks and | :35:46. | :35:49. | |
dropouts. Many were condescension at Middle England and Middle Scotland. | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
Whose lives have fallen apart -- many were quintessentially. What | :35:54. | :36:02. | |
came out of that wearers -- was, you're our voice, more affordable | :36:03. | :36:06. | |
homes and do not cut the desperately needed benefit in particular for | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
young people. The secretary of state, after that young man died in | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
Birmingham, said, it was wrong and we should do more. The problem is | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
the Government is doing less. Coming back to the city I am proud to | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
represent Birmingham, ?800 million being cut from its budget, 14 | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
charges wrote only yesterday to the secretary of State for two minutes | :36:32. | :36:33. | |
and local government saying the council has been able to predict the | :36:34. | :36:38. | |
local housing budget but will not be able to continue to do so. The | :36:39. | :36:43. | |
consequences will be serious ones, to which I referred earlier on. The | :36:44. | :36:48. | |
risk another young man by John woman dies a terrible, called death on the | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
streets of the city. -- another young man John woman dies a cold | :36:54. | :37:01. | |
there. The UK Government could look to the | :37:02. | :37:06. | |
Welsh Labour Government which in the Housing act 2014 pledged 5.6 million | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
in the first year, 3 million in the second year, despite cuts from UK | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
Government to fund affordable rent as well as affordable homes to buy. | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
Not force local authorities to sell vacant properties to the highest | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
bidder. The cost of homelessness, both | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
financially and inhuman terms, an infinitely greater than investing in | :37:32. | :37:34. | |
preventing homelessness in the first place. So the honourable lady is | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
absolutely right and I applaud what the administration on wheels hold | :37:40. | :37:41. | |
on. Mr Speaker, in conclusion, it is too | :37:42. | :37:51. | |
late, as Christmas looms, to bring back that young man. It is too late | :37:52. | :37:59. | |
to sadly avoid what my honourable friend referred to earlier, the | :38:00. | :38:04. | |
tragedy of 120,000 children waking up on Christmas Day in temporary | :38:05. | :38:13. | |
accommodation. Much of it inferior, cramped, looking forward from school | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
to going home, looking forward to celebrating the day, to be in | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
temporary accommodation. That is too late, but the Government can do | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
more. And, crucially, at the next stages needs to do precisely that, | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
starting with the announcement tomorrow of the communities and | :38:33. | :38:35. | |
local government settlement for the great city of Birmingham and then at | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
the next stage and we on the site will be a champion of this, a great | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
national will to build the homes that our country needs. To create | :38:47. | :38:54. | |
jobs at building homes will achieve. Security, warmth, all of those | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
things that matter to us and matter to the people that we represent. | :38:58. | :39:02. | |
Never again must somebody like that young man by what it means the | :39:03. | :39:12. | |
Government must act and do more. Then my constituency pens and is | :39:13. | :39:16. | |
often referred to as being at the end of the line and despite the | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
beauty and charm people attracted to when they choose their holiday | :39:22. | :39:24. | |
destination we are not spirit in Penzance from some of the challenges | :39:25. | :39:30. | |
that exist, not least the problems of rough sleeping. The reason we are | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
described as the end of the wine is because people get on the train and | :39:35. | :39:37. | |
they stay there until they get to Penzance and the sleep rough and the | :39:38. | :39:43. | |
living homeless in my beautiful but a lot of hidden poverty part of the | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
world. In a civil society it cannot be right some have no choice but to | :39:49. | :39:52. | |
sleep rough. The challenge is much greater than providing a roof over | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
someone's head. In recent months I have looked closely at the rough | :39:58. | :40:02. | |
sleeping issues in Penzance and other towns are my constituency and | :40:03. | :40:05. | |
looking more closely at the issues faced by rough sleepers and talking | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
to the police and the rough sleepers themselves, I spent a couple of days | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
during the recess going out early in the morning talking to them and | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
finding out what issues were and how they got to that place. Also to | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
charities and church groups that provide support and we an incredible | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
amount of resources and services available for people in far west | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
Cornwall but also talking to host providers. There are many reasons | :40:31. | :40:33. | |
why people become homeless. For some, the struggles of adjust, their | :40:34. | :40:42. | |
job changes. I'm a fisherman who wanted -- could not settle into what | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
we could describe as a normal life. Many foreign nationals, transit | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
workers, part-time workers, at the end of that they often find | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
themselves sleeping rough. Many former prisoners. I've met one who | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
simply could not find the help needed to be established his life. | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
We also find because of the end of the one situation some very highly | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
skilled highly paid people who just want a change of life and come to | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
Cornwall looking for that and it does not go right, money disappears | :41:15. | :41:17. | |
and the find they have nowhere to go and they have given up and birds | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
every bridge, if you like. -- and every bridge. As far as the causes | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
of rough sleeping and homelessness we talk about the family break-up, | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
many families break up and young people and even partners find | :41:37. | :41:39. | |
themselves having to find somewhere to live when there is nothing | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
available at the stage in life when they never expected it. I have met | :41:44. | :41:52. | |
people who lived, just about managing, but suddenly an accident | :41:53. | :41:55. | |
and the family is something happens and defined themselves with the loss | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
of earnings and it quickly was Don Howe. Domestic violence, drug and | :42:00. | :42:03. | |
alcohol dependency, mental health will stop -- quickly goes downhill. | :42:04. | :42:14. | |
We have a particular issue with high living costs. If you take into | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
account council tax band C is ?130 per month that is 9% of a full-time | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
workers earnings if they are earning ?10 an hour. We are in an | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
environment where to become homeless camp, very quickly because of the | :42:32. | :42:38. | |
costs of living. -- can happen very quickly. We must also support people | :42:39. | :42:41. | |
at their point of need with their skills they need, help and support | :42:42. | :42:48. | |
couples and families, we must reduce the drug and alcohol dependency | :42:49. | :42:51. | |
situation we have. We must adequately provide mental health | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
services, push up earnings, reduce the burden of tax and low earners. | :42:57. | :43:00. | |
The greatest challenge is to support people to be independent and the | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
fool lives. If we feel in this week will never genuinely address the | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
nation's homeless problems. -- if we fail in this. I would like to give | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
the Minister more detail about how the Government intends to prevent | :43:16. | :43:17. | |
homelessness and use the money they are setting aside to support the | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
organisations and charities in place that can help so many people have | :43:25. | :43:25. | |
the life they deserve. Thank you Mr Speaker. I have two so | :43:26. | :43:35. | |
since first being elected last year, the largest amount of people who | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
come to me and my surgery, and I attend to in my is housing and | :43:41. | :43:46. | |
homelessness issues. I wanted to share a couple of these with you. A | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
28-year-old contacted me, who has been homeless for nine years. A lack | :43:52. | :43:57. | |
of help means that he fell into a life of crime, substance misuse and | :43:58. | :44:01. | |
rough sleeping. Last year at Christmas he was attacked and had to | :44:02. | :44:05. | |
have a metal plate in his jaw. This is not a life that he wants to live. | :44:06. | :44:10. | |
He wants to make changes and does not want to constantly be scared. | :44:11. | :44:15. | |
A mother of an eight-week-old baby contacted me after she was placed in | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
temporary accommodation till hours away from her local community. She | :44:22. | :44:26. | |
does not know a single person -- two hours. The accommodation is filthy, | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
unhygienic and she is worried about breast-feeding her baby because of | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
it. The first few months of a child's life are crucial. She is | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
scared, lonely and disconnected from her support network in south London. | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
These are just two examples of the hundreds and hundreds of cases that | :44:48. | :44:56. | |
I received. A homeless charity in my constituency, Deptford 999 Club, | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
they see about 50 people a day, tell me that they've seen a rise in the | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
number of young and vulnerable adults in their winter night | :45:07. | :45:08. | |
shelters. The 23-year-old brought up in care | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
and made homeless after a breakdown with his adoptive family is sofa | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
surfing until he ran out of places to stay. He began to sleep rough. At | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
Deptford 999 Club, they housed him locally and he now attends | :45:27. | :45:31. | |
university. Thankfully, it is a success story but sadly, this is a | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
rarity. Too many people are having to rely on the goodwill of charities | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
like these, and we should be doing more. Deptford 999 Club have had | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
some of their vital resources decommissioned due to a lack of | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
council funding currently available. These cuts in local authority | :45:53. | :45:56. | |
budgets mean that they are forced into making decisions that have | :45:57. | :45:59. | |
detrimental knock-on effects and it is these knock-on effects that have | :46:00. | :46:04. | |
led to the situation that we are in. The budget of Lewisham Council has | :46:05. | :46:09. | |
been cut by 121 million since 2010 and funding is going to be cut again | :46:10. | :46:16. | |
by one quarter until 2020. These cuts are creating holes in our | :46:17. | :46:23. | |
services and cost us more long term. The number of households in | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
temporary accommodation have gone up by 91% since 2010 that the supply of | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
affordable lets has decreased by 40% since 2010. These numbers quite | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
simply do not add up. How on earth are they expected to help these | :46:40. | :46:45. | |
people? I looked at the homeless reduction Bill, which I welcome. But | :46:46. | :46:49. | |
I do have some real concerns in terms of how it will deliver and how | :46:50. | :46:53. | |
local authorities will be able to fund some of the things they are | :46:54. | :46:57. | |
expected to do. They will be required to carry out an assessment | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
of what led to every applicant's homelessness but without additional | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
money. Local authorities are required to have secure | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
accommodation for eligible households threatened by | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
homelessness. No additional money. I thank the honourable lady for giving | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
way. She makes a powerful case. Does she not understand under the new | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
burdens doctorate, that because of these measures are under the face of | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
the homelessness reduction Bill, the government must provide funding to | :47:29. | :47:34. | |
provide those services? I thank the honourable member for his | :47:35. | :47:37. | |
intervention, and if the government were providing that funding? I think | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
we would welcome it. But we've seen no evidence of them providing | :47:42. | :47:45. | |
funding and every single thing that they seem to be giving two councils | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
additionally to do, they are not adding extra funding for it. They | :47:50. | :47:54. | |
are ring fencing in different areas. Local authorities will also be | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
required to provide for those who find themselves homeless with | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
support for a further period of 56 days to help secure accommodation. | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
Again, without additional funding. Whilst these all sound good in | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
principle, I must ask the question again... How on earth is this | :48:14. | :48:17. | |
possible when the current government are not properly resourced and local | :48:18. | :48:20. | |
authorities to deliver this? As we sit here and debate this, thousands | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
of people across Britain do not have a roof over their head or a place to | :48:27. | :48:29. | |
call home. No shelter and no warmth. Rough | :48:30. | :48:35. | |
sleeping has doubled since 2010. Homelessness is up by one third. | :48:36. | :48:38. | |
Things have to change if we want to reverse the trend. We need more | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
affordable housing. We need to tackle spiralling high cost rent. | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
And we need to ensure that local authorities are given the proper | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
funding that they need to deliver and tackle these issues. | :48:53. | :49:00. | |
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. When we discuss homelessness here we | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
should always keep in mind that like the country at large we have | :49:07. | :49:09. | |
different circumstances but I wonder how little it needs to go wrong to | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
find ourselves in dire straits. Just a missed rent or mortgage | :49:15. | :49:17. | |
payment, and especially if we do not have family or friends to take us | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
in. Homelessness can come suddenly and for a number of reasons. But | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
homelessness and rough sleeping should not rob individuals of | :49:27. | :49:30. | |
individuality or hopes and dreams. We do not want people to fall from | :49:31. | :49:34. | |
society. Homelessness is more than the availability of houses. | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
That is why the homelessness Reduction Bill and children and | :49:40. | :49:42. | |
social work Bill is good news. I will return to those later. Good | :49:43. | :49:49. | |
work is being done already. In my area, the council has received 168 | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
homelessness presentations in the last year. Of those, 527 were | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
accepted and in 110 cases, homelessness prevented and in 183, | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
advice and assistance alone was sufficient for the applicant. | :50:06. | :50:10. | |
Portsmouth has a strong record of finding permanent and secure | :50:11. | :50:12. | |
accommodation. Three months in temporary | :50:13. | :50:15. | |
accommodation is the average wait for a family with some housed much | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
sooner. It is very positive but there and are to be some pressures. | :50:20. | :50:26. | |
-- undoubtably. She speaks very movingly of the fact that, for the | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
grace of God, this could happen to anyone of us but I wonder whether | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
she would agree, the work done by local councils across the country, | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
such as the one in West Oxfordshire where I still serve, is absolutely | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
critical and moreover, the fact that 4% more people are being prevented | :50:46. | :50:49. | |
from becoming homeless since last year shows local councils are, in | :50:50. | :50:54. | |
fact, tackling homelessness prevention very effectively? I thank | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
the honourable friend for his intervention and I was disappointed | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
not to hear from the opposition benches about what Labour councils | :51:03. | :51:05. | |
are doing across the country rather than blaming the government every | :51:06. | :51:12. | |
time. There are pressures like private landlords, domestic | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
violence, and the council is coping well with demands made of it in | :51:19. | :51:22. | |
Portsmouth but we have to think about how we can stop these | :51:23. | :51:26. | |
circumstances happening in the first place. | :51:27. | :51:28. | |
Sleeping rough is not something anyone would undertake lightly. It | :51:29. | :51:36. | |
would blow 1's self-esteem and dignity can be hard to maintain. I | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
want to praise Portsmouth City Council's work in their support, the | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
homeless day service run by the Society of Saint James run seven | :51:47. | :51:49. | |
days a week and provides advice on how to find a home. More than this | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
it offers access to free shower and laundry services, and breakfast. | :51:54. | :52:01. | |
There are 37 rough sleepers in the city and as cold weather is setting | :52:02. | :52:06. | |
in, their predicament is more acute. The council recognises this. They | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
can call upon 36 beds for rough sleepers from 8am until 8pm. During | :52:13. | :52:19. | |
periods of severe cold, this can increase up to 44 beds. Meaning | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
there is a bed, Bath and breakfast available to nearly every rough | :52:24. | :52:26. | |
sleeper in our city during the coldest months of the year. I hope | :52:27. | :52:31. | |
we can all agree on how important it is that local authorities support | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
these services. There is much praise for the charity sector in my city as | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
well. On Christmas Day, there will be two Christmas lunches for the | :52:41. | :52:47. | |
homeless in the city. The lunch will be catered by the excellent food | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
cycle Pompey. Volunteers prepare a three course meal from food that | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
would otherwise be thrown away by supermarkets. The Salvation Army | :52:59. | :53:01. | |
will hold their Christmas lunch where some of the people who have | :53:02. | :53:06. | |
been referred to by the Council's homeless day service. I would like | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
to thank everybody involved by with putting on those lunches. At | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
Christmas, the burden of social exclusion can be unbearable and | :53:16. | :53:18. | |
efforts to keep people in touch with others in the true spirit of the | :53:19. | :53:22. | |
season. Ending the breakdown of the corporate family is the business of | :53:23. | :53:26. | |
the children and social work Bill. As I've said before, parental duties | :53:27. | :53:34. | |
do not lapse when I child -- when a child reaches adult. I am delighted | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
that the bill looks to extend the duty of responsibility in care to | :53:41. | :53:45. | |
the age of 25, and keeps care leavers off the streets. The home is | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
this reduction Bill that I am pleased to served does similar work | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
and I support the duties of local authorities who are involved before | :53:55. | :53:57. | |
people become homeless. It would double the period of time supporters | :53:58. | :54:02. | |
available. I have not focus today on bricks and mortar or hard cash of | :54:03. | :54:05. | |
homelessness. They have been well ventilated by others but indeed, I | :54:06. | :54:12. | |
hope to stress that there is more to homelessness than just being an | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
housed. Families and their breakdowns, humans and their welfare | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
and human dignity. In closing, let me urge those overtaken by these | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
affairs to seek help as soon as possible and reiterate my thanks for | :54:26. | :54:29. | |
those in Portsmouth and around the country, showing homeless people | :54:30. | :54:36. | |
that they are valuable members of society. It is a national disgrace | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
that we have got to a position as one of the most advanced nations on | :54:42. | :54:45. | |
earth where so many people are faced with homelessness this winter. | :54:46. | :54:47. | |
Honourable members across the house have seen the terrible human | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
consequences of this on an individual scale in their own | :54:52. | :54:55. | |
surgeries in my constituency is no different. Last official statistics | :54:56. | :54:58. | |
show that we have six rough sleepers in my area but apart from the | :54:59. | :55:04. | |
underestimation problem, that is six to many and we know that with over | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
400 statutory homelessness cases since 2015, and over 2000 prevention | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
and relief cases, gives an idea of the scale of the problem, even in an | :55:16. | :55:21. | |
area well away from inner cities. I thank the Honourable member for | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
giving way, the figure of six is pertinent, last years C LG said that | :55:26. | :55:28. | |
there were six rough sleepers in my borough. The real figure is about | :55:29. | :55:34. | |
five times that. Does she agree with me that part of solving the problem | :55:35. | :55:38. | |
of homelessness and rough sleeping is for the government to know | :55:39. | :55:41. | |
exactly be scared of the problem in the first place? I thank my | :55:42. | :55:45. | |
honourable friend for that intervention and I will go on to | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
talk about the hidden scale of homelessness, and it is incredibly | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
imperative to do more research into finding more about that. Let me draw | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
particular attention to the plight of homeless women and unique | :55:59. | :56:01. | |
challenges that they face. We know there are different causes of | :56:02. | :56:04. | |
homelessness for different groups and it is stark that Crisis estimate | :56:05. | :56:11. | |
four fifths of women who are homeless in England are fleeing | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
domestic violence. When I saw statistics to do with the scale of | :56:17. | :56:21. | |
domestic violence, it was chilling to be told by some mangoes and | :56:22. | :56:25. | |
Crisis that it was impossible to estimate for the reason that so many | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
homeless women remain invisible because they are in fear of their | :56:31. | :56:43. | |
lives. -- St Munos. -- St Mungo's. When women and couples with children | :56:44. | :56:46. | |
and without children are factored in, over two thirds of that plug-ins | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
were female, nearly 50,000 women in one year. Most of these are parents | :56:51. | :56:54. | |
and there's a clear relation to the equally stark fact that there are | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
120,000 children homeless this Christmas according to Shelter, a | :57:00. | :57:02. | |
figure that we should all feel ashamed of in this house. Venting | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
the problem is vital but let me talk about the reality of life for those | :57:08. | :57:10. | |
women who, forward have reason, find themselves homeless. | :57:11. | :57:17. | |
This highlights the problem faced by women when they acquire sanitary | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
products. Whereas homeless shelters have allowed the government to | :57:23. | :57:27. | |
provide items such as condoms, they have no allowance for female | :57:28. | :57:31. | |
sanitary products. I have been horrified by the reports coming out | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
of the campaign with the conditions in which homeless women are forced | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
to live. Women faced with the choice of buying food or tampons, which is | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
less dignified? Stealing sanitary products or doing without? It is | :57:46. | :57:49. | |
enough of an affront to human dignity for a person to be homeless | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
in the first place but it is multiplied by this fear and four | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
women forced to sleep rough, it's a very real fear. It places a risk of | :57:57. | :58:06. | |
health problems that women can ill afford when they are in one of the | :58:07. | :58:10. | |
most vulnerable positions imaginable. I met Lara Compton who | :58:11. | :58:13. | |
campaigned excessively on the tampon tax. They are calling for donations | :58:14. | :58:20. | |
of sanitary products to food banks and homeless shelters so that no | :58:21. | :58:23. | |
woman in such desperate circumstances is forced to suffer | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
the indignities I just described. Let me place on record my thanks to | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
law and those campaigning on this vital issue for the work they are | :58:32. | :58:34. | |
doing to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable women in | :58:35. | :58:37. | |
society. I'm pleased to be able to tell the house that just this week I | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
have worked with Boots to set up a pilot scheme where they will | :58:43. | :59:02. | |
donate then Terry Brooks to food banks and encourage donations from | :59:03. | :59:05. | |
their customers in store. We start this in my own constituency this | :59:06. | :59:08. | |
winter and if it is successful I hope it can be replicated up and | :59:09. | :59:11. | |
down the country. But Madam Deputy Speaker it is not enough to simply | :59:12. | :59:13. | |
rely on charity. The government must intervene sooner rather than later, | :59:14. | :59:16. | |
it is not for them to choose between tackling between symptom or cause. | :59:17. | :59:18. | |
When I began to campaign in this house on the tampon tax, some | :59:19. | :59:20. | |
members recalled, while others did not want to talk about periods or | :59:21. | :59:23. | |
tampons as if the words themselves were obscene. Do not regret such | :59:24. | :59:26. | |
providing a -- I do not regret providing a culture shock, but | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
access to sanitary care is a widespread and terribly | :59:32. | :59:33. | |
underestimated issue. As the campaign says, it does not bear | :59:34. | :59:37. | |
thinking about and that is the problem. Too close, I hope the | :59:38. | :59:41. | |
honourable member is on all sides and in particular the minister today | :59:42. | :59:44. | |
will bear thinking about it today and will not only acknowledge the | :59:45. | :59:47. | |
problem that begin to find solutions. | :59:48. | :59:51. | |
It is a great, great pleasure to follow the honourable member of the | :59:52. | :59:57. | |
Dewsbury and absolutely fantastic in terms of the work she is doing in | :59:58. | :00:01. | |
the area of tampons and feeding the homeless. As a member of the | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
community and local Government select committee, I have seen for | :00:07. | :00:08. | |
myself the challenges of homelessness. Nobody should have to | :00:09. | :00:12. | |
live on the streets and not only do too many do so, but many more -- | :00:13. | :00:17. | |
many more this paycheques from joining them are any one or two | :00:18. | :00:24. | |
missed paycheques. So few people have savings in place and so many of | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
us are so close to death and when we do find ourselves in rental arrears, | :00:32. | :00:39. | |
C CJs, which stop you from getting further tenancy agreements, blight | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
the lives of thousands across this country. I thought my honourable | :00:43. | :00:45. | |
friend the Minister made a very brave speech earlier on in terms of | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
saying that there were failings and actually, rough sleeping is not good | :00:52. | :00:55. | |
enough in this country, in this economy and this time. I thought | :00:56. | :00:59. | |
that was very brave in the face of a very poised and also very political | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
speech from the spokesman opposite in that respect, so I can graduate | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
of the Minister in that regard. But his point stands. I do genuinely | :01:10. | :01:12. | |
believe there is a step change going on right now and I think that many | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
of the statistics that have been mentioned in this debate, I won't | :01:18. | :01:21. | |
rehash them because of limited time and we don't need to go through it | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
all again, so to speak, but the realities are that I believe there | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
is this step change and what we all need to see is working together, as | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
the Member for Westminster North mentioned, interconnectivity, people | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
need to stop working in silos and on that I will finish. Does he agree | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
with me that it is important that local authorities work together with | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
the LGA to tackle the pernicious practice, born of desperation, of | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
local authority shackling their homeless people around the country | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
to other local authorities, sometimes in the hands of rapacious | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
private landlords who use housing benefit regulations loopholes to get | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
more money and that sometimes means serving a section 21 notices on | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
existing tenants? He makes a good point. I know for a fact that this | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
is something that occurs within his own constituency and he has seen the | :02:15. | :02:19. | |
dramatic effects on people. I think the clearest example of the | :02:20. | :02:26. | |
Government's determination to tackle rough sleeping is to support the | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
homeless reduction Bill, which was tabled by my friend the Member for | :02:31. | :02:35. | |
Harrow East, drawn up by colleagues on the committee and based on | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
independent research and findings. The bill seeks to mandate councils | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
to provide 56 days of support to homeless individuals and make sure | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
that other services refer people at risk of homelessness to the | :02:49. | :02:52. | |
council's Housing team. Most importantly, Madam Deputy Speaker, | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
it will enquire local -- require local authorities to help at risk | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
individuals find accommodation before they end up on the streets. | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
Not no second night sleeping out, no first night sleeping out. This sort | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
of early intervention is absolutely crucial, Madam Deputy Speaker, to | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
tackling these problems for the cost, both financial and human, | :03:15. | :03:21. | |
start to mount. In my Patchell Solihull, it aims to meet the needs | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
of those already on the streets. But prevention has become the sole | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
central focus of the current strategy, with the council and | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
partners cooperating to identify and assist vulnerable households, those | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
who are in immediate danger of a member of that household becoming | :03:39. | :03:44. | |
homeless. I am pleased to report that our council is now past the | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
first stage to achieving the goal stand it for homeless and housing | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
advice services -- gold standard. They have pledged not to rest until | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
they reach the goal and so little support services are needed and | :03:58. | :04:06. | |
deservedly so. As my colleagues have said before, there is a lot of | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
hidden homeless, even in seemingly well-to-do areas and in terms of | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
sofa surfing etc. Unfortunately, this standard of care is not | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
universal and I was shocked by what was mentioned by the honourable | :04:20. | :04:22. | |
member for Erdington that earlier this month, many of my constituents | :04:23. | :04:25. | |
were shocked to hear of a young man freezing to death in neighbouring | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
Birmingham and I hope and believe the homeless reduction Bill will | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
help to focus minds on the human cost of homelessness and guide local | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
authorities towards effective policies, remedial where necessary. | :04:41. | :04:44. | |
Passing the homelessness reduction Bill into law will be a great step | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
towards tackling homelessness in the best way, by stopping people | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
becoming homeless in the first place. That has to be drawn up | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
usually via select committee. It demonstrates the depth of concern | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
this has and outside right now, that we need to rise for the challenge as | :05:02. | :05:08. | |
a Government, as a country and opposition parties together and the | :05:09. | :05:10. | |
Government supporters homelessness bill is proof they share that | :05:11. | :05:19. | |
mission as well. I am speaking in this debate today because I am | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
angry, angry that in one of the richest countries in the world, the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
number of people sleeping rough on our streets is going up. I'm angry | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
because the number of families faced in temporary accommodation is | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
increasing and I'm angry that the cuts to housing benefit mean more | :05:38. | :05:40. | |
and more of my constituents are unable to cover their rent and find | :05:41. | :05:45. | |
themselves out on the streets with their belongings. I am angry, but I | :05:46. | :05:54. | |
am also sad. I am sad that if you are on the minimum wage in an area | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
like mine and you don't have a council or hosing Macca delete | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
Housing Association property, your chances of finding somewhere decent | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
or affordable to live are close to zero and I am also sad that it is | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
children that often paid a highs prize. Families placed in B and Bs, | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
miles away from their children's school, because the authority is | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
unable to source local properties at an affordable rent. When I became an | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
MP six years ago, it was uncommon for anyone to visit my advice | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
surgery, because they were rough sleeper. One common but not unknown. | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
Men who would ride night buses trying to keep warm, some finding | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
shelter in disused garages or in parks. Now it is commonplace. At one | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
advice surgery in October, I saw four people in the space of as many | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
hours, all of whom were set to sleep outside that evening. It could be | :06:54. | :07:01. | |
the people my constituents see on a daily basis, on a mattress, | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
underneath the Arches, next to Lewisham station, in sleeping bags, | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
or huddled called on wet cardboard outside the BP garage on Lee high | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
Road. It is all too easy. It is easy to walk by and think it is someone | :07:16. | :07:20. | |
else's problem. It is not, though, it is our problem and as a country, | :07:21. | :07:28. | |
we need to fix it. Doshi share my view that this is not a problem that | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
drops out of the sky? This problem of homelessness and the explosion of | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
people using food banks is consequent on the Government policy | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
of the last six years. There is a consensus in the House about doing | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
something about homelessness, it has come from Government policy. I | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
totally agree with my honourable friend and I said in my intervention | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
on the minister earlier, the fact that the previous Government cut the | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
National affordable housing building programme by 63% in 2011 as an awful | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
lot to answer for. I want to share one story with colleagues which | :08:09. | :08:11. | |
underlines the need for change. A few weeks ago at my advice surgery | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
in Dagenham, I met a man called Terry. Terry isn't his real name, | :08:19. | :08:21. | |
but for reasons that will become obvious, he doesn't want his real | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
name known. Terry is in his 60s and works with young men at risk of | :08:28. | :08:30. | |
getting into trouble with the law. He has lived alone for the last few | :08:31. | :08:33. | |
years, having gone through a divorce. Terry used to pave ?650 a | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
month for a one-bedroom flat, cheap by Lewisham standards, but then the | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
rent doubled overnight. He couldn't afford it and he had to move out. | :08:46. | :08:51. | |
Terry now sleeps in Navan. He hasn't told his children because he is too | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
embarrassed -- in a van. He can't get help on the council because he | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
is not deemed to be in priority need. When I hear Conservative | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
politicians say if you can't afford to live in London, you should move | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
out, I wonder whether they mean people like Terry, people who | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
haven't done anything wrong and quite a lot right. When I met | :09:15. | :09:22. | |
Terry... I will give way. Name the Conservative politician, was at a | :09:23. | :09:25. | |
council or a member of Parliament? I just wondered where that quote came | :09:26. | :09:29. | |
from. Thank you for that intervention. Anyone listening to | :09:30. | :09:32. | |
the rhetoric of the last parliament will be under no illusions about | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
what certain members of the past Government were saying. Madam Deputy | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
Speaker, I say this to Government on behalf of my constituents - wake up. | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
Wake up and invest in social housing. Wake up and build homes | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
people can afford to live in. Wake up and stop pumping money into the | :09:52. | :09:57. | |
bank accounts of private landlords and Bill social housing instead -- | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
build social housing instead. I have spoken before in this chamber about | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
the disparity that can exist between a housing benefits paid out on | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
Private rented property and social housing. I won't give way because I | :10:12. | :10:17. | |
think I have already had my injury time. Madam Deputy Speaker, if you | :10:18. | :10:23. | |
take to families in receipt of full housing benefit in my constituency, | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
one in a two bedroomed Private rented flat and one in a two bed | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
council flat, the annual benefit paid on the Private rented property | :10:33. | :10:40. | |
is almost ?9,000 for than that paid on the Council flat. We can't afford | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
to go on like this. We all know, and the Chancellor confirmed as much a | :10:46. | :10:50. | |
few weeks back, that the public finances are likely to be shot to | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
pieces as a result of Brexit. I fear for my constituents in of these | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
circumstances and it makes it all the more important that the | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
Government makes the right choices. The fund local authorities | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
adequately, shift the public subsidy from benefits to bricks and mortar | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
and build social housing. Until we do that, Madam Deputy Speaker, any | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
attempts to tackle homelessness will always be destined to fail. Bob | :11:22. | :11:29. | |
Blackman. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker and a pleasure to follow the | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
honourable member for Lewisham East who made such a powerful case on | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
behalf of her area and I draw the House's attempts to my entry in the | :11:37. | :11:43. | |
register. The cause of homelessness is varied. It is all too easy for us | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
to centre on one particular issue. I apologise that I wasn't present for | :11:50. | :11:55. | |
the front bench speech, I was in another committee meeting elsewhere | :11:56. | :11:58. | |
and because of the timing of the debate, I was held up, but the | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
reality is this, that under the last Labour Government, homelessness | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
peaked in 2003-4 at over 300,000 applications. By 2010, because of | :12:10. | :12:14. | |
action the Labour Government took, it had dropped dramatically and it | :12:15. | :12:18. | |
has been rising steadily ever since. It is quite clear that we have do | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
address that. Now, I'm very thankful to all the comments that have been | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
made about by homelessness reduction Bill and I thank everyone who has | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
spoken in the debates at second reading and is serving on the Bill | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
Committee as we still take that bill through, and I look forward to it | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
returning to this place early in 2017, going to the House of Lords | :12:43. | :12:46. | |
and eventually becoming law. That is only one part of the jigsaw puzzle | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
to actually solve homelessness. I am quite clear that we have to deal | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
with the problem of supply above or else and it is clear that we need to | :12:57. | :13:01. | |
do other things as well -- above all else. If we don't build proper | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
affordable housing, quite clearly, we are never going to solve this | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
problem. I thank my honourable friend way and also commend him on | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
the work he is doing with this bill and on the point he just made, would | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
he with me that a zeal for private home ownership at all costs is at | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
the very root of this problem if we are going to tackle this longer term | :13:25. | :13:29. | |
and we do need to have more affordable homes and a genuine | :13:30. | :13:31. | |
housing mix and that is the only way we are going to help people in the | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
future to manage to stay away from homelessness and a sustainable | :13:36. | :13:36. | |
solution. Quite clearly, we have a problem | :13:37. | :13:45. | |
that governments of all persuasions, as the minister rightly said, had | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
failed to build another housing for almost 40 years. We have a problem | :13:50. | :13:54. | |
that the reality is, the private sector will never build enough | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
housing alone. I think that we have had the announcement of the | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
settlement for London with ?3.15 billion for 90,000 affordable homes | :14:05. | :14:08. | |
to be built across London in the next three years. That is a great | :14:09. | :14:12. | |
settlement. Now incumbent on everyone to get on with building | :14:13. | :14:17. | |
those properties. Public land is available where those properties can | :14:18. | :14:21. | |
be built and it can help. But, I will also say that homelessness, we | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
must divide it into two categories. Rough sleepers on the street and at | :14:28. | :14:34. | |
severe risk. Their health is bad, they are likely to be attacked, | :14:35. | :14:37. | |
these people are on the streets for the first time and rich creamy | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
-- are extremely bleak vulnerable. They could die as a result of | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
sleeping rough and it is a scandal in this day and age. They cost the | :14:50. | :14:56. | |
health services huge amount of money and are likely to be addicted to | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
drugs, alcohol or tobacco and you cannot blame them for that. They are | :15:01. | :15:05. | |
in a spiral of despair. We had to come together as a house to make | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
sure nobody gets to the stages of sleeping rough. We also have the | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
problem of the hidden homeless. So for sleepers, people staying with | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
family and friends until they exhaust all of them and end up on | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
the streets. Unless we address that issue, we will not solve the problem | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
and equally, dealing with rough sleepers. I was out last night with | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
a brilliant team from St Mungo's. Identifying people in the streets of | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
the City of London sleeping rough. It is quite clear that those | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
individuals have complex needs. There is no magic solution to say, | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
let's give them somewhere to live or to sleep, and that is the end of the | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
problem. They need counselling, support, a whole package of measures | :15:51. | :15:56. | |
to help them get back on their feet and live what we would all call a | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
normal life. Unfortunately, just providing accommodation is not | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
sufficient and I think that is very important. And equally it is quite | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
clear one of the problems in society now is private sector landlords are | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
reluctant to give homes for rent to those people who are homeless. I | :16:16. | :16:18. | |
would ask the government to look at a national deposit scheme so that | :16:19. | :16:23. | |
people who are in need of housing in the private sector can get that | :16:24. | :16:31. | |
deposit provided at a national level rather than relying on local | :16:32. | :16:34. | |
authorities identifying the deposit. So actually then, we can secure by | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
that rented accommodation for people who are not in priority need. I | :16:40. | :16:45. | |
think it would make a huge difference to the numbers of people | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
currently declared as homeless and not assisted because we know that | :16:49. | :16:53. | |
one of the challenges is when you are in difficulty here, finding the | :16:54. | :16:57. | |
deposit to either buy a house, if you are trying to do that, or in a | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
private rented area. That is something I think that the | :17:02. | :17:04. | |
government should be looking at. I am looking forward to the | :17:05. | :17:08. | |
publication of the White Paper, that we are going to see on developing | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
new homes and the Housing strategy. I think one of the issues we must be | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
clear on is that housing is a market and if you begin to interfere with a | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
market you have unintended consequences. I trust my honourable | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
friend, my right honourable friend is on the front bench, have | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
considered all of these aspects and rather than tinkering with some of | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
these measures, we will get on with a national house-building programme | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
that we can all be proud of. We can get on with measures that help to | :17:40. | :17:45. | |
alleviate those prices and I look forward to other announcements that | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
will no doubt follow and measures to reduce rough sleeping, I think, are | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
absolutely paramount. If we do not address it quickly, we are going to | :17:55. | :18:02. | |
lose too many people too early. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Let | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
me take the opportunity to applaud my honourable friend is on the front | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
bench in their efforts for delivering this important and timely | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
debate today. I've witnessed the problem of homelessness first-hand | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
volunteering with Crisis at Christmas, handing out hundreds of | :18:20. | :18:23. | |
turkey dinners to vulnerable people. I saw homelessness to what -- for | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
what it is. It is not because of addicts or mental health issues, it | :18:30. | :18:32. | |
is summing that can happen to us all. We are only three steps away | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
from homelessness. You lose your job, your partner and your house. It | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
can happen to anyone. After years of what is being called unprecedented | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
decline, homelessness is back on the rise. Rough sleeping has doubled, | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
families living in emergency bed and breakfast and hostel rooms in | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
Britain is up by 18% in one year. Homeless households have increased | :18:58. | :19:03. | |
by 44% and 120,000 children are homeless this Christmas. We see it | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
every day on our way in and out of work. People sleeping in the | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
entrances to Parliament in cardboard boxes and in sleeping bags. It is | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
not confined to city centres. My constituency is not somewhere one | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
would normally associate with homelessness. As I have said before | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
Madam Deputy Speaker in this house, when I was six, my family fell | :19:30. | :19:33. | |
behind on mortgage repayments and we had to hand the keys back to the | :19:34. | :19:37. | |
building society of our home. The council stepped in and found us a | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
new home. 14,000 people on the council housing waiting list. If | :19:45. | :19:47. | |
what happened to us then happened now, I do not know what would have | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
become of me and my family. Perhaps we too would have had to rely on the | :19:53. | :19:57. | |
kindness of strangers in an emergency bed and breakfast or on | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
the streets. We know that the situation is getting worse, not | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
better. I was told just yesterday that a centre has seen a 15% | :20:07. | :20:11. | |
year-on-year increase in the people coming through their doors. What | :20:12. | :20:15. | |
stood out for me was the conversation that we had, not all of | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
those who use the centre is what we would normally deem as being | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
homeless. They are not sleeping on the streets, most of them, they are | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
actually sofa surfing until goodwill runs out and they need to move onto | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
other friends. His explanation for the increases threefold. At the | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
church, for two days the week, they do not have to pay for heating. They | :20:37. | :20:40. | |
get a hot meal and a food parcel to take away. Let us not forget that | :20:41. | :20:45. | |
they also get companionship. Something that must be thin on the | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
ground as you are forced by circumstance to keep moving on. As | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
the honourable members spoke just earlier, one third of households who | :20:55. | :21:00. | |
become homeless did so when their private rented tenancy ended. | :21:01. | :21:03. | |
Meaning that we need to adapt to the needs of the growing number of | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
families who rent. Longer term, secure tenancies with affordable | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
rent increases are essential because homelessness is not always due to a | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
loss of a home but often due to an inability to find a new one. With | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
Crisis telling us that deposit is averaged nearly ?1200 with agency | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
fees on top, it is easy to see how a family ends up in financial | :21:27. | :21:29. | |
difficulties. I applaud the honourable members called for those | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
faced with homelessness because although the government's support | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
for the homelessness reduction bill in Harrow is welcomed, as long as it | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
is fully funded it does not address lack of support for private renters | :21:48. | :21:51. | |
or a chronic lack of investment in affordable homes. I welcome my | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
honourable friend Falls Road worth and donors pledge to eradicate rough | :21:57. | :22:00. | |
sleeping in the first term of Labour government. I know that he has sent | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
his proposals to the Prime Minister and I hope members opposite can give | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
assurances that they will be seriously considered. Every single | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
expert, organisation and member of this house knows that the only | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
long-term solution to homelessness is to build genuinely affordable | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
homes for families to live in. A home that they can afford is not | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
just bricks and mortar but stability and security. Let's not find | :22:25. | :22:28. | |
ourselves back in this place at this time next year debating the same | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
issues. Those 120,000 children deserve better and we cannot let | :22:36. | :22:44. | |
them down. What does homelessness actually entail? In the words of | :22:45. | :22:48. | |
Rachael Morrison in her excellent book, the word homeless seems to | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
present the condition as a single lack. But it is many individual | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
deficiencies combined. The worst are emotional, but mentioning physical | :23:01. | :23:06. | |
challenges first, one aspect is exhaustion. Caused by several | :23:07. | :23:09. | |
different factors, including sleep deprivation, hunger and a constant | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
need to remain on the move. This explanation is insightful because it | :23:19. | :23:27. | |
shows how. It is a struggle that homeless people content with on a | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
daily basis. Sleeping on one friend's sofa, then it's a day and | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
another day. Then, a doorway is used, probably nearby, and then you | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
drift. You have to acknowledge then that you are homeless. It did not | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
start this way. We never expect that we will become a homeless person. | :23:51. | :23:59. | |
How damaging to your self-esteem and health visit when you realise that | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
homelessness has become a reality? In Scotland, the number of | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
homelessness applications is decreasing. 294 applicants are in my | :24:08. | :24:18. | |
constituency, which is 294 to many. We have made progress, and Shelter | :24:19. | :24:25. | |
have indicated that there is no change in the number of | :24:26. | :24:28. | |
homelessness. Almost those who made applications are single males, and | :24:29. | :24:35. | |
16% are single females with a child. Shamefully, many of those people are | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
ex-service personnel, people who made the highest commitment to serve | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
their country and have not received the support they deserve. Although | :24:44. | :24:46. | |
homelessness is primarily tackled by the UK,. The right to buy was not | :24:47. | :24:58. | |
reinforced by a need to build. According to Scotland's statistics, | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
we have lost 250,000 homes as a result of the right to buy, | :25:04. | :25:08. | |
thousands that are of dubious quality remain, one in ten are | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
affected by dampness or condensation, it is estimated. | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
Scotland ended right to buy, 16,000 were built in the last year. I hope | :25:18. | :25:27. | |
to see this issue prioritised as a matter as homelessness is increasing | :25:28. | :25:32. | |
and being stigmatised. Crisis spoke to 450 people sleeping rough, or had | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
done in the last year, and they said they were facing ever more hostile | :25:37. | :25:42. | |
straits. Councils, developers and businesses are employing defensive | :25:43. | :25:47. | |
architecture. Concrete studs placed on flat areas to prevent homeless | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
people from finding a place to sleep. It makes you wonder about the | :25:52. | :25:55. | |
threat and why we need to defend ourselves from it. A compassionate | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
society should not implying the deal. Strategies -- medieval | :26:01. | :26:09. | |
strategies. Being told to disappear, you are not wanted. It is an issue | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
of priorities. Some apartments are brought up as investments, and we | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
should be building social housing. In these to be dealt with in a | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
compassionate way. To help people build their own lives. The current | :26:26. | :26:27. | |
system does not provide that support. Addressing social ills, | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
protect the most honourable from becoming homeless. We should explore | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
the possibility as the system is in need of fundamental reform. | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
Homelessness is a complex issue. It cannot be eliminated through money | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
and legislation. It is not about housing but it -- a product of | :26:50. | :26:59. | |
domestic abuse, and addiction. It can happen to anyone from any | :27:00. | :27:04. | |
background. We should never allow ourselves to accept homelessness in | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
a modern society. It does not need to happen. Complacency in the | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
government will result in a failure to tackle this issue. The mismanaged | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
welfare system is producing increased pressure on homelessness | :27:20. | :27:22. | |
services. My fear that progress being made at Holyrood is undermined | :27:23. | :27:28. | |
by what is happening at Westminster. They do not care that local | :27:29. | :27:36. | |
authorities -- about local authorities but need support. We | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
need to ensure that they receive that support. Thank you Madam Deputy | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
Speaker. I'm very proud of the Welsh | :27:43. | :27:50. | |
Government's record on tackling homelessness. The Welsh Government | :27:51. | :27:53. | |
has provided affordable homes to rent as well as by, pledged to | :27:54. | :27:59. | |
protect its supported people budget for homeless services. Local | :28:00. | :28:03. | |
authorities in Wales are not forced to sell vacant homes to the highest | :28:04. | :28:07. | |
bidder in order to create funds for the Exchequer. Since 2011, Welsh | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
local authorities has suspended the right to buy schemes in suspended | :28:14. | :28:17. | |
areas, experiencing high demands for housing, in order to preserve the | :28:18. | :28:23. | |
stock of affordable homes. My own blood cancer, the city council of | :28:24. | :28:26. | |
Swansea, have recently broken ground on a pilot scheme to build 18 passes | :28:27. | :28:34. | |
as standard energy efficient homes. This standard plan is just the first | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
page that could lead to thousands of new homes across Swansea. And these | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
homes have the potential to offer an annual, yes, annual, three of ?70 | :28:44. | :28:53. | |
per annum. The first homes will be occupied this coming March. They are | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
a forward-thinking, ambitious local authority preparing for a future and | :28:58. | :29:01. | |
offering solutions not just to homelessness but also poverty. Just | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
on the point she is raising the of Swansea Council, lots of Welsh local | :29:09. | :29:15. | |
authorities are moving out of building more council housing | :29:16. | :29:18. | |
because of the support from the Welsh Government for tackling | :29:19. | :29:22. | |
homelessness and building social housing. Would she agree would be | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
that local Government and Welsh Government is showing the way on how | :29:26. | :29:28. | |
we can tackle homelessness and affordable housing? I certainly do | :29:29. | :29:33. | |
and I will be coming to that. Right across Wales, it is intended to | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
reduce homelessness by utilising what the Private -- both the private | :29:38. | :29:44. | |
and public housing sectors and it has been to fund proactive schemes | :29:45. | :29:49. | |
to prevent homelessness. My local authorities are pioneers in this | :29:50. | :29:55. | |
area. Between 2015 and 2016, over 7,000 households were threatened | :29:56. | :29:59. | |
with impending homelessness, but the Welsh Government were able to | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
prevent 65% of this figure from becoming homeless. This proves that | :30:05. | :30:08. | |
local authorities like mine and others right across Wales are | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
working with Welsh Government to understand and tackle this problem. | :30:14. | :30:18. | |
Maybe it is time the Westminster Government took a leaf out of the | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
Welsh Government and the Welsh local authorities on how to tackle | :30:25. | :30:34. | |
homelessness book. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I was taken by | :30:35. | :30:45. | |
surprise. The motion before us today notes that 120,000 people will be | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
homeless this Christmas. This is a fact that will alarm every member of | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
this House and shame them for inaction. The levels of homelessness | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
across the UK show the consequences of ignoring the most vulnerable in | :31:00. | :31:03. | |
society and they can be no excuses that the number of people sleeping | :31:04. | :31:09. | |
rough has doubled from 2010 to 2015. While the Government is refusing to | :31:10. | :31:13. | |
acknowledge the rising levels of homelessness, I am glad to see a | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
different approach taken by the Welsh Government. In contrast to | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
Westminster, the First Minister and his Government have shown time and | :31:22. | :31:23. | |
again they are not afraid to tackle the problem head-on. Unlike the UK | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
Government, the Welsh Government have continued to fund affordable | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
homes to rent and buy, allow councils to suspend the right to buy | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
in areas of high pressure and not forced authorities to sell vacant | :31:39. | :31:42. | |
homes to the highest bidder. On top of this, the Welsh Government has | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
also introduced an act to focus on prevention and despite significant | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
budget pressures, provided the significant resources. I will | :31:54. | :31:59. | |
happily give way. I thank the honourable member for giving way and | :32:00. | :32:02. | |
on that specific issue, is he aware that taking the total number for the | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
whole of Wales of people presenting themselves as homeless is less than | :32:08. | :32:14. | |
the homeless presented to the single borough of the London Borough of | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
Lambeth? I act knowledge it and I understand what the honourable | :32:20. | :32:23. | |
gentleman is saying that I'm trying to stress there are different and | :32:24. | :32:27. | |
more positive approaches to tackling homelessness and the Welsh | :32:28. | :32:29. | |
Government is leading the way in that. The Housing act is to reduce | :32:30. | :32:36. | |
homelessness through stronger prevention and despite pressures, | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
provide necessary funding and resources. I am incredibly proud of | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
the action taken by the Welsh Government and equally proud of the | :32:45. | :32:46. | |
work of the last Labour Government in this House and their efforts, and | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
when Labour are in Government, be it in Wales or the UK as a whole, | :32:52. | :32:58. | |
homelessness falls. Under two previous Labour prime ministers, | :32:59. | :33:00. | |
statutory homelessness fell by almost two thirds and the number of | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
people sleeping rough fell by three quarters. In Wales, in the first | :33:05. | :33:11. | |
year of the Welsh Government Housing act, 75% of houses are assessed as | :33:12. | :33:21. | |
at a thread of homelessness -- as at threat of homelessness were | :33:22. | :33:24. | |
prevented. Labour governments have repeatedly shown it is possible to | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
take action and I hope this Government will today take note and | :33:31. | :33:39. | |
work to help find everybody a home. Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I | :33:40. | :33:43. | |
met a former constituent of mine today at a community event in my | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
constituency. I first met her two years ago as she was being evicted | :33:48. | :33:51. | |
from her private sector home with her young children while she was | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
receiving treatment for cancer. She was moved out of my constituency | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
into temporary accommodation and two years later, she is still there. She | :34:00. | :34:04. | |
said I saw something about homelessness on the news this | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
morning. Is that about people like me? Are they going to do something. | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
I would like to be able to say to her at the end of this debate that | :34:13. | :34:15. | |
the Government has made a commitment to sort out homelessness. Late last | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
night, I checked my e-mails and found a message of from a | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
constituent I have been supporting overview issues over the last month | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
and he had come home to find a private landlord had changed the | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
locks, leaving he and his wife and two very young children, who were | :34:34. | :34:36. | |
running a fever, out on the street with nowhere to go. And a | :34:37. | :34:39. | |
constituent the other week was crying as she told me how hard it | :34:40. | :34:43. | |
was to be living in temporary accommodation. It is living out of | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
boxes and bags, she said. All I want is to make a | :34:49. | :34:59. | |
home for my kids but I can't while we are living out of boxes and bags. | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
These stories are devastating but absolutely typical of the | :35:05. | :35:05. | |
experiences of thousands of people who are not sleeping rough but who | :35:06. | :35:08. | |
nevertheless don't have the security of a permanent home. Families are | :35:09. | :35:12. | |
facing Christmas without the essential security and comfort of a | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
home and it is a disgrace. I am pleased to be supporting the | :35:18. | :35:20. | |
homelessness reduction Bill and working with colleagues on detail on | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
it. It responds directly to evidence we heard on the inquiry into | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
homelessness that the statutory framework governing support for | :35:30. | :35:31. | |
homeless people is not fit for purpose and is not working because | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
it allows too many people to go unsupported. But critical to the | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
success of this bill is the Government's commitment to resource | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
it and the level of resource. We are almost at the committee stage of the | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
bill and we still do not know how or at what level governments will | :35:49. | :35:52. | |
resource councils to implement duties and burdens the bill will | :35:53. | :35:54. | |
introduce and I hope the Minister will take the opportunity to confirm | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
this in summing up. The bill is a necessary reform and it is important | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
the Government recognises it only addresses one part of the problem. | :36:05. | :36:08. | |
Supply is fundamental but so is the nature of that supply. Evidence that | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
the select committee has heard on our inquiry into capacity of home | :36:13. | :36:20. | |
building shows problems in the public sector and the private sector | :36:21. | :36:23. | |
that is maxed out in terms of homes it will deliver. We just returned | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
from a visit to Berlin where we learned of the significant public | :36:29. | :36:32. | |
sector resources in terms of land, loans and direct public subsidy that | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
goes into delivering high levels of social housing at genuinely | :36:38. | :36:40. | |
affordable rates. We have only ever delivered the number of homes needed | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
to keep pace with demand in the UK, in the post-war period where the UK | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
sector was delivering many thousands of homes. I await the housing White | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
Paper with anticipation and hope to see in it of the policies we need to | :36:54. | :36:57. | |
make a huge shift in the rate of home building in this country. In | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
the meantime, we are left with a Private sector. I sat through weeks | :37:03. | :37:06. | |
of the damning piece of legislation last year that did nothing about | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
this single biggest cause of homelessness and while I support the | :37:11. | :37:13. | |
banning of letting agents fees to tenants, it is only one of the | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
issues urgently in need of reform. We need better security of tenure | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
and in London in particular, limit the number of rent increase that can | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
be charged during the terms of a tenancy. The Government must not be | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
complacent that support for the homelessness reduction Bill means | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
they can tick the box of having supported grid sold homelessness and | :37:37. | :37:41. | |
I have the Minister will give us the information on what the Government | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
is going to do to increase the building and change the private | :37:48. | :37:54. | |
sector. I give tribute to the organisations across this country | :37:55. | :37:56. | |
and in my constituency who will be supporting homelessness this | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
Christmas, whether through food banks are providing direct shelter | :38:02. | :38:05. | |
and food to those in need and to the many volunteers who helped to make | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
those operations over this period happen, because they are a reminder | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
that we are a compassionate nation. We find homelessness to be the | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
scandal that it is and it shocks and horrifies us across the country and | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
communities across this country want the Government to sort it. I | :38:22. | :38:29. | |
appreciate the opportunity to talk in this debate. I wanted to talk | :38:30. | :38:32. | |
about a couple of things. I wanted to talk about the issues facing | :38:33. | :38:36. | |
young people today, to begin with and I wanted to talk about complex | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
cases and the particular issues around the most complex cases in | :38:42. | :38:44. | |
relation to homelessness but first, I want to briefly mention, at PMQs a | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a charity in my constituency, it might | :38:52. | :38:57. | |
be in my college's constituency, but in my city, anyway,... Our city! I | :38:58. | :39:05. | |
mentioned them and asked the Prime Minister particularly about | :39:06. | :39:08. | |
austerity and the fact that austerity is increasing homelessness | :39:09. | :39:11. | |
and the Prime Minister's and has included the phrase "People should | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
live within their means", which I thought was unfortunate phrasing | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
because homelessness people -- homeless people don't have any means | :39:23. | :39:26. | |
to live within, so it was really unfortunate. Having heard the debate | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
today, it has been more considered and measured and hopefully less | :39:32. | :39:38. | |
political than that exchange felt at PMQs. In relation to young people, I | :39:39. | :39:42. | |
have heard young people today, as in people who are under 40, 35, as | :39:43. | :39:51. | |
being described as precarious, because they have precarious jobs. | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
We have the increase of this economy we have got going on, people don't | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
have jobs for the long-term they used to have, through zero hours | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
contracts. They don't have the level of security that previous | :40:06. | :40:12. | |
generations had. They don't have the security of housing. They have | :40:13. | :40:15. | |
precarious housing, they are living in incredibly expensive Private | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
rental sectors where there is not enough safeguards in place to ensure | :40:21. | :40:28. | |
security of tenure for them. I suppose many people come home and | :40:29. | :40:32. | |
find their locks changed because the private sector landlord feels this | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
is the way forward and a huge amount of private sector landlords are not | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
like that but in a far to make it a real problem. For young people | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
today, there is a really precarious situation and a real risk of | :40:46. | :40:48. | |
homelessness that I don't think we have possibly seen in recent | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
generations. There was a survey done in September that says that 40% of | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
families have less than ?100 in savings. A lot has been mentioned | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
about the fact that so many others are a step away from homelessness. | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
40% of families have less than ?100 in savings. People do not have that | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
extra cash their pockets to deal with an unexpected situation and | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
therefore homelessness is a bigger risk than it may be has been | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
previously. I also want to talk about complex cases. With austerity | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
and with benefit sanctions and with the changes to the benefit system, | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
those people who have got the most complex and chaotic lives are being | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
disadvantaged the most, because they are not figures, they are numbers | :41:40. | :41:40. | |
that the Government cannot easily that the Government cannot easily | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
get back to work. They are the numbers that a few weeks of job | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
centre intervention will not change. They need months or even years, some | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
people, of intervention, because some people have really complex | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
problems, mental health problems, homelessness problems, they have | :41:59. | :42:01. | |
maybe never been able to hold down a job. Those people require huge | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
amounts of intervention before they will able -- be able to get back to | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
being a taxpaying member of society, so it is quite easy for the | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
Government to say we will not put in that intensive support for those | :42:17. | :42:19. | |
people and for those people to fall between the cracks as a result and I | :42:20. | :42:21. | |
think that is one of the things this think that is one of the things this | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
Government has done worst in its time, to allow those most complex | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
There are a huge number of other There are a huge number of other | :42:32. | :42:34. | |
issues that can lead to homelessness. Domestic violence has | :42:35. | :42:41. | |
been talked about quite a lot. We have a debate on domestic violence | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
on Friday and that can lead to women and men fleeing, and in the main it | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
is women, and finding themselves in an insecure tenancy and a real | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
problem they are having to deal with, when they are having a huge | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
number of other problems as well. This is something that is sometimes | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
being left because it is too difficult to tackle, it is not an | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
easy statistic that the Government can easily get back into work and a | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
secure place. As someone elected to local authority in 2007, I am a | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
passionate advocate against right to buy. I saw the damage it caused | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
communities and the number of people who do not have a permanent roof | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
over their heads as a result and I think the Government has change | :43:27. | :43:27. | |
their plans. Thank you very much Madam Deputy | :43:28. | :43:39. | |
Speaker. We have had a well-informed debate and I appreciate the | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
contributions from both sides and respect both the Passion and | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
sincerity. But nothing that has been said has distracted from, let alone | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
contradicted, the three stark statistics in the motion that indict | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
this government's record on homelessness. The 44% increase in | :43:59. | :44:07. | |
statutory homelessness since 2010. The absolute duty to those most | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
vulnerable and in the most need. A doubling in street homelessness, the | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
most obvious and insistent evidence of our failure as a society to | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
provide all our citizens with basic necessities of life. And 120,000 | :44:23. | :44:31. | |
children homeless this Christmas. Madam Deputy Speaker, we have heard | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
17 backbench speeches in this short debate, which shows the degree of | :44:38. | :44:41. | |
interest in this subject. We have heard from the members from | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
Northampton South, Westminster North, Colchester, Birmingham, St | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
Ives, Lewisham, Deptford, Portsmouth South, Dewsbury, Solihull, Batley | :44:53. | :45:01. | |
and Spen, Inverclyde, Swansea East, Dulwich and Aberdeen North. From | :45:02. | :45:08. | |
every part of the British Isles. And, Madam Deputy Speaker, I must | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
apologise if I do not have the time to comment on each of those regions, | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
they have much to recommend them and I will not do it justice by | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
summarising themes. But I have to say what I heard from the number of | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
speeches on the government side, I exempt the member from Hari is for | :45:29. | :45:36. | |
this but real distress at the individual cases in surgeries and in | :45:37. | :45:40. | |
the street. But their real appreciation of the link between | :45:41. | :45:42. | |
that and their own government policy. There was acknowledgement of | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
the scale of the problem and how it has risen. What I heard from a | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
number of my right honourable friend is, I don't want to single anyone | :45:53. | :46:00. | |
out but let me single out members including Westminster North, | :46:01. | :46:03. | |
experience over the decades in areas of high housing stress, put the | :46:04. | :46:10. | |
blame where it lies. With local government cuts and the failure, | :46:11. | :46:15. | |
persistent failure to build social housing and relieve pressure. The | :46:16. | :46:22. | |
government amendment does them no credit. It is a nit-picking attempt | :46:23. | :46:30. | |
to sidestep the central causes of homelessness which this government | :46:31. | :46:32. | |
and coalition predecessor have caused. What is beyond dispute is | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
the measures the government relies on in its defence are not working. | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
If it were, we would not have seen a year-on-year worsening in the plight | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
of homeless persons. Nobody says that it would be easy to resolve | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
issues that are chronic and endemic across the UK but particularly in | :46:52. | :46:57. | |
London and areas of high demand and poor supply of affordable homes. The | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
minister could at least begin tackling the worst aspects of | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
homelessness by signing up today to the proposals to tackle rough | :47:07. | :47:09. | |
sleeping setup by my right honourable friend committee member | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
for Wentworth and turn to tackle street homelessness by the clearing | :47:16. | :47:24. | |
house scheme which governments have supported in the past. There is | :47:25. | :47:28. | |
nothing inevitable about homelessness. The record in the last | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
Labour government showed that, a two thirds drop in statutory | :47:34. | :47:37. | |
homelessness in the ten years to 2010, and a three quarters drop in | :47:38. | :47:44. | |
rough sleeping in the same period. Now, the Minister for Housing opened | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
the debate, trying to minimise our achievements and talking up his own. | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
I suppose that is his job... But independent audits say differently. | :47:56. | :48:01. | |
I hope he and the minister replying in a moment have read the Green book | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
published this month by Shelter to mark their 50th anniversary and that | :48:09. | :48:15. | |
of Cathy Come Home. At one point it says that the number of households | :48:16. | :48:19. | |
in temporary accommodation and those sleeping rough on a given night has | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
risen in the last five years and the number of households coming to the | :48:25. | :48:27. | |
council and being homeless and in priority need is over one quarter | :48:28. | :48:31. | |
higher than five years ago. The number of households accepted as | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
homeless began to rise in 2010. Even more striking is it followed a | :48:37. | :48:40. | |
period of six years when the Neville of homelessness -- level of | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
homelessness dropped sharply. The turn after 2009 is a striking trend. | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
I thank the honourable member for giving way. Would you agree that | :48:56. | :48:58. | |
developing contributions is an important way of attracting | :48:59. | :49:03. | |
additional funds for local authorities to tackle the problem of | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
homelessness? Would he share my disappointment that my local council | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
has foregone ?30 million in developer contributions for | :49:12. | :49:16. | |
student accommodation? Forgive me if I am not an expert in planning in | :49:17. | :49:24. | |
his own local authority. There are a number of means of funding. He is | :49:25. | :49:32. | |
right to identify that as being the root cause of a problem. But let me | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
first turn to the homelessness reduction Bill. We were considering | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
it in the committee this morning. And the government praised in its | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
amendment. But we had a number of members on the committee mentioned | :49:48. | :49:55. | |
this evening. It was billed as the brainchild of crisis, and is | :49:56. | :50:00. | |
supported by shelter, St Mungo's, and is consensus to opinion across | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
the housing sector. Those excellent organisations have, for decades, | :50:06. | :50:08. | |
been a front line against homelessness and I am proud to work | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
with them in my constituency. More importantly, for its chances of | :50:14. | :50:16. | |
making the statute book, the bill has the support of all parties and | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
of the government. And must be ably sponsored by the member. It is no | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
exaggeration to say that it makes a sea change in homelessness law, in | :50:29. | :50:36. | |
the emphasis on prevention and local authorities to assist non-priority | :50:37. | :50:40. | |
groups in particular single people in finding accommodation. In | :50:41. | :50:46. | |
promoting the bill, Crisis making a statement that they can no longer be | :50:47. | :50:50. | |
expected to pick up the pieces in the failure of much of the apparatus | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
designed to help the homeless. I welcome the bill for the signal that | :50:55. | :51:02. | |
it sends and for the detailed requirements on governments to | :51:03. | :51:10. | |
tackle this growing crisis. But... This has dominated our discussions | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
on the bill. Legislation alone will not solve the problem. Indeed, in | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
the first instance, it may make it worse. Let me give three reasons why | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
I say that. Firstly, the local authorities, especially those in | :51:28. | :51:30. | |
metropolitan areas, are struggling to deal with their responsibility to | :51:31. | :51:38. | |
those in priority need. Those members who have seen the Mayor of | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
London's briefing, let me welcome his personal commitment to tackling | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
London's housing crisis, will have seen the number of households in bed | :51:47. | :51:53. | |
and breakfast in London rose by 234%, since 2010. 157% elsewhere. I | :51:54. | :52:02. | |
know the telling statistic for London members, in particular, | :52:03. | :52:10. | |
whereas in 2010, 13% of families were placed outside of the local | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
authority area. That is almost triple to 35%. Every one of those | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
families is a tragic story of people displaced from their communities, | :52:24. | :52:27. | |
schools, and from jobs often, and from family support. One of the | :52:28. | :52:37. | |
consequences, if we are not very careful of putting additional | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
burdens on local authorities for non-priority homeless, when they | :52:41. | :52:43. | |
cannot at the moment cope with priority homeless, is that the | :52:44. | :52:49. | |
latter will suffer. Secondly, there is the general pressure on local | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
authority budgets. Where they have faced cuts of 40-50%. By far and | :52:54. | :53:00. | |
away, the largest of any in the public sector. These pressures | :53:01. | :53:03. | |
extend everywhere, and we will hear tomorrow quite a lot about this and | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
social care, I imagine. But because of those pressures across the board, | :53:09. | :53:15. | |
it is absolutely vital that measures in the homelessness reduction Bill | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
are fully funded. I have heard what the government has said about that. | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
And we are still waiting and the Minister on the bill committee has | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
promised that we will have details of funding before the committee | :53:29. | :53:35. | |
reports to the house. But it is important that the pledge is | :53:36. | :53:41. | |
honoured. Not just on paper, but that we clearly see that this will | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
be full funded, otherwise it is simply not going to work, and local | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
authorities will again carry the can for central governments mistakes. | :53:53. | :53:57. | |
But the third most important issue, Madam Deputy Speaker, has the effect | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
of this government's general policies on housing and the | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
homelessness situation. Firstly, it relates to Housing Finance, benefit | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
cuts, which have been further reduced, and is having an | :54:13. | :54:15. | |
attritional effect on my authority and many others. The freeze on local | :54:16. | :54:22. | |
housing allowances, the bedroom tax, the 45% cuts in supporting people | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
budgets in the last Parliament, these are unprecedented cuts and the | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
net effect is to destabilise those who are most honourable and at risk | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
of homelessness. Secondly, there is the private rented sector -- those | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
who are the most vulnerable. Rent increases and the ability for | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
private landlords to get higher rents to make more profit means that | :54:50. | :54:59. | |
evictions are at a high point, and 40% in London, 30% nationally of all | :55:00. | :55:10. | |
of those in the no-fault eviction process, I forget who it was who | :55:11. | :55:13. | |
said that the consequence of that was that we needed this bill to put | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
more responsibility on local authorities. I would say, what about | :55:20. | :55:23. | |
the response of the government legislating for longer tenancies | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
and, as we would do for rent control in the sense of rent rising in the | :55:28. | :55:32. | |
period of those tenancies. That would have a better effect in terms | :55:33. | :55:41. | |
of preventing that. I have about two minutes left. Housing supply is a | :55:42. | :55:50. | |
key issue here. We have the lowest social housing bill on record. We | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
still have the prospect of a sale of high-value council homes. We have | :55:56. | :56:00. | |
the reduction in rent, which is preventing councils from building | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
new social homes. We have 140,000 fewer council homes than 2010. | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
Unless the problem can be tackled, we will never tackle the problems of | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
homelessness. Madam Deputy Speaker. That is the story of the | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
homelessness reduction Bill. But it is also the story of this | :56:21. | :56:25. | |
government. And its attitude, not just towards homelessness but the | :56:26. | :56:29. | |
housing crisis in general. They talk about solutions but their policies | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
are making matters worse. We are promised cash to implement the bill | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
and promised wide initiatives in the delayed white Paper. Time is running | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
out for this government act, empty words and empty bills will not stop | :56:47. | :56:50. | |
children from being homeless at Christmas or vulnerable sleeping on | :56:51. | :56:55. | |
the streets. Tomorrow, the new figures for statutory homelessness | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
are published and are unlikely to bring any comfort to the homeless or | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
the government. This is a crisis which the government has neglected, | :57:06. | :57:09. | |
and even aggravated, by the range of policies that they have pursued. If | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
they are sincere about tackling the problems of homelessness, words no | :57:15. | :57:22. | |
longer suffice. Only action world. -- only action world. I would like | :57:23. | :57:28. | |
to start by thanking the opposition for bringing this important debate | :57:29. | :57:35. | |
to the house. It is an important opportunity for members across the | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
house to discuss a critical issue. And also gives me the opportunity to | :57:41. | :57:45. | |
outline what actions this government is taking on this important | :57:46. | :57:50. | |
challenge. I would like to say, Madam Deputy Speaker, that this has | :57:51. | :57:55. | |
been a good debate. The time that I have does not give me time ready to | :57:56. | :57:59. | |
do justice to all of the contributions that have been made. | :58:00. | :58:03. | |
On the whole, which were absolutely excellent. But I will endeavour to | :58:04. | :58:09. | |
respond to as many of the points as I can within the time that I have. | :58:10. | :58:16. | |
As my honourable friend, the Minister for Housing has already | :58:17. | :58:19. | |
stated, at the outset of this debate that the government is absolutely | :58:20. | :58:25. | |
committed to tackling homelessness. I want to reiterate that to the | :58:26. | :58:30. | |
house, that it is a priority for me and for this government. No one | :58:31. | :58:35. | |
should find themselves without a roof over their heads. As my | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
honourable friend, the Housing minister, outlined earlier, we are | :58:43. | :58:44. | |
supporting the largest house-building programme of any | :58:45. | :58:49. | |
government since the 1980s. But, as many honourable members have | :58:50. | :58:52. | |
mentioned during this debate, homelessness is not just a housing | :58:53. | :58:59. | |
issue. Tackling it requires a collective response at both a | :59:00. | :59:02. | |
national and local level, and unrelenting focus on prevention. | :59:03. | :59:07. | |
There are many good examples of early intervention around the | :59:08. | :59:10. | |
country. We want to drive good practice to help all areas learn | :59:11. | :59:16. | |
from the experiences and take on the good practice of the councils that | :59:17. | :59:20. | |
are doing things in the right way. To kick-start this, we have launched | :59:21. | :59:26. | |
a ?50 million prevention programme which takes an end to end approach | :59:27. | :59:29. | |
to preventing more people from becoming homeless and helping people | :59:30. | :59:33. | |
to get their lives back on track, when they have fallen through the | :59:34. | :59:35. | |
safety net that is provided. Our programmes will mean innovation | :59:36. | :59:44. | |
and collaboration to prevent homelessness. The grand for a | :59:45. | :59:49. | |
trailblazer areas will help areas to go further and faster with reform -- | :59:50. | :59:55. | |
the ground. It will lay the groundwork for many of the changes | :59:56. | :59:59. | |
we want to see through the homelessness this reduction bill. | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
They will adopt best practice and drive to identify people at risk of | :00:10. | :00:14. | |
homelessness and provide early support to prevent a crisis. | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
Newcastle and Greater Manchester are early adopters and will take forward | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
a range of initiatives. It will involve collaboration between a wide | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
range of services to identify people at risk of homelessness, helping | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
them well before they are threatened with eviction. They will also test | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
new innovative approaches to test homelessness to help us build our | :00:38. | :00:42. | |
evidence base of what we know already works. The 20,000 rough | :00:43. | :00:50. | |
sleeping in Grantham which forms part of this process will enable | :00:51. | :00:55. | |
people to intervene before their problems become too great and build | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
a multi-agency partnership to address underlying problems. | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
Building on the success of the London rough sleeping social impact | :01:05. | :01:10. | |
bond, the new Bond will allow partnerships to work with some of | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
the most entrenched rough sleepers, focused on getting them into | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
accommodation and using personalised support to address their complex | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
needs. I will give way. I thank my honourable friend and also for his | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
kind remarks about me, but does he not agree that one of the issues for | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
both rough sleepers and people threatened with homelessness is the | :01:34. | :01:42. | |
complexity of the reasons. It is not simply that private sector rental | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
comes to an end. It can be relationship an ex-offender, someone | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
leaving the armed forces. All of these issues need personalised plans | :01:53. | :01:56. | |
to assist those to get into a decent accommodation. My honourable friend | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
is right. Sometimes it is easy for us to look at the challenges around | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
homelessness and rough sleeping in a simple passion but most informed | :02:09. | :02:12. | |
members in this has no it is far more complex than that and I welcome | :02:13. | :02:15. | |
the provisions in his bill with regard to having a personal plan | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
that local authorities must go through with individuals, but people | :02:21. | :02:28. | |
who are homeless and are owed a duty by local authority to be housed, but | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
also people that are not owed a duty to be housed and for the first time, | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
they will get bespoke support that hitherto they have not had and I | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
thank my honourable friend for raising that and I think he is right | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
to point out that we must deal with this challenge at a local level but | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
I am committed to making sure we are working effectively across | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
Government and I am driving action to a ministerial working group on | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
homelessness and it is just one example I can give to the House, | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
with regards to mental health, where we are looking at what more can be | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
done for rough sleepers with mental health problems getting the | :03:14. | :03:15. | |
specialist support they need and the group is looking at how we can | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
ensure that people at risk of homelessness or who are homeless are | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
getting the support they need to get into work. I would just like to pick | :03:24. | :03:31. | |
up on a number of the comments that were made by honourable members in | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
the debate and first of all, it was great to hear from my honourable | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
friend for Portsmouth South. I think she extolled the virtues of the way | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
in which Portsmouth Council are trying to tackle homelessness and | :03:46. | :03:50. | |
particularly around prevention and the work they are doing up front to | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
try and stop people becoming homeless in the first place and it | :03:55. | :03:58. | |
was very good to hear that the council are also working very | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
closely with local charities and other partners and that is something | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
we certainly want to see in the proposals that people at local areas | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
have brought forward to us in relation to the grant funding | :04:13. | :04:17. | |
programmes that we are providing. The honourable lady for Dewsbury | :04:18. | :04:23. | |
raised a number of important points. She mentioned the rough sleeping | :04:24. | :04:27. | |
statistics and what I can say to the honourable lady is those statistics | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
now are far more accurate than they were in 2010. In 2010, local | :04:31. | :04:37. | |
authorities were not obliged to provide a return to central | :04:38. | :04:42. | |
Government in relation to how many rough sleepers were apparent in | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
their particular local authority area. They are now compelled to do | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
that and the data, therefore, is far more accurate. I would say, though, | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
that we are also looking at how we can improve on the data that the | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
Department holes in this regard and we are looking at how we can improve | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
data in terms of trying to work out where people become homeless on | :05:10. | :05:11. | |
multiple occasions and how we can try and work to stop that happening | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
again to that individual. I welcome what the honourable lady said in | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
relation to Boots and the work they are doing around sanitary products | :05:22. | :05:28. | |
for women who unfortunately find themselves in the situation where | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
they are sleeping rough. I know this is an issue that the honourable lady | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
has a particular interest in. What I can say to the honourable lady is | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
there is a number of programmes that are centrally funded from the | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
Department for communities and low of and for organisations, outreach | :05:46. | :05:53. | |
organisations, for rough sleepers and in that sense, we do provide | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
funding for those organisations and they do in turn provide the type of | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
resort she quite correctly recognises is needed -- the type of | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
support. A question raised by the honourable member for Harrow East, | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
the hidden homelessness, the sofa surfing, the Minister just said the | :06:16. | :06:18. | |
figures are getting more accurate on rough sleepers and I welcome that. | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
What is the Government doing to collect more accurate data on hidden | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
homelessness with the sofa surfers who are at particular risk of | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
becoming rough sleepers? I can say to the honourable gentleman, | :06:35. | :06:37. | |
although it is obviously a much more difficult thing to measure, in | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
regards to the homelessness reduction Bill the Government is | :06:43. | :06:45. | |
backing, I am absolutely sure, and we factor this into our sums, that | :06:46. | :06:53. | |
there will be a significantly higher number of single people who are | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
homeless, the people he identifies that will actually present at a | :06:57. | :07:02. | |
local authority because they will expect to receive far better advice | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
and support that they -- than they do now and they will have a personal | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
plan that will hopefully allow a situation where homelessness will be | :07:12. | :07:15. | |
alleviated, so I think we ate at the rate will be able to measure it in a | :07:16. | :07:21. | |
better way. Whether we can go as far as identifying all those people I | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
think will be difficult. Just turning to my honourable friend for | :07:26. | :07:29. | |
Harrow East again, I think it was right to identify the challenges, | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
particularly in London, and writes to identify the record amount of | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
funding of ?3.15 billion that the Government is providing to the mayor | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
of London to build 90,000 new homes across a range of ten years to suit | :07:44. | :07:50. | |
the needs -- needs of Londoners and it is good to see that in the spirit | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
of cooperation, the Mayor of London has actually welcomed that record | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
funding. My honourable friend for Harrow East also hit the nail on the | :08:00. | :08:05. | |
head when he said that just having a place for a rough sleeper to stay is | :08:06. | :08:15. | |
not enough and we risk is this -- we discussed this and the underlying | :08:16. | :08:17. | |
challenges and we have to tackle them in the work we do. Across | :08:18. | :08:23. | |
Government working group I lead is certainly looking at that. My | :08:24. | :08:33. | |
honourable friend for Northampton South made an excellent | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
contribution, highlighting his knowledge of the subject as chairman | :08:37. | :08:44. | |
of the forum for ending homelessness and highlighted the tragic | :08:45. | :08:47. | |
consequences that can happen where rough sleepers are not supported | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
sufficiently, I would be keen to hear from the | :08:52. | :09:38. | |
honourable lady if she could set out more detail in terms of the types of | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
issues that are being experienced. I can say, as somebody who was quite | :09:44. | :09:50. | |
heavily involved in the 2016 housing and planning application that there | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
are significant penalties for landlords and local authorities are | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
in a position where they can levy significant financial penalties | :10:03. | :10:05. | |
against rogue landlords of up to ?30,000, if they do not provide | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
adequate housing for the people that they rent properties to. My | :10:11. | :10:17. | |
honourable friend is for Colchester made excellent contributions. | :10:18. | :10:28. | |
Underlining the causes of lost sleeping. My honourable friend for | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
some titles right to highlight the charities and volunteers. My | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
honourable friend for Colchester did the same. Volunteers and charities | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
who do tremendous work up and down the country and on behalf of the | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
government, I would like to thank those volunteers and those | :10:48. | :10:52. | |
charitable workers for doing such an excellent job on behalf of a group | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
of very vulnerable people. The honourable lady for Lewisham and | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
depth that mentioned funding for the bill that my honourable friend for | :11:01. | :11:04. | |
Harrow East is bringing to the house. I can assure the honourable | :11:05. | :11:11. | |
lady, although I see that she is now on the front bench, that the | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
government's intention is to fund the bill, and we recognise that | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
there will be new burdens created as the bill comes Fulwood and the new | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
obligations of counters come forward and we will fund it -- comes | :11:27. | :11:32. | |
forward. I will say that we fully expect that the bill will also | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
create a situation where councils are dealing with homelessness far | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
more quickly and therefore it will become far cheaper for local | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
authorities to actually deal and support people, because they will | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
not be dealing with the housing crisis as often as they currently | :11:52. | :11:58. | |
do. If I can just mentioned... Yes, I will mention the honourable lady's | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
point in terms of temporary accommodation and I can assure her | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
that it must be suitable and if it is not, the constituent that you | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
mentioned has the right to review and can go back to the local | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
authority in this sense. This has been an excellent debate on an | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
extremely important issue. Our ambitions and that we have are | :12:28. | :12:31. | |
backed by a new funding programme, and the most ambitious legislative | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
reform in decades. This government is taking and end -- and end to end | :12:37. | :12:49. | |
approach to tackling homelessness. I hear the opposition Chief Whip | :12:50. | :12:52. | |
asking if he made put the question but I think he was just pipped to | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
the post by the Minister concluding and sitting down. I bid to move | :12:59. | :13:10. | |
that... No, the Minister had adequately discharged his duty | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
perfectly to start his duty, so there is no necessity for the | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
question... I shall put the question. The question is, that the | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
original words stand part of the question, as many of that opinion | :13:27. | :13:33. | |
say ayes. On the contrary, no. Clear the lobby. | :13:34. | :15:14. | |
Order. The question is, that the original words stand part of the | :15:15. | :15:39. | |
question. Those of the opinions say ayes stop on the contrary, no. | :15:40. | :15:48. | |
Jackie Doyle Price and Chris Heaton Harris. | :15:49. | :16:23. | |
Order! The ice to the right, 230, the nose to the left, 289. | :16:24. | :26:59. | |
The ayes to the right, 230, the noes to the left, 289. | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
The question is that the proposed words be added, as many of that | :27:06. | :27:19. | |
opinion, say aye. The ayes habit. It will be agreed to. Order. -- the | :27:20. | :27:30. | |
ayes habit. We must take the motion referring to divisions, the question | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
that the motion relating to third divisions, as many of that opinion | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
is a aye. The contrary, no. The ayes habit. | :27:40. | :27:51. | |
The ayes habit. Motion for on the prevention and suppression of | :27:52. | :27:58. | |
terrorism, the Minister to move... Minister Wallace? | :27:59. | :28:04. | |
I beg to move that the Terrorism Act 2,000 prescribed organisation | :28:05. | :28:12. | |
amendment number three, order 2016 that was laid before this House on | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
the 12th of September be approved. The threat level in the UK said by | :28:17. | :28:19. | |
the independent choice terrorism analysis Centre remains at that next | :28:20. | :28:24. | |
macro severe. This means that a terrorist attack in this country is | :28:25. | :28:29. | |
highly likely and could occur without warning. We can never | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
entirely rid the threat of terrorism but we can do all we can to minimise | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
the threat and keep the public safe. The nature of terrorism is | :28:38. | :28:43. | |
constantly evolving. There are organisations that recruit, | :28:44. | :28:45. | |
radicalise and encourage terrorism, as well as those that commit | :28:46. | :28:48. | |
terrible acts of violence against innocent people. Prescription is an | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
important part of the Government's strategy to disrupt the full range | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
of terrorist activities. We now propose to add to the list the group | :28:58. | :29:07. | |
National Action. This Is The 21st Order Under Section Three, Part 38, | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
Of That Act. Honourable Members Will Be Aware That This Is The First Time | :29:12. | :29:16. | |
We Have Made A Prescription Order For A Far Right Group. This | :29:17. | :29:22. | |
Government Is Committed To Fighting Terrorism, Regardless Of What | :29:23. | :29:27. | |
Motivated. National Action's Values Stand In Stark Contrast To The Core | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
Values Of The United Kingdom. Can I Join Him In Welcoming The Decision | :29:33. | :29:39. | |
To Abandon This Particular Group. Can He Tell The House, Have There | :29:40. | :29:43. | |
Been Any Defect Prescriptions Since The Last Time The House Passed An | :29:44. | :29:47. | |
Order Prescribing The Organisation In July Of This Year. There Have | :29:48. | :29:57. | |
Been Two Groups Resubscribe, The People's Mujahideen Of Iran, Or The | :29:58. | :30:02. | |
Emenike, And The Other That Sought To Make Representation And As A | :30:03. | :30:06. | |
Result Of That, That Was Further Decent Scribed. Despite Their Name, | :30:07. | :30:17. | |
National Action Seeks To Divide Communities And Stir Up Hatred, And | :30:18. | :30:24. | |
Prescribing This Neo-nazi Group Will Prevent It Growing, Spreading | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
Propaganda And Allowing Hatred And Division To Thrive. It Would Also | :30:31. | :30:43. | |
Help Prevent National Action From Reaching People... Does He, Like | :30:44. | :30:47. | |
High, Shared The View that this group in particular should revile us | :30:48. | :30:52. | |
all because they stood on the steps of St George's Hall in Liverpool and | :30:53. | :30:57. | |
their demonstrations, which filled their demonstrations, which filled | :30:58. | :30:59. | |
the whole of Liverpool with hate and discuss -- Nazi salutes. I think | :31:00. | :31:07. | |
anyone that seeks to glorify the Nazis is a threat to this country | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
and our values. Members of this has died fighting Nazis to keep this | :31:12. | :31:19. | |
country and Europe free -- this House. Twisted is, to say the least, | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
a description I would apply to people that think somehow this | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
country would like to follow a Nazi course of action. Under section | :31:30. | :31:32. | |
three of the Terrorism Act, the Home Secretary has the power to proscribe | :31:33. | :31:42. | |
an organisation if it is believed they are currently involved in | :31:43. | :31:47. | |
terrorism. It takes into account a number of factors. These include the | :31:48. | :31:53. | |
nature and scale of an organisation's activities and the | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
need is a other members of the international community in tackling | :31:57. | :32:01. | |
terrorism. The effect of proscribing an organisation means it is outlawed | :32:02. | :32:05. | |
and is unable to operate in the United Kingdom. It is a criminal | :32:06. | :32:08. | |
offence for someone to belong to, support or arrange a meeting in | :32:09. | :32:16. | |
support of a proscribed organisation or wearing clothes in public that | :32:17. | :32:24. | |
show a member is -- someone is a member of the proscribed | :32:25. | :32:26. | |
organisation. It makes it possible to seize cash to support the | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
organisation. The Home Secretary only organises -- exercises her | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
power to proscribe after thoroughly reviewing the evidence on an | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
organisation, including open source material, intelligence material and | :32:42. | :32:45. | |
advice that reflects consultation across Government, including with | :32:46. | :32:47. | |
the intelligence and law enforcement agencies. The cross Government group | :32:48. | :32:52. | |
supports the Home Secretary in her decision making this process. The | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
decision to proscribe is only taken after great care and consideration | :32:58. | :33:01. | |
of the particular case and it is appropriate that it should be taken | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
by both houses. The Home Secretary believes National Action is | :33:07. | :33:17. | |
currently involved in terrorism and proscribing is correct. The Home | :33:18. | :33:21. | |
Secretary told us the other week that she was concerned about the | :33:22. | :33:25. | |
increasingly sophisticated weapons -- methods they were using on the | :33:26. | :33:39. | |
Internet to recruit. Could he tell us how this organisation will be | :33:40. | :33:42. | |
held to account and how any material online will be removed? I have to be | :33:43. | :33:51. | |
careful that what we do not is undermine the capable effectiveness | :33:52. | :33:54. | |
of the law and order agencies that make academics may take action, but | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
it is certainly the case that when an organisation is prescribed, it | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
will allow us to take the full force to bear on the organisation and | :34:06. | :34:08. | |
individuals within and I would expect measures for use of the | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
Internet, a sort of grooming type method, is restricted or hopefully | :34:13. | :34:16. | |
completely closed and other such measures, but I will leave that up | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
to the security services and the police to get the best effect, and I | :34:21. | :34:25. | |
think I would be wrong to speculate further about what they may or may | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
not do. Although as I said, I can't comment on the specific intelligence | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
that lies behind this, I can provide the House with a summary of the | :34:36. | :34:38. | |
group's activities. National Action is a Nazi group that was established | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
in 2013 with a number of branches across the UK, which uses Street | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
rallies to intimidate. It is particularly aimed at recruiting | :34:53. | :34:55. | |
young people. Their ideology prevents the idea that Britain will | :34:56. | :34:58. | |
inevitably see a violent race war, which the group claims to be an | :34:59. | :35:04. | |
active part. The group rejects democracy, is hostile to the British | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
state and seeks to divide society by implicitly endorsing violence | :35:10. | :35:12. | |
against ethnic minorities and perceived race traitors. National | :35:13. | :35:16. | |
Action has links to other extreme right-wing groups abroad, including | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
in Europe. In May 2016, National Action members attended the book and | :35:21. | :35:26. | |
valve concentration camp, where they carried out Nazi salutes and posted | :35:27. | :35:34. | |
images online -- butchered wall. If alongside this, prevention work will | :35:35. | :35:37. | |
continue to monitor with extremist groups have crossed into terrorism. | :35:38. | :35:41. | |
Honourable members, this is a relatively small group that has only | :35:42. | :35:44. | |
been in operation in the UK for a few years but the impact its | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
activities -- of its activities have been felt in a number of | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
communities. In the evidence that was presented to him by the | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
agencies, or to the Home Secretary, by the agencies before the decision | :36:00. | :36:03. | |
was made to prescribe this group, was there any evidence of any links | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
with any other organisations in different parts of Europe? Because | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
what we have seen is that far right groups tend to not just operate in | :36:12. | :36:19. | |
one country, but in other countries. I can't expand on the intelligence | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
behind this particular decision, but I can in agree with him that what we | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
do see as far right groups having a European network and being active | :36:30. | :36:32. | |
here and abroad, and there are far right groups from abroad that are | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
active here in the United Kingdom as well. Would he tell the House, are | :36:37. | :36:44. | |
there any other groups similar to this particularly unpleasant group, | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
that come his to the same sort of decision being made by the | :36:49. | :36:54. | |
Government -- that are currently under? There are other groups | :36:55. | :36:57. | |
obviously out there that are promoting hate and we keep under | :36:58. | :37:04. | |
review where that one does get close to terrorism and I would come | :37:05. | :37:07. | |
straight back to this House should we gather the intelligent or | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
evidence to do so. There are, as I have said, other European far right | :37:14. | :37:16. | |
groups active in the United Kingdom, either at other people's rallies or | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
having a presence amongst their ethnic grouping here. The Polish far | :37:23. | :37:26. | |
right, for example, would be active in the UK or have a branch. Since | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
early 2016, the group had become more active and its activities of | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
propaganda material has crossed the threshold from extremism into | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
terrorism. National Action's online material, disseminated by social | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
media, frequently features violent imagery and language and condones | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
and glorifies those that have used extreme violence for political or | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
ideological ends. This includes two tweets posted by the group in 2016 | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
in connection with the murder of our friend Jo Cox, which the prosecutor | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
described as a terrorist act. One stated "Only 649 MPs to go" and | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
another had the photo Thomas Mair with the caption "Don't let this | :38:10. | :38:15. | |
man's sacrifice go in vain. Jo Cox would have filled Yorkshire with | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
more sub humans." It also showed an image that had been doctored to | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
celebrate the terrorist attack in the nightclub in Orlando and a | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
police officer's throat being slit. There are people who may have been | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
aware of these messages who could infer that these acts should be | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
emulated and such propaganda amounts to unlawful glorification of | :38:39. | :38:41. | |
terrorism. The Orlando massacre was a truss -- an atrocity in which 49 | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
people lost their lives. Jo Cox was a tragedy, familiar to us all closer | :38:47. | :38:49. | |
at home. Both are examples of attacks committed for the purpose of | :38:50. | :38:56. | |
advancing a racial or ideological cause and terrorist talks back -- | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
attacks. If we allow this to be in courage, we lived with a risk they | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
may be repeated. Our plan to combat Turrell is looks at the spectrum, | :39:08. | :39:10. | |
including groups who glorify terrorist acts and stir up hatred | :39:11. | :39:17. | |
and violence. I believe it is right that we add National Action to the | :39:18. | :39:21. | |
list of proscribed organisations are subject to the agreement of this | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
House and the Other Place, the order will come into force on Friday the | :39:27. | :39:32. | |
16th of December. The question is as on the order paper. We on this side | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
of the House welcome this order proscribing the Neo-Nazi group | :39:39. | :39:40. | |
National Action and we give it our full support. We have heard about | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
from the Minister and both sides of the has some of the appalling | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
actions and propaganda, whether it is Nazi salutes in Liverpool or | :39:50. | :39:56. | |
online communications glorifying the killing of our late colleague Jo | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
Cox. Terrorism has become the scourge of society and we cannot | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
give an inch to the plague of our time and I believe this swift action | :40:07. | :40:11. | |
in proscribing this far right group will provide some reassurance to all | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
parts of the community in what are increasingly difficult and unstable | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
times. This week, I visited Metropolitan Police counterterrorism | :40:23. | :40:24. | |
unit and saw first-hand the difficult work they do to detect | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
terror threats. It was clear that in an increasingly digital age, | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
ideology has become more extreme and more pervasive and is the key | :40:33. | :40:40. | |
recruitment tool for terrorism. We can only imagine the effect it can | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
have on some impressionable young people to sit in their bedrooms and | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
see the sort of online propaganda put out by groups like this. That is | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
why proscription is so important. Because of the advances in | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
technology and changes in media, specifically social media, terrorist | :41:03. | :41:05. | |
ideology has become a cancer. We need to remain vigilant, faster and | :41:06. | :41:09. | |
smarter and swifter to deal with that threat, so it is completely | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
right that we take this action. As we look forward to 2017, the major | :41:15. | :41:25. | |
threats that we face are astrometric, so couple of young men | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
in their bedroom can wreak terror in their community. There are | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
international threats and they are deadly. They are so rapidly changing | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
that we could not in this House have foreseen them a decade ago. This far | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
right group is a genuine threat to our domestic security and this | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
Parliament's legislation must reflect the urgency and the | :41:52. | :41:59. | |
complexity of the situation. We in the West and the support this | :42:00. | :42:07. | |
organisation being added to the proscribed list -- in the SNP. I | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
struggle to say the name in this House and glorifies them, I will | :42:12. | :42:17. | |
refer to them as an A. Issues of national security risk is of course | :42:18. | :42:21. | |
reserved to this place but there has been close cooperation with the | :42:22. | :42:24. | |
Scottish Government and there will continue to be that. It is is our | :42:25. | :42:27. | |
desire in Scotland as one as the rest of the UK to do everything | :42:28. | :42:30. | |
possible to meet the threat of terrorism going forward. It would be | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
purely on the basis of the tweets about our much loved, departed and | :42:36. | :42:44. | |
deceased colleague Jo Cox that frankly disgusted anybody with a | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
sense of reasonable objectivity. And of course, the appalling words they | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
put out about the terrible attack in Orlando. So we have no hesitation in | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
backing the Government's calls to have this organisation added to the | :43:00. | :43:04. | |
proscribed list. Of course, all additions to the proscribed list | :43:05. | :43:08. | |
must be necessary and they must be proportionate and we must always | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
have those two criteria qualifications in mind and we | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
believe in this case, that is certainly evident and abundantly | :43:15. | :43:20. | |
clear. We came to this House a couple of months ago, Mr Deputy | :43:21. | :43:25. | |
Speaker, to add another four or five organisations to the proscribed list | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
and that was successfully done with our support. At that particular | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
hearing, the Right Honourable member from Lee, who is not in this place | :43:34. | :43:40. | |
today, and myself made a call on the Minister for -- the Member for South | :43:41. | :43:47. | |
Hall to contact the BBC and see if they could desist from using the | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
phrase is so-called Islamic State and Islamic State when they refer to | :43:52. | :43:54. | |
the organisation the Government rightly calls diet. The minister | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
gave clear commitments to contact the BBC and make those | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
representations, bust I admit it in my occasional watching BBC news, I | :44:05. | :44:08. | |
have noticed the phrase continue to be used and perhaps more so than it | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
has ever been done. So I would respectfully ask the Minister, who I | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
had a great amount of respect for, if he could take that suggestion | :44:17. | :44:18. | |
away and contact the previous incumbent and see what he could do | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
about contacting the BBC so they stop using this awful phrase, which | :44:24. | :44:28. | |
gives legitimacy to an organisation which is neither Islamic State or | :44:29. | :44:35. | |
estate. -- nor a state. I along with others in the has completely support | :44:36. | :44:42. | |
this proscription of this organisation. I think the Minister | :44:43. | :44:53. | |
has gone a long way to reassure the House that the information he has is | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
more than sufficient to take the action that he is proposing today. | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
National Action would be the first extreme right-wing organisation to | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
be banned, which is a very welcome step. We certainly need to be very | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
strong in dealing with right-wing extremism. | :45:13. | :45:16. |