04/12/2017 House of Commons

day in both houses of parliament.

First, questions to the Communities

Secretary Sajid Javid and his

ministerial team.

Mrs Emma

Lewell-Buck. The secretary of state

for local government, Sajid Javid.

Thank you Mr Speaker. With

permission, I would like to answer

this question with questions two and

ten. Too many people sleep rough,

and I am determined to do more. I am

going to tackle this issue.

I thank

the Secretary of State for his

answer, even though he didn't answer

my question, because the reality is

that, since 2010, rough sleeping has

seen a rise of 134%. Worse still,

this government has encouraged local

authorities to use public space

protection orders to criminalise and

find rough sleepers when they accept

food or money from kind strangers,

when on earth is he going to curb

this?

Mr Speaker, the Honourable

lady is talking about trends. Let me

remind her, studied Aurier homeless

accidents is reached their peak in

2003 under the previous Labour

government, and since then, is down

by more than half. Of course, there

is much more to do. The honourable

lady is right to highlight the

issue, which is why I am sure she

will welcome the government's work

including £1 billion of funding over

the spending period.

According to

Shell -- Shelter the biggest cost

being the termination of private

rental agreements. Could the

Minister tell us what he is doing to

make tenancies at your? -- secure.

The honourable lady is right to

emphasise this issue. It is an issue

that both sides have worked hard on.

She would welcome the funding

provided, including the announcement

that we are helping all

constituencies on more funding to

tackle homelessness, and the

ministerial task force, making an

effort across government.

Many young homeless people feared

being trapped in local authority

temporary accommodation when they

lose their housing benefit under

Universal Credit. Given the

regulation that roll-out has been

delayed, will he agree to pass on

the concerns of curbing the's

Council?

I hope the honourable lady will join

me welcoming Universal Credit. And

where there have been issues, my

right honourable friend, the welfare

secretary, has listened carefully,

he responded through the recent

budget, including with changes that

will help people that are getting

housing benefit, including the new

transition to Universal Credit,

housing benefit that will help 2.3

million people.

The recent National Audit Office

report on this issue show that while

councils have increased spending on

tackling homelessness, they would

use spending on preventing it in the

first place. These priorities seem

to make no sense. Can I urge the

Secretary of State to make sure all

councils reverse the trend to tackle

the causes, not just the symptoms.

My honourable friend speaks from

experience, having been a housing

and planning Minister. He knows the

issues well. He is right to

highlight this. It was important the

whole house supported the

Homelessness Reduction Act, coming

into force April next year, and with

that, there will be funding of 70

million to local authorities.

One person remains sleeping and that

is a tragedy. There are complex

reasons, physical health, drink and

drug abuse, those are the

complications. To make it a party

political issue diminishes the

interests of those people.

My honourable friend is right. This

is one of those issues that we can

safely say, every member of the

House is concerned about it, and if

we work together, we can achieve

more. £28 million for the housing,

announced by the Chancellor, helping

people to deal with complex needs he

talks about.

I congratulate my right honourable

friend in securing additional

funding for homelessness in the

budget. What is he going to do to

roll out a programme to combat rough

sleeping right across the country,

to end the national scandal once and

for all.

Mr Speaker, let me take this

opportunity to commend my honourable

friend for all the work he has done

to combat homelessness in this House

and beyond, including the

Homelessness Reduction Act, which he

championed. But he is right to

highlight the new funding, £28

million for the free housing fund

project. £320 million to help

prevent people getting into

homelessness in the first place, and

we will look carefully and talk

widely about how best to make use of

the money.

£1 million is about to be cut from

Stoke-on-Trent City Council budget

that won the authority, pushing the

support for homeless people onto

excellent organisations like the

YMCA, if the organisations cannot

get support from the local

authority, what help will the

Minister give to make sure they get

the resources they need?

The honourable gentleman is right to

ask what can central government do

to help?

We are providing resources

nationally, £1 billion of funding to

2020, the highest budget ever

dedicated to combating homelessness.

I also want to mention the work of

the YMCA. YMCA Black Country and

Rachael Taylor in my constituency

run an open door programme that

places young people in family homes,

so they can continue to enjoy a

family live. Will the Minister join

me in visiting this work in my

constituency?

Can I take this opportunity to thank

my honourable friend for the work he

did long before he came into the

House, work he continues to

champion. I will happily join him in

his constituency, I hear the work

YMCA has done throughout the

country, including in his

constituency, has been exemplary.

Over 120,000 children are said to be

living without a home in temperate

accommodation this Christmas. An

increase of six to 6% since 2010.

Why has the number risen under the

Conservatives?

-- 66%. When people

are homeless, all of those people

are vulnerable, but particularly

children. That is why we must work

together to do all we can. The

funding provided over £400 million

for the flexible grant provided

through local authorities can help.

This would be work taken on by the

new task force to see what more they

can do across government.

Homelessness is a complex issue, I

am sure everyone agrees that it is

something we should not be facing. I

would like to ask my friend what

discussions he has had a cross

department or government, for

instance, with mental health, always

identified as an issue with

homelessness.

My honourable friend is again right

to raise this issue, but the causes

of homelessness, including rough

sleeping, are very complex, it is

not just economic. He is right to

advertise mental health issues. I

think that the green paper announced

by my right honourable friends, the

Health Secretary and the Education

Secretary, looking into mental

health of children and young people,

it is an appropriate time to make

sure we are doing everything we can

as a government.

May I first start by paying tribute

to the former Labour MP Jimmy Hood.

I understand he died today, the

thoughts of me and my party with his

family and friends. Mr Speaker,

shelter has found that... almost

certainly some of those people made

homeless will sleep rough.

Can I first of all associate myself

with the comments the honourable

lady made about Jimmy Hood, he will

be sorely missed by the House. Can I

also, she made a point about

Scottish experience, interims of

combating homelessness, one of the

things we want to do is make sure we

are looking at best practice across

the outside of England, whether

there are things to learn in

Scotland, we would look at that.

Measures have been suggested by my

honourable friend is from Scotland.

We are also looking further, for

example, the housing first policy

from Finland.

The honourable lady

has broken the news to us on this

side about Jimmy Hood's death, and I

want to say he was a huge, humane

figure in Scottish Labour and in

this House. He will be sorely

missed. Mr Speaker, the Secretary of

State tries to tell us the

government has a good record on

homelessness. Since 2010, ministers

made 452 announcements on

homelessness, but 47,000 more

children are now homeless. That's

100 more homeless children for every

Conservative press release. What's

needed now is action to deal with

the root causes of this rising

homelessness, not more warm words. A

straight question, will there be any

further cuts in funding in this

Parliament for homeless hostels and

women's refuges, under his plans for

short-term supported housing?

First of all, can I say to the right

honourable gentleman, last week, the

two of us attended a parliamentary

reception here at the House was

among those. We both talked about

the importance of issues that

sometimes are above politics, and we

should cooperate on this House on

all sides. Homelessness and Ross Li

Peng is one of them. I know he meant

it when he said it. I will take his

question as a serious question, and

we have no plans to cut the funding

whether it is women's refuges or

other support for homelessness. What

we saw in the budget for my right

honourable friend a couple of weeks

ago was an increase in spending and

resources to fight homelessness.

The problem is many decisions his

government have taken have made this

problem worse.

In his consultation

document on supported Housing he

pledges to protect funding only

2020-21 which is why homeless

charities and Wiggins's refuges and

women's aid are concerned it poses a

risk to future services. The tragedy

is we know what works because we

have done it before when Labour was

in government. Will he backed

Labour's plan to end rough sleeping

homelessness within a parliament,

provide 4000 extra homes for rough

sleepers, review Social Security and

build low-cost housing needed?

He is

being disingenuous with his use of

those figures and facts. We know

when it comes to women's refuges we

have taken...

Disingenuous means

dishonest. Order. And that cannot be

said without a response and the

Secretary of State is a versatile

fellow and dextrous in his use of

language and I'm sure he will

withdraw and use another word.

Secretary of State. I withdraw the

word disingenuous. He is not being

as clear as he could be. When it

comes to women's refuges we have

dedicated 20 million to provide 2200

additional bed spaces and in future

years it is right to see what the

mamba is and make appropriate

resources available.

He is right to

say if somebody uses such a word

refuses to withdraw it that member

only has one place to go and it is

out. But the right honourable

gentleman did withdraw, so the

crisis has been averted.

It is on the record and I hope the

honourable gentleman is now content.

With your permission I will answer

this question with number 18 and the

government recognises pressures

faced by local authorities and has

provided additional funding for

adult social care.

In the budget

statements, the words social care

did not pass the Chancellor's lips.

Indeed, in response to a written

question he said he did not give any

consideration to the funding these

for social care in the next

financial year and the Local

Government Association estimate,

there is a shortfall of around £3

billion. Does he agree with the

Chancellor that no more money is

needed for social care or will he

pressed the Chancellor to think

again?

Can I thank the honourable

gentleman for the work he does

through the Select Committee and its

leadership on social care. I listen

to the issues he brings up and I'm

sure he will recognise the 2 billion

makes a huge difference, meaning

there is 9.2 billion dedicated over

the next years. There are challenges

which is why we have the green paper

on social care next year.

I was

stunned to find out local

authorities do not have to consider

the quality of care in a care home

place. It means there are numbers of

elderly people forced to live in

facilities that are inadequate. The

profit-making sector is failing but

rather than pass the box to the

local authorities, what would he do

to ensure there is enough money to

enable every elderly person to live

in a good home?

The honourable

member is right to highlight we are

looking at the responsibility of

local authorities to help older

people in society and they should be

concerned with quality of care which

is why the sea QC is independently

involved. We have to make sure

funding is there and I have said

extra resources have been provided

and we are looking at longer-term

challenges.

Are we abandoning it?

I

could tell my honourable friend what

the government has decided is to

look at a host of issues impacting

adult social care because of the

ageing society which is why the

appropriate way to look at this is

to get it right and have a green

paper on adult social care.

Question

number four, Mr Speaker.

Our

departments have developed a joint

programme to better integrate

funding decisions and policies to

maximise economic growth and deliver

an improved transport system for

Great Britain.

Can the minister tell

the House why the Yorkshire and

Humber region was not allocated new

funding as part of the Northern

Powerhouse when there is evidence of

underfunding on the rail network in

this region?

The transforming cities

fund with 1.7 billion, 850 million

is not allocated, is available to

all local authorities to bid into to

improve transport. In total we are

investing 13 billion in Northern

infrastructure in this parliament,

more than any government in history.

In the West Midlands, £5.8 million

has been invested under the second

devolution deal to unlock congestion

and we will see an expansion of the

tram network to Dudley. Will my

honourable friend prevail on the

Secretary of State to continue to

liaise with the Mayor of the West

Midlands, Andy Street... In order

that we see this good work continue?

I'm sure everyone in the house was

delighted in the budget we agreed a

second ambitious devolution deal

with Andy Street. With the Secretary

of State as the Midlands engine

champion providing the supercharger

for the Midlands engine we have

Andrew Street as the turbocharger

for the Midlands.

Tomorrow my

honourable friend for the City of

Chester will open a debate on tolls

on the Mersey crossing. Does he

accept the fact you cannot cross

them River Mersey between Warrington

and Liverpool without paying a toll,

whether across the bridge or through

the tunnels, is holding back the

regional economy and if so would he

have urgent discussions with his

colleagues in the Department for

Transport to rectify this?

I have

held discussions with Steve Rather,

the mayor of Liverpool, who told me

as a Labour mayor he supported the

toll charges.

Swindon is building

houses at roughly three times the

national average and we wish to go

further. Swindon's proposal to use

the transforming cities fund to

extend the rail link to Swindon and

unlocking further new homes in

Swindon.

Yet is a tempting

invitation to give support to a bid

to the transforming cities fund but

this is what this fund is designed

to do when people come forward with

good proposals, the fund on a

competitive basis should be there to

support them.

London received almost

£2000 per person on transport

investment and Yorkshire and the

Humber £190, Northeast, 220,

Northwest, £680. Even if every penny

of the 800 million referred to is

allocated to the north, that is £53

per head. When will the Northern

Powerhouse kept the money to compete

on a par with London?

I am sure they

are delighted a left-wing think tank

has just had their figures repeated

in the chamber but they simply

incorrect. They do not include 60%

of national infrastructure spending

and do not include spending on HS2,

which as someone who was born and

brought up in the north, I know will

benefit the North more than any

other part of the country.

Number

five, served.

We collect a range of financial data

on local government and local

authorities publish their own

including budget documents and

accounts and we engage with local

authorities to discuss issues

including those relating to finance.

Will the minister confirm a review

of fair funding for local government

is under and given that the county

council is considering closing 28 of

its 36 libraries encourage it to

bring forward proposals to set up a

countywide trust to keep these vital

facilities open?

I thank him for his

question and he is right we are

pushing ahead on the review of fair

funding for local authorities and

for Northants, I would encourage the

county council to look at ways to

provide services valued by its

residents.

In the light of the

financial situation at the county

council, with the minister be keen

to look at the emerging proposals

from across Northamptonshire as to

how local government might be better

restructured?

We recognise the

financial pressure Northamptonshire

County Council is under and stand

ready to look at any locally led

proposals as to how local government

might better be restructured to

transform these challenges into

opportunities.

Number six, Mr

Speaker.

We announced further

reforms of financial support in the

budget to increase housing supply in

England which includes 15 billion of

new financial support and 44 billion

funding and reforms to ensure more

land is available for housing.

I

thank him. The work done by his

department and the Pledge in the

budget to build new homes, 300,000,

in England is welcome. Will he

joined me in calling for the

Scottish Government to match the

Scottish Conservative is in their

pledge to build 100,000 new homes so

young people in my constituency have

the same opportunities as those in

England?

I join my honourable friend

and he is right to highlight the

issue, the Scottish Government had

failed on their own targets when it

comes to house-building, especially

affordable house building and I

recommend his ideas and ambition,

shown by the Scottish Conservatives

in challenging the SNP to build more

homes in Scotland.

Not a single new

home has been registered in York in

the last quarter the light that the

draft local plan has been rejected

by the Secretary of State because of

the council's failure to address

York's housing crisis, will he work

with councillors including Labour

councillors to make sure we get it

right for the city and houses that

need to be built for the future?

The

honourable lady will not the

government has invested huge amounts

to make sure house-building picks

up. It was down to 100,000 a year

when the government took office and

the latest year, 217,000. A lot more

to do including in York and I have

written to the council in York to

work with them to speed up planned

development.

In Berlin and elsewhere

in Germany, architects, landowners,

the homeless and councils cooperate

to bring forward thousands of new

dwellings through mutual

cooperatives. Will he encourage

councils here to look at it as a way

of bringing forward more dwellings

more quickly?

I agree with him and

the direction he set out. One issue

we have tackled in the housing White

Paper is making sure we have more

diversity of supply, including

different types, including custom

build and cooperatives. Can I also

commend the work he has done in this

area.

In new ferry we are desperate

to build new homes as part of the

regeneration after the explosion. I

am disappointed the government

refused to help with emergency costs

but can he confirm he has received

world Council's e-mail containing

the regeneration plan and he will

step forward and found that

regeneration?

I can confirm we have

just received their plan and I

believe we received it five days

ago. We have been waiting five

months so I'm not sure why it took

the council so long but now we have

received it we will take a closer

look.

Will the minister, Secretary

of State reassure constituents in

Hitchin and Harpenden that despite

the need to build more houses, green

belt restrictions have not been

loosened and it will be protected?

I can reassure my honourable friend

that there have been no changes in

green belt rules, and building on

green belt requires exceptional

reasons. There were no changes in

the housing white paper or recent

announcement by my right honourable

friend, the Chancellor. The changes

we announced was more funding to

make sure we get the right

infrastructure in the right places

to build more homes.

Mr Speaker, the

Scottish Government have delivered

over six to 9500 affordable homes

during the period since 2007, and

compared to just 49 in England. With

the honourable gentleman confirm why

it is there is no commitment to the

increase in social rented housing in

the budget.

We are not going to take

lectures from the SNP but it comes

to housing. Under the SMP, housing

declined by 40%, housing completion

for housing ownership for and all

affordable housing targets being

missed, it is about time the

honourable lady started listening to

the Scottish Conservatives.

Mr Speaker, the Home Secretary

referred to the aspirations for home

ownership. In the last year of the

Labour government, for the under

45s, 54% of homes were owned by

their occupants. Under this present

government, this has plummeted to

44%. Given the Chancellor has cut

the money the starter homes in the

budget, can the Secretary of State

tell the House what has he learned

from seven years of Conservative

failure? What is he going to do to

give hope to our under 45s.

The honourable gentleman talks about

failure when it comes to delivering

housing, I think he has the wrong

party. The track record of the

Labour government that he was a part

of saw a massive fall in house

building in the country to its

lowest level since the 1920s. A

decline in social units Brent by 420

1000. Doubling the waiting list for

social housing. Their record is one

of the worst records the country has

seen when it comes to housing. If he

wants to do something about it, he

should support the government.

Alok Sharma.

As my honourable friend

knows, the government is concerned

Alok Sharma.

As my honourable friend

knows, the government is concerned,

why we issue a call for evidence on

the evidence on unauthorised

development is, and I will publish

the call for evidence shortly.

On a daily basis, Central

Bedfordshire is dealing with

completely unacceptable numbers of

unauthorised traveller encampments,

many travellers only and elsewhere,

and many of their children are not

in school. When will the

government's consultation actually

lead to appropriate power was being

available to all local authorities,

including my own?

I know that my honourable friend has

expressed views on this a number of

times in the House. What I can say

to him is my department is working

with the Home Office and Ministry of

Justice in preparing the call for

evidence, and once this is

published, he and all the members

will have an opportunity to set out

their views.

Last month, the Parliamentary group

on travellers met to discuss the

issue of unauthorised incumbents and

possible positive solutions. We

heard from the representative of the

National police chief's council that

the police do have adequate powers,

and unlawful chest pass was not the

answer and had not worked in

Ireland. -- trespass. Can we talk

about some of the positive solutions

that could work to address this

issue?

Of course, I will meet with the

all-party group. The whole point of

call to evidence, it will allow

everyone to feed in views, and that

is what we want to hear. Following

that, we will set out plans of how

to take it further.

Number eight, please, Mr Speaker.

Alok Sharma.

The government is

providing substantial support for

the building of social homes, £2

billion of funding, taking the

affordable homes programme to £9

million. -- £9 billion. We have

announced a £1 billion lift too.

The number of homes delivered the

social rent has fallen in 580 such

homes expected to be completed in

2016-17, compared to 40,000 in

2010-11. With virtually no support

in the budget for building new

social housing, and only 6 billion

of new money for housing altogether,

is this not a far cry from the 50

billion that the secretary himself

called for, and falls far short of

the houses we need in the country.

Absolutely hopeless. Shorter in

future. I am keen to encourage the

honourable lady, and a prodigious

attender, she needs to apply a

pencil.

I can tell the honourable lady that

since 2010, there have been 128,000

homes for social rent, which have

been built in the country, in

England, and 118,004 affordable

rent. She talks about the money

available for housing, I can

confirm, as my right honourable

friend, the Chancellor, said at the

budget, we are making at least £44

billion available in the next five

years.

The honourable lady is an

illustrious QC, I am sure she is

capable of asking an extremely pithy

question. Lucy Fraser.

East

Cambridgeshire has established five

community land trust. Does the

Minister agree that these are a

valuable way to ensure local people

have affordable homes locally?

Splendid. Textbook.

Mr Speaker, my honourable friend

makes an important point, and I

commend her for the work she is

doing to encourage community land

trust funds, additional funding for

this was allowed last week.

Question number nine, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker, since 2010, we have

delivered 357,000 affordable homes,

including 128,000 homes for social

rent. As I also noted in my earlier

answer, the government is providing

9 billion funding for the affordable

homes programme, £1 billion lift,

and rent the social landlords. This

will support the sector to build

more affordable homes, including

social homes.

Shelter has found that in the past

year, developers have used viability

assessment to wriggle out of

building more than 2500 affordable

homes to rent or buy, including 200

in Bristol. Can he take steps to

remove this loophole when he

rewrites the National planning

policy framework next year, to

remove the reference for a need for

a competitive return?

Mr Speaker, we of course consulted

in terms of local housing needs and

consultation, which closed on 9th of

November. One issue was viability

assessments, we will review what

comes forward. But we have set out

clearly that we want to see a

affordable homes built by

developers.

After 13 years of Labour

MPs in Gloucester, we are not a

single new housing unit was built.

We have now built some social

housing, but want to do much more.

Will buy honourable friend confirm

that there may be funding available

through the new national

productivity investment fund to help

bridge any potential funding gap

because of low values.

Mr Speaker, can I again commend my

honourable friend for the work he is

doing in his constituency to

encourage more building of homes and

also social homes. I am delighted at

the progress being made in terms of

the state generation, his

constituents leave £1.25 million of

funding. With regard to his

question, more detailed eligibility

criteria will be announced in due

course. Of course, I happy to meet

with him.

When will the Minister start to

understand that in order to tackle

the social housing crisis, the

government needs to abolish the

right to buy.

People have been able

to own homes, and that is incredibly

important. What I would say to the

honourable gentleman is that we are

making more money available for

affordable homes, but also £44

billion, at least £44 billion, over

the next five years, to build more

homes in this country. The reason we

have a housing crisis is come under

the previous government, not enough

homes were built.

If we are to meet the demand for

more affordable homes, there needs

to be a partnership between both the

private and public sectors. What

actions can the Minister take to

ensure local authorities work with

both those sectors to deliver the

homes we need?

Mr Speaker, we in the

budget, my honourable friend the

Chancellor set out planning reforms

we are looking at. That will impact

on local authorities bringing

forward more sites more quickly for

building. But of course, we have

also announced an uplift of up to £1

billion, which will make a

substantial difference.

Minister

Jones.

Victims fleeing abuse must be given

appropriate priority access to

social housing. We are consulting on

new guidance, which makes it clear

to local authorities, victims moving

on from refuges, should be given

appropriate parity, and any

residency test should not be

applied.

Women's aid are an organisation that

we all have a high regard of on both

sides of the House. They have stated

the government's new model will

close refuges, what assurance can

the Minister give to the House that

that won't be the case?

To reassure

my honourable friend, that will not

be the case. We will continue the

funding in exactly the same level as

is currently the case. A dedicated

grant will go to local authorities

that will be ring fenced and ring

fenced in the long term. And we will

also make sure it means that

vulnerable people will not need to

deal with at the payment of rent at

a very, very difficult time in their

lives.

The recent joint select committee 's

enquiry on supported housing,

included and recommended that the

government established a national

network of women's refuges, to avoid

a postcode lottery, and ensure even

coverage across the country. Can I

ask the Minister why the government

rejected that recommendation, and

what is he doing to ensure where

refuges have closed, they will

reopen again.

We do believe that a

locally led approach is the right

thing to do in this regard. But we

have confirmed before that we are

committed to reviewing under the

violence against women and girls

strategy, this policy, in 2018. We

are looking at all of the options,

and we haven't ruled out nationally

commissioning refuge beds and

refuges, if that is found to be a

better solution.

Nigel Mills.

Number

13.

Following the launch of our

industrial strategy, the government

is at the opening stages of

designing a devolution framework for

England, areas like Derbyshire and

the East Midlands should seek a

widely supported group of proposals.

After the failure of the earlier

devolution proposals, can the

Minister confirm he is still

interested in further proposals

coming in, and can he confirmed

there is now no requirement will be

elected mayor.

We are aware of the

Derby, Nottingham, City Council

metro proposals, we haven't received

a formal proposal. I can confirm the

door is open for devolution in this

area, and there is no requirement in

line with our manifesto the rural

areas to have a mayo.

Does the Minister condemn that?

Mr Speaker, I can't, it on a live

planning issue.

Number 14, please,

Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker,

local authorities in London have

estimated the business rate

potential will benefit them by 240

million. There will be no impact

from the pilot in other local

authority areas.

Ellen Goodman.

Could the Minister explain how it

can possibly be the case that

business rate in London raised 7.5

billion, and retention only gives

them 240 million. Surely, this is

swiping money from the rest of the

country, which needs it in order to

even up resources.

Mr Speaker, the

240 million is new money from

business growth, but let me share a

startling fact with the honourable

lady. 100% of local authorities who

will get the business rate

localisation pilot applied for it.

When she goes back up to her

constituency, she might ask her own

Labour-controlled council why they

couldn't be bothered.

Mr Speaker,

will the honourable gentleman passed

the message onto the Secretary of

State forcefully that many of us

applaud what he said in relation to

Donald Trump and the retweeting of

messages, but my difficult question

is, why doesn't he get on with the

job? He needs to make sure that the

regions of our country get a fair

share of the sources and stockpiling

money into London and the

south-east.

I note the Mayor of London said it

was the worst budget for London in

ten years but I'm not £1.8 billion,

it was the best budget for the north

of England ever. Question 15, Mr

Speaker. Decisions over who is

allocated properties are for local

authorities and landlords to take at

the local level but the statutory

guidance on social housing

allocations encourages councils to

give priority to those who need

ground floor accommodation including

disabled people.

The minister will

be aware several disabled people

were housed on the upper floor of

Grenfell Tower have the time of the

fire and one woman would certainly

have not survived had it not been

for the heroics of her son who

carried her to safety. I wonder if

the minister could assure the house

the Grenfell enquiry will consider

access and exit for disabled people

in tower blocks and indeed whether

he will say disabled and independent

organisations will have their say?

The Grenfell Tower inquiry is

independent and I will let the judge

take care of that but what I would

say is the government will publish a

social housing green paper next year

and conducting a tour of the country

to meet social housing tenants and

we will consider access to

accommodation for disabled people.

Question 16, Mr Speaker.

We are

working with 24 garden cities and

towns and villages to unlock

barriers and support them with

infrastructure needs. I am

announcing additional capacity

funding for 14 Garden villages

bringing the total funding to 90

million.

The Secretary of State will

be aware my local authority is

proposing three new garden

communities but significant

infrastructure is required. What

reassurance can he give them

investment will be coming?

My

honourable friend is right to

highlight the need for

infrastructure when it comes to

housing which is why I'm sure she

would welcome the increase in

funding in the budget and I am

launching a 20 Finlay -- £25 million

of funding and the creation of

locally led new development

corporations.

Will the Secretary of

State accept when new developments

build it is not in the interests of

householders they are leasehold

estates and will he reiterate his

statement he will not be building

any new leasehold homes and act for

those already being unfairly

treated?

She will know we have had a

consultation and we are responding

to it shortly but I have said before

I see no reason whatsoever why new

houses should be sold on leasehold.

Question number 20, Mr Speaker.

We

are spending over 1 billion up to

2020 implementing the most ambitious

legislative reform in decades and

establishing a homelessness and

rough sleeping task force.

Can I

thank the government for the work

taking to implement the homeless

reduction act and can I ask for an

update on the resources made

available to local councils so they

can help us achieve this.

I thank

her for what is a good question, we

are providing £72 million to local

authorities to deal with the new

burdens and in advance of the

implementation the first section of

funding goes out to councils

tomorrow and we will review the new

burdens funding within two years of

the implementation of the act.

Is

the minister aware of the work done

in Greater Manchester to eradicate

homelessness and does he agree with

the Mayor Andy Burnham the

government target of 2027 is too far

away for that problem to be

eradicated?

We want to eradicate

rough sleeping as soon as is

practical. To help Greater

Manchester we have provided funding

under the Housing first pilot

alongside the Liverpool city region

and West Midlands.

Topical

questions.

Number one, Mr Speaker.

Today marks the start of UK charity

week in which we read double our

commitment to end rough sleeping and

it is the 62nd birthday of the

Chancellor who delivered a budget to

help get Britain building and on the

occasion of the Observer's 226th

birthday we are continuing our

crackdown on local authorities who

think it is their job to publish

weekly newspapers.

The Dr Leah spike

schemes have been established

recently and some work well and some

less so but councils are left

struggling with outdated legislation

to deal with these -- dockless bike

schemes.

The honourable gentleman

raises an important issue. It is

important to encourage better ways

to travel, giving more

opportunities, and I am happy to

discuss what ideas he has.

In Corby

we have a charitable organisation

who do so much brilliant work to

help support homeless people. What

steps are his department taking to

support these sorts of organisations

that two important work?

I pay

tribute to all involved in charity

such as Night-light. Normal. -- part

of the package is to provide

services like the one run in Corby

that does a lot to improve the lives

of vulnerable people.

Several

national children's charities and

the Local Government Association

wrote to the Secretary of State

ahead of the budget to warn that

funding for children's services is

not sustainable and is insufficient

and instead of creeping to the

Chancellor with birthday wishes,

what did the Secretary of State do

to lobby the Chancellor to provide

the £2 billion councils need to

safeguard and look after Children In

Need?

Where he is right is in highlighting

the pressure on children's services

for many local authorities and that

is why we are listening carefully to

what local authorities have to say

and I am working with the Education

Secretary to ensure adequate

resources are provided. Many local

authorities are doing well, some

have challengers. He will not

shortly there will be the local

government finance settlement and he

can look to see what happens as we

deal with that.

He does not just

need to listen, he needs to act and

perhaps read our health check report

that highlights children's services

they said £2 billion funding gap

now. Early intervention has been

cut. Sure Start centres have closed,

child protection cases have doubled,

more children need taking into care,

more families need specialist help.

Why will he not stand up for our

children's services? Tell the

Chancellor now is not the time to

cut 4.75 billion from the bank levy.

It is time to put our children

first.

Time and again the honourable

gentleman stands at the despatch box

asking for billions more spending.

He has no idea how the funds are

raised and he would do better to

support measures we are taking to

keep the economy strong to pay for

the services.

The move from RBI to

CPI to calculate business rates is

reducing bills for many small

businesses put 62 councils are yet

to move to CPI despite the funding

in the budget, what is the

government doing to make sure all

councils go to CPI to calculate

business rates?

The majority of

local authorities have rebuilt

businesses but it is unacceptable

some councils have. This is a

package of support for businesses

that councils have been given by

government, so I urge all councils

that have not done the right thing

to do so urgently.

Given England's

private rented sector has doubled,

what plans do ministers have to

emulate Scotland's new policy where

tenants have more security of tenure

and one rent increase per year?

I

I'm sure he noted the Chancellor set

out the plans to consult on long

attendances in the private rental

sector.

That is what we will be

doing. Positivity of small

businesses in bed with last Saturday

was tinged with frustration over the

borough council's decision to

increase car parking charges which

has reduced footfall. Would he

agreed councils should be more

focused on supporting town centres,

not driving shoppers away?

It is a

Labour council only that could put

up parking charges and lose money at

the same time and what it shows to

the people who live in Nuneaton and

Bedworth, that putting into action

this Marxist twaddle it proves under

the Labour it is the many who pay

for the dogma of the few.

A music

venue in Bristol has closed because

of complaints. Can he say how

discussions are going with the

secretary so that small music venues

can stand up to developers?

I would

happily meet with the honourable

lady to discuss her interesting

idea.

I am sure the Secretary of

State will have seen the report from

the British Chambers of Commerce

concluding that for businesses to

grow and compete it is vital local

authorities provide an adequate

supply of building land and consent

for new commercial buildings. I know

business rate retention he is

considering but can proactive

councils like rugby continue to

receive incentives to grow local

economies?

The government is

committed to further business rate

retention and we have relaunched the

working group to take this forward.

It is important that any future

reform of the system has a balance

between beating need and having an

incentive for areas to grow.

Bus

users in the potteries have been hit

by a double whammy of fare increases

and journey cuts. While constituents

might appreciate the arrow near of

two lots of bad bus news arriving at

once they do not the impact on their

jobs. Many cuts could be avoided if

Stoke-on-Trent City Council properly

subsidised transport. What is he

doing to make sure we have a bus

system fit for purpose in the

potteries?

This government has done

much to improve bus facilities,

especially with the Metro areas

where we have extended bus

franchises. If she has issues, I

would be happy to take and pass them

onto my right honourable friend.

The

affordability of a house is not just

what it costs to buy or rent but

what it costs to live in. Can I

encourage him to set the highest

energy efficiency standards possible

so these new houses can be cheaper

to own and operate?

Energy

efficiency as a result of the

policies have improved and it is

several hundred pounds cheaper in

terms of fuel costs than in 2010.

Councils in the north-east such as

Gateshead have seen central

government grant cut by 50%. Forcing

them to axe 4000 good jobs. The

government's so-called jobs bonanza

in the north through the Northern

Powerhouse has created jobs but two

out of every three created are on

temporary, insecure and zero-hour

contracts. Is this how the Northern

Powerhouse economy will work?

I

thought the honourable gentleman

would welcome that in his own

constituency the claimant count has

fallen by 42% since 2010. If he

really wanted to champion Gateshead

Tom and more funding, perhaps he can

ask them why they rejected the

mayoral devolution idea.

The

abolition of stamp duty for most

first-time buyers, families saving

on average over £3000. Can he share

what else is being done to help

family secured their first home?

I

am delighted my honourable friend

has highlighted the stamp duty cart

but we know that for a number of

years we have been running Help To

Buy scheme which has helped 135,000

households and the extra funding

committed will help another 35,000

households.

I listen to the response to my

honourable friend the Denton and

Reddish and hope there was no

acknowledgement for removing the

weight, and their ability to access

a wide range of services. Why

doesn't be Secretary of State care?

Inode the honourable lady cares

about this issue, but she should

recognise that many members on all

sides of the House care about this,

and this is why the government has

made sure that when it comes to

funding, the children's mental

health services through local

authorities, £1.4 million over this

spending period, the highest ever,

and also the Green paper that is

going to take place that will be

published by my right honourable

friend, the Health Secretary, will

look at the health issues.

The Secretary of State's comment

early in the session about funding

to support the delivery, can he

confirmed this will include my

constituency, can we make sure these

homes are affordable and accessible

to people.

Let me thank my

honourable friend for his support,

the announcement will be made later

today. I will look carefully at

making sure that it is clear about

those ones we are supporting. There

are many other actions to take in

due course as set out by the

Chancellor in the budget to support

villages and towns.

The Minister said earlier that there

would be a review, I think he said

this, of the viability assessment

under the framework. Can he admit

there is a problem that the

assessments are abused by developers

to stop local authorities developing

affordable homes?

Just in terms of London, it is worth

pointing out that we have made £3.15

billion already available for

affordable housing, which has been

welcomed by the Mayor of London. It

suggests he should start and get

building. We have had a consultation

to reflect on it, and have come

forward with proposals.

Wendy

Morton.

In his response to an earlier

question, the Minister made

reference to a call for evidence

with regard to an authorised

traveller in campus, can he

confirmed that local residents will

also be able to have the opportunity

to feed into that?

Mr Speaker, I can confirm to my

honourable friend that everyone will

have an opportunity to give their

views as part of that call for

evidence.

Diana Johnson.

The northern Powerhouse Minister

mentioned HS2 as being the best

transport investment for the North,

but surely the best transport

investment for the North would be

Crossrail for the North, linking the

great cities of the North with

high-speed rail.

Improving the East West connectivity

between Liverpool and Hull is one of

the issues we have asked transport

for the North, the first national

statutory body, to look at it. We

have had £360 million to ensure HS2

is future proofed against HS three.

Could the Minister update the House

as to what assessment he has made of

whether owners of buildings with

cladding that may not meet building

regulations have been meeting their

responsibilities, or whether they

have been seeking to pass the costs

for this essential work onto

leaseholders.

Can I thank my

honourable friend for that question.

He will know, when it comes to local

authorities and housing associations

that they have made clear they are

not passing on the costs, which is

the right approach. The public

sector landlords, I would like them

to follow the lead of the social

sector and not pass on costs. I want

to make sure leaseholders have more

information, which is why I am today

increasing funding.

We will get the result of Yorkshire

devolution on the 21st December.

Does the Minister agree with me that

whatever the result, politicians,

national and local, have a

responsibility to get around the

table and work together.

As the season of goodwill and peace

to all men approaches, I hope that

across Yorkshire, a compromise will

be found. But just to restate our

position, the government remains

committed to the South Yorkshire

City deal proceeding.

Order. Two

members are catching my eye that

have not contributed. I will call

each of them, but I will say, their

questions must be extremely brief, a

short sentence. If you can't do it

that way, I don't want to be unkind,

but don't bother. Vera Hobhouse.

Thank you Mr Speaker. Last month,

the Secretary of State did not call

planning application on Foxhill,

where we are losing homes for social

rent. We were told the devil and is

not in line with government policy.

Can he confirmed that losing social

homes for rent is the government

policy.

No.

Thank you. Good example.

Thank

you to the Housing Minister for

coming to Taunton Deane last week

where he met protest is to see how

important the road through the

development was, is this government

issuing the right policy in putting

more money into the housing

infrastructure fund, so that we can

guarantee roads that we need to make

our houses work?

Absolutely, Mr

Speaker. I can confirm, as a result

of the budget, there is £5 billion

in the housing infrastructure fund,

precisely what I know many

colleagues want to see in terms of

spending on infrastructure.

Order.

Before we move on, I have been

notified of a number of intended

points of order springing directly

out of question Time. Let me say for

the record, on this occasion, I will

take members on trust, and take

those point of order now. But if it

becomes apparent to me that they are

really just a way of trying to

continue question Time, and they are

too long, when I have specifically

said they must be short, I will cut

them off, and the process of taking

any points... Order. Taking point of

order at this time will be

discontinued, so they will be

responsible. I look to be Shadow

Secretary of State to set a good

example, a proper point of order,

done briefly, for which, read a

sentence.

Can you offer any guidance to this

House on your expectations on the

conventions, we have heard after an

hour of question Time, in an oft

home way, in answer to one of his

friends who has left the chamber,

later this afternoon, he will make a

statement about the backing the

government will give to garden

villages and extensions. We should

have expected a written statement

this morning, or some reference

during the body of the questions

this afternoon so the House could

have a chance to ask him about it.

My understanding is that a written

missed in the -- ministerial

question, but a simple model of the

head, in fact two nods of the head,

in unison, by the Secretary of State

and the housing minister would

suggest that is the crux of the

matter. It would be preferable if

these announcements are intended, if

they could be some way worked into

question Time, not by elongated

replies, but by responding at

topical is. What has happened is

arguably irritating to colleague,

but not demonstrably disorderly. We

will leave it there Finau. The right

honourable gentleman has made his

point. I don't know whether the nods

will appear in graphic images, but

in reference to the nods, it will

appear. Point of order.

In answer to

my honourable friend from Warrington

and North about the Mersey tolls,

the members said they had spoken to

the Metro mayor, I have been in

touch with them in Liverpool, and he

said he said no such thing. I would

ask if the Minister would like to

correct the record and withdraw his

remarks.

The answer to that, and I'm

grateful, what I would say in

response is that it is for every

member, for each and every member,

be that member a front bench or

backbencher, to be responsible...

Order. To be responsible for the

Barraza of what is said in this

place. If a correction is required,

better sooner rather than later, and

if the honourable gentleman judges

that no correction is required, that

is his prerogative. -- voracity.

No

correction is required Mr Speaker, I

discussed it as we walked across the

bridge under its construction.

Perhaps he will remember with the

added detail.

In that case, we will

leave it there. It was right that it

was aired, and I am grateful to the

Minister for his response, I cannot

be expected to adjudicate between

these competing witness accounts. We

will leave it there for now. We are

about to come to the member of

Twickenham and his urgent question.

Let me further just say to the House

that this is not the occasion for a

general exchange about social

mobility or the lack of it, this is

a question, laser like focused, on

the resignation of the board for the

commission and will be treated by

the chair as such. I wanted to run

for no longer than half an hour, not

because it isn't important, it is

extremely important, but so is the

eight hours of protected business