Live Housing, Communities and Local Government Questions House of Commons

Hello and welcome to BBC

Parliament's live coverage of the

House of Commons, there will be two

urgent questions, the first on hate

crime following letters calling for

punish a Muslim day and the second

on the treatment of House of Commons

staff after accusations against the

speaker and several MPs of bullying

behaviour and then the Prime

Minister will make a statement on

the no of agent attack on the former

Russian spy Sergei Skripal -- nerve

agent. And his daughter in

Salisbury. Karen Bradley will make a

statement on a new budget in

Northern Ireland including £410

million of the package go shaded by

the DUP in return for backing the

Conservative government --

negotiated. Liam Fox will made a

statement on the tariffs on steel

and imported aluminium announced by

the US president Donald Trump. And

the main business this evening will

be the remaining stages of the

financial guidance and claims Bill,

so remember to join me for a

round-up of the day in both Houses

of Parliament tonight at 11 o'clock

but first we have questions to the

Secretary of State for housing

communities and local government

Sajid Javid and his team of

ministers.

... The ending

homelessness parliamentary group has

taken evidence around the success of

rapid rehousing models in Denmark,

what consideration has my right

honourable friend given to the

merits of rolling out such

programmes alongside faster and

wider roll-out of housing first in

England?

Mr speaker, can I pay

tribute to my friend for the role he

has played as the co-chair of the

ending homelessness APPG and he is

right to point to international

experience, when we look at this

huge challenge we face in our

country, and housing first has come

from the experience we have

especially in Finland and I thank

him for his support.

Lucy Powell.

The rising level of homelessness in

Manchester is the biggest issue that

people raise with me on the doorstep

and elsewhere and it doesn't matter

all the good work that we are doing

in rehousing people, there are too

many people coming through the

system it at the other rental but so

what conversations is the Secretary

of State having about stopping

people becoming homeless in the

first place? -- at the other end.

The honourable lady is right to

raise this issue and it comes up in

Manchester as well as so many other

parts of the country and she is

right to point to the cross

department work that is required

including the DWP and other

departments, like the Ministry of

Justice, with the number of

offenders that end up on the

streets, so it is being co-ordinated

and the task force that the Prime

Minister has created is helping to

achieve just that.

Michael

fabricant.

Does my right honourable

friend a agreed with the causes of

homelessness on the street is not

just a lack of housing, it is very

complex, and will he take the

opportunity of going to the West

Midlands and visiting the mayor of

the West Midlands Mr and the street

and see the work and initiatives

that he is undertaking to prevent

this problem?

I agree with you for

the what has been spoken about is

important regarding the complex

causes of rough sleeping and

homelessness, and the mayor of the

West Midlands has led the way on

this including with the housing

first project.

Exeter has suffered a

terrible increase in homelessness

and rough sleeping since 2010

although in the last couple of years

strenuous efforts have seen a

reduction in the last two years in

the sleeping but will he and

government colleagues look at the

decisions to cut supported living

and public health grants to local

bodies that find alcohol and drug

treatment programmes because that is

hampering local authorities attempts

to tackle this problem?

I'm happy to

join the right honourable gentleman

in commending the work in Exeter

that they have done we should try to

learn from each other and from

councils. In terms of the causes,

addiction, especially drug addiction

and alcohol addiction, it is

important that we keep up finding

where ever it is necessary and that

is why we are providing £1 billion

of total funding until 2020

including a number of projects which

are designed to help specifically

with addictive problems.

1% of rough

sleepers in London are non-UK

citizens, what can we do about the

importation of homelessness?

My

friend is again right to point to

the causes of homelessness and there

are a number of people that sleep on

the streets that are not from the UK

and everyone deserves help but we

must also look carefully at the

causes of homelessness so we are

working carefully and closely with

the Home Office to see what more we

can do.

LGBT young people are much

more likely to become homeless and

account for up to 24% of the young

jobless population, according to the

Albert Kennedy trust, what is the

Secretary of State going to do to

address this problem?

I agree is

that anyone that is homeless and

especially anyone that is rough

sleeping deserves our help, the help

of government and local government,

and that is why the number of

projects that we have in place, over

48 different types of projects many

of them community led and many of

them funding directly by the

government are designed to achieve

that.

The last official survey in

Cheltenham Festival nine homeless

people and each is a living rebuke

for us to do more -- in Cheltenham

found nine homeless people. The £1

million homeless impact bond should

be used to provide one-to-one

support.

Yes, and can I commend the

charity for the rugged as Dan and I

know you have a lot of interest in

that -- the work it has done. The

government has funded aid social

impact bombs including the one

-- the government has funded eight

social impact bonds.

It has been

praised by charities taking a step

in the right direction and that

includes a £50 million fund, what do

ministers think of the work that is

going on in Scotland and will they

look at the recommendations made by

the working group?

Again, you

rightly emphasise the point of

learning from each other, and where

Scotland has had success with

homelessness and rough sleeping we

should look into that and seek other

examples in the UK and my honourable

friend the housing minister is

visiting Scotland and will be

looking at that issue later this

week. One of the best ways the

government can support homeowners

with mortgage costs is by making

sure the economy remains strong and

competitive so that employment is

high and interest rates as low as

possible.

At the end of this month

the government is taking away

mortgage support from 110,000 people

and there will be 7000 so far who

have applied for the loan which

replaces it, what does the

government think the other 100,000

people are going to do on the 2nd of

April?

The honourable gentleman is

referring to the support for

mortgage interest policy which is a

DWP lead and the government is right

to strike the right balance between

the needs of hard-pressed homeowners

and the taxpayer but if you are

really interested in helping

homeowners, maybe you can explain

why he voted against the stamp duty

cut that this government

implemented.

The withdrawal support

from mortgage interest came as a

blow to my constituents who came to

see me on Friday and many thousands

like them will struggle with this

support withdrawn and they may not

wish to take up an additional loan,

can he explain what options will be

open to these people and what

assessment has he done of the impact

for people on the home they have

brought? And the impact on social

housing lists which --?

I think the

honourable lady misunderstands the

policy, the government is not

withdrawing support, the government

is making it fairer and making sure

support is still available, it will

be land-based, secured by the

individual's property but that also

protects the rights of taxpayers

which I think you would have been

interested in doing.

The help to buy

scheme helped 116,001st-time buyers

get onto the property ladder and

it's similar to the supply of new

housing.

Some of my constituents

have been on the wrong end of

aggressive behaviour by personnel,

and they are concerned that the

biggest concern for house-builders

is that they have increased as

prizes by 10% with almost all of

this bag as profit and much of it

paid out to senior -- increased

prices by 10% with almost all of

this bag.

Should they not be doing

more to consign the aggressive

behaviour of companies like this? --

contain.

It is good news that help

to bite helped to get more homes

built and it has contributed 15%. I

have concerns, but I remind the

gentleman that it was this

government that introduced the

corporate government reforms

including to make sure there is

greater transparency and greater

shareholder grip over directors pay.

The minister will know that some 10%

of those on the help to buy scheme

earn over £80,000 EU and even in

London, people can afford to buy

without this tax subsidy, can he

contrast the Secretary of State's

comments about taxpayer

responsibility with respect to the

poorest homeowners who will lose

mortgage entrance and these heavily

subsidised well off people up and

down the country?

Some factual

clarification would help, because

four out of five of those benefiting

from help to buy have been

first-time buyers and three out of

five households benefiting from help

to buy had combined incomes of

£50,000 or less, we are on their

side, it is a shame the Labour Party

is not.

Tracy Brabin.

Number five,

Mr minister.

In addition to the

spending review package the

government provided a further £2

billion for adult social care at the

last budget and an additional £150

million in the local government

finance settlement and councils will

now be able to increase spending on

adult social care in real terms each

year until 2020.

Tracy Brabin.

Kirklees Council spends 35% of its

budget on adult social care and it

has just raised council tax to 6%

and half of that is ring-fenced to

find social care but the council

still has tens of millions left to

cut in the years ahead, so ahead of

tomorrow's Spring statement can be

ministers say what he has done to

secure more funding from the

Treasury for social care, to

alleviate the pressure on councils

like Kirklees?

Mr Speaker, in the most recent

government finance settlement the

Secretary of State listened to

concerns from the council and

increased funding for social care,

£150 million in adult social care,

£26 million for Kirklees council in

particular, and I recently met with

the key cities group of which

Kirklees is a member to discuss

their ideas for reforming the

funding formula for councils like

Kirklees.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

When the Select Committee adopted my

honourable friend's Homelessness

Reduction Bill, ministers to their

credit engaged positively to make

the Bill work. Can I urge the

Minister to be just as positive

about the planned Joint Committee

inquiry into funding adult care,

indeed, Mr Speaker, both front

benches need to engage in this

process if we are to have a

long-term answer.

I thank my honourable friend for the

question and wholeheartedly agree

with him, as he knows the government

is committed to publishing the green

paper on adult social care the

summer alongside which there is a

work stream regarding working age

adults social care which I am sure

he will be keen to contribute to as

well.

Bridget Phillipson.

Increasing

the social care precept will do

nothing to solve the challenge we

face in social care. Isn't it time

that Minister stopped passing the

buck to local councils and instead

worked with us to find a long-term

solution to one of the greatest

challenges we face as a country?

Mr

Speaker, I agree with the Honourable

Lady that there is a challenge

facing our country and it's

important to get it right and put

sustainable -- social care on a

sustainable footing not just this

year but in years to come and that's

where the government is committing

to its Green paper to tackle the

problem and she should look forward

to its contents this summer.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. The Minister

referred to the local government

finance settlement but this year's

settlement still needs done at means

a cut of £177 million on adult

social care from last year. Given

the NEO's report states more and

more councils are only just managing

to balance their books by using

their reserves to cover overspends

on Solskjaer says services, how does

the minister suggest they can avoid

declaring themselves effectively

bankrupt like Northamptonshire

County Council did last month, and

their reserves in many cases will be

gone by 2020.

I Susie Dent recognise

those figures. The government has

increased funding for adult social

care, of which over these three

years £9.4 billion in adult social

care, 150 more at the local her and

finance settlement and this

government is listening to councils

and delivering extra resources to

help.

The local government Finance

Act passed in the 2010 Parliament

divorced local government funding

from any assessment of need. The

Government's insistence that raising

precepts by councils can solve the

problem is simply wrong, because it

ensures that those councils in the

wealthier areas with most properties

in the higher bands raise more money

than those in the lower bands who

usually have the greatest need, the

greatest long-term De -- diseases

and so on. When will the Minister

understand this and start allocating

social services funding on the basis

of need?

Mr Speaker, I can reassure

the Honourable Lady that the

allocation for social care funding

does take into account the relative

council tax bases of local

authorities across the country, that

said, I appreciate the funding

formula is out of date and needs

review, which is why we have

launched a consultation on reforming

it. It closes today and I welcome

her comments and input into that. We

will reform it to adequately take

care of need as she suggests.

David

Warburton.

Number six, Mr Speaker.

The number of first-time buyers was

at an 11 year high in 2017, 306 to

5000 across the UK showing that our

concerted action to get more people

into home ownership through

initiatives such as Help To Buy and

stamp duty exemption for first-time

buyers is working -- 365,000.

It sounds that my Right Honourable

friend agrees with me that home

ownership is a fundamentally good

thing, 86% of fellow citizens aspire

to it and there is nothing like

spreading the economic benefits of

homeownership more widely in society

so does my Right Honourable friend

further agree we should use every

policy lever at our disposal to

encourage homeownership and give

those all-important first-time

buyers a leg up onto the ladder?

Mr

Speaker, I couldn't agree more with

my honourable friend. The

overwhelming majority of people want

to own their own home and we do need

to do more to help them do just

that. Are plans that we have set

out, including earlier this week to

build 300,000 homes in the year will

help normal people realise that

dream.

Mr Speaker, why doesn't the

Home Secretary wake up on this? So

many people in my constituency and

throughout the country, this is a

government that has failed

delivering enough houses, enough

houses to buy, enough to rent, and

the fact is he has got so many

NIMBYs, he's speaking to one of

them, so many NIMBYs on that side

they haven't got the courage to do

anything about it.

Mr Speaker, its

members on the side of the House

that are responsible for seeing

house-building last year reached its

highest level in all but one of the

last 30 years. It is members on that

side of the House who have supported

the previous government and a party

that led to the lowest number of

house-building that this country has

seen since the 1920s.

David Davies.

Seven, Mr Speaker.

With your

permission, Mr Speaker, I'd like to

answer this question together with

16. Last year we saw 217,000 homes

added to housing stock in England

and as we have set out a bold,

comprehensive reform we want to see

300,000 homes a year on average

delivered by the middle of the 2020s

in England through last week's draft

revised National Planning Policy

Framework.

May I congratulate my

Right Honourable friend on the

enormous progress he is making.

Would he agree with me that it will

not be possible to get the housing

shortage completely under control

until we have brought down migration

levels from the unsustainable

heights that were created by

honourable member is on the other

side of this House?

Mr Speaker, mime

honourable friend will be pleased to

hear we are committed to both

reducing net migration to

sustainable levels and building the

homes that this country needs.

Lucy

Allan.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Telford is a rapidly growing new

town where thousands of new homes

are built every year but for too

many new-build homeowners the

reality is unfinished communal

areas, unadopted roads, failure to

comply with section 106 and

developers failing to take

responsibility. And the local

council passing the buck. What will

the Minister do to strengthen the

rights of new-build homeowners?

Mr

Speaker, first let me commend my

honourable friend for the work she

does through the new towns APG and

she is right emphasised the need for

infrastructure alongside new

housing. I know that she welcomes a

housing infrastructure fund but in

terms of holding developers to their

commitments, I hope she will

contribute to our consultation

launched this week on that topic.

Rachael Maskell.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. I have the figures for

York, no new social housing

commissions under the current

council for the last three years

except for older people's

accommodation where there has been a

net loss and Right To Buy has made

things worse so under his new

Government's planning framework will

the council be forced to build

social housing in your?

Mr Speaker,

we are working with councils

throughout the country to help them

to meet their housing needs, and

that includes more social housing

where it is required, and proof of

that was just in the last budget

when we increased the housing

revenue account, the amount that

councils can borrow from the

Treasury to build more council homes

and other types of social housing,

we increased it and if York wants to

take advantage of it it can.

Bristol

has the highest number of office

accommodation to residential

accommodation outside London. Under

the permitted development rights

scheme that means there does not

have to be any affordable housing

element. What is the Secretary of

State doing to ensure councils like

Bristol and insist there is

affordable housing built in our city

centre?

Mr Speaker, the Honourable

Lady is right to raise the

importance of affordable housing,

having the right mix of housing

everywhere including in Bristol

where we are currently working with

Bristol with both the mayor of West

England and the mayor of Bristol on

a housing deal and it would include,

if it happens, a significant portion

of affordable housing.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. Green belt protections

around Bristol and Bath are

displacing housing targets beyond

the green belt into Somerset. Should

the council is unable to build

enough houses be required to deliver

transport and infrastructure plans

to service the commuting needs of

new Somerset residents who need to

travel through the protected green

belt on their way to work?

Mr

Speaker, we want to help all

councils meet their local housing

need and that means including

helping with their plans as they

develop them but also giving them

more options other than looking at a

green belt, as we did in the recent

planning draft plan published

earlier this week, and also helping

with infrastructure, and that means

the £5 billion housing

infrastructure fund.

Helen Hayes.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The previous

Conservative Mayor of London said at

the London Housing bank, a loan

scheme so restrictive housing

providers couldn't borrow from it.

Can the Secretary of State explain

why instead of responding to

requests from the current Mayor of

London over the past 18 months to

remove some of the restrictions on

this scheme to enable much-needed

affordable homes to be built, he

decided to withdraw the funding for

affordable homes altogether, and can

he explain how it's the case that

the first the Mayors office heard

about this was an article in the

Huffington Post?

We all want to see

more affordable homes, including in

our capital city, and that's why the

settlement over £3 billion in the

Spring Budget given to London for

affordable housing is the biggest

ever, welcomed by the mayor, but

despite that we have seen a fall in

affordable housing delivery under

Saddiq Khan.

It's not acceptable and

he needs to do much better.

Nicky

Morgan.

Question number eight.

Last

week the government published the

National policy framework for

consultation and through clearer

guidance to councils and developers

it will help develop, deliver more

homes and more quickly.

Thank you

for the answer. For the sake of

disclosure I should say my husband

is the leader, or they refuse to

call them that, planning permissions

for ten years worth of housing, but

the difficulty is trying to get the

developers to start the building. If

that doesn't happen it affects the

five-year land supply leaving other

sites vulnerable to develop and. Can

the Minister tell the House what the

government plans to do to speed up

delivery by developers for planning

permission is they already have?

I

thank my Right Honourable friend.

The good news is in 2017 she saw

160,000 new homes registered to be

built, the highest number since the

financial crash, and she is right

about speed, the NPPF will help

deliver that through the housing

delivery test and my Right

Honourable friend the member for

Dorset West is reviewing build-out

rates.

I have no wish to be unkind

to the honourable member, the lady

for Bath, let me put it this way, we

have had a dose from Bath but by

long-standing convention the member

isn't called twice on substantive

questions so the Honourable Lady

seeks to catch my eye on the double

core question she may be successful.

I admire her persistence but I hope

she understands that's the way we

operate -- on a topical question.

She's not greedy, she's just keen!

John Mann.

Questioned nine, Mr

Speaker.

In nearly all cases it is

for local authorities to take the

final decision on a local plan. In

the last two years 50 local plans

were deemed sound by planning

inspectors and won by the ministry

itself.

But, Mr Speaker, looking at

the consultation from last week

whereby neighbourhood plans are

according to the government a bit

able to be overturned by local

councils above them. And local

council plans above them, by the

Secretary of State and his faceless

bureaucrats. What is wrong in this

country with freedom and democracy

of local people making the decisions

effectively and fairly and

democratically? Is this Josef

Stalin, or is this English democracy

that this government is forcing upon

us?

Mr Speaker, for the thunder and

lightning we are investing £23

million to support neighbourhood

planning groups and I would gently

remind the honourable gentleman that

94% of councils have published local

plans compared to 32% when Labor

last left office, the last Labour

government wantonly failed to

deliver in encouraging they take-up

of local plans where this government

has succeeded.

Mr Speaker, talking

of planning ahead, two councils in

Somerset, Taunton Deane and West

Somerset, are waiting to form a

civil council. They have had major

savings by joint sharing already,

but now they really need to know if

they can form one authority, and I

wonder if my Right Honourable friend

might update me on the process and

the progress of it.

I thank my

honourable friend. This is under

imminent review. The Secretary of

State is giving his personal

attention and there will be a

decision taken on it shortly.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. Last week I

attended a meeting of the Eden Park

residents Association as part of the

conversation on Stoke-on-Trent's

joint local plan as they are aghast

at proposals to bring forward the

greenfield site of Berryhill fields

while brownfield sites are left

unlocked at. What can the Minister

say to them to make sure that they

know that when it comes to looking

for new housing developer and sites

that brownfield sites will always be

chosen over greenfield sites?

I

thank the honourable gentleman. He

is right and we have reinforced the

focus on Brownfield first and also

looking for extra density where it

can be provided through the National

Planning Policy Framework and I look

forward to his supportive comments

during consultation.

Stephen Timms.

Question ten, Mr

speaker.

Since 2010 we have

delivered 357,000 affordable homes

including 128,000 homes for social

rent and the government is providing

£9 billion of affordable housing and

a 1 billion HR revenue certainty and

these measures will support social

landlords to build more social homes

where the need is greatest.

The

number of government funded homes

built for social rent fell to 199 in

the last six months, the lowest

numbers since records have been

kept, isn't it clear that there is

an urgent need for a major

government funded programme of

social housing?

I know this is an

issue that the honourable member has

championed and it is a badger to do

business with him. We recognise the

critical role supported

accommodation can play in helping

vulnerable people to live

independently and we have delivered

over a thousand units and we have

plans to increase that on top in the

areas that need it most.

I thank my

honourable friend for her answers,

Brigitte Abbey has won the

department is returning money to the

Treasury -- but could she explain

why her department is returning

money to the Treasury?

Because some

people seem to be causing mischief

over something, this is less than 3%

of the total budget and the money

has been re-profile to come back in

in future years and when councils

and local authorities and housing

associations can bid in, the money

is there to be spent and we wanted

be spent.

Alex Marquez. -- Morris.

Building council houses is a prudent

way to provide houses for social

rent but this has been choked off by

the government by only inching the

cap of rather than removing it

completely. When will they remove

it?

I don't understand why people

misunderstand what is going on with

local government finance, the most

serious areas where there are

shortages of affordable housing, the

cat has been lifted to £1 billion

borrowing -- the cap. We made local

authorities to step up and if his

local council has projects like mind

as they will be looked unfavourably,

so please ask your local councils to

step up.

Ian Austin.

Number 11.

I do

beg your pardon. Let's get to number

11. LAUGHTER

The numbers in the West Midlands

have increased, overview from 2016

-- over the year from 2016 in

increased by eight people, I have

the figures, so don't disagree with

me. We have committed to providing

£20 million of funding to pilot a

housing first approach in the three

major regions which includes the

West Midlands combined authority and

I'm looking forward to working with

the mayor of the West Midlands on

this issue.

I think anybody in the

West Midlands who hears a ministers

say that the number of rough

sleepers has only increased by eight

will be absolutely staggered at the

complacency from this government.

The fact is rough sleeping has

soared in Birmingham and even in

towns like Dudley where tragically a

homeless man died in a tent in the

last few weeks, and the Mayor's

policy won't see rough sleeping

abolished until 2027 and we need a

much more urgent approach was. I

would like to see if ministers will

agree to a new scheme which can help

hundreds of people over the last few

months.

I think that was a really

good question and it is helpful that

we get intelligent questions in this

chamber because it means that we can

give intelligent answers and the

intelligent answer is the housing

first project is about wraparound

care, £28 million of public money

going to help solve this desperate

problem, the advisory panel is

meeting for the third time in

another two weeks and the task force

has already met and it is an urgent

matter for this government and it

will be solved.

Diana Johnson.

Question 12.

With permission, I will

answer this question together with

question 19, the 2018-2019

settlement is the third year of a

four-year deal providing funding

certainty and accepted by 97% of

councils, and it sees a real terms

increase in resources to local

government over the next two years

totalling £45.1 billion in the

forthcoming financial year.

Hull is

the third most deprived local

authority in the country and two

thirds of residence requires social

care compared to the national

average and we have been losing

government funding since 2010 by

half and we will be getting the

lowest amount per head of any area

in Yorkshire and the Humber Council.

Having got it so wrong, can the

minister now guarantee that Hull

will get a fair funding settlement?

The honourable lady makes comments

about funding for deprived areas and

she will be pleased to know that

funding per household in her area is

higher than the average for unitary

authorities across the country and

in general the most deprived local

authorities have funding per

household 23% higher than the most

well-off but I can reassure her that

we are committed to introducing a

new fair funding formula and I look

forward to hearing her response and

from her counsel as we develop it.

In a letter to the Secretary of

State last month the Conservative

leader of Warwickshire County

Council stated that in their view,

the current funding model for local

government is unsustainable, is she

correct?

Mr speaker, I appreciate

the point about the funding

settlement and the Formolo, but he

will know from his membership of the

select committee which I have the

pleasure to appear before, we are

looking very hard at the structure

of local government financing,

increasing the business rates

retention and also introducing a new

needs -based formula which takes

into account update needs and

resources and I know his committee

will play a huge part in making sure

that we get that right for

Warwickshire and the country.

I

strongly supported the pressure that

we have put local authorities under

to improve efficiency and I'm sure

that elsewhere in the country there

are examples of where further needs

to be done but in the South West my

impression is that in Devon amply

met and many other local

authorities, right now their

finances have been cut to the bone

and I do think there is an

opportunity for the government to be

more generous with efficient local

authorities in the south-west to

enable them to make sure their

priorities are delivered -- Devon

and Cornwall and Plymouth.

I pay

tribute to local authorities across

the country, they have done a

commendable job of providing high

quality services in a difficult

climate and I thank them, and I look

forward to the representations from

Devon and the south-west as we

reform local government and

financing through the fair funding

formula.

David Lammy.

On the 4th of

July the Secretary of State said to

the house that he would help with

every precaution local authorities

dealing with the cladding problem

across our country following the

Grenfell Tower fire. Why is it

despite over 40 run local

authorities asking for that help and

the Department given £117 million

back to the Treasury, has he not

been able to find the money to help

those poor people in those buildings

worried as we speak?

Mr speaker, the

department is in discussions with

multiple local authorities about the

requirements to improve the safety

of buildings and we understand the

Department has not said no to any

local authority that is far which is

seeking flexibility with those

plans.

My own counsel in Derbyshire

has seen an hundred £80 million over

half of their budget cut in the last

seven years -- my own counsel in

Derbyshire has seen £180 million,

over half their budget cut in the

last seven years. What will be

minister do to make sure that the

council's receives the proper

funding they need to free up

hospital beds and support families

in the most urgent need?

As we have

discussed the government has put

extra resources into social care and

it is pleasing to see that over the

past year delayed transfers of care

across England have fallen 34%,

showing that the resources putting

in our making a difference on the

ground.

Since 2010 Hull City Council

have been forced to cut their

children's services budget by £37.2

million and this has meant they have

not had the money they have needed

for the early intervention support

for families and it is no surprise

that the number of looked after

children in Hull has increased by

140, 140 lives changed for ever,

will the minister please give

authorities like Hull more money so

they can give those families support

when they need it before the

families enter crisis?

The

honourable lady is right to

highlight the important work that

prevention plays no one wants to a

child in need. That is why this

government has committed almost £1

billion to the troubled families

programme over this period in the

spending review which as recent

results have shown has reduced the

Children In Need.

Last week the respected audit office

published a report on the financial

sustainability of local authorities

and it laid clear the significant

challenges faced by councils and the

vital services they deliver, can the

Secretary of State prove he is on

the side of local councils and place

in the House of Commons library any

submissions he has made to the

Chancellor ahead of the Spring

Budget?

I also read the National

Audit Office report with interest

and I was pleased to see it made

very positive comments about the

Department's work in getting to

grips with the challenges across

local government making sure the

sector is properly resourced and

looks forward to the reviews that

are being put in place to improve

funding and business rates retention

in the way forward. The government

is committed to delivering a new

generation of council homes we are

providing local authorities with the

tools and resources to deliver them.

In 2009, 2010, the last Labour

government had 14,000 starts in that

one year but this government has

financed 199 in the last six months,

given we have such a shortage of

local social housing and we have a

homelessness crisis, how does the

government explained this was a ball

performance?

For the record, local

authorities have built over 10,000

homes since 2010 compared to under

3000 in the 13 years of the last

Labour government but we know we had

to do much more on that is why we

are raising the borrowing cap by up

to £1 billion to make sure we spare

local house-building as widely as we

can.

Is it in the private sector to

build in sufficient quantity is to

achieve a reduction in price?

It is

a good question which is probably

one for a symposium with everyone

from developers and the planners,

but we do want to see a

stabilisation in house prices and we

need to build more homes and deal

with the demand, there is no single

answer and we have got to yak every

lever at our disposal 30% harder. --

yank.

At last, thank you, Mr

speaker. The settlement sees a real

increase for local government in the

next two years, increasing from

£44.3 billion to £45.6 billion.

Edward Aga.

Leicestershire has had one of the

lowest per head of population

funding settlements in the country,

will he make sure that with the new

funding system it provides fair

funding for Leicestershire alongside

his department continuing to support

our councils in driving further

efficiencies and service

improvements?

In particular for

Leicestershire but for councils

there could be no better champion of

fairer funding for the many councils

and not the few, than my honourable

friend, and this evidence -based

review will provide the opportunity

from their funding allocations for

Leicestershire and other councils.

On the 4th of December the sectarian

state told the house that local

government finance settlement is

coming shortly and he can see what

happens with that, but apart from

finding out that the Secretary of

State is bad at maths and doesn't

know what is happening in his

Department the settlement came and

went with no help for children's

services, since then Tory

Northamptonshire has effectively

gone bust siding children's services

as one of the main cost pressures

and only last week the National

Audit Office published a damning

report showing the worst crisis in

the local government sectors 170

year history, so with the Spring

statement tomorrow, what is the

minister going to do to make sure

that our children's services get the

£2 billion that even the Tory

controlled local government

Association says that they so

desperately need?

Well, Mr Speaker, we have increased

funding in real terms and I'm sure

his constituents in Denton and

Redditch like my constituents will

welcome that. What I would say to

the honourable gentleman, with the

fairer funding review coming up

white rather than trying to score

political points across the chamber,

doesn't he get involved in it so

local authorities can concentrate on

delivering?

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Can my honourable friend provide

assurances that the pressures on how

to London boroughs will be

considered as part of the fairer

funding review?

I can absolutely

provide those assurances to my

honourable friend, demographic

change will be at the heart of the

fairer funding review.

Number 15, Mr

Speaker.

Mr Speaker, over the

Spending Review period councils will

receive more than £200 billion to

deliver local services, this money

is in the large part in ring fenced

so local authorities can prioritise

where they see fit, including for

their statutory duties relating to

children in care.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. With the education

disparity between looked after and

not looked after children so wide

what more does the Minister believe

local authorities can do to bridge

this gap?

My honourable friend race

is a good point about the outcomes

for children in care. The government

is consulting and is shortly to

introduce the care leavers covenant

looking to support companies,

charities and local government to

bring care leavers into implement

after they leave care and

strengthening corporate parenting

provisions in the forthcoming

children and social work act.

Mr

Speaker, over 1 million homes have

been delivered since 2010, we are

taking forward a range of reforms to

build more homes more swiftly,

including the NPPF published last

week.

Two weeks ago I asked the

Department for the number of houses

will not be built because of land

banking, and the answer came back

the department does not hold the

information requested. How can the

Minister have a crackdown on land

banking if he has no information? I

believe the minister does have that

information and I urge the Minister

to publish that information so he

can monitor the builders and we can

monitor his performance.

Can I say,

Mr Speaker, I welcome that scrutiny.

It is difficult to establish the

negative in the way he is suggesting

but we have the NPPF housing

delivery test that will test local

authorities and developers on the

delivery of homes and the review by

my Right Honourable friend for

Dorset West which will squarely

address the point he is concerned

about.

Number 18, Mr Speaker.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. For areas not, that

have not agreed deal so far we aim

to provide clarity on how best to

take forward their ambitions for

devolution and local growth over the

coming months.

The Minister will be

aware that the greater Lincolnshire

deal collapsed last year despite the

support of the overwhelming number

of local authorities. Will the

Minister look favourably on a

revised scheme from a smaller number

of authorities in the county?

Mr

Speaker, devolution could almost be

regarded as the golden thread of

Brexit. If we want to take back

control we should bring power is not

just from Brussels to London but

from London back to our regions.

Last Friday I met with borough and

county councillors in Gainsborough

and Lincoln and was struck by the

pent-up demand for devolution in

Lincolnshire and suggest the

honourable gentleman uses his

considerable leadership role to

drive for devolution in his.

Topical

questions, Tom Pursglove.

Mr

Speaker, yesterday we marked

Mother's Day, a few days after

International Women's Day and the

100th anniversary of women getting

the boat. All members will want to

join me in applauding the

exceptional women who make this

country great including our Prime

Minister. Last week she launched

bold ambitious reforms to planning

rules to help build the homes this

country needs and since my last

department I'm pleased the

homelessness reduction task force

has met for the first time and the

government confirmed a support for

the National War Memorial honouring

Sikh servicemen. Corbyn East is East

Hampshire and share has been at the

front over building new homes in

line with the agenda set up by the

Prime Minister last week. Can he

reassure my constituents that along

with building those new homes will

see the appropriate infrastructure

to accompany them at all times?

My

honourable friend is right to raise

the issue of infrastructure when it

comes to building the homes we need.

That's why for example the housing

infrastructure fund is so important.

Inodes through his hard work in the

first allegation that Corby received

some and I listen carefully to what

he says. -- I know that through his

hard work.

Nine months on from the

Grenfell Tower fire at Nakamba

Secretary of State say yes or no

weather every tower block with a

social or a private landlord which

has Grenfell type cladding has now

been identified and tested?

Mr

Speaker, the Right Honourable

gentleman is right to raise this

issue, it is key that we make sure

we're hoping local identify those

tower blocks. When it comes to

social housing all of those tower

blocks, whether owned by councils or

housing associations have been

identified and we continue to work

with local councils including giving

additional financial support, just

last week of £1 million to find and

make sure they are identifying every

single tower block in the private

sector and they will continue to

receive whatever support they need.

Mr Speaker, I think that was a long

winded no and is consistent with the

recent building safety data release

so, how is it nine months after

Grenfell that not all private tower

blocks with suspect cladding have

been tested, that only seven of 301

blocks with Grenfell type cladding

have yet had had removed and

replaced, that not one of 41

councils that have asked for

financial help with extra fire

safety work has yet even had an

answer from the Department? Now, he

is the Housing Secretary. What does

he say to reasonable people faced

with these facts who feel that he is

failing the Prime Minister's pledge

in June, my government, she said,

will do whatever it takes to keep

people safe.

Mr Speaker, reasonable

people understand just how important

this issue is and they don't take

kindly when they Right Honourable

gentleman plays party politics with

such an important issue. Such an

important issue. If he actually

cared Right Honourable gentleman

wouldn't raise it in such a way and

use numbers and twist the facts so

that he tries to scare the public

with what is going on. The truth is

we are working with local

authorities up-and-down the country

to address and locate every single

building, put in remedial measures,

and also to help them with the

funding, and not a single council,

as he says, has been turned away. We

are talking to every single council

that has approached us and we made

it clear they will all receive, if

they needed, the financial

flexibility is to get the job done.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Thousands of

homes have been granted planning

permission in my constituency but

then we often see long delays until

the houses are built. Could my Right

Honourable friend advise what steps

he is taking to make sure that when

planning permission is granted

houses are built, and particularly

affordable homes?

I can give my

honourable friend that assurance.

First, there is the work we have

commissioned, the Independent work

from the Right Honourable member

from West Dorset, on speeding a

building once planning permission

has been given and we will hear more

on that this week. Secondly, in the

consultation that was published

earlier this week, there is a

particular focus on developer

contributions to make sure that

developers stick to their word and

they can no longer game the system.

Matt Western.

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

On the 1st of March we saw the

relaunch of the Parliamentary

campaign for council housing

bringing together MPs from all

parties, calling for the mass

building of council housing. Can the

Minister or Secretary of State

specify what the Department is doing

to accelerate the expansion and

building of council housing in this

country?

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I

reiterate again, we are raising the

HRA borrowing limited to £1 billion

for local authorities where there is

the highest need for new council

housing to be built to apply, again,

please can I ask him to encourage

councils in his area to apply?

What

recent assessment has the department

made of the success of the troubled

families programme?

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. My honourable friend has a

long history of being interested in

this programme and he will be

pleased to know the evaluation

reports published in December showed

very promising progress particularly

with regard to children in need and

further findings will be published

in due course in the annual report

and I look forward to discussing

those at length with him then.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. The current

definition for affordable housing

introduced by the coalition

government is set at 80% of local

market rate. But when house prices

are spiralling out of control, as

they are in my Battersea

constituency, this definition of

affordable housing is a cruel joke

to those on low or medium incomes.

Will the Secretary of State commit

to replacing this absurd definition

so that housing can be genuinely

affordable to my constituents?

Well,

I do understand the issue the

Honourable Lady raises. I would say

the numbers on social housing

waiting lists are down by half a

million since 2010 and a number of

affordable homes in total including

social housing is higher in the last

seven years and the previous seven

years of the last Labour government

but we are restless to do more. I'm

not sure fiddling the criteria of

how these things are measured is the

answer. We need more homes across

the board and I welcome her support

in that regard.

Thank you, Mr

Speaker. My honourable friend has

already raised the issue of fairer

funding for Leicestershire County

Council. The county council are

broadly supportive of the

Government's consultation but does

the Minister agree that the overall

funding formula needs to be looked

at in detail because of the baseline

is not addressed Leicestershire will

still be falling behind other county

councils?

Mr Speaker, I very much

agree with my Right Honourable

friend, that Leicestershire in

particular has done much work on

this, which will certainly feed into

the consultation on fairer funding

that is closing today. I also know

my honourable friend the housing

minister recently met with

Leicestershire and I would be happy

to meet with my honourable friend to

discuss this further.

Patrick Grady.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Given the

importance of European Union

regional development funding across

the UK what discussions is the

Secretary of State having about

replacing this funding after Brexit?

Mr Speaker, we are having white

discussions with all departments

across government consulting on the

UK's Shared Prosperity Fund, which

crucially in a post-Brexit world

will deliver on Britain's priorities

when it comes to local growth

funding.

Kevin Hollinrake.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. A recent report by

the campaign to protect rural

England says the viability

assessments favour large Donegal

arched developers of a small

developers and cut the number of

affordable homes by 50%. With the

Minister use the strongest possible

action to make sure SMEs compete on

a level playing field with large

builders and developers provide

homes for those most in need.

My

honourable friend is absolutely

right and through our planning

reforms we are putting formal rigour

into the systems, both so plans,

planners are clear about the

allegations on infrastructure and

affordable houses but so that

developers can be properly held to

account in meeting those aspirations

and commitments.

If the government

are serious about the Northern

Powerhouse and improving

connectivity between communities in

the north, does the Northern

Powerhouse Minister think that

trans-Pennine's plans to lengthen

journeys from Hull across the

Pennines and not turning up to a

meeting with the city's MPs and

business leaders last week to

discuss this, will help deliver his

plans for the Northern Powerhouse?

I

think it's extremely disappointing

if trans-Pennine didn't turn up to a

meeting with members of Parliament

from the city of Hull. What I would

say, and I hope the Honourable Lady

will be encouraged that we are

investing £13 billion to put it in

context, more money than any

government in history, in our

northern transport infrastructure,

and on top of that we have set up

transport for the North, a sub

national transport body currently

consulting on a 30 year plan to

improve transport across the north

of England, and that is how you

deliver a Northern Powerhouse.

Thank

you, Mr Speaker. With a chest to set

to displace a number of tenants

living in social housing in my

constituency, would my Right

Honourable friend consider whether

the rent act 1977, which obliges

councils to rehouse council tenants

whose homes are subject to

compulsory purchase orders, will

need amending to reflect the fact

the majority of social housing stock

is now owned by housing associations

rather than by local authorities?

I

entirely understand the concern that

my honourable friend is sharing with

us. I hope I can give some

reassurance. I don't think there is

need to amend the 1977 act because

local authorities are already

obliged to consider those in need of

social housing through the Housing

Act 1996, so local authorities will

make appropriate non-Asians to

housing associations or offer

tenancies in their own stock. --

nominations to housing associations.

Given that the members for Reading

West and Nuneaton are not in their

former government posts, what has

happened to the consultation and the

timescale for action the government

promised my frustrated constituents?

It is a very important issue and we

are looking to see what more we can

do with the challenges it represents

and we are planning to publish a

consultation and will do so as soon

as possible.

An article in the

Sunday Times yesterday highlighted

that we still have some councils

performing mass burials for babies

and I was appalled but research has

identified that despite campaign

efforts by colleagues across the

house and charities, we have not

been able to set up a children's

funeral fund, would you meet with me

to progress this?

Mr speaker, you

are right to raise this, nothing can

be harder than losing a parent and

we must also be looking to see what

could be done to provide help, local

authorities provide help in many

ways but she is right to raise this

and I was also concerned by the

article she referenced and I will be

happy to meet with her.

Every day is

a school day, especially when it

comes to parliamentary conventions.

Affordable housing and council

housing are not the same, will the

minister consider amending the

planning policy framework to enable

councils to specify in their

strategic plans different housing

types rather than mentioning

affordable and housing always on the

same breath?

The honourable lady

makes an important point but if

she'd accept the detail of the new

revised national policy plan she

will see there is scope for the

distinction and I look forward to

her responses in support.

Could I

ask the Secretary of State when we

are likely to get a decision on the

fantastic plans for expansion at

because way in my constituency? --

at the Causeway. I don't know why

this is taken so long, because what

is there not to like about more jobs

and infrastructure.

I should declare

an interest, I have been shopping

there many times, it is my mother 's

favourite place, but we are looking

at this in detail. It is relatively

complex but we will try to reach a

decision as quickly as possible.

It

is useful to learn about minister's

domestic habits and we are grateful

for the minister providing further

information.

Northamptonshire County Council has

really -- recently gone bust, is

that because of incompetence?

It

hasn't gone bust, but because of

concerns about their finances with

ago I appointed an independent

investigation into this, a best

value in inspection and the

inspector will report later this

week.

I welcomed the government's

encouraging words on the need to

improve the funding for the upper

tiers but would the Secretary of

State welcome and congratulate

Conservative run Brock Stowe Borough

Council which has frozen its council

tax yet again while delivering

excellent services and reducing

rents by 1% and spending half £1

million on parks and open spaces,

and Labour and the Liberal Democrats

at Brookstone voted against this.

First of all come up I have to say

to my honourable friend, are not

surprised at the behaviour of Labour

and the Lib Dems, but I would warmly

welcomed the council in your

constituency by keeping taxes low

and quality high, and it is a

reminder that Conservative councils

cost you less but give you more.

The

fact of the matter, I'm sure the

Secretary of State will agree, the

government has quite rightly

increased the standard and the cost

should be borne partly by the

freeholder and partly by the

leasehold and partly by the

government, why doesn't he get those

three together and do something

about it?

We have made it clear that

when it comes to the private sector

and this type of remedial work, they

should take their lead from the

social sector and it is the moral

duty of any freeholder to meet any

necessary cost and there are a

number of legal issues, the legal

case that is very important to this

going to the courts right now, and

this is something we are keeping

under review. Councils in rural

areas have received a rule deal

--

raw deal for many years, so in the

review, will be true cost of

services be delivered so that rural

areas get a fair deal?

I know you

are a doughty champion of rural

areas and I'm pleased to say that

your point will be considered in the

fair funding formula and I'm sure he

will be heart and by the local

government financial settlement

where we increase the rural services

delivery grant to its highest level.

Three remaining questions, if each

of the three agree to ask a single

sentence question less than 20

words.

What can the minister do to

include broadband in that?

We are

working with DC MS in doing just

that.

He is not a lawyer for

nothing.

Following Sunday Times

revelations about fraudulent

Grenfell aid claims, what more can

be done about this?

I won't comment

on the particular claims, I'm sure

you will understand, but it is

important that the council and the

police are working together on any

such alleged failure. -- behaviour.

Rebecca pow.

Under the new garden status, Taunton

Deane is delivering well above the

average which the minister will

appreciate about the best way to

succeed is with the recent funding

formula bid put in with Somerset

Council? -- but the best way for the

yes.

Pipe.