Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)
1. What recent assessment he has made of the scope for local authorities to make savings by reducing waste and inefficiency.
Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)
16. What recent assessment he has made of the scope for local authorities to make savings by reducing waste and inefficiency.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer question 1—
Mr Speaker
I remind the Secretary of State that he is seeking to answer that with question 16. I shall be advised if I am mistaken or if he has changed his mind.
Mr Pickles
Thank goodness someone is paying attention to what is going on.
To be helpful, I have published “50 ways to save”, a practical guide to councils on how they can make the most of their budgets to protect front-line services and keep council tax down.
Andrew Selous
Will the Secretary of State commend Central Bedfordshire councillors who, while taking out £60 million of costs, have transformed all 12 libraries, brought back into use a leisure centre and greatly improved it, set up a reablement service and provided extra care housing for the frail elderly. Does that not show what a relentless focus on front-line service and value for money can achieve?
Mr Pickles
It is some time since I visited Central Bedfordshire council. I hope that I can visit very soon. The work is very impressive and clearly demonstrates how a good council, looking carefully at what it spends, can protect and enhance local services. I look forward to an early visit.
Mr Speaker
I call the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell)—[Interruption.] After the initiative of the right hon. Gentleman in bringing about the grouping and then in so graciously recollecting the fact that he had done so, the hon. Member for Romford is sadly not with us.
Mr Speaker
Yes, the right hon. Gentleman might have been prescient. I am sure the hon. Member for Romford was told by the Department. If he was not, we are sorry. If he was, he should be here and we are sorry that he is not. No doubt further and better information will become available in due course.
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
2. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
Chloe Smith (Norwich North) (Con)
4. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
10. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con)
12. What steps he is taking to encourage development on brownfield land.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
The Government are determined to make the best use of brownfield land and meet as much of our housing need as possible on brownfield sites. Earlier this month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State announced an ambitious package of reforms to accelerate development on brownfield sites and deliver up to 200,000 homes by 2020.
Mr Jones
Residential development on brownfield land in town centres is a key way to protect small and medium-sized town centres from the structural change in retailing while alleviating the demand for residential development on countryside land. Will my hon. Friend set out what more can be done to encourage councils, when putting in place their local plans—they are doing that now—to develop more on brownfield sites?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend makes an extremely important argument that one of the ways to revive town centres is to bring more people to live right in the heart of them. That is why we have introduced a permitted development right to make it easier to convert offices into residential property. It is also why, in the recently published planning guidance, we made it clear that councils should be looking to incentivise development on brownfield sites and reflect the cost of developing those sites.
Chloe Smith
I welcome those measures. Will the Minister join me, and indeed the Chancellor, in saying that we will not stand by and pull up the ladder of housing that the next generation needs?
Nick Boles
I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. She has done a lot of work recently on the interests of the next generation—the growing generation—of people in our country. Housing need is one of those key interests. It is one of the reasons why we brought forward planning reforms, and help to buy is helping people get on the housing ladder.
Stephen Mosley
Cheshire West and Chester strategic housing land availability assessment shows enough brownfield land to cater for west Cheshire’s housing need for the next 30 years, yet the council is proposing to build on green-belt land outside Chester. Will my hon. Friend reassure my constituents that the intention of the Government’s planning reforms is to encourage brownfield development ahead of green-belt development?
Nick Boles
Our policies are clear that brownfield development is supported unless the brownfield site in question has a very high environmental value. In order to bring forward proposals for development on green-belt land, councils have to satisfy a high policy test of exceptional circumstances and they also have to go through a process of intensive consultation through a local plan process before they can change green-belt boundaries.
David Rutley
In a recent Civitas pamphlet, Peter Haslehurst from Macclesfield highlighted the importance of brownfield development and the need to learn lessons from other countries, particularly the United States, in taking that forward. What steps are being taken by my hon. Friend’s Department to learn from international case studies to help further accelerate this important work?
Nick Boles
We should always be willing to learn from other countries, but we should also not talk down our own achievements. More than two thirds of all new houses are built on brownfield sites, but we can always do more and that is why my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has proposed housing zones, with a package of £400 million, to help put in place local development orders on brownfield land so that development comes through more quickly.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
I have referred previously to paragraphs 47 onwards of the national planning policy framework, which mean that sites have to be deliverable and viable to be included in a local plan. Many developers are objecting to brownfield sites being included and want greenfield sites to be substituted instead because of this requirement. As a result of the package to which the Minister has just referred, how many of the sites excluded from local plans by paragraph 47 requirements will now be able to be included by local authorities?
Nick Boles
I take this opportunity briefly to apologise to the hon. Gentleman for having referred to him during a debate last week when he was not present, and for not having given him notice of that—
Nick Boles
I do not apologise for what I said, but I apologise for referring to the hon. Gentleman.
To answer his question, of course we do not collect a central database of every single brownfield site in the land and how they are affected by very recent policy announcements. It is very clear that local authorities need to do everything they can to make sure that sites are viable by setting section 106 agreements and the community infrastructure levy at an appropriate level. Secondly, there is no way that a developer can argue that a site is not viable for development unless they have clear public evidence to demonstrate why it is financially unviable.
Mr David Lammy (Tottenham) (Lab)
The Minister has made much in the House of accelerating development on brownfield land and the Secretary of State has said a lot about speeding up planning. Why has the development for Spurs, which is currently with the Department with regard to a compulsory purchase order, been with the Department for 14 months? Might we reach a decision shortly and will he confirm that the Secretary of State is not an Arsenal supporter?
Nick Boles
I would never dare to tread into the question of people’s football loyalties, particularly not at this time. I understand the right hon. Gentleman’s frustrations, but the matter has not entirely been with the Department as we have had to refer back to parties on some complex questions. I am keen to make a decision as soon as possible, but I know that he will want that decision to hold up in court and it is therefore important to ensure that it is robust.
Mr Speaker
The Minister might not be an Arsenal supporter, but I most certainly am—and very proud of it.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
Surely the planning Minister understands that there has been an increasing trend, particularly in urban areas, to use greenfield sites while land banking brownfield sites, often leaving them derelict in the heart of our towns and city centres. What is he doing to ensure that that land-banked land is brought into active use to provide regeneration benefits for our towns and cities?
Nick Boles
There is absolutely no evidence of what the hon. Gentleman has just claimed and in answer to about six questions I have just explained the multiple policies of this Government to bring brownfield land forward for use through guidance, policy, housing zones and new pots of money.
Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)
How will the new local development orders on brownfield sites work in practice? For example, will the Minister say how local people will be involved in deciding which sites should be included in development orders and confirm that that will not undermine localism?
Nick Boles
I am grateful for the opportunity to confirm that it absolutely will not undermine localism, as local development orders have to go through the same local consultation as any other local planning permission. The fundamental difference with local development orders is that the local council effectively determines up front the broad parameters of development that will be acceptable. Any proposal that meets those broad conditions can then go ahead. It is a bit like a zoning system rather than our traditional system of submitting a particular planning application for every site. It is absolutely something that is driven locally and led by local councils.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
Among his reforms, will the Minister review the business rate exemptions available for derelict buildings further to incentivise owners of those builders to redevelop those sites or otherwise bring them back into use?
Nick Boles
We will always look at any new ideas, but I am sure that my hon. Friend will welcome the fact that anyone who takes on premises that have been empty for quite a long time can now get a level of exemption that was previously not available.
Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)
The Minister referred to the fact that there was a multiplicity of ideas relating to local government and brownfield sites. Does he really think that people will want to build on a brownfield site if they know that fracking is likely to take place there in the future?
Nick Boles
It is not my belief that fracking is likely to take place in the centre of towns and cities, which is where most of these brownfield sites are. There is of course a question about the various uses that might be made of any site, but most of the brownfield land that should come forward for development, particularly housing development, is unlikely also to be used for fracking.
Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)
3. What assessment he has made of the performance of the troubled families programme.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
The troubled families programme is performing strongly, and my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister has announced that, two years into the three-year programme, over 97,000 of the 120,000 families who will be helped by the programme are being worked with, and that nearly 40,000 have already been turned around.
Siobhain McDonagh
Has the Secretary of State had the opportunity to consider the impact of temporary accommodation on the families being looked after by troubled families units? Many of those families live in private rented accommodation. In my part of south London and, I am sure, in other parts of London and the south-east, large numbers of people are being placed in temporary accommodation as a result of eviction, some of which is quite distant from their home borough. Every Friday, I see families going from south-west London to Wembley, Tottenham and other parts of London. As I see them leave, I am troubled about the future for their children.
Mr Pickles
In preparation for answering the hon. Lady’s question, I asked what concerns she might have about her own authority, Merton, and I was told that she had not had a specific discussion with the authority on this subject. I should like to give her the very good news that Merton, with 337 troubled families, is ranked 120th among the local authorities. It has done an extremely good job and had worked with 86% of those families by the end of March, turning round nearly half of them. Merton has now put itself forward to work closely with the expanded programme, and I think the hon. Lady has reason to be proud of the way in which her local authority has handled this matter.
Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)
Does my right hon. Friend agree that it makes sense to target resources on troubled families, who cost the public purse an average of £75,000 a year? Am I right in thinking that the Government are about to commit £200 million more to this programme, so that more troubled families can be helped and so that we can target help and resources on the 400,000 families in the greatest need?
Mr Pickles
It is probably a good thing that we have kept this reasonably simple. It is about getting people back into work, reducing the amount of antisocial behaviour and getting children back into school. My right hon. Friend is right to suggest that the programme has been a success, and I am also grateful for the support of the right hon. Member for Leeds Central (Hilary Benn) in this regard. We will expand it, and we hope that it will change the lives of lots of people.
Lyn Brown (West Ham) (Lab)
The troubled families programme should be aimed at families who are facing multiple challenges and who have the most complex needs. That is something that we would support. The Secretary of State asserts that the programme is succeeding, but how can he justify that when, even on his own tests, many of the families he claims to have “turned round” are still committing crimes, their children are still missing school and their family members are not working? Indeed, some of the families he claims to have turned round have been nowhere near the programme.
Mr Pickles
I do not understand the hon. Lady’s hostility. This has been a very successful programme, and we have worked closely with Labour authorities. There is a lagging authority, however. I understand that her experience might be different, in that Newham has identified 985 families and is working with 90% of them, but has turned round only 14% of them, compared with the national average of 33%. Let us be clear: we are not turning these good folks into model citizens—these are very difficult families—but if we can get the children into school for three successive terms, get other family members into work for three months and reduce the amount of antisocial behaviour, it is better for those people and for their neighbours. It is also a lot better than the rather smug attitude being taken by some Opposition Members.
Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)
5. What steps he is taking to increase home building.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins)
This Government have already delivered 445,000 new homes since 2010. Housing starts on new homes in the past year increased by 31%, the highest increase since 2007, and we have created new dedicated housing zones to support housing development on brownfield sites.
Mr Raab
I thank the Minister for that answer and for the progress made to date. To take that forward, is not the key to go further in strengthening local democratic control over both the planning policy and the tax revenue derived from new homes? That would incentivise new builds, while giving communities with high density or lots of green belt or greenfield sites more genuine choice and control over the pace of development.
Kris Hopkins
The key thing for me is that we trust local authorities to devise a five-year plan, to know their community, to know their place, and to have that dialogue with the community. With respect to incentives, every new house will bring money into the local authority to support those communities through the new homes bonus. We recognise that we need to grow small and medium-sized businesses, which is reflected in the fact that the Chancellor announced a £500 million package to support them. That is about jobs and apprenticeships. Those are the incentives that a local community can gain as a consequence of building homes.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
Hackney council is one of the two largest builders of council housing in the country, yet week in, week out at my surgeries, I see people in desperate situations, unable to access that council housing or to afford the very high rent levels that we now see in my constituency. Is the Secretary of State getting some serious work done to look at how housing benefit can be recycled to make sure that it provides capital for housing, rather than the ongoing revenue support for those very expensive rents?
Kris Hopkins
First, we have to recognise that the Labour Administration failed to deliver sufficient numbers of council houses. In four years of this Government we have delivered nearly twice as many council houses as they did in 13 years. In addition, an affordable homes programme has delivered 200,000 houses already and in the next three years will deliver another 165,000 houses. Some £300 million has been made available for housing revenue account borrowing to deliver another 10,000 council houses. This Government recognise the role of social housing and are delivering where the previous Government clearly failed.
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
There are hundreds of acres of surplus land still in public ownership—land that could be providing thousands of homes. May I therefore urge the Minister to redouble his efforts and the efforts of the Government as a whole to unlock the land and, in particular, to forge stronger long-term development partnerships between the public and private sectors so that we can turn these idle assets into family homes?
Kris Hopkins
I recognise the work that my hon. Friend did in delivering that land. As a consequence of his work, we have pledged that we will deliver 100,000 houses. Some 76,000 houses have been delivered on that land and we expect more to be built. A strategic review has taken place to identify some £5 billion worth of land. My hon. Friend is right: this is about encouraging local authorities, with partners, to come forward. I know that the local enterprise partnerships are in conversation about delivering homes and making sure that the transport infrastructure is there to open up housing opportunities. Every Member of the House has an opportunity to build a strong relationship with their authority, to understand housing need and to bring about some of those partnership opportunities that my hon. Friend talks about.
Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
In a recent press release the Minister said that the Government’s affordable house building efforts are a clear success story, but in the same press release the figures show that the number of affordable homes built over the past year is the lowest for five years, and the number of homes built for social rent has fallen to a 20-year low. If that is a success story, what does failure look like?
Kris Hopkins
Failure looks like the collapse of the housing market in 2008, the 250,000 jobs that were lost, the fall from 12,000 to 3,000 in the number of small and medium-sized businesses building houses, and the failure to deliver council houses at the required level. This Government have taken responsibility for delivering affordable and social housing and picking up the failed and collapsed housing market left by Labour.
Emma Reynolds
I will take our record over the Minister’s any day. The Labour Government’s decent homes programme transformed the homes and lives of millions of people across our country. In 2009 we built four times as many homes for social rent as his Government did last year. When it comes to affordable homes, I will take no lectures from him. Labour councils are outbuilding Tory councils by 2:1. Will he now admit that, whether they are in power in Whitehall or in town halls, the Tories simply cannot be trusted to tackle the housing crisis?
Kris Hopkins
The record will show that in four years we have delivered—this is despite the dismal housing market we were left, the fact that people could not get loans from banks and the fact that individuals had lost their jobs as a direct consequence of Labour’s failed housing policy—200,000 affordable homes, twice as many council houses as Labour delivered in 13 years and a clear vision to deliver more houses through Help to Buy, which will deliver 120,000 houses for first-time buyers. Our desire to build housing is clearly on the record and we are delivering.
Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)
6. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of rent arrears in social housing.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
7. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the level of rent arrears in social housing.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
According to the Homes and Communities Agency, at the end of 2013-14, the average level of rent arrears among larger housing associations was 3.6%, an improvement from 4.1% over the previous quarter.
Julie Hilling
Bolton at Home tells me that its arrears stand at £1.9 million, even though it has a 97% collection rate and has employed an additional 11 people to increase collection and support tenants in financial difficulty. The Minister’s policies are jeopardising his business model on social housing and the ability to build new houses and improve current stock. Can he honestly say that his policies are working?
Stephen Williams
According to the information I have, the number of people affected by the social size criteria has fallen across Bolton, from 3,215 households when the policy started in May 2013 to 2,775 now, so there seems to be some discrepancy in the figures.
Alex Cunningham
Across Stockton borough, arrears for Tristar Homes are up by 25%, to nearly £1.2 million, on the year prior to the introduction of the bedroom tax, and they would be up by 60% if both Tristar Homes and the local authority were not helping with some discretionary aid. Several hundred people, many of them disabled, are in arrears for the first time in their lives, causing unseen misery and even shame. Was it really the Secretary of State’s intention to grind such people into the ground?
Stephen Williams
It is not the intention of either the Secretary of State or me to grind anyone into the ground. The whole point of applying size criteria to the social sector is to match the criteria that already exist in the private rented sector, and they existed throughout the entire 13-years period that the hon. Gentleman’s party was in government. The policy is about fairness to taxpayers as well as to tenants. For those tenants who have difficulty moving, Stockton council, like all local authorities, has discretionary housing payments in order to help them through the process.
Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)
Can the Minister confirm that of the £68 million of discretionary housing payments made available to councils last year, £11 million went unspent?
Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)
8. What discussions he has had with local authorities on the future of local welfare assistance schemes after April 2015.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
During the consultation for the local government finance settlement, I met a range of local authorities and, indeed, the Local Government Association. More poignantly for this question, the Department for Work and Pensions held numerous discussions when it abolished the poorly targeted crisis loans and community care grants in 2012 and passed funding to councils. It is continuing to discuss local provision with councils in the review that it will publish later this year.
Kate Green
Trafford Assist has been quite successful, but its funding is for only one year and is not ring-fenced, and now the council has revealed a shocking £6 million discrepancy in its adult social care budget. Given the pressure that the council will be under to plug that spending gap, it is likely that Trafford Assist will not be able to continue after the coming year. What can the Government do to ensure that such successful schemes can continue into the future?
Brandon Lewis
The hon. Lady is right; local authorities are running a range of really good schemes. That is why they have been passed to local authorities. What has been highlighted is that many authorities are running good, efficient schemes and spending way below the amount of money originally put forward. That is also why the Department for Work and Pensions is carrying out the review, which it will be reporting on some time this autumn.
Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab)
9. What progress his Department has made in advancing the agenda set out in its publication “Creating the conditions for integration”, published in February 2012.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
We are supporting more than 30 projects to break down barriers, encourage community cohesion and celebrate what we have in common. During this holy month of Ramadan, it is appropriate to single out the Big Iftar 2014, when British mosques and community groups host non-Muslims as they share iftar after sunset. This demonstration of community integration in action has expanded from 30 events last year to well over 100 this year.
Stephen Williams
I am not aware of any slashing of budgets for community integration groups. I visit projects up and down the country, including in Ealing, where a great many community projects are undertaken, including the teaching of the English language and the Near Neighbours programme—a major £8 million investment, announced by the Secretary of State, the Archbishop of Canterbury and me, that is operating in several boroughs in London.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
Are not Government policies driving social division, particularly in education? Has the Minister had a word with the Secretary of State for Education to try to prevent him from causing further damage in that direction?
Stephen Williams
One such example of community cohesion is in Luton. This coming Sunday, I will be in Luton visiting a Remembering Srebrenica event and a Big Iftar event. That will celebrate the bringing together of people in Luton and I hope to see the hon. Gentleman there.
Mr Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con)
11. What recent assessment he has made of the effect on local authorities of the freeze on council tax.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
Council tax freeze funding has thus far helped cut council tax in real terms by 11% since 2010. Forest of Dean is one of the excellent authorities; it is now in its fourth year of a council tax freeze. The Government have made £5.2 billion available to support councils that freeze and have built the funding into the spending review baseline.
Mr Harper
The situation is even better than the Minister set out: all three Conservative-led councils in my area have frozen council tax, in contrast to the Independent police and crime commissioner, who put council tax up without making a real effort at savings. I urge the Minister to continue with the programme because freezing council tax makes a real difference to the budgets of families and helps make ends meet in difficult times. Please will he continue that policy?
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend makes a good point. What the Government have been able to do with the council tax freeze has shown a real saving for families across the country in keeping council tax down. That is in the context of the fact that council tax roughly doubled under the Labour Government.
Andy Sawford (Corby) (Lab/Co-op)
Far from there being a freeze, the Government have hit more than 2 million of the poorest households with large council tax increases. In the light of the recent evidence from Citizens Advice, which shows that council tax arrears have become the biggest debt problem reported to it, will the Minister commit to carrying out a full review of the real impact of the policy before the end of the Parliament?
Brandon Lewis
I am not surprised at the hon. Gentleman’s question. As I said, his party presided over the near doubling of council tax until 2010. I see why it would resist this Government’s work to freeze council tax and help hard-working families. Local authorities could go even further and follow some good councils that have reduced council tax by cracking down on not just fraud and error but uncollected council tax. Uncollected council tax in Liverpool, for example, is costing every council tax paying household there £500 a year.
Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
Will the Minister congratulate Councillor Steven North, leader of East Northamptonshire council, not only on freezing council tax yet again but on achieving a £50 million investment called Rushden Lakes, which is entirely in my constituency and is creating 2,000 jobs?
Brandon Lewis
I am happy to join my hon. Friend in congratulating the councillor. I thank him for giving us the chance to highlight the really good work that councils and councillors can do when they focus on delivering good, efficient, value-for-money front-line services for their residents.
Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)
13. What assessment he has made of recent trends in the number of households being found homeless but not in priority need by local authorities.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins)
Since 2010 we have invested over £1 billion to tackle homelessness and support vulnerable households affected by welfare reform. Last year, the number of households found to be homeless but not in priority need was less than a third of the 2003 peak of over 67,000.
Simon Danczuk
Last year in Rochdale, the number of households that were homeless but not in priority need increased by 40%. There are now 320 households in this category in Rochdale with little access to assistance. Will the Minister consider reviewing the law on homelessness to ensure that all homeless people get the help they need?
Kris Hopkins
The hon. Gentleman is right. A total of 323 households were found to be homeless but not in priority need—just over a quarter of the peak figure of 1,276 in 2005. That is a disgraceful figure, and I agree that we do not want to be in this position. Over £12 billion-worth of investment through Crisis is helping single homeless people, and in Rochdale this has supported a successful Bond Board scheme that has helped 125 single homeless people. I respect the hon. Gentleman and would like to work with him to try to solve some of those issues in Rochdale. I look forward to receiving a note from him about this.
Mr Andrew Love (Edmonton) (Lab/Co-op)
The number of families with children living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation is at a 10-year high, with all the consequences for the education, health and well-being of the children concerned. Does the Minister think that that is a creditable record on homelessness since the Government came to power in 2010?
Kris Hopkins
Homelessness overall is currently down by 7%; I am not sure where the hon. Gentleman has got his figures from. The number of families in temporary accommodation—bed and breakfast—has dropped by 37% in the past year. That is a direct consequence of this Government’s intervention to make sure that vulnerable families, in particular, are not in the position they were in under his party’s Administration.
Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)
14. What steps the Government are taking to support community pubs.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
We are providing £200,000 to Pub is The Hub and the Plunkett Foundation to help communities and community pubs to diversify and take over their local pubs. We have also doubled small business rate relief until 2015 and cut national insurance. In addition, the Chancellor scrapped the previous Government’s beer and alcohol duty escalator and reduced beer duty in two successive Budgets, for the first time in many decades.
Graham Evans
In rural constituencies such as Weaver Vale, pubs are at the heart of community life. Does my hon. Friend therefore welcome the outstanding work done by the Pub is The Hub programme to ensure that our rural pubs can provide more services, and will he ensure that its good work can continue?
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend makes a good point. Pub is The Hub is an excellent organisation. I was delighted to be able to put funding into it and to see it help pubs to diversify, whether it is through local libraries being part of the pub, or pubs offering school meals or providing lots of other services for their local community and making themselves the absolute heart of that community. It is a good organisation and long may it prosper.
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)
In 1992, there were four pubs in the village of Gisburn and we are now down to one. Sadly, it closed a few months ago. The Star brewery wants to reopen the pub and more than 20 residents of Gisburn are very keen to see it reopen, but it is a listed building and there seems to be stalling of some sort of by the local authority. Will the Minister encourage local authorities and brewers to work together to look for compromises in order to ensure that local communities have the very heart of the community—their local pub—reopened?
Brandon Lewis
Absolutely. A pub like that can be the absolute heart of the community, providing a range of services. Pub is The Hub and the Plunkett Foundation may be able to help. I am certainly happy to meet my hon. Friend if that would be helpful. I encourage his local authority to look at authorities such as Norfolk, which has just announced a specific local scheme for Norfolk to help local pubs to stay open as a key part of these communities.
John Pugh (Southport) (LD)
15. What assessment his Department has made of the extent to which the sequential test has inhibited out-of-town retail development.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
We have maintained strong planning policies requiring a town centre-first approach, including the sequential test. This ensures that out-of-town development goes ahead only where there are no suitable sites in an existing town centre.
John Pugh
I thank the Minister for that response, but we are being given some conflicting evidence: research by the Association of Convenience Stores shows unabated expansion. Will the Minister conduct some further independent research into supermarket out-of-town expansion?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend and I debated this subject at some length in Westminster Hall last week. I committed then, and am happy to repeat that commitment now, to look closely at the research produced by that organisation. We do not have any evidence that the policy is not working. It is, of course, worth remembering that out-of-town development can go ahead—this is happening in Rushden Lakes, as mentioned earlier by my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr Bone)—where the impact on town centres will not undermine their vitality or viability.
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)
17. What steps he is taking to give greater certainty of tenure and to improve affordability in the private rented sector.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins)
We are supporting investment to develop a high-quality, professionally managed private rented sector. Our £1 billion Build to Rent fund is on track to deliver up to 10,000 houses for rent. We are committed to promoting a sustainable private rented sector, which is why this summer we will publish a model tenancy agreement, giving landlords and tenants the choice to agree longer-term fixed tenancies.
Debbie Abrahams
What is the Minister doing specifically to stop tenants being ripped off by letting agencies? The model tenancy agreement was meant to have been published last October, so when can we expect to see it?
Kris Hopkins
The model tenancy agreement will be published shortly. I am grateful for the opportunity to say what we will do, including a document on how to rent and a redress scheme to protect landlords and tenants, in addition to the Consumer Rights Bill, which insists on forcing agents to publish their fees on websites and to put them on display. We also want to make sure that individuals who fail to look after the needs of others face not a maximum fine of £5,000, but a limitless fine. We want to protect the rights of tenants and we are putting in place the opportunities to do so.
Jake Berry (Rossendale and Darwen) (Con)
I know that the Minister is working on the model tenancy agreement and, in particular, the tenants charter, to set out clearly rights for those in private rented accommodation. Last week I met agents and landlords in my constituency of Rossendale and Darwen who are looking forward to and welcome that change, but will the Minister confirm that it will not include rent controls, which would mean that landlords would be unable to invest in their property?
Kris Hopkins
I know that my hon. Friend takes much interest in this subject and I can confirm that there will be no rent controls. This is about encouraging the growth of the private rented sector, to make sure that we have very high standards, the checks in place to protect tenants and the opportunity to expand the length of a tenancy through a voluntary process. An agreement between a landlord and a tenant is the right way forward.
Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con)
Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to bear down on malpractice in the private rented sector? The Hackney Gazette reports that a councillor who has set up a charity for the homeless refers them to his own estate agency and then places them in properties that he owns in my constituency. Is that not an abuse of our housing system?
Kris Hopkins
I know the details involved, because my hon. Friend has written to me, and we have forwarded them to the appropriate authorities. The Charity Commission is now examining what my hon. Friend has alleged, and I will not comment any further until after the investigation.
Mr Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) (Con)
19. When he next plans to meet district council representatives to discuss their local development frameworks; and if he will make a statement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
I welcome the fact that King’s Lynn and West Norfolk council is one of the 55% of local authorities that have an adopted local plan. My hon. Friend and I met last year, and I would be happy to arrange another meeting with him and local council representatives, if he would like that.
Mr Bellingham
I thank my hon. Friend for that very helpful reply. Does he agree that, given the importance of localism and local authority autonomy, councils such as King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, which has plans in place plus a five-year-plus supply of housing, should have a very good chance indeed of not being overridden on appeal when it comes to speculative, opportunistic developments?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The key is having a robust five-year land supply and, if an authority can demonstrate that, there is absolutely no reason why their decisions about housing development should not stick.
Mr Ben Wallace (Wyre and Preston North) (Con)
Many of my constituents in the market town of Garstang are currently under siege from developers, who are trying to bypass the local core development plan process and using their might to force through planning permission. Other than what the Minister has just said in answer to my hon. Friend the Member for North West Norfolk (Mr Bellingham), what extra steps might he put in place to ensure that local authorities keep control of where they want developments to happen and how they want them to proceed?
Nick Boles
My hon. Friend knows that the most important thing is that his local authority produce a plan. We are happy to support the process of getting that plan in place in any way we can. I can meet him and his local authority; I have officials who can help his local authority; and it can also get some help from the Planning Advisory Service. The key is to get that plan in place, and then the local authority will be in charge.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
20. What steps he is taking to help local firms with their business rate bills in (a) England, (b) Tamworth and (c) Lichfield.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
We have provided a £1 billion business rates package for 2014-15, including the £1,000 discount that will benefit smaller shops, pubs and restaurants, of which there are about 280 in Tamworth and 540 in Lichfield. We have also introduced a 50% discount for businesses taking on long-term empty shops, and as I said earlier, we have doubled small business rate relief for another year, helping more than 500,000 businesses.
Christopher Pincher
Is my hon. Friend as concerned as I am about Labour’s high street policy review, which suggests that business rates may be levied on farm land? Does he not agree that—
Mr Speaker
Order. I am sure that the Minister’s views on Labour party policy would be of great interest and possibly a source of edification, but they are not relevant now, because this is about Ministers’ responsibility for Ministers’ policies and those of the Government. The wry smile of the hon. Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher) suggests that he is well aware of that fact.
Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles)
I wish to make a short statement about the London borough of Tower Hamlets. In April, I instructed inspectors to launch an investigation into the mayoral administration of Tower Hamlets and to report by the end of June, or such later date as I agreed. The investigators, PricewaterhouseCoopers, have informed me that the council has considerably delayed the investigation by delaying the provision of key information or by simply not providing it at all. This is not acceptable. I am consequently extending the period for PwC to report. The costs will be met by the council. Whether the council likes it or not, this investigation will be thorough and comprehensive. I will update the House in due course.
Stella Creasy
I share the right hon. Gentleman’s concerns about the situation that he has set out.
I invite the Secretary of State to join Opposition Members in condemning companies, such as Wonga, that are sending people fake solicitors’ letters. What is he doing to ensure that no local authority is using debt collection agencies that are doing the same?
Mr Pickles
I do condemn that; it is an outrageous idea that people should be frightened in this way. I cannot imagine local authorities, which by and large always behave responsibly, doing something similar, but I will certainly make investigations to ensure that it does not happen.
Mr Mark Harper (Forest of Dean) (Con)
T2. Does the Secretary of State agree with me about the importance of co-ordinated responses? This year in Gloucestershire—including in my constituency—we had significant troubles with flooding and damage to roads, which necessitated responses from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Transport. May I ask him to make sure that his Department helps to co-ordinate that work to best support local authorities and the people affected by those difficulties?
Mr Pickles
I am pleased to report to the House that we were so impressed by what those in Gloucestershire did that we invited them to appear before the co-ordinating committee. There were many fine examples of working with all the various agencies of the state for the betterment of residents.
Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)
Last year, the Secretary of State told the “Today” programme that he was going to stop CCTV being used around schools to prevent illegal and dangerous parking. He said:
“No, they can’t use a camera…I think it’s kind of the easy answer…to say ‘it’s all to protect the children’”.
What on earth led the right hon. Gentleman to suggest that protecting the safety of our children was a bad idea?
Mr Pickles
There seems to be a bit of a delay; that was some time ago. We consulted, we listened to the consultation and where it is not possible to have an enforcement officer present at the school, we have no objection at all to cameras being used. What we have done is to stop councils going out and patrolling the streets with cameras in order to make money, rather than to protect children. I think we have passed the test of protecting children; what we have to do is to ensure that we pass the test of not persecuting the motorist.
Hilary Benn
As usual, there was a lot of bluster there. The fact is that the Secretary of State wanted to ban the use of cameras outside schools, but was forced to change his mind. He knew it was unworkable because the response to the consultation said:
“Schools…were opposed to a camera ban.”
Schools also said that cameras had a useful deterrent effect, that where they were not used dangerous parking was reported to increase and that parking was a significant safety issue. After two U-turns in a week, when is the Secretary of State going to realise that gimmicks in search of a headline are no substitute for policy that can actually be implemented?
Mr Pickles
The House always enjoys the right hon. Gentleman’s Lady Bracknell impersonation. He is saying that I am guilty of consulting on this issue, listening to the consultation and implementing what it wanted, but that seems to me to be a fairly reasonable way for a democrat to behave.
Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)
T5. Will my hon. Friend join me in condemning the incoming Labour administration of Crawley borough council, which with a complete lack of vision and aspiration has cancelled the town centre regeneration project? Will he say what the Government are doing to help regenerate our high streets and municipal centres?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
My hon. Friend makes a good point. That decision is disappointing. A good town centre shows vitality and is the heartbeat of a community; it is good for the local authority, as well, as there are successful businesses paying business rates, something that local authorities should be keen on. Cheaper car parking to get more footfall is one way of achieving that. The Government have brought in the biggest discounted package in business rates for a generation—the £1 billion package that the Chancellor announced in the autumn statement—as well as town teams and the Portas pilots. Where Labour has not tried to stop them developing, as it has in Crawley, many people can now celebrate having good town centres through the Great British high streets campaign.
Meg Munn (Sheffield, Heeley) (Lab/Co-op)
T3. May I draw the Secretary of State’s attention to the recent report on child sexual abuse by the all-party group on child protection? That report found that the information-sharing guidelines issued by the Department in 2009 are now out of step with the “Working Together” information from the Department for Education. Given that sharing of information is usually one of the things that has gone wrong when children die or are seriously injured, will he commit to reviewing the guidelines now, in line with the recommendations?
Mr Pickles
The hon. Lady makes a very reasonable point. In this area, and also with Troubled Families programme and the better care fund, the ability to share information has bedevilled everything. I know that this issue is a high priority for my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General.
Jack Lopresti (Filton and Bradley Stoke) (Con)
T6. What action can my right hon. Friend take to ensure that local authorities are able to move Travellers who are illegally pitched on to authorised sites in hours or days, and not weeks, as it is taking in south Gloucestershire?
Mr Pickles
As the House will know, we have made a number of changes, particularly on enforcement, on stopping duplication and on ensuring that enforcement action can be taken on caravans. Local authorities and the police have a lot of powers, but they have to act promptly. It is certainly my experience that, if action is taken promptly, the law is adequate.
Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)
T7. What is the Secretary of State going to do about providing the housing that is needed for people desperate to get on the housing ladder through either buying themselves a house or renting one? Is he aware that the public policy institute of the London School of Economics produced a report recently that said that the current situation was madness and that using 2.5% to 5% of the green belt could solve the housing shortage?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Kris Hopkins)
This Government are still picking up the pieces left by the previous Administration when it comes to housing. Whether it is by building affordable housing—and some 200,000 such houses have been delivered to date; through the new spend of some £23 billion, public and private, to deliver 165,000 houses; by building twice as many council houses as the hon. Gentleman’s Government did in 13 years; or, to pick up his point about brownfield and the green belt, through our £400 million package to promote the building of some 200,000 houses on brownfield land, this Government are responding to the needs of the people of this country.
Nadhim Zahawi (Stratford-on-Avon) (Con)
T8. Stratford-on-Avon district council is about to submit its core strategy to the Planning Inspectorate for approval. Will the Minister confirm that, after submission but before adoption, the strategy will be given weight in planning decisions and provide protection for my constituents, while delivering much-needed housing?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Nick Boles)
I congratulate Stratford-on-Avon district council on reaching that important point and thank my hon. Friend for everything that he has done to help it get there. We recently clarified in guidance, not least as a result of his interventions and advice, that once a plan has been submitted to the inspectorate for examination, it can carry material weight in any decision about planning applications, even before it has formally been found to be sound.
Pat Glass (North West Durham) (Lab)
T9. Story Homes has applied for planning permission to build 151 houses on a greenfield site outside the boundary of Lanchester village in my constituency. It is attempting to use the gap before the County Durham plan is approved to force the application through. The Minister kindly agreed to meet a Government Member and his local authority on this very issue. Will he extend the same courtesy to me?
Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)
Businesses on Worcester’s High street were outraged when, shortly after the floods, Labour hiked the parking charges, harming local businesses. Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the new Conservative administration on Worcester city council on reversing those hikes as soon as it took power?
John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
Can the little Liberal answer the questions that were asked by my hon. Friends the Members for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma) and for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins), which he failed to do earlier? While he is running around the country trying to reinforce integration, there are people in charge of free schools—Christian and Muslim fundamentalists—who are trying to push their communities in the opposite direction. While I am at it, can I welcome him to the Dispatch Box? It just goes to show where unmitigated grovelling can get people.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
It is right that an investigation takes place into what happened in Birmingham. However, whatever the governing structures and whatever the ethos of the school, some of the things that were said there were fundamentally wrong. Surely everyone in the House would agree with that.
Guy Opperman (Hexham) (Con)
Not only has Labour-run Northumberland county council not frozen its council tax; it has cancelled its monthly full council meetings on the premise of saving money. We know that it is to avoid protest about the teenage transport tax and the lack of a local plan. Does the Secretary of State agree that democracy, debate and scrutiny are key pillars of a council that should not be scrapped?
Mr Pickles
I think those Labour councillors will find that they can run but cannot hide from the electorate. Part of the process of being a local councillor is being accountable to the electorate. They should just stop hiding and face the facts.
Diana Johnson (Kingston upon Hull North) (Lab)
Does the Secretary of State agree with his housing Minister, who said on “Panorama” last week that it is “perfectly legitimate” for landlords not to give tenancies to people who are claiming benefits?
Kris Hopkins
May I clarify what I said? It is not appropriate for a landlord to remove somebody just because they are on housing benefit, but an individual can make a commercial choice about who they want to live in their accommodation. It seems that the Labour party, in its forthcoming manifesto, will prescribe who can live in an individual’s house. A private investor who has purchased a house should have the opportunity to choose who lives in that house.
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
At 2 o’clock this afternoon, Essex county council issued a statement saying that its audit committee will take no further action against Lord Hanningfield, the council’s former leader who spent £450,000 using the council’s credit card. Does the Secretary of State agree that there should be an independent inquiry into who knew what and when?
Mr Pickles
I have some sympathy with what my hon. Friend says. Lord Hanningfield brought great shame on local government and the House of Lords. He should do what he can to repay the money.
Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)
Is the Minister aware of any recent progress with the Cleveland fire authority mutualisation proposal?
Brandon Lewis
I have not heard anything further from the authority since I met the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues some weeks ago.
Martin Vickers (Cleethorpes) (Con)
The planning Minister is well aware of the problems in North East Lincolnshire council with delays in producing a local plan, and last week it lost yet another appeal, imposing unwanted development on the village of Humberston. Will the Minister meet me and representatives from the council to see what can be done to overcome my constituents’ concerns?
Nick Boles
Of course I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend again. He is right to say that North East Lincolnshire council is in the process of failing its local residents again and again in producing a plan, unlike North Lincolnshire, which has done so in very good time.
Dr Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
One stated objective of the Homes and Communities Agency’s programme for the allocation of economic assets is to
“align the assets with local economic ambitions and thereby to create more effective local economic development strategies”.
However, for Hythe marine park in New Forest East, the HCA seems minded to appoint a preferred bidder on the basis of just a moderately higher bid, without regard to those other important elements. Will the Minister comment on the need for the HCA to follow its own guidelines when appointing preferred bidders for something that will have such a major impact throughout the constituency?
Mr Speaker
I cannot wait to hear the reply, but I wonder whether we ought to have an Adjournment debate on the matter.
Kris Hopkins
I have had the opportunity to visit HCA departments around the country, and there is some tremendous work delivering the houses that are needed. I take the point that my hon. Friend has raised. I will see the chief executive of the HCA this afternoon, so I will take a note with me.
Mr Speaker
I am in a generous mood so I will call Mr Davies and then I will give the hon. Member for Tamworth (Christopher Pincher) a chance to do better the second time round.
Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
The people of Micklethwaite in my constituency are grateful to the Secretary of State for twice rejecting an inappropriate planning development there. Unfortunately, the Labour council has now approved a very similar development, with grave concerns from local residents about the planning process, and what appeared to be a whipped vote. Will the Secretary of State look into that to see whether he can intervene, and whether any rules can be brought in to stop repeat applications for the same site?
Nick Boles
There are already rules that enable councils to resist applications that are very similar to ones that have been rejected, and it is only a shame that my hon. Friend’s local authority did not see fit to explore what possibilities are open to it.
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
Mr Speaker, I know my place; regrettably, you appear to know it too.
Will the Secretary of State rule out levying business rates on farmland—as some have suggested—because that will hit farmers and will also hike the price of food for hard-working families?
Mr Speaker
The hon. Gentleman has put the same question—he just sanitised it.
Mr Pickles
And very good it was too. Let me be absolutely clear: we have no plans to impose taxation on agriculture by extending the rating system to agricultural land. We rule that out absolutely.