Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Metropolitan Police

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Brandon Lewis

Friday 25th November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. We should remember that the independent inquiry is looking at all the issues historically and up to the present. It is important to let it have the space and support to do its job, so we can make sure we learn the lessons of the past and show that there will be justice for anybody who has been through the kind of horrendous ordeal that some people have been through. We have to be very clear that this type of behaviour simply cannot be tolerated. It is right to make sure that police forces are training officers, as my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Seema Kennedy) said, and it is shocking to think that the Metropolitan police simply did not put that training in place.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Does today’s report not show that the critical work of the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse must continue? We must stop trying to find fault with it and picking holes in it. We need to give the inquiry the space it needs to hear all the evidence and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

[Brandon Lewis]

As always, my hon. Friend is right. It is important that the inquiry can do its work, has the space to do its work and has support from across the House to get on with the important work of getting to the bottom of the problem.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Brandon Lewis

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

15. What support his Department is making available for the use of brownfield sites.

[The Minister for Housing and Planning (Brandon Lewis)]

We are committed to fulfilling our manifesto commitment of supporting development on brownfield land. To that end, we are creating a £2 billion long-term housing development fund to unlock housing on brownfield land, and we are determined to make sure that we get 90% of that land with planning permissions by 2020.

--- Later in debate ---

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend, who is working passionately for her local community to make sure that brownfield land is appropriately and properly used, will appreciate that I cannot comment on the particular local plan that is at examination stage. It is true to say, however, that a local authority should be working with its local community to make sure that appropriate brownfield land, with a good understanding of its availability, is brought forward at the earliest opportunity and can take advantage of this new £2 billion fund as well.

[Andrew Stephenson]

Pendle has 46 hectares of brownfield land, 40 hectares of which is assessed as suitable for housing, yet just days ago Labour and Lib Dem councillors voted through an application to build 500 homes on a greenfield site in Barrowford in my constituency. I am a strong supporter of localism, but how can the Government make councils such as Pendle Borough Council step up to the challenge of brownfield development, rather than just taking the easy option and building on our green fields?

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend highlights a good case. I know that, with his support, the previous Conservative-led Administration in Pendle was passionate about delivering on brownfield land. We want to see 90% of that land given planning permission. The best route is for the local community to take note of what the authority does and to let it know exactly what it thinks at the ballot box next time round.

Right to Buy

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Brandon Lewis

Monday 12th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

First, 86% of the people in our country want the chance to own their home, and we make no apology for supporting them. On right to buy, we are talking about the housing associations building more homes. As we have already heard, a number of them—including some of the largest, such as Sanctuary, Orbit and L&Q—see this as a way of ensuring that their asset base can be used to deliver the extra homes that we need, to ensure that housing supply goes up. For those people in the private rented sector, I absolutely want to continue to do everything possible to support their aspiration to own. That is what Help to Buy is about, and it is what the 200,000 starter homes announced by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer last week are about. I hope that the hon. Gentleman will support us in our programme of work.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

I am pleased that my constituency’s largest housing association, Housing Pendle, is delivering 122 new affordable homes this year. Will the Minister confirm that extending the right to buy to housing association properties will mean more money overall, with money being released to build new affordable homes, thus helping more families to access the good quality, affordable homes they so desperately need?

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. He has a good example in his local authority area of a housing association that is keen to build, and this scheme will allow it to access its assets to build more and to use that income to make sure it is building more homes to increase supply across our country.