Constitutional Commission
Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Anderson of Swansea(2 years, 5 months ago)
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Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
As the noble Lord is going over his speaking limit, perhaps he could bring his comments to an end.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
Let us be aware of and beware the precedent of Kilbrandon, and decide to deliver.
Housing for Older People
Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Anderson of Swansea
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
I thank my noble friend for raising that question. In fact, there was an article in the Sunday Times a couple of weeks ago about a friendship that had formed between a young student who had gone to live with an older person. In return for free housing, he was providing gardening and shopping services, and two years into the pandemic they are now the greatest of friends. Models such as Homeshare clearly have a lot to offer. Generally, the department thinks it is great to see innovative models of housing which are contributing to our aim of enabling older people to live healthier, independent lives for longer and preserve their independence and connections to the community. My noble friend is quite right: we estimate that there are currently something approaching 3.7 million of underoccupied houses, but many people wish to stay in their house and are looking for a scheme such as Homeshare to be able to do so.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Young, spoke of the objective of freeing homes for families. Would the Government consider increasing the incentives for older people to vacate their homes, which are too large for them, to make way for younger families?
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right. There are a number of barriers to older people wanting to sell their current home. The task force will look at ways to incentivise that. That might be through the tax system or through incentivising more suitable housing to be built locally by housebuilders. For example, in New Zealand, I believe that five of the top 10 housebuilders are geared towards providing home villages for the elderly.
Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales
Debate between Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist and Lord Anderson of Swansea
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
Of course, I could make the point that Professor Laura McAllister has stood twice as a Plaid Cymru candidate, so I am not surprised that her comments in the Senedd were very different from those of the First Minister, who said that this would not be a consideration of the commission. While we are, of course, interested in its work, it would not be right for us to pre-empt any possible recommendations. I remind the noble Lord that, in a St David’s Day poll this year, 80% of respondents expressed their support for the union.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, surely we should acknowledge that the bold experiment of establishing a devolved system in a unitary state is not final. Therefore, what is the vision of the Government as they set about giving evidence to the commission? Will they go beyond the status quo?
Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)
That is a question for later on in the process. I am delighted to take the question back to the department for a steer on what its response will be, but I reiterate that we are keen on pointing out all the advantages that Wales has had through the union, particularly during the Covid pandemic, with help for the Nightingale courts and the help of the Army for the ambulancemen. Wales has had a lot of tangible benefits, not least a huge increase in the amount of money given to it in the spending review—£18 billion, as opposed to £16.9 billion.