Retail: Portas-plus Package
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I totally agree with my noble friend that local, small and independent shops help provide community cohesion. There are many in my area which I know are very valued for the work that they do. One of the reasons why we are very anxious to see the high street flourish is that these independent traders are there, as well as others. After all, they are the centre of local communities, and they should be the generator. You meet people in the local butcher’s, and you meet people on the high street. They are also keen to take part. I fully accept that from my noble friend.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, will the Minister tell the House whether any government support or money is available for the conversion of space above high street shops to housing accommodation? There is a great demand for affordable housing in the centres of many of our towns and small cities. What are the Government doing to assist that?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, as I indicated in my opening remarks, the Government have made changes to the planning regime which will enable local shops to become residences if that is a suitable change. I totally agree with the noble Baroness about the empty space above so many shops. Yes, we are very anxious to see those brought into use, and under permissive development they could be, but there are often structural reasons why they cannot, for example because they have no separate entrance. However, I take the noble Baroness’s point, which is very well made.
Council Tax
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, people are required to pay their council tax and I am sure that local authorities will make certain that they collect any arrears that are owed to them as necessary.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, would the Minister care to comment on the complaint from local authorities that the reductions are disproportionately heavy in areas such as the north of England and that it was therefore much harder for them to qualify for the transitional grant? Why do the Government keep favouring the south?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, that is not evident. Of course, local authorities in the north sometimes have more to deal with than those in the south but I do not think that there is any evidence that there is an overweighting. Local authorities, irrespective of where they are in the country, were perfectly able to adjust their schemes for council tax support to take account of the transitional relief had they wished to do so.
Homelessness
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, there is already good co-operation between all the agencies that are involved with people who are becoming homeless. The police are often involved in the initial stages, when people have perhaps committed minor crimes, and so they come across them that way. However, there is common accord across the health service, local authorities and the police to ensure that as much help as possible is given.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, the Minister has a long and distinguished career in local government. Will she join me in expressing concern that local authorities are repeatedly being told that they are given money for this and money for that, but that global budgets are being cut? The result is that individual groups and needs often start asking for the money to be ring-fenced, when in fact local authorities are being constrained far too much by central government. I remember occasions in her distinguished career when the Minister objected to central government doing that.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, we could now have a debate for half an hour on the financial situation and why we are in a position where we have to reduce funding across both government and local authorities. As I said before and will reiterate, local authorities need to manage the budgets that they have, and need to make the necessary adjustments to how they administer themselves and allocate their funding. The noble Baroness is right that budgets are not ring-fenced, but local authorities are given specific allocations to help with particular areas, including homelessness. However, we are where we are and in the financial situation that we are, which did not start with this Government. Therefore, we all have to play our part in trying to ensure that that is improved.
Council Tax: Support Schemes
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Naseby for bringing reality into this situation. It is correct that the Government have given not only flexibility but also responsibility to local government for making its own decisions, particularly on council tax and the support that comes with that. Local authorities should be—and are—in a good position to make their own schemes and to deal with their own council tax.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on managing to shift all the responsibility for increasing poverty and problems with having to pay bills to the poorest. I recognise that the noble Baroness referred to the fact that we are all having to make very big sacrifices, but from where I sit in the north of England, the sacrifices are not being made by the better off in the south but by the very poor in the English regions. In the name of flexibility the Government have passed the responsibility to local authorities in a way that is at best dishonest and at worst sheer lying about the opportunities available to local government. They can keep their libraries and everything else provided that they take responsibility.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I would draw the attention of the noble Baroness to the fact that local government is being given responsibilities in many areas, many of which have been devolved from central government, something that I think she would have welcomed during her distinguished years in local government. One of the things that local government wanted was access to the council tax support scheme, which it now has. It is now up to local government to provide schemes in individual local boroughs that are satisfactory at all stages. The money from council tax benefits comes into councils’ main budgets and they can use it to make changes and reductions which absorb that 10%. I encourage them to do that.
Housing: New Homes Bonus
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I have said that we do not keep regional statistics. We do not have regions any more; we have local areas. The regions are not recognised. We work on local areas now, which is far more exact and precise. I do not know the exact answer to the noble Baroness’s question about bedroom tax, but I am very happy to write to her.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, I am fascinated to discover that part of the country I live in is no longer recognised by the Government, but I am not surprised. Will the Minister accept that I live in the north-west of England, as does the noble Lord, Lord Greaves? Would she care to provide the House with figures on the impact of the RSG, plus the housing association grant, plus the new homes allowance, across the area which the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, and I live in?
Local Authorities (Conduct of Referendums) (England) Regulations 2012
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
I hear what the noble Lord says, but that was not a provision in the Localism Act. It provided for referendums in the 12 cities and not for referendums elsewhere or on other mayors that have already been elected under the 2000 Act, which was implemented by his Government.
The heart of the case advanced by the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, is the question of compulsion and the cost of the referendums. We are not requiring any particular outcome for these referendums; we are clear that the decisions about local government are for local people and nothing that we are doing departs from that principle. We are ensuring that people in our larger cities have the opportunity to address the question as to whether they want a mayor for their city. We have made it clear that central government will bear the cost of the referendums, estimated to be about £2.25 million, in line with the long-established new burdens doctrine. On the examples given by the noble Baroness, Lady Farrington, of what her local authority would think about and what people think about, this will come from central Government—
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
It may surprise the Minister that people whom I have represented over many years do not distinguish where the money comes from but where it goes to.
The Minister reiterated that this provision was in the manifesto agreement of the coalition, when it came together. So it was in the manifestos of both parties and in the coalition agreement that there would be no top-down major reorganisation of the health service. I find it difficult to accept why certain things in the coalition agreement are sacrosanct while others are being trodden on daily to the disgust of the medical profession.
Baroness Hanham
I thank the noble Baroness for her comments. The Government believe that there is good evidence that—
Localism Bill: Shadow Mayors
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I did say, in my opening remarks, that I was not sure who would be more relieved about the decision—the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, or Councillor Whitby. By the sounds of things, it will be Councillor Whitby.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, would the noble Baroness care to give the answer that she would give to citizens of the cities who would rather spend the cost of holding a referendum on services, particularly in the north, which has been so savagely affected by government policy?
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I am assuming that the noble Baroness is not speaking for all citizens or imagines that all citizens in Birmingham will hold the same view. I am sure that there will be a number of citizens who, if given the opportunity to hold a referendum, would consider that it was money well spent.
Localism Bill
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton(12 years, 11 months ago)
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Baroness Hanham
My Lords, Clause 4(1) provides that an authority may,
“do things for a commercial purpose”;
that is, to trade under the general power, while subsection (2) provides that if an authority is doing something for a commercial purpose, it must be carried out “through a company”. If an authority wishes to trade, under subsection (1) it can do so, but if it wants to do something else for a commercial purpose, it must be carried out through a company. It is not trading, rather it is presumably providing a service of some sort, and that must be done through a company.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
I, too, am slightly confused. I remember sitting in the Minister’s seat when we were discussing the Greater London Authority Bill—I can see smiles of remembrance in turning to the Box. When asked a direct question by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, I remember seeing one person in the Box nod and another shake their head. I should like a little more clarity than that. Examples of trading would be interesting. If a parks department was selling surplus plants, would that be trading? It is that sort of thing that I would like to know in a written response from the Minister. I hope that she will accept, given my earlier example, that it is not a criticism of her reply.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I think that it would help everybody if I replied in writing.
Big Society: Britain in Bloom
Debate between Baroness Hanham and Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, I am willing for messages to be heard and I am sure that my colleagues in the Department for Education will hear what has been said. However, I do agree that the training schemes that help people into jobs around horticulture are to be encouraged.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton
My Lords, would the Minister care to comment on the fact that, given the differential depth of the cuts for the north of England, many local authorities will not be able to take on trainee young people in their parks departments? Would the Minister, who has a fine record in local government, please resist the pressure that is put on Ministers opposite to say on every question that it is purely a matter for local authorities? The Government have stolen the flexibility with the differential cuts.
Baroness Hanham
My Lords, this Question has really strayed very far from where it started. If I may, I shall leave that to be asked, if necessary, under the next Question.