Amendment of the Law

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

Under the last two Conservative Governments, unemployment reached 2.5 million. There was a global financial crisis during the period of the last Labour Government, and as a result, unemployment rose, but it has risen even further under this Government, from 1.5 million, when Labour left office, to 1.7 million in February 2012. The OBR’s Budget forecast last week showed a £600 million increase in the forecast for social security spending in just one year, and since 2010, the Government have spent £25 billion more on social security than they set out to spend.

Under the Government, the number of people paid less than the living wage has soared by 44%, while house building has fallen to its lowest levels since the 1920s. It is for those reasons that housing benefit spending—the second-largest area of DWP spending, after pensions—was more than £2 billion higher in 2014-15 than in 2009-10. It was due largely to the rocketing numbers of working people not paid enough to cover their rent. In this Parliament, the Secretary of State has spent £1.8 billion more than he planned on housing benefit for working people and, on current Government forecasts, the cost of working people’s rising reliance on housing benefit to pay their rent will reach £14 billion by the end of the decade, if left unchecked—£488 for every household in the country.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

I think there is some common ground between us, particularly on zero-hours contracts for women who choose to work part time, but could the hon. Lady not congratulate the Government on regulating part-time zero-hours contracts, especially given that the Office for National Statistics has knocked the figures Labour used? This is often something that working mothers choose.

[Rachel Reeves]

According to the ONS, the number of zero-hours contracts has increased from 1.4 million to 1.8 million in the last year. This is a huge challenge for working mothers and others. We want to ban the exploitative use of zero-hours contracts so that if someone does regular hours, they will be offered a regular contract and so that their hours cannot be cancelled at the last minute without compensation. If we make those changes, I hope we can stem the increase in the number of zero-hours contracts, giving more people the security of paid work they know will happen week after week.

--- Later in debate ---

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

It is a privilege to be called in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker, and, in particular, to follow the right hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (Mr Blunkett). I pay tribute to his lengthy service in the House and his major achievements. He will be greatly missed, not just in the House, but in Yorkshire.

I welcome this Budget, which is good for individuals, families, businesses, pensioners and farmers. Obviously, the best news is that more jobs are being created in Yorkshire than in France, as the Chancellor mentioned. I wish to make a special plea on behalf of one category: older women who are too young to retire but who may see too few opportunities to work. I recognise the help being given in this Budget to farmers and make a plea that the particularly welcome rule enabling self-employed farmers to spread their average earnings over five years be introduced this month, before Dissolution. Farming and fisheries are the two most dangerous industries, so may I also make a plea that we need better mobile phone coverage in rural areas, to reduce the risk of accidents on farms away from the house?

Let me dwell for a moment on the reform of the common agricultural policy fiasco in 2005, which led to huge fines and penalties in the European Union for late payments. I welcome the fact that common sense has broken out and that in this month we will revert to paper applications, with only initial registration online. I ask that digital by default be laid to rest this year and that we press forward to make sure that the mapping is easier in future years.

I ask that the vouchers the Government are going to make available in urban areas for upgrading to superfast broadband also be made available in rural areas. Too few farms and rural businesses yet have the benefits of a decent speed and a stable connection for broadband. It is not acceptable that farms and rural businesses have only the basic legal entitlement of 5 megabits and subsidised satellite services, and that the promise of 100 megabits will not reach the farms. Will we therefore see the vouchers extended to rural areas?

I ask the Minister who is summing up to address the issue of the costly failure— £155 million—of the Rural Payments Agency computer. It raises a wider issue relating to contracts under successive Governments: why do we see failures in areas such as the Child Support Agency and, more recently, the RPA? When Governments can supply that big a contract, what are we doing wrong? Can we also make sure that the spectacle of disallowance and EU fines will become a thing of the past? Will the Government confirm tonight that the additional extension of one month offered by the European Commission for basic farm payments will be accepted and agreed? Will we ensure that payments are made on time? The extension to 15 June is welcomed by the farmers.

I welcome the fact that this Budget is good news for savers. The individual savings accounts—ISAs—will encourage savings and investments, and the review of capital investment allowance will be welcome. This is a prudent and responsible Budget, setting a steady course to cut our debt, reduce the deficit and, in the words of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), achieve a surplus by 2017-18.

This is probably the last contribution that I will make to any formal debate in this House. It has been an enormous privilege to have served 18 years here. I have spent five years as MP for Thirsk, Malton and Filey; 13 years as the MP for the Vale of York, for which I was the first and last Member; and for 10 years before that I was a Member of the European Parliament.

The icing on the cake was being elected by colleagues, from across the House, to chair the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, which so perfectly reflects the interests and concerns of those living in Thirsk, Malton and Filey—food, farming, fisheries, the environment, the countryside and rural communities. We have been wonderfully served by exceptionally dedicated and extremely effective staff led by the Clerks, with superb special advisers, assistants and others. I have also been blessed with parliamentary colleagues on the Committee, some of whom are in the Chamber today. Together we have formed a dedicated team, really pressing for proper scrutiny of an extremely important Department, which I hope will survive and grow bigger in the next Government.

As I face early release, I pay tribute to my predecessors, including my right hon. Friend the Leader of the House who is also leaving. I wish my successor the very best of luck. I pay personal thanks to my husband for allowing me to do this job, to my supporters for standing by me, and to my electors locally for returning me at successive elections.