Car Parking Companies

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Watts

Tuesday 4th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I am not sure why the full impact assessment was not published. The accredited trade association’s voluntary cap on private parking charges is £100, as the noble Lord will be aware. I will look into the issue around local authority caps on parking charges and get back to him.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it the case that many government departments use consultations as a reason not to do something? Is it not about time that we put timescales on these things and make sure that departments act on behalf of the public?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I understand my noble friend’s frustration, but the previous code of practice failed because things had been put into it that were not subject to consultation. It is very important that the consultation does take place this time, otherwise the next code of practice will fail as well.

Council Tax

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Watts

Monday 3rd February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

It is not only Labour-run councils that apply for exceptional financial support. My honourable friend the Minister will be making a Statement later today about which councils have been successful in gaining that exceptional financial support. There are any number of reasons why councils need to apply for that. It is not necessarily poor financial management: it can be the circumstances they find themselves in, particularly those areas that have low funding because the fair funding was not looked after.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, many local authorities are able to raise millions of pounds from their council tax payers from things such as car park charges. Does the Minister intend to take into account the massive amounts of money that some local authorities can raise?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, fees and charges form an important part of councils’ income. Whether that is fair or not is for the council tax payers of the area in question to make their minds up about locally. The three strands of council tax funding very much include those fees and charges, and the voters will decide whether they are reasonable or not.

Local Government: Funding

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Watts

Monday 27th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I have to say that it is very difficult to take lessons from the Benches opposite about local government funding, particularly in relation to council house building. The noble Lord will be well aware of the steps we have already taken to increase overall funding for local government but also that we have taken big steps to alter right to buy so that local authorities can keep 100% of the receipts they get from right-to-buy properties. We are changing the position on new properties built by local councils so they do not have to sell them at less than they built them for. We are fixing the foundations of a very broken system that we inherited from 14 years of the noble Lord’s Government.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, the last Tory Government spent 14 years taking money from the poorest local authorities and giving it to the richest ones. Will the Minister guarantee that the system that comes forward will be fair and be based on the need to spend?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. The review that we are undertaking as part of the spending review in the spring will do just that. We made some steps forward in this year’s settlement; we need to take further steps in that regard, and the local government funding formula will be reset to take account of need.

National Insurance: Employer Contributions

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Watts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

The denial of responsibility from that side of the House is quite astonishing. Public services were broken by neglect from the party opposite for 14 years. I am surprised that they do not see the irony in complaining about the measures we are having to take to sort out that mess, including our commitment to an additional £680 million for social care, further funding for local government and a real-terms boost for local government funding. I would rather hear some other ideas from that side of the House than complaints about what we are doing.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

Following the Minister’s response, does she agree that the last Government left a massive deficit in the Budget and that, while they do not like the national insurance increases, they have no suggestions whatever on how to bridge the massive gap that they left us?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I agree with my noble friend. When we start to get some alternatives from the other side of the House, I might be more prepared to listen to their arguments about not putting NICs up.

Housebuilding: Regional Mayors

Debate between Baroness Taylor of Stevenage and Lord Watts

Thursday 5th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, we have done an extensive consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework. We reintroduced government housing targets, because we want to deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament. We are going to do that with the aggregate of targets from local plans, so we will consult local mayors as they develop their role in strategic plan making.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that, to increase the number of houses available, we will need to deal with the way housebuilders keep some of the stock off the record and land-bank? Will we do something about land-banking to make sure that, if developers do not develop land, someone else will?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

We will take measures to deal with land-banking and the situation with long-term empty homes. Sometimes, homes are built but still not occupied. We will increase funding to make those affordable homes and remove tax incentives and informal approaches. If they do not work, local authorities can use enforced sale procedures or empty dwelling management orders to make sure that land and property are used for their intended purposes.