Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Rishi Sunak

Monday 8th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

We are always keen to embrace whatever technology we can to improve service to our constituents. I would be delighted to meet my hon. Friend and look at his suggestion.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

rose—

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Rishi Sunak

Monday 5th November 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

My hon. Friend is tireless in pressing Somerset’s case. We listened carefully to her and others, and the Budget confirmed an additional £650 million for social care next year, and indeed an additional £500 million for the housing infrastructure fund. I am sure that the Minister for Housing will have heard her submission, but given what I have said, and the LGA’s specific support for Somerset with its children’s services, I hope she feels that we are responding to Somerset’s concerns and hers.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

I do not know whether the Minister has ever heard the song “Streets of London” by Ralph McTell, but it is worth listening to just to be reminded of what the streets of every town in this country are like: how run down they are; how many rough sleepers there are; how much deterioration there is; how much graffiti there is; and how many broken pavements there are. That is what my constituents see in my town, and it is happening up and down this country because this Government have starved our country’s local government service.

[Rishi Sunak]

The hon. Gentleman may want to talk this country down, but Conservative Members have enormous faith in towns and communities up and down this country, which was why in the Budget we backed Britain’s high streets with a £675 million fund. We did that because we believe in local communities taking control of their high streets and developing vibrant communities that we will enjoy for years to come.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Barry Sheerman and Rishi Sunak

Monday 22nd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Rishi Sunak]

I thank my hon. Friend for her warm words and wholeheartedly agree that, where possible, children are of course looked after best by their own families. That is why the troubled families programme, in which we are investing £1 billion through to 2020, is working with those families to reduce the need for children to go into care. I am delighted to tell her that the results in December show a decrease in the number of children in need in that programme.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

14. May I remind the Minister that, whether we are talking about children in care or the elderly in care, the real question that he must answer is what has happened to the fabric of social support and care, which has been driven down by local authority cuts over the past few years?

[Rishi Sunak]

This Government are ensuring that local authorities have the resources they need to provide important local services: £200 billion over these five years; a real-terms funding increase over these two years; and £2 billion announced in the last Budget specifically for social care.