Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Foster of Bath and Julie Hilling

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

2. What assessment he has made of the effect on working families of changes to council tax benefit to be introduced in 2013-14.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Don Foster)]

An assessment of the impact of the Government’s policy framework for localising council tax support is available on the Department’s website. Local authorities are responsible for the design of local schemes and the assessment of their impact.

[Julie Hilling]

In Bolton, 3,200 families will have to find up to £15 a week to cover the Government’s cut in housing benefit, and they might also be affected by the bedroom tax and tax credit and disability benefit cuts. Does the Minister agree with Lord Jenkin that for my families in Bolton West that is a “poll tax mark 2”?

[Mr Foster]

Council tax doubled under the previous Labour Government and it was necessary to take action. I am pleased that the hon. Lady’s local authority has developed a scheme that protects the most vulnerable and ensures that work pays and that, as a result, it has an additional £500,000 in the transitional grant.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Foster of Bath and Julie Hilling

Monday 4th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Foster]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for recognising the success that our empty homes policy has already had. She is right that local decisions are the best way forward. That is why we have given local councils the ability to increase the council tax on empty properties, introduced the new homes bonus and increased the flexibility in a range of other areas to get even more empty properties back into use. Local decisions are undoubtedly the best way forward.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

T8. During the inquiry of the Communities and Local Government Committee into welfare reform, a housing provider in one of the universal credit pilot schemes reported that it would lose one proposed new-build property a week from its development programme because of welfare reform. Has the Minister assessed the impact of welfare reform on the ability of social housing providers to build new homes, and can he tell us how many proposed new homes will now not be built?

[Mr Foster]

The hon. Lady is in a rather difficult position, given that she supported a Government who caused us to lose 421,000 social homes and who saw the benefits bill, the housing benefit bill and the council tax bill double. Labour Members now say that we need to take tough decisions. That is what we are having to do to sort out the mess created by the Labour Government.