Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Stunell Excerpts

Monday 17th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bridget Phillipson (Houghton and Sunderland South) (Lab)]

7. What assessment has been made of the likely effects on local authorities in areas of deprivation of reductions in formula grant funding.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

We have delivered a fair funding settlement for local authorities that takes into account the particular circumstances of each area. Our proposals ensure that no authority sees a reduction in revenue spending power greater than 8.9% in each of the next two financial years.

[Bridget Phillipson]

The Minister apparently does not understand, or does not care about, the scale of the challenge facing constituents in deprived areas such as Sunderland. Does he seriously expect my constituents to be grateful for the hammering that they are taking in order to protect affluent areas such as Surrey?

[Andrew Stunell]

I share the hon. Lady’s disappointment that the financial situation we face means that every part of the public sector has to take pain in order to put things right. The formula grant for Sunderland is £562 per head, and that means that for every £1 going to the less dependent authorities, Sunderland is getting £4.50. Her reduction of 8.9%, and of 4% next year, will in fact be an improvement because of the new homes bonus amounting to more than £500,000 this year.

[Simon Wright (Norwich South) (LD)]

I welcome the Department’s review of formula grant damping in time for 2013. Will the Minister consider the impact of damping on Norfolk county council, which next year will receive more than £20 million less than if the formula grant were given out on the basis of assessed need only? Will he ensure that from 2013 Norfolk gets a fairer funding deal as a result of this review?

[Andrew Stunell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. The local government finance review will start later this month and will indeed produce a new determination of funding for local authorities that gives them much more freedom to spend and raise their revenue, starting from 2013.

[Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)]

In his appearance before the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government, the Secretary of State said that there was no need for local authorities to make cuts to front-line services, yet only last week the Conservative chair of the Local Government Association said that

“the level of spending reduction that councils are going to have to make goes way beyond anything that conventional efficiency drives, such as shared services, can achieve.”

If the Secretary of State and his team disagree, will the Minister tell us how many local authorities will be able to meet their budget cuts without cutting either jobs or front-line services?

[Andrew Stunell]

It is obviously for every local authority to take its decisions on what services it supports with the money it has available. Councils will have much more freedom and flexibility, with the money that they do have, in making choices in future. It is for them to decide on their priorities.

[Caroline Flint]

I will take that as meaning none. As the Minister knows, in the real world, these huge front-loaded cuts cannot be made by efficiency savings alone. The Secretary of State and his team have said on many occasions that the settlement is fair. He said that it is progressive and that it protects the most vulnerable. The House of Commons Library has confirmed that the top 10% of most deprived areas are being hit with cuts four times worse than those in the best-off areas. To put it another way, while people in Hartlepool will lose £113 per head, residents in Wokingham will lose only £4 per head. Does the Minister still think that that is fair?

[Andrew Stunell]

I say to the right hon. Lady that we have adjusted her formula grants to put a greater emphasis on the importance of deprivation—from 73% to 83%. Our banded floors mean that the percentage loss of formula grant for Hartlepool is lower than for Wokingham.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

10. What steps his Department is taking to protect green spaces.

--- Later in debate ---

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

17. How many new social home builds he expects to be started in each year of the comprehensive spending review period.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

In the spending review we announced almost £4.5 billion investment in new affordable housing to deliver up to 150,000 affordable homes. We are giving housing associations more flexibility on rents and use of assets, thus increasing their financial capacity, and our aim is to deliver as many homes as possible through our investment and reforms. The actual number of homes started and delivered in each year is dependent on agreements between housing associations and the Homes and Communities Agency in consultation with local authorities.

[Heidi Alexander]

I congratulate the Minister on his optimism, but I am afraid that I do not share it. In my constituency, the former Catford dog track has lain derelict for the past seven years. It is a site owned by the Homes and Communities Agency and has planning permission for a scheme that includes 313 affordable homes. Given the Minister’s stated commitment to affordable housing, will he agree to meet me to discuss options for how we can get appropriate development on this site?

[Andrew Stunell]

I am certainly happy to meet the hon. Lady to discuss the situation she described. I hope that she will bring the answer to what happened in those seven years.

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

Our experience in rural Broughton Gifford in my constituency is that a parish council can promote an exception site to use land efficiently to meet local housing need. This was possible under existing legislation, but took several years. How will the Minister’s proposals for a community right to build help such enlightened rural parishes?

[Andrew Stunell]

I thank my hon. Friend for the question. As he will see when he studies the Localism Bill, local communities will have a right to build that will allow them to overstep their local planning system to deliver what they need.

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

In spring 2008, the Homes and Communities Agency gave the flagship Conservative council of Westminster grants to build 500 new homes. Three years later, significantly fewer than 50 such homes have been built. Will the Minister tell me why?

[Andrew Stunell]

Clearly, those five years were a time when a Labour Secretary of State was standing at this Dispatch Box.

[Julian Sturdy (York Outer) (Con)]

18. What steps he is taking to strengthen the enforcement of planning decisions in respect of unauthorised developments.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

20. If he will assess the likely effect on vulnerable people in Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency of the end of the working neighbourhoods fund.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

An equality impact assessment on the completion of the working neighbourhoods fund has been carried out and published on the Department’s website.

[Chi Onwurah]

The Minister’s answer gives me no assurance whatsoever. The working neighbourhoods fund funds a project in my constituency called Newcastle Futures, which has supported more than 6,000 people into work and training since it was set up in 2007. That is 6,000 lives changed for the better. Now Newcastle Futures fears for its future. What assurance can the Minister give that such important projects will continue to support people into work and training?

[Andrew Stunell]

For every pound going to the richest authority, £4.80 goes to Newcastle. It is for Newcastle to take those decisions. However, I also want to draw the hon. Lady’s attention to last week’s announcement about the formation of the local enterprise partnership, which covers Newcastle and provides the authority with a chance of accessing regeneration funding.

[Margot James (Stourbridge) (Con)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)]

T8. The interim report of the Zero Carbon Hub suggests that achieving zero-carbon homes by 2016 will depend on what it calls “allowable solutions”, potentially off-site. How will the Minister ensure that such measures are local and tangible, and therefore more credible than existing offers for carbon offsetting?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell)]

Ensuring that our homes are zero carbon is a fundamental part of what the coalition agreement asks us to do, and this Department is strongly committed to that. My hon. Friend makes an important point, and the Housing Minister has made it clear that we are going to make detailed proposals shortly.

[Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central) (Lab)]

T7. The chief executive of Barnardo’s has warned about young people being groomed in every town and city. Given the cutbacks in policing services and the cuts in local government that will impact on children and young people’s services, can any Minister stand at the Dispatch Box with his hand on his heart and say that that apprehension will now be eased?

--- Later in debate ---

[Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

Given that today is the last day for representations to be made in the formal consultation on the grant settlement for local authorities, will the Minister assure me that he will take seriously the representations from Stoke-on-Trent and its Members of Parliament during our welcome meeting with him last week? We cannot afford these cuts.

[Andrew Stunell]

I thank the hon. Lady and her colleagues from Stoke-on-Trent who came to see me last week. I assure her that her words and theirs were clearly heard, and that they will be taken into account along with all the other representations that we have received.

[Andrew Bridgen (North West Leicestershire) (Con)]

Authorities such as Manchester city council, run by Labour, are publicising front-line job cuts while retaining their Twitter tsars. Meanwhile, other local authorities, such as Leicestershire county council and North West Leicestershire district council, are being diligent. They have cut their management, protected front-line services, and kept council tax low. Is it right for such diligent local authorities to be punished in the next spending round because of the profligacy of councils run by the Labour party?