Alison Seabeck
Main Page: Alison Seabeck (Labour - Plymouth, Moor View)
Grant Shapps
The private rented sector is absolutely vital, as my hon. Friend suggests. One of my predecessors, whom I shadowed, suggested putting rent controls back in place. However, it is instructive to consider that when rent controls were in place, the private rented sector shrank from more than 50% to just 8%. Once they were removed, it doubled back up to 16%. It is important not to burden the private rented sector with too much red tape. Having said that, however, it is also important to ensure that the quality is sufficiently high, as I said a few moments ago, and we will be doing more work in that regard.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
I make my usual declaration of an indirect interest. I received an e-mail this morning from the Minister for the Armed Forces that listed the Ministry of Defence sites in my constituency that were going into the public land pot. I made some inquiries, and the Minister should hear the answer to them. The MOD is slowing down the submission and is in no hurry to bring forward development on the site. Indeed, it is acting completely against the e-mail from the Minister for the Armed Forces, to the extent that we are now considering removing the housing element of that site. Does the Minister have any certainty that his Government’s left hand knows what their right hand is doing on this?
Grant Shapps
I am grateful to the hon. Lady—my seventh shadow Housing Minister—for making that point, which I would be happy to look into in more detail. The instruction to ensure that government land is properly used and distributed for housing has come straight from No. 10, and I will ensure that I follow up on that request.