Finance (No. 4) Bill

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Gilbert]

My hon. Friend makes an entirely relevant point. Some 2,000 people in Cornwall are employed directly in the production of the 84 million pasties a year and that 2,000 does not count the many scores of others who work in bakeries on the high streets of many towns across Cornwall.

We know from YouGov research that 32% of people said that they would stop buying pasties altogether if the VAT extension went forward. Let us assume that one in three is too high a number and that there is a 20% fall in sales. What will that mean? The Cornish pasty producers will lose £30 million a year, £7.5 million will be lost in secondary spend in the Cornish economy and 400 jobs will be lost directly in the industry.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman will appreciate that we also have a pasty industry in Devon. He is talking about job losses and I have already come across workers for pasty companies in Cornwall who live in Plymouth and who are already on a three-day week. It is already having an impact and it will get much worse.

[Stephen Gilbert]

The hon. Lady makes an accurate point. Pasty producers tell me that they are already feeling the squeeze. They are feeling the same pressures as us all through fuel costs and so on. They simply do not feel that they can reduce the net price and therefore absorb that extra 20% so there are serious concerns that it will add problems to an already damaged industry.

The Government’s change is supposed to be about simplification and replacing the subjective test of the purpose of selling the pasty under the current VAT rules with a much simpler test, but in fact we are only replacing one set of anomalies with another. VAT will be charged if the pasty is bought hot but not if it is bought cold. Will we have an army of HMRC inspectors going around with their standard issue thermometers and testing pasties?

Youth Unemployment and Bank Bonuses

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Danny Alexander]

I have visited companies around the country, in Scotland and England, that have created a significant number of new jobs and new apprenticeships, providing a significant increase in skills. That is the right way to go about it, and that is what we are trying to do with the increase in apprenticeships. I hope that the hon. Lady will welcome that. It is fair to say that the apprenticeships programme and the youth contract complement our Work programme, which is the biggest payment-by-results employment programme that this country has ever seen. The Work programme will provide personalised support to around 2.4 million people over the next five years, helping those most at risk of long-term unemployment.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

In Plymouth we are dependent on the public sector, and we are also a garrison town. As a result of the Government’s defence decisions, we are seeing a lot of young men, in particular, losing their positions in the services and becoming unemployed. Those coming out of the services are relatively highly skilled, putting pressure on the few vacancies that we have in Plymouth and cutting long-term unemployed young people out of the market. We have seen a 96% increase in the number of the long-term unemployed in Plymouth. What will this Government’s policies do for those young people? Absolutely nothing in Plymouth.

[Danny Alexander]

The youth contract, which I have mentioned, along with the Work programme and many other things that we are doing, will help the young people in the hon. Lady’s constituency, and I very much sympathise with the position that she has described.

Health

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Tuesday 20th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about the accessibility of services and entertainment for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Several of the issues cut across other Departments, and I hope that the Minister will be tolerant, but I also hope that she will pass on my remarks to the relevant Departments.

Some 10 million people in the UK have some form of hearing loss, which is around 11,500 in every constituency. The hon. Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch) spoke about loneliness, and those who are deaf or hard of hearing can feel particularly isolated. It is sad that even in 2011 people with hearing loss still face unnecessary barriers to everyday activities, such as banking, shopping and watching television. I wish to highlight some of the positive steps that can be taken by businesses and Government to improve accessibility, and the forward-looking solutions that would guarantee accessible television entertainment for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Hearing loss is often referred to as an invisible impairment, and it can present a significant challenge if colleagues or service providers do not know that someone is struggling to hear. I declare an interest as I lost all hearing in one ear at the age of 16 after contracting mumps. My recent change in workplace seating arrangements has caused enormous problems, because the Speaker’s Chair is now on my deaf side, and I run the real risk of not hearing the Speaker’s instructions. Difficulty hearing in a debating chamber is an unusual problem, so I will consider some more common activities.

Imagine someone with hearing loss who begins their day by telephoning their bank. They will be met with a series of pre-recorded voice messages, which are now a familiar feature of all helplines, but present huge problems for people who cannot hear clearly. All the numbers whizz by and people miss hearing what they all mean. People with hearing loss would benefit from a clear, early option to be put through to an operator who has received deaf awareness training, and I urge companies to consider implementing this routinely.

Someone who has been unable to get through to their bank by phone might try to go and speak to them in person. Unfortunately for people with hearing loss, this still does not guarantee that they will be able to communicate successfully. There are 2 million hearing aid users in the UK, and a fully functioning induction loop is often the only way to guarantee somebody effective communication. However, in a recent survey by the excellent organisation Action on Hearing Loss, 86% of services were found to be inaccessible for hearing aid users. Where organisations had a loop system, it was often not working, it was not turned on, or staff were not trained in its use. Worryingly, more than 60% of the 1,500 premises visited did not have a loop system fitted at all.

There are any number of day-to-day examples I could give, but time does not allow, so I will turn to the end of a typical day, when someone might look forward to catching up with their favourite television programme. Surely, in the comfort of their own home, they will not be limited by their hearing loss. Sadly, even in the 21st century, against a backdrop of vast technological developments, it is still very likely that the chosen television programme will not be accompanied by subtitles. This is particularly true of programmes delivered on catch-up services over the internet, where there are currently no quotas for access services. This is despite the fact that in a recent survey three quarters of Action on Hearing Loss members said they used subtitles, with 43% using them all the time.

It would be an effective forward-looking solution if people with sensory loss could benefit from the inclusion of quotas for access services on all television programmes, regardless of the platform through which they are delivered. That would be in line with existing quotas for terrestrial television. New legislation, which I think the Government plan to introduce, should also ensure that technology is future-proofed. Believe it or not, subtitles were not initially available on high-definition TV, for example. That is quite astonishing—and they were only recently introduced on the public broadcasting HD channels. I urge Ministers not to pass up any opportunity to improve the situation through legislation.

I hope that this afternoon’s debate has demonstrated how important accessibility to services and entertainment is for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. As the population ages, the number of people with hearing loss in the UK will continue to rise. I therefore urge Ministers to cut across Departments to ensure that easy access to services and entertainment for people with hearing loss becomes the norm, not the exception.

In the last few seconds, I want to get an unrelated point on the record. I would really like the Government to look at how the administration process works, following the experience of Plymouth Argyle. There are genuine issues that need to be addressed, either by Ministers or by a Select Committee of this House, such as whether the creditors get the best value and whether the staff involved at the time are also protected.

Finally, Madam Deputy Speaker, I wish you, all Members of this House and all the staff, who support us so fantastically throughout the year, a very happy Christmas.

Finance (No. 3) Bill

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2011 Commons Chamber

We need to grow the economy and to ensure that there is a proper growth strategy. The Chancellor talked about the Budget being a Budget for growth, yet the latest figures show that the economy has flatlined for six months and there has not been sustained growth. Borrowing has increased by £46 billion, and the Government have resisted using fair measures, such as the bankers’ bonus tax, to help to encourage job creation and to help the construction industry in house building and other activities that stimulate growth.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

One of the benefits of this tax is that a considerable sum would be put into building 25,000 new homes for affordable social renting. Does my hon. Friend agree that through investing in housing we invest in apprenticeships and jobs and we get a higher tax take because people are working?

[Bill Esterson]

My hon. Friend is right: a virtuous circle is created by investment, and especially investment in construction. It is one of the most efficient ways of putting money into the economy, and there is clear evidence that in periods of recession and downturn the role of the public sector should be to put money into the economy until such time as the private sector is strong enough to take up the slack and create jobs and continue to grow the economy. I fear that stage of the economic cycle has not yet been reached, which is why we need measures such as a bankers’ bonus tax to enable money to come into the economy.

Those 25,000 affordable homes would only be a start, but it would be a very important start. We have a housing crisis in this country, and it will be made worse by the benefits cap the Government are introducing, as revealed by the evidence from the private secretary of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that the cap could result in 40,000 families losing their homes. We certainly need activities such as those mentioned by my hon. Friend to make up for Government problems being caused by activities elsewhere.

I hope the Government will read carefully the two Labour amendments, and acknowledge that, as they merely call for a review and are very reasoned, they are worthy of support. I therefore hope that we will hear later that they accept both amendments.

--- Later in debate ---

[Chris Williamson]

May I begin by entirely agreeing with what my hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) said about the amendment being wholly reasonable? It ought to command the support of Members on both sides of this Chamber. I hope that at least some Government Members will find it within themselves to support an amendment that will make a significant contribution to addressing the real challenges facing this country. My right hon. Friend the Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Frank Dobson) just referred to the eye-wateringly high bonuses that the City of London has enjoyed in what he described as an “austere” year. It is incredible to think that the City of London bankers’ bonuses amounted to £6 billion.

[Alison Seabeck]

May I, first, draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to an indirect interest of my right hon. Friend the Member for Greenwich and Woolwich (Mr Raynsford), as I should have done that earlier? My hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) mentions some enormous sums. Does he share my concern, and that of enough people around the country, about the huge contrast between those figures and the people who are desperate to find a home? The homelessness figures are rising, as we have learned from the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

[Chris Williamson]

My hon. Friend makes an apposite point and she has done some excellent work to highlight the plight of people in our country who are struggling as a result of homelessness and having inadequate access to decent housing. It is a stain on our national character that in the 21st century, in one of the richest nations on earth, there can be the huge disparity to which she referred.

My first point relates to apprenticeships, the waste of talent in our country and the level of youth unemployment, which is still unacceptably high. I wish to discuss some personal experience and my concern that Bombardier, the last train-building company in our country, has today announced 1,429 redundancies at its Derby plant. It also made the point that its ability to provide apprenticeships for young people in the city of Derby has been considerably diminished. My real fear is that before the end of this year, unless the Government are persuaded to review things and to revise their decision in favour of the British train-building industry, the last remaining company that manufactures trains in our country will pull out of Great Britain altogether. The company will certainly be a shadow of its former self and its ability to provide apprenticeships will be almost completely eliminated.

It is, therefore, absolutely essential that hon. Members support the amendment proposing a tax on bankers’ bonuses, because it would enable the Government to earmark a proportion of that money to create job opportunities. My Front-Bench colleagues suggest that if £600 million of that £2 billion bonus money were used, almost 100,000 opportunities for getting young people into work could be created. Surely that ought to unite all of us. One would hope that even the bankers might consider that to be a reasonable use of the eye-wateringly high bonuses that they have enjoyed in this austere year.

The Government are under a moral obligation to support the amendment. I look directly at the Minister when I make that point, because he is under a moral obligation. I say that because one of the first decisions taken by those on the Government Benches was to scrap the future jobs fund. I can see him mouthing things because he knows what I am about to say. That fund did provide opportunities for our young people and it was making genuine inroads into youth unemployment in our country. The Government’s ability to tackle that is stuttering as a consequence of removing the future jobs fund.

This tax would make a mere pinprick on the standard of living of the bankers affected by it. The Government keep saying that we are all in it together, but if they genuinely believed that, surely those with the greatest resources should be giving a bigger contribution to those with almost no resources. As my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral South (Alison McGovern) said, if young people are unable to get a job at the start of their career, this follows them throughout their life. The Government have it within their gift to support the amendment, which would go some way to addressing that real concern, and I hope that they will take on board their moral obligation to support it.

My hon. Friend the Member for Sefton Central also mentioned that the Wolf review pointed out that some of the youngest of the unemployed in our country—the 16 to 18-year-olds—are struggling to find alternative employment. Although I applaud the Government’s attempts to deal with youth unemployment and their efforts on apprenticeships, their actions are clearly missing out a significant cohort and they should do more to address that situation. One of the other ways in which they could make a significant contribution would be by earmarking a proportion of this bonus tax for the building of 25,000 affordable homes. That would be a modest contribution, but we know that there is a huge demand for affordable housing in our country. Far too many people are living in inadequate accommodation, and there was an excellent exposé on Channel 4 last night about the growth in the number of Rachman-style landlords, who are afflicting parts of our country again.

In my view, we certainly need to do more to tackle that problem and one of the best ways to do that would be to build more decent affordable homes for people to live in. That would have not only the social benefit of providing good-quality homes for people who desperately need them but the added benefit of creating job opportunities and, dare I say, more apprenticeships for younger people, stimulating the economy. If young people are living in better, decent accommodation, their educational and health outcomes are beneficially affected. Whichever way one looks at such investment in affordable housing, through a modest tax on bankers’ bonuses, one can see that it would bring huge benefits to society. I hope that Members will find it within themselves to consider that and to support the amendment.

There is a great need to stimulate and support manufacturing industry and businesses across the piece. They are struggling: we know that the economy is flatlining, that the Government’s attempts at growing the economy are failing and that there is a need for a plan B.

Finance (No. 3) Bill

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[Jon Ashworth]

My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East (Chris Leslie) tells me that the Government have cut the financial inclusion grant. I always welcome action to tackle illegal loan sharking, so I would be very disappointed if the money going into those funds was cut.

This is an important issue, which particularly affects my constituents. As my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow said, it is not just the constituents we would traditionally think of as the most vulnerable in society who are being hurt. Increasingly, the money advice centre I visited today is finding examples of people from lower and more middle income-backgrounds getting themselves into trouble and falling prey to such organisations.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend accept that that income group—some of whom claim housing benefit and will be hit by the housing benefit changes and will have to find a lot of additional money to pay their rent out of their own pockets—could well fall victim to both official and unofficial loan sharks simply to meet their rent?

[Jon Ashworth]

I know that my hon. Friend has a good track record in raising such issues, particularly those to do with homelessness, and she is right to bring that matter to the attention of the House.

I want to focus on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Walthamstow about lower and more middle-income people being hit. Increasingly, such people are turning up at the money advice centres in my constituency in a way that they had not in recent years. That might reflect our economic climate, with inflation running at twice the rate of earnings and with the cost of living, food and utilities putting a great strain on the budgets of many people in my constituency. Those issues came up time and again in my by-election campaign and the Asda income tracker, which my hon. Friend mentioned, shows that families are some £165 a month worse off than they were a few years ago.

The final point raised with me today concerned credit unions. Labour Members have always been huge supporters of credit unions—the co-operative values on which they are based are values that we share—and I concede that Government Members support them, too. If we simply say, however, that credit unions can step up and fill the gap, we are somewhat mistaken. They do not have the capacity to compete with organisations such as wonga.com and quickquid.com. I would welcome it if more resources went into credit unions so that they could compete, but realistically they cannot carry out the door-to-door activity that wonga.com and so on can. Although we are great supporters of credit unions, I do not think they are the answer, although they are part of it.

In conclusion, I would welcome it if the Government could give us some indication of what is happening with the review, if they will not support the new clause. We need some regulatory reform of the sector. People in my constituency, in particular, are being hit. The situation is getting worse and unless the Government take action, I am worried about the future.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alison Seabeck Excerpts

Tuesday 21st June 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

I am grateful for the question. I agree with my hon. Friend. In fact, a similar point has been made by several trade union representatives in the very constructive talks that we are having at the moment, which will be going on over the next few weeks. In applying the increase in pension contributions, it is very important to protect the low-paid so as to minimise the risk of opt-out.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

Repossessions are rising and are up by 17% on the last quarter. That is very reminiscent, sadly, of the conditions under the Conservative Government in the 1990s and the cost and misery caused to families. Will the Chancellor, and perhaps the housing Minister, tell us what direct action he is going to take to support those affected and to restore confidence to the housing market?

[Mr Hoban]

The hon. Lady is right to highlight the increased number of repossessions. We want to see a strong and stable housing market. The Government have taken action to support those who wish to stay in their homes through an extension of the scheme for mortgage interest support. We are continuing to make sure that advice is available to people who are facing difficulties in meeting their mortgage payments. The important thing, however, is to keep interest rates as low as possible for as long as possible so that families are not faced with an increase in their mortgage payments.