Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Bridgen Excerpts

Monday 20th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Williams]

People may have damp in their homes for a great many reasons, but one of the reasons that have been brought to my attention is the amount that has been spent on bringing homes up to a decent standard. The last Government spent a lot of money on that, and the present Government have spent £2.1 billion on it. Paradoxically, the fact that homes are so well insulated can contribute to a dampness problem. Obviously some households also have income problems, but the Government are doing their best to reduce the cost of living per household by lowering council tax and energy bills, and by putting more money into people’s pockets through income tax changes.

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

When the Government came to office, 70% of the council housing in my constituency was not up to the decent homes standard. Thanks to £21 million-worth of investment from this Government, by 2015 all of it will be. Can my hon. Friend confirm that the Labour Government cut the decent homes programme by £150 million in July 2009? [Interruption.]

[Stephen Williams]

I hear an Opposition Member shout “We introduced the decent homes standard”, and that is perfectly true. We often hear from Opposition Members that when it came to expenditure their priority was decent homes rather than the building of new homes, and that is why we had a problem with social housing stock. This coalition Government are bringing houses up to a decent standard, but also have the largest house building programme in the social sector that we have seen for decades.