Andrew Gwynne
Main Page: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Brandon Lewis
Absolutely; my hon. Friend makes an important point. We are hugely determined to drive up house building, having inherited from Labour in 2010—when the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) was the Minister—the lowest level of house building that the country had seen since 1923. We have seen the figures rise, and they need to continue to do so. All the work going on at the moment is about getting more homes built in this country.
Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)
New Charter Homes, a registered social landlord in the Tameside part of my constituency, has just announced 150 job losses. It says that this is a direct consequence of this Government’s right to buy and rent policies. What assessment have the Government made of the impact of those two announcements on registered social landlords’ business plans, and what support will the Minister give to housing associations such as New Charter to ensure that their financial stability is put on a firm footing for the future?
Brandon Lewis
I am almost at a loss for words. The right to buy for housing associations has not yet come into force, so how a housing association can be taking that view now is beyond me, particularly when we bear in mind that our policy will create more work for them. We want them to use the income from right to buy to build more homes, which will mean more work for the housing associations.