Rural Bus Services
Debate between Annette Brooke and Baroness Primarolo(10 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
Madam Deputy Speaker, with your permission, and I hope that of the Minister, as we have so much time—
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. I feel I should just explain to Members, as they may not be familiar with this, that the Minister’s permission is not necessary when we are on an Adjournment debate that has begun significantly before the moment of interruption. That is a matter for the Chair to judge. The hon. Lady can make a contribution in this debate. She does not have to seek the Minister’s permission. It might be helpful to remind Members of these arrangements, as we do not often start an Adjournment debate so early. I hope that is clear.
Annette Brooke
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. It is very helpful to have that clarified, and I apologise for my earlier lengthy interventions as I was not aware of that.
I am deeply concerned about cuts in rural bus services. I know that they are not just happening in Dorset as studies have shown that there have been cuts across the whole country. I therefore think that, as much as we want to make our decision making as local as possible, this is an issue on which an overview from the Government is needed, if only to make sure that best practice—some of which we have heard about tonight—is shared. That should be encouraged and seminars should be available to show what can be done.
I have a village that has at least 1,200—maybe 1,400—houses. That is quite a large village. Every single year the bus service is threatened. That creates a great deal of uncertainty for families and older people, who wonder whether they can remain there as this goes on year after year. It is a huge worry, and a great number of petitions are produced and eventually somebody comes up with some sort of solution. The current solution, which is thanks to the very many people, including councillors, who have worked hard to get something in the way of a solution, is a commercial service. Will that last the year? Will notice be served during the year? Nobody knows, and even though the bus service is there for some people, we do not have a service between 7 am and 9 am, which is not terribly helpful for people getting to work.
As I mentioned, I feel there must be some way in which we can have some longer-term planning. Of course there will have to be variations to take account of population movements, but there must be a certain basic level of service to which people are entitled. I am all in favour of the community services which many Members have mentioned and I think parish councils are able to take a great lead in these types of services. Very often it is nonsense to have a very large bus running on a certain route when there are not many passengers. The flexibility of community transport for some of the functions is all-important, but I would argue that there is a core service that we need for workers, students and apprentices so that they can access work or their studies, and so that everybody has a future.
By turning our backs on this problem, we are creating even more rural poverty. We are all aware of the rural poverty figures, and it is those families and young people who are truly deprived as they are not getting access to a lift in the car every day and at all times of the day, because sometimes that just cannot happen within families, whereas for others it can be much easier to give a lift into the local town so family members can socialise.
This is a crisis and I plead with the Minister to look at what is happening over the whole country. I am particularly concerned about the situation in Dorset, and the services my constituency shares with that of my hon. Friend the Member for South Dorset (Richard Drax), which are constantly being cut away. Our mailbags are enormous, and they are full of letters from people who are very worried. People should be spared this anxiety and know that there is a certain minimum level of service to which they are entitled. A lot of work may need to be done on encouraging people to use the bus—that is acceptable and the strong message of “use it or lose it” can be given—but we need a continuity of service so that people can be confident enough to plan their lives around using the bus service. We are in a downward spiral the more we cut, as people find they cannot sustain their living styles with the current provision. I issue a plea to the Minister to say what leadership the Government can give to save our rural bus services and, at the same time, our rural communities.
Local Government Finance Bill
Debate between Annette Brooke and Baroness Primarolo(12 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Annette Brooke (Mid Dorset and North Poole) (LD)
As is declared in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, I am a part-owner of a very small business.
First, I welcome the general thrust of the Bill: to devolve greater financial powers and freedoms to councils, which is very important to me. On business rates, I believe the case for reform is overwhelming. The proposals in the Bill will move us away from a complex, non-transparent, centralised system, which offered no built-in incentives for councils to drive economic growth.
Of course, it is difficult and I think brave of the Secretary of State to propose such a radical overhaul of the existing system, and it is easy to focus on all the fears, which have to be addressed in our subsequent discussions. In utopia—if there are such things as taxes there—perhaps we could draw up a system where all decisions are taken locally, where all business rates are retained locally, where there are real incentives for local authorities to promote economic growth, where there is a perfectly fair outcome for all, and where there are not unpredictable changes in business activity or devastating impacts from structural changes in our economy. I rather doubt that, but it is clear that in the real world we have to take a pragmatic approach and achieve a balance between the objectives of localism, fairness and incentivisation, while providing a safety net and transparency. Incentivisation must be balanced with protection of appropriate resources for all areas, especially those with the greatest needs. This needs to be done equitably, effectively and transparently for all.
The Government have made the commitment that there will be a fair starting point, so that no council is worse off at the outset of the scheme. Tariffs and top-ups are proposed, but with provision for councils to benefit from growth in their business rates. Of course, the devil will be in the detail; we have a lot of scrutiny to do. There are safety net provisions, with a levy to tap into disproportionate gains. Personally, I would like to see local government playing a full role in operating these equalisation mechanisms, along with central Government.
There is a need to provide clear incentives for individual local authorities to gain from additional local development, but I do have some concerns about possible unintended consequences. We have heard mention of the incentives to promote large warehouse developments. They will yield the business rates, but perhaps not the same incentives to promote SMEs. SMEs may well be more job-creating, which is all important for the local area. We have a great deal of careful scrutiny to do there in order to avoid such distortions.
On set-aside, there is a degree of centralisation. It is a first step. In the longer run, I, as a Liberal Democrat, think there is a lot more scope for local decision making. Taking a purely localist view, the localisation of council tax benefit should be welcomed and I certainly welcome the theory, but I do have concerns about the practicalities. The 10% reduction in the overall budget and the centralised decision to retain existing benefits for pensioners, right as it may be, does put constraints on each council devising its own scheme. It also raises genuine concerns about whether it will be possible to protect all vulnerable groups of working age adequately.
In order to implement a local scheme, each local council will have to use different software, so there are many practicalities that need to be looked at.
On empty homes, there is a real opportunity to drive this agenda further than in the past. With 300,000 homes being vacant for more than six months, I am excited by the Bill’s proposal to go further than just giving more discretion to local authorities, and to introduce an empty home premium after a property has been empty for two years. One of my own local authorities is not very keen on this, arguing that an empty home cannot be defined. I am astonished by this response to the consultation—I thought we had gone beyond the days when we said what was furnished and what was not, and so on.
I want to touch briefly on council tax, which is dealt with mainly in the consultation and not in the Bill. I welcome the fact that we can perhaps have a higher tax on second homes. Some 7.29% of homes in part of Purbeck, which I represent, are second homes. This issue is important, and I would like to examine the case for a second home premium, similar to the empty homes premium. I would also be interested in considering allowing the billing authority to keep some of the extra revenue. If we can do that for the business rates, which I welcome—obviously, in a two-tier authority the district council will be the driving authority—why cannot—
Localism Bill
Debate between Annette Brooke and Baroness Primarolo
Annette Brooke
On amendment 160, will the Minister clarify what will be the balance between residents and businesses? The amendment could be read to mean that businesses alone could drive an agenda, which might not be compatible with what the residents want. I wonder whether the wording needs to be looked at again.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)
Order. Before the Minister resumes, I clarify that he is not supposed to have his back continually to the Chair. He is supposed to address the whole House, not just the Members behind him. I hope that he will bear that in mind.