Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Baggy Shanker and Angela Rayner

Monday 9th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

10. What steps she is taking to build more social and affordable homes.

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Angela Rayner)]

In our first eight months in office, we have announced £800 million in new funding for the affordable homes programme and £2 billion as a down payment on future investment. The previous Government handed back precious cash for social and affordable homes. This Government will get those homes built. The Chancellor will set out details of new investment at the spending review.

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We have a housing crisis in this country, and it is felt particularly acutely by those who need social and council housing. That is why we have been absolutely clear that we want to deliver the biggest increase to social and affordable housing in a generation. We have already outlined a number of measures, including allowing councils to retain 100% of right-to-buy receipts and making long-term funding settlements for rents. We have set out the investment that we have put into the sector, but we will say more at the spending review.

[Baggy Shanker]

Having access to a safe and secure home is a basic human need, but the Tories absolutely ignored this when they cut Government funding by £4.8 billion in just five years, and Derby has suffered the consequences. Last year, waiting lists for social housing in our city reached record highs. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to lift people stuck on these waiting lists out of limbo and into good social housing?

[Angela Rayner]

My hon. Friend is a great champion for Derby and many Members across this House can understand the acute pressures he mentions. The fact is we have not been building enough homes, and we certainly have not been building enough social homes. Therefore, we have already set out some steps, as I mentioned briefly earlier, around the right to buy receipts, and we are consulting on new long-term rent settlements to give providers confidence to build, and we will be investing billions of pounds into social housing. I cannot pre-empt the spending review this week but the Chancellor will set out more then.

English Devolution and Local Government

Debate between Baggy Shanker and Angela Rayner

Wednesday 5th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Angela Rayner]

The closure of the community college is nothing to do with local government reorganisation or the work that we are setting out today. I kindly remind the right hon. and learned Member that in the previous 14 years her Government took a sledgehammer to local government, which was hit hard by the cuts. Where there was a 23% cut in the last decade, we have given a 6.8% cash terms increase to local authorities, which will hopefully help to turn the tide against the devastation they faced under her Government.

[Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)]

I wholeheartedly welcome the reforms and, importantly, the funding injection, which will help councils to rebuild after 14 years of disastrous Tory austerity. Can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that her Department will move to longer-term funding settlements for local authorities as soon as possible, giving financial certainty and helping to deliver local services for local people?

[Angela Rayner]

Yes, absolutely. I am really pleased that my hon. Friend welcomes the cash injection to councils. However, I also recognise, and I will say this in the House today, that councils are facing unprecedented pressures on their services. Demand is up and councils have had 14 years of devastation under the Conservatives. That is why we want to work with councils. We recognise the pressures that they are under, and we want to see longer-term funding settlements and to put them on a sustainable footing for the future. That is the difference between this Labour Government that will work with councils and the Tories that cut them.