Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 9th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

T3. My borough of Enfield has seven times more households living in temporary accommodation than the national average, with 18% of people in Enfield classed as being low paid. I have no doubt that the two figures are related so how can the Chancellor defend the Government’s record on in-work poverty, insecure work and zero-hours contracts, which have caused so much hardship for so many?

[Elizabeth Truss]

I think the hon. Gentleman should speak to his friend the Mayor of London about what he is doing to increase house building in London.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 5th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

T3. Schools in my constituency face severe budget pressures running into millions. By 2021, some schools will not be able to afford any teaching assistants, learning support assistants, office staff or site staff. Does the Chancellor realise the perilous state of schools’ finances, and will he announce adequate funding for schools in his spring statement next week?

[Elizabeth Truss]

As the Chancellor said, the spring statement is not a fiscal event. We are increasing school funding in real terms per pupil, but of course we need to ensure that we are investing properly in our education system. We are looking at human capital and what will be the most important investments, and we will report on that at the spending review.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 11th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

3. What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of funding allocated to local authorities for children’s services.

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Elizabeth Truss)]

Spending on the most vulnerable children has increased by over £1.5 billion since 2010. Thanks to our increased investment in childcare, the overall early years and children’s services budget has increased to £12.7 billion this year.

[Bambos Charalambous]

Will the Minister please acknowledge that she is simply putting a sticking plaster on the crisis in children’s social care? It is essential that children’s social care gets an extra £3 billion by 2025, and the Chancellor’s Budget commitment is less than 3% of the way there. Will the Minister admit that we are not on track to meet this target?

[Elizabeth Truss]

It is certainly the case that we are seeing rising demand for children’s services, but the important thing is that we help children’s services departments intervene early. We are rolling out a pilot programme this year to adopt models like that used in North Yorkshire that has reduced the number of children going into care, the number being arrested and the number ending up in accident and emergency, so it is important that we spend the money in the right way.

Public Sector Pay

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

The figures that my hon. Friend quotes about public and private sector workers are right. My job as Chief Secretary is to make sure that we are properly rewarding public sector workers and that in areas where we are struggling to recruit and retain, pay rises are commensurate, to retain those people. We are also making sure that those pay rises are affordable within our Government budgets, which I think is what taxpayers expect.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

Can the Chief Secretary tell me how much extra funding has been provided for schools, to pay for the increase in teachers’ pay? Will that pay increase be fully funded?

[Elizabeth Truss]

As I mentioned already, £500 million is being provided over two years to put into schools’ budgets. We have been working with the Department for Education. This is affordable for schools, but most importantly, it is fair for teachers, and those who are earning under £35,000 will get a 3.5% pay rise.

The Economy

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Thursday 22nd March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for referring to me as the Cabinet Secretary. I have to tell him that I am not that powerful.

I appreciate that there are Tiggers on both sides of the House who are trying to see the good in what is happening in Britain. I think that there are opportunities to open up all parts of our country to new enterprise. We are, of course, doing what we can to help the oil and gas industry, but we also need to look for new sources of ideas and income.

At the same time as trying to close down the new economy around our country, Labour is trying to take over the old economy. Labour Members believe that it would be better for companies to be run by the Government rather than being allowed to run themselves. Even for companies that they think should remain in the private sector, they want to set up a £350 billion strategic investment board to decide where those companies’ investments should be. That would constitute an unprecedented encroachment by a Government into the business of enterprise and freedom. I find it hard to believe that Labour Members could run anything, given their inability to run their own party.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

For many years, the UK has been seen as a desirable place in which to hide suspicious wealth. Can the Minister explain why the Government have so far done relatively little to discourage that activity?

[Elizabeth Truss]

We have introduced more than 100 measures to improve transparency. I agree with the hon. Gentleman that it is important that our finances are transparent and that private as well as public enterprise runs in a transparent fashion.

I want to draw Labour Members’ attention to the huge strides that we have seen in terms of better prices and better customer services, thanks to the privatisation programmes of the 1980s and 1990s.

Public Sector Pay Cap

Debate between Bambos Charalambous and Elizabeth Truss

Wednesday 5th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

That is right. Future generations will pay for the services that we are enjoying today, and that is wrong. We need to live within our means and make sure that people are properly rewarded. We need to make sure that things are fair between the public and private sectors. That is what the Government’s balanced policy is achieving.

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

My union Unison represents workers across the public sector. The hard-working nurses, teaching assistants, cleaners and local government workers in my constituency of Enfield, Southgate who are not subject to increments have been asking me when they will get fair pay for the hard work they do for all of us. Does the Chief Secretary agree with me and some of her colleagues that in the light of the increases in inflation and the cost of living, the public sector pay cap must end now?