European Union

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Monday 7th October 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

That is the type of issue that this House will look at in some detail in the coming months, not least with the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill, which will come before this House tomorrow.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, can the Minister update the House on any recent discussions that Ministers may have had with our partners in the EU on the issues of illegal migration? Can she confirm whether the Government will seek a closer relationship with the EU to tackle this important problem?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

Absolutely. I have a long list—which would deviate from the diktat from my noble friend the Chief Whip—that outlines a number of conversations that have happened. Migration is a shared challenge. We desperately want to strengthen our relationships with European partners to smash the gangs, and that includes strengthening our relations with the EU and its agencies. In recent weeks the Prime Minister and other Ministers have engaged with key European Heads of State and Ministers on this issue, discussing how we can work together to smash the gangs and tackle irregular migration through a whole-of-route approach.

Anti-Muslim Prejudice and Hate Crime

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Monday 9th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

I say in response to the noble Lord’s important points that all forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable and have no place in our communities. This Government will explore a more integrated and cohesive approach to tackling it. We are committed to protecting the right of individuals to freely practise their religion and we will not tolerate religious hatred in any form towards any religion.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, the previous Government committed to spending over £117 million to protect mosques and Muslim schools and community centres in the UK from anti-Muslim hate attacks over the next four years. In the light of the unrest we saw this summer, what discussions has the Minister had with his ministerial colleagues to ensure that this money is being spent effectively to protect Muslim communities? In the light of the summer disruption, what further steps will the Government take to tackle anti-Muslim hate in the United Kingdom?

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

My Lords, the noble Baroness makes an important point. On the latter question, the Home Office has announced a rapid response force—work which involves more security to help support mosques that are facing direct public and violent disorder against them. I have visited quite a few mosques and had discussions with communities. In relation to our £29.4 million pledge to support mosques, a lot of mosques are taking up these schemes. Their continuation is important, as it is to tackle any form of religious hatred we see, including anti-Semitism. Where there are high levels of religious hate crime, there is existing government funding to support institutions to protect themselves.

Housing: Modern Methods of Construction

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, the final report of the Grenfell inquiry was published yesterday. With the leave of the House, I take this opportunity to send my condolences again, and my thoughts and prayers, to a very brave and courageous community in London.

I thank my noble friend Lord Carrington of Fulham for bringing this Motion to the House, and my noble friend Lord Moylan for his chairmanship of the committee and for chairing this short inquiry. On every side of this Chamber, we know that more homes are desperately needed across the country and that it is crucial that we deliver the right homes in the right places. Ministers should consider carefully whether modern methods of construction have a greater role to play in delivering the homes we need. The Opposition want the Government to deliver enough homes to enable the next generation to get on to the housing ladder, and we will hold Ministers’ feet to the fire on the pledges they made in their manifesto at the last election.

In approaching this debate, it is important to note that we have made significant progress on housing delivery in recent years. Successive Conservative Governments have delivered 2.5 million more homes since 2010 while respecting local communities and ensuring that those homes were built in the right place. We hope that the Government will build on our success and continue to respect local people while prioritising developments on brownfield sites, as we did in government.

At the last election, the Labour Party made a solemn pledge to the British people that it would deliver 1.5 million homes over this Parliament. In doing so, it has set itself a target that people across the country are relying on. We need more homes, and Ministers need a clear plan to deliver them. We on the Opposition Benches will be watching the Government very closely, as they watched us, and pressing for the right homes in the right places, as we delivered in government.

The Labour Party manifesto focuses almost entirely on planning reform to deliver more homes, but industry experts are clear that the challenges we face go well beyond the question of planning law. One crucial challenge is labour supply. The Construction Industry Training Board states in its report Focusing on the Skills Construction Needs that the sector

“needs to recruit the equivalent of 251,000 extra workers over the next five years”,

based on existing predictions. That number is likely to rise if the Government are serious about hitting their targets.

The simple fact is that, if we want to build more homes, we will need hundreds of thousands more construction workers. Even as the party that helped 4 million more people into work since 2010, it is clear to those of us on the Opposition Benches that the supply of labour in the construction sector will be a challenge for the Government. This is where Ministers should perhaps take note of the arguments from the noble Lord, Lord Carrington, today.

In the face of labour supply challenges, modern methods of construction, which encompass a range of techniques, including off-site fabrication and the use of on-site robots in the construction process, could have an important role to play in housing delivery. Homes England has concluded that modern methods of construction are capable of driving greater efficiency and productivity, which the Built Environment Committee noted in its letter to the department.

One stark example of the impact that modern methods of construction can have is the delivery of the Grange University Hospital, in south Wales. The £350 million hospital building project was completed four months ahead of schedule—which is unusual—with parts of the hospital completed a year ahead of the projected completion date, in large part thanks to the use of modern methods of construction.

Modern methods of construction could have a bright future and an important role in housing delivery, but, as the Built Environment Committee has referenced, the sector has seen a number of businesses fail in recent years. This may be a result of those businesses not benefitting from the necessary economies of scale that other large housebuilders benefit from. Ministers should look at this closely to see whether the Government can support the sector so that it can play a full role in driving efficiency and boosting the delivery of more homes.

I have a number of questions for the Minister, which I hope can be addressed in her speech, though I am happy for her to write if not. What assessment have the Government made of the role that modern methods of construction might play in speeding up the delivery of the homes that we need? Do the Government anticipate hitting their housebuilding targets early if modern methods of construction are harnessed effectively? Will the Government consider actively supporting the modern methods of construction sector as part of their housebuilding programme? What other steps will the Government be taking to overcome the labour supply challenges faced by the construction sector? Do Ministers anticipate labour supply becoming more of a problem in the light of their new housebuilding targets?

The modern methods of construction sector is interesting and it is growing. Ministers should watch the sector closely, so that innovations can be harnessed to the benefit of the British people.

Holocaust Memorial Bill

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

2nd reading
Wednesday 4th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to speak on behalf of the Opposition in response to this Bill and I welcome the Minister to his place. We support the Government’s decision to press ahead with plans to deliver a Holocaust memorial and learning centre that will stand as testament to the horrors of the Holocaust and the evils of anti-Semitism and will support the education of a new generation. When the Holocaust memorial was first proposed, my noble friend Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton made a solemn commitment to the survivors of the Holocaust, saying that

“the past will never die and your courage will never be forgotten”.

We must make good on that promise.

Some 11 years have passed since my noble friend made that promise and had the vision for a Holocaust memorial and learning centre. Even though I have listened to all the debate this afternoon, you would not believe that a lot of progress has been made to deliver this. To that end, I thank my noble friend Lord Pickles and his co-chairs of the memorial foundation for their continued unwavering support to take that vision forward. I would like to say how sorry I am that the noble Lord, Lord Pickles, has not been able to take part in the debate today, but I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Harding of Winscombe, a member of the foundation, for speaking so passionately about the project.

I know that many noble Lords have concerns about the location, design and the security of the new Holocaust memorial and learning centre, which I will speak to in a moment, but I begin by reminding the House again that it is now over a decade since this was first promised. It should be our goal to deliver on our promise as soon as possible, in particular so that Holocaust survivors who are still with us can be part of this important project. It is in that context that the new national Holocaust memorial and learning centre must be delivered urgently and we will support the Government as they make progress with this Bill.

Noble Lords have raised concerns about the decision to build the memorial and learning centre on the Victoria Tower Gardens site and Ministers must listen to these. The Opposition support the Government’s work to establish the memorial here in Westminster, right in the heart of our democracy. I think we should listen to Ed Balls and the noble Lord, Lord Pickles, the co-chairs of the Holocaust Memorial Foundation, when they state:

“Victoria Tower Gardens, at the heart of Westminster and alongside the great symbol and heart of our democracy, is absolutely the right place to construct the national Memorial to the Holocaust”.


Again, I quote the Chief Rabbi, who said that the venue was “inspirational”, arguing that it was the

“most wonderful location because it is in a prime place of … prominence … at the heart of our democracy”.

That is why I believe that the gardens are the right location for this project, but it must be delivered in the right way. I reiterate my noble friend Lord Effingham’s question: will the Minister provide the House with clarity on exactly how much of the park will be taken up by the new memorial and learning centre? Will he also reassure the House that disruption to the park will be minimised, so that people will not be deprived of the use of it for any longer than is necessary? While it is right that we hold the Government to account in this place, I know that those noble Lords who have concerns will surely agree that making a clear statement of our commitment to remember the Holocaust, to learn from the past and to build a future without anti-Semitism is a worthy one.

Several noble Lords have also put questions to the Government on the congestion and disruption that will be caused both in the construction process and by increased visitor numbers to the site. It is crucial that Ministers engage constructively to mitigate the impacts of works to build the centre and of the increased number of visitors to the area. We will be holding the Government to account on their plans for these issues.

We have heard concerns about security. In Government, we worked—I worked—hard to address these issues, but it is important that this House is kept informed as things move forward. Security is a moving issue and noble Lords need to be kept informed as changes are made and challenges come forward. Will the Minister undertake to provide the House with as much information as possible to those noble Lords who have raised these concerns, so they can be assured that the Government are looking at this and that those security issues are being dealt with?

Before I finish, because I do not want to keep the House much longer tonight, there are a number of other points that I would like the Minister to clarify, because if they are that will help the House to support this important project. First, will the Government commit to continue engaging with noble Lords who have concerns about the plans, not just as a one-off? We did not have many at the engagement earlier this week but, if we can continue that, the more information noble Lords have, the better I think they will feel about this project. Also, have the Government assessed the expected date of completion of the centre? If we can see an end to this project, it will be an important symbol. What plans do the Government have to mitigate, as I said, the congestion caused by this construction work and the increased footfall around Victoria Tower Gardens?

The Opposition support the Bill and wish to see our new national Holocaust memorial and learning centre delivered as soon as possible, mainly so that those Holocaust survivors who are still with us can be part of the project. In my two years as the Minister responsible, I met many survivors, but I am also sad to say that many I met are no longer with us. I urge this Government to get this project built and off the ground, please, and let us have some Holocaust survivors at the opening. That is what I will support them to deliver. This is a landmark project that will stand as testament to our commitment never to forget the Holocaust and, as I said, the Opposition support the Bill.

Social Disorder

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Wednesday 4th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Khan of Burnley (Lab)]

Anyone who stokes this sort of violence, whether on the internet or in person, can face jail time. Riot, public nuisance and criminal damage all carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Those who incite hate online must face the consequences. The Technology Secretary has had useful meetings with social media platforms to make clear their responsibility to continue to work to stop the spread of hateful misinformation and incitement online. Where they have already acted, they have the full backing and support of government officials. This is a really important point. The Government continue to work with social media platforms to proactively refer content for them to assess and take action, and to ensure that they are actively engaging with law enforcement on criminal intent.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, the scenes that we saw over the summer were shocking. The police and courts made an exemplary effort to respond to the situation, but the Government must now look at the root causes of this violence. What steps will the new Government take to improve social cohesion and tackle racism wherever it raises its ugly head?

Building Homes

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Tuesday 30th July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, I first add our condolences to the community of Southport after the horrific incident yesterday. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the friends and families of all those who have been affected.

We on these Benches support policies to provide more housing in this country, particularly affordable and social housing. Our previous Conservative Government fulfilled their commitment to build over 1 million homes over the previous Parliament and 2.5 million homes since 2010, but targets do not ensure that homes are delivered and I do not see that any of the changes announced today will aid any delivery.

Our last Government put £11.5 billion into the affordable homes programme, delivering 700,000 more homes. What will this Government invest to build more homes, or will homes suffer the same fate as hospitals and transport, with no investment? Compare this with the previous Labour Government, where construction slowed to the worst peacetime housebuilding rates since 1924. Let us hope that this Labour Government will invest and deliver, and not just produce targets.

How will the Government deal with communities having a say over what homes are built in their area? The Prime Minister admitted on Radio 4 that he will ignore local councils, but the Secretary of State for MHCLG and the Chancellor have both tried to stop developments in their own constituencies. What will Labour’s policy be? So many questions.

The levelling up Act simplified local plans to work with local communities on the housing and infrastructure needed in their areas. Will the Government continue to support local plans and what exactly will they do if a local council does not produce a local plan or produces one with too few homes? If combined authorities are to be responsible for strategic plans of housing growth in their area, how is this devolving power to communities? Surely this is just adding another tier of bureaucracy. Will this not once again slow down the system, adding complexity between conflicting strategies? Noble Lords have only to look at Mayor Khan’s London plan and what that has not delivered for our great capital city.

Labour’s top-down green belt review seems to go much further than grey belt. The NPPF already allows for brownfield site development in green belts, for example of redundant car parks, petrol stations et cetera, so how far will Labour’s changes to green belt policy go? Will farmland be included in the top-down review? How long will that review take? Will there be any national or local consultation? Once again, we see a slowing down of the housing delivery system.

Before I finish, I go back to nutrient neutrality. Some 160,000 homes in this country cannot be delivered —homes for young people, families and older people trying to downsize. These are not large developments, but one or two houses here and there, quite often across a rural landscape. Will the Government take another look at this?

So many changes, so much consultation, so much extra time in the system—it seems to be a field day for the Planning Inspectorate to go out and look again and again and again.

I am confident that the whole House wants more good-quality homes in places where they are required. What I am not sure about is whether this Government’s policy changes will deliver that, but what I can assure the noble Baroness opposite is that we will work with them to deliver where it is right to do so, but we will challenge them where we believe it is not.

[Baroness Thornhill (LD)]

My Lords, we too are shocked by the appalling incident in Southport and feel very deeply for all the families concerned, and the knock-on effect in the community.

What a pleasure it is to listen to the noble Baroness, Lady Scott; now that she is no longer opposite me on the Benches I will have to get used to seeing her in profile. She always engages constructively and generously with her time, and I am sure that will continue. I agree with a lot of what she said, but I have a slightly different emphasis because I passionately want this housing agenda to succeed. We all know and understand the problems and the bigger picture, and it is indeed dire. There is so much to commend in what has been said today that it is almost too difficult to decide which bits to pick.

I start by saying that I welcome the link between economic growth and housing. Of all the things to get UK plc going, housing has always been there as a solution to a lot of our economic woes, so I sincerely hope that it works. The challenge will be in turning the Deputy Prime Minister’s passionate rhetoric into reality. It is a wicked issue, and it has been caused by decades of failure to build enough homes. I do not think we should be always apportioning blame; this is a long-term systemic problem. I look forward to working on the forthcoming legislation, but I feel that there is going to be a lot of it. The devil will be in the detail, and that will come later. Within the rhetoric, there are a lot of conflicts, as the noble Baroness to the side of me hinted at. The Statement said that the Government want to bring stability into the planning system—I doubt very much that this will bring much stability.

Let us go to the big issues. I start with targets. At the election, all the parties tried to outbid each other with the numbers game. Targets do not build homes, but they send a very powerful message to local planning authorities. However, there have to be consequences. Can the Minister outline what they might be? Councillors are not going to change their behaviour overnight, so what are we going to do to change the public narrative and turn our nimbys into yimbys? How do the Government intend to engage the public and the councillors in the need for more homes? What is the future of the housing delivery test? What about the two-thirds of councils that do not have an up-to-date plan? I would like to ban the phrase, “Build the right homes in the right places”, as it is a fig leaf for anybody to say anything. You hear it said by protestors who are for and against building. I want to know what it actually means. My big question to the Minister is, in short: what is going to change to change the narrative and the culture around housebuilding?

That brings us to the standard method to allocate the targets. I welcome a more balanced approach; I felt that the previous approach pitted urban authorities against rural authorities, which is never good. The Statement talked about an uplift where house prices are more out of step with local incomes. What does that mean in practice? Do the Government really believe that we can build enough homes to affect market prices? Is that even desirable? Both Barker and Letwin and several academics have said that that just is not possible, and if it were that it would take decades. I feel we should be concentrating on affordability as an issue. In those areas where there is that discrepancy, it is all about the need for social housing. I hope that the Government will stop saying “affordable” and use the terms appropriately. In high-cost housing areas we need social housing to keep balanced communities and keep people cleaning our streets, working in our care homes, et cetera. I hope that funding from Homes England reflects a real shift towards social housing.

In effect, all the Government’s ambitions will come to nothing if we do not tackle the skills shortage and the issues within the workforce. What are the plans to reverse this current trend, especially as we know that a considerable number of the current workforce are due to retire? What are we doing differently from what was already in position to reverse that trend? How will SME builders be incentivised to build more and join this council house revolution? As the noble Baroness asked, what is happening in the areas that have been in an effective moratorium due to biodiversity net gain—where some of them are clapping their hands and saying, “Whoopee-do! This is the best thing that has happened”?

With regard to the green belt, in my authority I used to talk about bronze, silver and gold. We all knew what our gold was, and there was some debate about what was bronze and therefore able to be built on, but doing that is not going to be as easy as it would appear. Take the petrol station example. I know of a petrol station near where my daughter lives; it is derelict and an eyesore, but it is right next to a dual carriageway, miles away from any other homes, and it has no facilities. I hope there is a little more local flexibility on that.

As for building the infrastructure upfront and aligned to the development, that is ideal but very challenging. It is perhaps slightly easier in larger-scale developments, but in my area a lot of the development is smaller sites and infill. The impact on infrastructure is cumulative and lags behind the building of houses. I will be interested in how the Government intend to reverse that.

On right to buy, I hope that there is some local flexibility to suspend right to buy if a local authority can prove that that is in its interests within its community.

There is loads more in this Statement. I expect we will have plenty of time over forthcoming years to discuss much of this, because, as the Minister said, there are no quick fixes. However, it is important to send out messages different from some of the messages we have had hitherto.

Spending Commitments to Local Councils

Baroness Scott of Bybrook Excerpts

Monday 22nd July 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question. Council tax increases, of course, are ultimately decided by local authorities, but the Government are committed to keeping taxes on working people and households as low as possible. We will carefully consider the impact on councils and taxpayers before making any decisions on taxes. Decisions on referendum principles will be part of the next spending review process and of course we will seek the views of local government before we take any decisions on those.

[Baroness Scott of Bybrook (Con)]

My Lords, since the noble Baroness, Lady Thornhill, tabled her Question, I understand that a number of local councils have had spending commitments suspended, including Harlow in Essex, which is now set to lose out on £20 million towards the rebuilding of its town centre. Can the Minister tell me how many councils have had these disappointing letters, and what the Government plan to do to support councils such as Harlow which were relying on these commitments to deliver growth and regeneration that I am sure His Majesty’s Government would want to support?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My Lords, there has to be a short pause while we seek clarity on existing funding commitments, as I said earlier. The Government are fully considering those funding arrangements and I know that a great deal of work has been put in. Many of those projects are aligned with the growth that we want, and we hope to be able to give all local authorities the answers in very short order.