Building Safety

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 15th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I would say two things. With regard to local authorities, we have made it very clear that we will provide them with the financial flexibility, if they need it, to do any necessary fire safety work. That has been clear from the start. On wider issues of social housing and some of the wider lessons to learn from this terrible tragedy, that is exactly why we will have a Green Paper. We are going through the process that has been put in place, and we will publish the Green Paper in due course after proper consultation.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I commend my right hon. Friend not only for today’s statement, but for keeping the House updated on progress following this terrible tragedy.

Dame Judith Hackitt is looking at the review of building regulations. We, as the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, have asked that she looks particularly at part P of those regulations in detail, because at the moment there seems to be a lack of clarity about the use of combustible materials within high-rise buildings. Will my right hon. Friend commit to thoroughly reviewing building regulations, particularly taking into account the evidence that has emerged today? The reality is that while fires may normally be retained within a room, these were not normal circumstances, because there was an explosion caused by an electrical fire, and that could be replicated once again.

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise this. As he will know, Dame Judith Hackitt’s work is independent, but she takes this issue very seriously. He may know that in her interim report she recommended, as one of the immediate measures, a review of Approved Document B and work to clarify it. That work has already started within my Department and we hope to consult on this in the summer.

Integrated Communities

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Wednesday 14th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

It is a shame that the hon. Lady took such an unconstructive attitude. This vital issue concerns everyone throughout the country. Of course, the policies that I have set out today primarily affect England, although some issues, such as the life in the UK test, are UK-wide. Despite the attitude taken by the hon. Lady, we stand ready to work with the Scottish Government to further our joint goal of a more integrated society.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I commend my right hon. Friend on his statement and the manner in which he has presented it. I join others in condemning the terrible atrocities that Members from across the House have suffered as a result of hate crimes committed against them.

Some 161 languages are spoken in my constituency in our schools alone. My right hon. Friend will be aware that the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee conducted a brief inquiry into the Casey review, and I suspect that we will return to this subject again.

One problem that my right hon. Friend has not mentioned is that children are often withheld from schooling. Children who are in schools learn English rapidly and become part and parcel of society; children who do not go to school and are withdrawn from education often do not pick up English very quickly, if at all. That means that they are not able to play their full part in society. Will my right hon. Friend update the House on what he will do to make sure that young children who are withdrawn from education are properly educated and mix with other children, so that they get the opportunity to integrate into society?

[Sajid Javid]

I commend my hon. Friend on his remarks. I note that he represents what is probably one of the most diverse constituencies in the country, and it is all the richer and culturally stronger for that. He raised the particular issue of English and schooling. He is quite right—the evidence shows this—that some people abuse the freedoms that we give to schooling by taking their children out of the education system altogether and sending them to unregistered schools, which raises all sorts of issues, not least about the safeguarding of those children. We have committed in the Green Paper to a review by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education of the guidelines on home schooling and the requirements to have all schools registered, and he will also look at Ofsted’s powers.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 12th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Wheeler]

I know that this is an issue that the right hon. Gentleman has championed, and it is a pleasure to do business with him. We absolutely recognise the critical role that supported accommodation can play in helping vulnerable people to live independently. In fact, we have delivered almost 30,000 new units and we have plans to increase the number in those areas that need it most.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her answers. Will she explain why the Department is returning to the Treasury money that could be used to build desperately needed affordable new homes?

[Mrs Wheeler]

I am delighted that my hon. Friend has asked that question, because some people seem to be causing mischief. This is less than 3% of the total budget. The money has been re-profiled, to come back in in future years. When councils, local authorities and housing associations can bid in, the money is there to be spent. We want it to be spent.

Homelessness

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests: I am a vice president of the Local Government Association, have a small property portfolio and was the sponsor of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, of which I am very proud.

I thank the previous speaker, the right hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Sir Edward Davey), for bringing us back to the key issue, which is how the money is spent on the things we care about. As the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) alluded to, homelessness comes in many guises, but there are three predominant categories. The first are the people we see on our streets: the rough sleepers. The estimates vary, but between 4,000 and 9,000 people at any one time are sleeping rough on our streets. As has already been said, imagine what that must be like in weather such as this. It is a national scandal that a single individual in this country should be sleeping rough on our streets in this day and age.

Secondly, we have the temporary accommodation. Nearly 80,000 households and 120,000 children are in temporary accommodation, without a settled home. Probably even more important is the fact that 300,000 people are estimated to be sofa-surfing, staying with friends, or otherwise homeless.

We know that the causes of homelessness are varied. The predominant reason is the end of an assured shorthold tenancy, but there are other aspects such as relationship breakdown, unemployment, injury, sickness and, to a small extent, the welfare reductions that the Government have made. What we can say—and what is clear to me from the work that I have done with homeless people—is that every single homeless person is a unique case who will need careful treatment and assistance to return to a stable footing.

In 1977, for the first time, a Government legislated to impose duties in respect of homelessness and to prevent it from happening in this country. We look back on that now and wonder why no one had done it before, and I hope that in years to come people will look back on 2018 and say what a scandal it was that single homeless people were not assisted. At present, if families are threatened with homelessness and go to the local authority, they will be told—even today—to come back when they have been evicted. The crisis then occurs when they have been evicted: they go to the local housing office and are triaged, and if they are lucky they will be put in bed-and breakfast or temporary accommodation, but they will not be given a new house. A single person will be told, “Go and sleep in a shop doorway or on a park bench, and if you are lucky you will be picked up by one of the charities under the No Second Night Out initiative. That is a scandal that we have to end.

I am delighted that on 3 April, this will all change once and for all. There will be a change of culture in our local authorities, and a change of culture in the way in which we treat homeless people. They will be able to go to the local authority 56 days before they are made homeless; they will then be sat down and a plan will be produced. Prevention is obviously better than cure, and I am also delighted that the Government have stumped up a total of £83 million towards implementation of the Homelessness Reduction Act, which I piloted. However, my first ask of the Minister is “Please keep the money under review.” We cannot allow circumstances to arise in which it runs out and local authorities do not deliver on their responsibility.

The 180 pages of guidance on implementing the Act that have been given to local authorities demonstrate the complexity of the change that we have made. The guidance issues a warning to authorities that there is a hook in the Act: if they do not change their culture a code of practice will be imposed, and they will be forced to act.

I note from what was said earlier by the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon that the homelessness reduction taskforce has yet to meet. Will my hon. Friend the Minister—whom I congratulate on her appointment—update the House on when it will meet, and what its programme of action will be?

I am delighted that we have implemented the initial Housing First pilots. As other Members have pointed out, Housing First is a key way of assisting people who are sleeping rough. They are likely to be suffering from mental or physical health problems, drug or alcohol addictions or substance abuse, and they need a package of help. How long will the pilots last, and how quickly can we scale them up so that the whole country can benefit from them?

Finally, there is the issue of how we can assist people in the future. Along with my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Will Quince), I lobbied for Help to Rent funding. I am delighted that the Chancellor allocated £20 million towards the project, but that is not enough. We need more, so that people who are hard pressed and cannot raise a deposit can find somewhere to live. In the long term the answer is longer tenancies, more housing and reducing the cost of temporary accommodation, but I commend my hon. Friend the Minister, and ask her to answer some of those questions when she winds up the debate.

--- Later in debate ---

[Siobhain McDonagh (Mitcham and Morden) (Lab)]

Who would choose to spend £845 million of taxpayers’ money on poor, shabby, terrible temporary accommodation that is often never checked by local authorities? I could tell the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) about all sorts of guidance on how local authorities should act, but none of that guidance is enforced or checked. Families are living in accommodation for which we would never wish to pay.

That £845 million could be better spent on thousands of modular homes—prefabs—that would allow people to be warm, dry and able to pay their rent. The estimates also show us that £72 million for affordable homes is to be handed back to Her Majesty’s Treasury by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government because the money is no longer needed.

Who in this House believes that that £72 million is not needed for affordable homes? If the Government do not feel they need it, they should give it to me. Let me spend it. I will spend it on 1,333 genuinely affordable modular homes. I can find the sites; I can suggest where we can do it. I promise the House that I can get £124 million spent by 1 April on real homes that people need.

We have so many of these debates, with lots of warm words and good intentions, but with not one house built. The time has come to get building. The time has come for each Member to pressurise their local authorities to release the land they are sitting on for social housing and to make sure that doing so is a priority—it currently is not for most local authorities. The time has come to talk about the green belt, most of which is not green and is not beautiful, and could be built on. There is enough land around London stations to build 1 million new homes if we chose to do it. The question is: do we choose to?

[Bob Blackman]

The hon. Lady reminds me that I piloted a Bill through this place to enable Transport for London to do precisely what she is asking for. Will she therefore join us in calling on the Mayor of London to do the job that he is elected to do and build new homes?

[Siobhain McDonagh]

I will do everything I can to encourage the Mayor to do that, but it is not just about the Mayor; it is also about the Government and local authorities. It is about how serious we really are about building homes, attacking shibboleths such as the green belt, and forcing local authorities to use the sites they have not to generate cash, but to build homes. It is about what our priorities are. Having sat in all these debates, I suggest that when it comes to it, we do not really want to do this. It can be done and it should be done, but it is up to us whether or not we choose to do it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Monday 22nd January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I can tell that the hon. Lady shares our desire, and that of all Members, to fight homelessness and rough sleeping. That is why I am sure that she will welcome the £1 billion that the Government have allocated to 2020 to fight homelessness, including £315 million for core funding for local authorities.

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

I commend the Government for initiating the Housing First pilots, but what assessment has my right hon. Friend made of rough sleeping in London, which is clearly under the greatest pressure? We want to ensure that people get a firm home of their own and that the Mayor of London actually delivers affordable housing for the capital.

[Sajid Javid]

I know that my hon. Friend cares deeply about this issue and has done much on it, not least through his work on the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. He is right to raise this issue. We will not solve the problem of homelessness in this country unless London does its bit, and I am afraid that the Mayor of London is letting the people of London down. In his first year in office, not a single home for social rent was started in London. That is a tragic record.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor provided money in the Budget for a national rental deposit scheme. What plans does the Department have to introduce that scheme, and how many families does it believe it will assist?

[Dominic Raab]

We are certainly looking at that as part of our wider strategy, which I have already described. I am very happy to write to my hon. Friend about its particular impact on his constituency.

Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation and Liability for Housing Standards) Bill

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Friday 19th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Wheeler]

I will not give way, if the hon. Gentleman does not mind, because some very important business is coming up after this debate.

The Government are committed to providing tenants with alternative means of redress, strengthening tenants’ rights and protecting renters against poor practice. The Bill aligns with and supports broader proposals to improve consumer experience across the housing sector. Furthermore, enabling tenants to take direct action themselves will help to free up local authorities’ resources to tackle better the criminal landlords who rent out hazardous and unsafe dwellings.

[Bob Blackman]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mrs Wheeler]

I will not give way, if my hon. Friend does not mind, but I will refer to him in a moment.

We have already published guidance for tenants to help them to understand their rights and responsibilities and what to do if something goes wrong. This should satisfy my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman), who has concerns about retaliatory action. That was perfect timing. We have also published guidance for tenants to help them to ensure that their home is free of potentially dangerous hazards. Revised versions of these guidance documents will be published shortly, alongside guidance for landlords about their responsibilities.

To respond to Members’ questions about legal aid, the procedure in the Bill is designed to be straightforward and tenants will frequently be able to represent themselves, but for more complex cases, legal aid will be available, subject to income criteria. We do not expect this to be necessary in the majority of cases, as most tenants will be able to identify an obvious hazard without the need for a solicitor. However, I repeat that legal aid will be available in cases where the tenant is eligible.

Other Members raised issues of local authority funding. We have given local authorities the power to impose civil penalties of up to £30,000 for housing offences. Councils will be able to keep that money and reuse it for housing enforcement purposes, exactly as we have heard. Very proactive councils are taking on staff to deal with that because they know—sadly—that the money will come in. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has already announced the Government’s support for this Bill, which is fully in line with the thoughts and desires of our Prime Minister.

Holocaust Memorial Day

Bob Blackman Excerpts

Thursday 18th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

It is an honour to follow the right hon. Member for Enfield North (Joan Ryan), and I commend her for her bravery in speaking on those particular subjects. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) on introducing the debate, and my right hon. Friend the Member for Chipping Barnet (Theresa Villiers) on her impassioned speech.

Madam Deputy Speaker, may we place on the record our thanks to Mr Speaker for allowing the Holocaust Educational Trust to host its reception in Speaker’s House on Tuesday? That enabled us to honour the memory of the victims of the holocaust, but also to celebrate the survivors. Most importantly of all, in my view, it allowed us to congratulate the young ambassadors of the Holocaust Educational Trust, who are now spreading the word among young people about the horrors of the holocaust.

When I was at school—I was at school with many Jewish children from the area—no one ever spoke about the holocaust: it was forgotten about. When Kitty Hart-Moxon visited this House, following her 90th birthday, I had the honour of having tea with her, and she described her journey of coming to this country and finding that the Jewish population of this country did not wish to talk about the holocaust. However, she was brave enough to speak out about its horrors and to make sure that young people understood what had happened. It is very hard to grasp the concept of human beings attempting to extinguish other human beings on an industrial scale. The fact that 6 million people were murdered systematically is very hard to grasp, but each individual is an individual case.

[Bob Stewart]

Just before she died, my mother told me that she went to Belsen as a Special Operations Executive operative in April 1945. I asked why she had never ever told me that before. She said, “Because I was ashamed.” I said, “Why were you ashamed?” She said, “Because this happened when my generation was living, and I felt ashamed that it happened. We were responsible because we did nothing about it in England.”

[Bob Blackman]

I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention. It allows me to join others in congratulating Karen Pollock and her team on their wonderful work. I will never forget my visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the young people who started out brightly at the beginning of the day, but who, as the horrors unfolded, became quieter and quieter. We ended the day on those terrible railway lines, with candles, and that place brings home to everyone what can happen if people stand idly by. We knew, and were instructed, about the systematic approach—this was not a few people who were mad or crazy; it was a systematic approach that involved hundreds, if not thousands, of people who co-operated with the attempt to eliminate the Jewish population.

We should also remember that there is not just Auschwitz-Birkenau but a whole series of other camps, and we should ensure that everyone is aware of the various different death camps that were set up by the Nazis to achieve their desperate aims.

[Daniel Kawczynski]

On that point, the BBC regularly refers to “Polish death camps”, but there was no such thing. These were concentration camps set up by the Germans in occupied Poland, and it is important to remember that.

[Bob Blackman]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention, and we must ensure that people are educated on that point.

I visited the original Yad Vashem museum and saw at first hand the work that was done. I have also visited the new museum that commemorates all the victims of the holocaust and describes it in some detail. The individual accounts of those who survived the holocaust, now recorded on film, are desperately important, and we must ensure that holocaust deniers, and individuals in society who seek to justify it in some way, are called out in the right way and with the appropriate testimony.

[Ruth Smeeth]

rose—

[Bob Blackman]

I will not give way to the hon. Lady because I have given way twice already and I do not want to take up too much time.

I am glad that we will have our own holocaust museum alongside the Palace of Westminster, and I look forward to that being developed so that we can bring young people here to see the importance of that element of society. There are also actions that we can all take. I was proud to sponsor early-day motion 743 for Holocaust Memorial Day, and I believe that 55 right hon. and hon. Members have signed it so far. The Book of Commitment will be available for Members to sign each day next week between 2pm and 4pm close to the Members’ cloakroom, and I commend that to all Members.

We also have the challenge of combating anti-Semitism on university campuses. One current challenge is that many Jewish children go to Jewish schools and are not exposed to anti-Semitism until they get to university. In my view, we are not preparing our young people sufficiently for what they may face, and I am delighted that the Government are taking action to combat anti-Semitism on university campuses by sponsoring visits for sabbatical officers to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau and to see at first hand what can happen if matters get out of hand.

As we have said, the holocaust started with words and other forms of anti-Semitism, and expanded to what we have seen in the death camps. We must commend all those who speak out against anti-Semitism, from whichever political party. I was proud recently to share a platform with hon. Friends on the Opposition Benches at my local synagogue, Stanmore synagogue, for a question and answer session, during which I commended them for their bravery in standing up and calling out anti-Semitism in their own party. I congratulate them on that, but I am sorry they have to do it. If ever we face such challenges in my party, I know that we will take a very robust approach indeed to combating anti-Semitism.

It is an honour to have participated again in this debate; since my election, I have participated each year in this debate. I trust that we will ensure that nothing like the holocaust ever happens again—certainly not in our lifetimes—on this planet that we all inhabit.