Public Service Pensions Bill

Bob Russell Excerpts

Monday 22nd April 2013 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

With your guidance, Mr Speaker, which I always take very seriously, I will move directly to Lords amendments 78 and 79.

The Lords amendments would give the civil servants in the MOD fire and police services a normal pension age of 60 in the new schemes. The Government do not believe that this is the correct way forward.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Is the Minister seriously stating that an MOD police or fire officer should be treated differently from a police or fire officer not employed by the MOD?

[Sajid Javid]

As I make progress and explain the Government’s position, I will come to that point.

The Government do not believe the amendments to be the correct way forward, either for the taxpayer or the forces themselves. I will briefly set out some of the key reasons for our position. Allow me first, however, to reassure both hon. Members and the work forces themselves that the Government understand their concerns. We have listened to the representations and reflected on the discussions in another place, and I want to make it absolutely clear that we recognise the unique position of these work forces and the important role that the defence fire and rescue service and the Ministry of Defence police play.

My colleague Lord Newby met DFRS and MDP officers to talk through their experiences on the ground and the demands of their roles. There is no doubt that these public services deliver a valuable service to the armed forces and the country more generally. The nature of the work they are called on to deliver is often very difficult and at times can be dangerous. On occasion, some members of these work forces might find themselves putting their lives at risk. No one in the House is suggesting otherwise, so let us not be distracted from this important discussion by cherry-picking anecdotes and citing emotive examples of the work involved, because that is not the issue being discussed today.

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[Sajid Javid]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I agree that the general pension reforms in this Bill should not be carried out lightly. As I progress and we have this debate, I hope he will be reassured that the Government have taken this issue seriously and will set out their case carefully.

The issue at hand is the appropriate treatment of those work forces’ pensions. The amendments would actively reduce the normal pension age for individuals joining them. It would not be a minor reduction, but a reduction of five years from the pension age put in place for those work forces by the Labour Government in 2007. It would also be a reduction of seven years from the pension age that they would otherwise see when the new scheme comes into force in 2015. That approach would run counter to the need to control the risks associated with increased longevity, which all parties agree must be addressed. I believe that all parties in this House support the aim of controlling those risks. The amendments would make those work forces unique in the public sector, with their pension age falling at a time when everyone else’s is rising.

In response to the issue being highlighted, the Government have taken measured and appropriate action. Rather than making a knee-jerk response to fit with the legislative time scale of the Public Service Pensions Bill, the Ministry of Defence has written to the forces. Its letter states that the MOD is willing to consider how the current pension age of 65 might be maintained for those individuals when the new pension schemes are introduced in 2015. I believe that is a reasonable offer by the Government, and we will of course stand by it. It is our duty as parliamentarians to look at the whole picture. Pensions are only one part of the remuneration and employment package of those work forces.

[Sir Bob Russell]

The Minister is saying that the retirement age of a current Ministry of Defence police officer would remain at 65. So that I can better understand, what would the retirement age for a constable in the Essex police be?

[Sajid Javid]

To be clear, what I have said is that the Ministry of Defence is willing to consider keeping the age at 65. It has not yet made that decision, which would require further engagement, although it has set out how it intends to engage. As I think my hon. Friend knows, under these proposals the answer to his question about a police officer would be 60, as opposed to 65 for civil servant pension schemes.

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[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend raises a good point. I cannot answer on behalf of the previous Government, but I can say that the change was carried out by ministerial order. There was no open, ongoing debate on the matter like the one we are having today. A written ministerial statement was issued by the then Minister for the East Midlands, Gillian Merron, on 26 July 2007, and I can find no record of any Labour MP complaining about the change at that time. If my hon. Friend is making the point that the Opposition’s credibility is severely damaged because of this, he is making it very well.

[Sir Bob Russell]

It was not connected to the pensions issue, but I raised with Labour Ministers at the time the stupidity of cutting the size of the MOD police, whose numbers in my constituency have been reduced from 33 to one.

[Sajid Javid]

We all know that my hon. Friend is an assiduous Member of Parliament, and that he reviews all legislation carefully. I thank him for making that point. He will no doubt have looked at these matters closely at the time, and I welcome his looking at the legislation today.

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[Chris Leslie]

Although the Minister had quite a long preamble, not necessarily on these amendments, all I would say is that, clearly, with life expectancies increasing, it is in general reasonable to ask people to work for longer before retirement. There is no disagreement on that general principle. We need to adjust the public service pension schemes so that they remain sustainable, which is why we support so many of the changes Lord Hutton recommended. However, as hon. Members know, there are certain categories of workers for whom having longer careers is not realistic because of the physical demands of their professions. There are some physical tasks that it is not reasonable to expect a 67 or 68-year-old to undertake.

The Bill acknowledges that in part, by excluding three categories of worker— firefighters, police officers and members of the armed forces—and fixing their normal pension age at 60. That is a rational position, but there are other professions that we believe the Government should keep under review because they also can be exceptionally physically demanding, such as NHS paramedics and care workers. There is clearly a need for some flexibility to accommodate scheme-specific capability reviews for these associated professions, and it is a great shame that the Government have not allowed the latitude for that in the Bill. We debated that in Committee.

Lords amendments 78 and 79 are aimed at correcting what most people thought to be an oversight: the fact that, for some bizarre reason, Ministry of Defence firefighters and MOD police officers are excluded from the definitions of firefighters and police officers in the Bill. There are about 2,000 MOD police and 1,000 or so MOD fire and rescue scheme workers who essentially carry out the same crucial, but onerous, tasks as police and fire service workers under the auspices of the police authorities and the Home Office.

[Sir Bob Russell]

In addition to the point the hon. Gentleman has just made, does he agree that, particularly with regard to Faslane and the nuclear submarines and installations there, MOD firefighers and police officers carry out duties that the civilian police and firefighters do not have to do?

[Chris Leslie]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for making that point, because I think that is indeed the case, but my general point is about the physical demands on these individuals. Today we are debating whether their retirement age should be, as the Minister thinks, 67 or above, or whether it should be at 60—the same age as for other firefighters, police officers and members of the armed forces. It is a simple proposition and the House has the power to make a judgment on it today.

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[Dr Whiteford]

The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point. Like me, he has constituents who have applied for the early release scheme and been mucked about. That is why we should settle the matter today on the Floor of the House, instead of allowing it to be sent off into the long grass where we can prevaricate some more before failing to reach the conclusion that people need to be treated with consistency.

The question of consistency underpins everything. There is recognition that other police and firefighters need a lower normal pension age than those in less physically demanding roles. People who do the same jobs, but for the MOD, need to be recognised in exactly the same way. I urge the Government to observe the spirit of the Hutton report, accept that this was an oversight, and do the right thing by our MOD police and firefighters by accepting the Lords amendments. I hope, even at this very late stage, that the Minister will capitulate.

[Sir Bob Russell]

It is regrettable that no Defence Minister is here, because we could be putting the cart before the horse. What is crucial is the fitness for the purpose for which our MOD firefighters and police are employed. That should be the first, driving principle, and then we can move on to retirement ages and pensions. Does the country really want its nuclear bases to be defended by people of my age? Is it really safe for someone of my age to put out a fire on a nuclear submarine? The clear answer is no. It is therefore regrettable that the MOD is not represented in this important debate. This debate must be important, because I have missed the welcome home parade of 4th Mechanised Brigade. As a member of the Defence Committee, I always wish to welcome home our troops. I hope the fact that I am here will be read as an indication of how seriously I take this debate.

I draw the attention of the House to what Lord Hutton of Furness said in the other place:

“I do not believe that there is any substantive technical reason why we cannot look again at the role of the MoD firefighters and the MoD police.”

He went on to say:

“Surely there has to be a way of doing the right thing for these people.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 12 February 2013; Vol. 743, c. 570.]

I came to this debate fully intending to vote in support of the Lords amendments, but their unintended consequences could well lead to our MOD firefighters and police being financially worse off, albeit while retiring at a younger age. I will therefore take the Minister at his word—he is a Minister whom I trust—and give the matter further consideration in the spirit and intention of what Lord Hutton has said.

[Gemma Doyle (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab/Co-op)]

Will the hon. Gentleman explain why he thinks MOD police and firefighters could be worse off if their normal retirement age is set at 60? That has been repeated a number of times, but I do not believe that it has been explained.

[Sir Bob Russell]

Yes. As I understand it, the retirement age is one anomaly, but the contributions towards pension funds are another anomaly. To ask the House to have its cake and eat it might be asking for too much.

[Gemma Doyle]

I do not believe that that is actually in the Bill. I do not believe that pension contributions will be affected, if the House votes to allow MOD police officers and firefighters to retire at 60. As we know—the hon. Gentleman and I represent some of these people—they want to be able to retire at 60.

[Sir Bob Russell]

The hon. Lady used the words, “I believe”, and although she may well be right, it is because of the uncertainty that I welcome the promise from the Minister, whom I must take at his word, to give this matter further consideration. It is worth taking that on board.

[Gemma Doyle]

indicated dissent.

[Sir Bob Russell]

Well, the hon. Lady and I must beg to differ. I do not want her to think that her support for MOD firefighters and police officers is greater than mine. I was arguing in support of the MOD police when the previous Labour Government were cutting their numbers—so I can do without those sorts of comparisons.

I ask the Minister to give a categorical assurance on the concerns raised by hon. Members on both sides of the House. I particularly welcome the comments from the hon. Members for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) and for Blaydon (Mr Anderson) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), who raised questions that have not yet been fully answered. My hon. Friend the Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr Reid) and the hon. Members for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland) and for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford) also raised concerns.

[Simon Hughes]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work on this matter. I have had a chance to check the answer to the question from the hon. Member for West Dunbartonshire (Gemma Doyle). If the amendment were accepted, it would immediately transfer the people in question out of the civil service definition. They would get the benefit of an earlier retirement age, but they would also get the disbenefit of other comparative advantages. That is why we need a negotiated conclusion, not one-line changes to the Bill.

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[Sir Bob Russell]

I am extremely grateful to my right hon. Friend. When I referred to the unintended consequences, I was not expecting a detailed exposé of what one of them would be.

With some reluctance, I am taking the Minister at his word about the unintended consequences, and I urge the House to do the same. I take on board everything that Lord Hutton has said subsequently about his not being aware of the issue. Trusting the Minister, I think that our MOD firefighters and police officers could conceivably end up better off. I repeat my basic point, however, because the MOD needs to move quickly to reassure the nation about our military depots and nuclear installations. I have seen Faslane at first hand, and we do not want a Dad’s Army—people my age—defending our nuclear installations or trying to put out fires in military establishments.

[John McDonnell]

I welcome the new enthusiasm on both sides of the House for negotiating with trade unions. We have seen 18 months of industrial action followed by the imposition of a pensions settlement on a large number of civil service workers. I therefore welcome this enthusiasm for negotiating the issue out.

The Government’s policy on pensions was twofold: they wanted to bring together a consistent retirement age across the services, while, as part of public service reform, ensuring a process of modernisation, with retirement schemes reflecting the requirements of service delivery. From what we have received today, I think we are reintroducing an element of chaos into the retirement age. Far from ensuring consistency, we seem to be building anomaly upon anomaly. Far from pragmatically reflecting the reality of delivering a service, we are about to undermine another service.

On delivery, we should learn the lessons of 2007. I did not support the increase in the retirement age for firefighters in 2007, just as I have not supported this legislation. The lesson that the Fire Brigades Union taught us was that once we increase the retirement age in such a physically demanding job, apart from having a physical effect on those workers and their lives—and on their families, too—we do not save money, because people take ill-health retirement, as others have said. At the end of the day, this is not part of a modernisation process; it is a step backwards.

The other issue raised was consistency—this argument that there will be consistency across the uniformed services. However, that was never the case anyway, because we argued for the Prison Service and uniformed services in the health service to be included, but they were excluded. The issue of consistency is drawn even more sharply by the exclusion of the group of staff we are discussing in this debate, who are clearly part of a uniformed service. They are being discriminated against purely on the basis of who employs them. Firefighters who are employed by local government via a fire authority are within the scheme at age 60, whereas those employed by these other bodies are not. That is not just policy making on the hoof; to be frank, it is incompetent policy making.

As for the disbenefits, when a general agreement is taken into legislation in this way there is always the facility for the employer and others to adjust contribution rates, albeit as part of a negotiated settlement, but we usually legislate and then iron out the detail of the contribution rates, with the matter usually being resolved through an adjustment of the employer’s contribution.

Let me turn finally to the process. The Minister helpfully tried to respond, but there was insufficient detail. If there is to be negotiation on this issue, we need at least a commitment about the time scale. There has to be a limited time scale, over the next three months, in which we can resolve these anomalies and give this group of workers some security, because the current insecurity is causing concern.

amendment of the law

Bob Russell Excerpts

Monday 25th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Hilary Benn (Leeds Central) (Lab)]

I draw the attention of the House to an indirect interest, declarable but not registerable, as my wife receives rental income from a property.

We welcome this opportunity to discuss the Budget and housing. The housing crisis has come upon us over many years—people living longer, a rising population, the breakdown of relationships and new families looking for a secure home. There is rising demand but not enough supply. The well housed—the majority—are affected only when they think about where their children can afford to live, whether they want to rent or to buy; while the younger generation, priced out of the market, see their dream of home ownership recede into the distance.

The Minister responsible for planning, the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles), expressed the consequences eloquently in his Policy Exchange speech earlier this year, when he talked about the misery of young families forced to grow up in tiny flats with no outside space, and working men and women in their 20s and 30s having to live with their parents or share bedrooms with friends. Doing something about that is a task for all of us. We have to harness land, money and consent to build the communities we need so that young people and families can build a better future.

Ministers have made big claims for what was announced in the Budget. Of course we welcome steps that will enable people to get a foot on the housing ladder, and where they work, we will support them; after all, helping people to get a home is exactly what we have been calling on the Government to do. But the proof will lie in the detail of the schemes and on progress in actually managing to build more homes. As always with the Secretary of State, the issue is not so much his stated intention as his delivery. Perhaps that explains why we have had four major housing launches over the past three years and more than 300 announcements on housing; and why, in his recent speech to the Conservative spring conference on what he had actually achieved, the Secretary of State devoted three words to building more houses, and 194 words to talking about closing down a bar in the basement of his Department.

In the past few days, headline after headline has queried the Government’s grasp of the detail of its latest scheme. The Chancellor did not seem to know, and neither did the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether the scheme could indeed act as a spare-home subsidy, as my right hon. Friend the shadow Chancellor memorably christened it; whereas they certainly know that they are forcing social tenants out of their own homes because they have a spare room.

Let us begin by examining the facts about the Government’s record. Housing starts fell by 11% last year to 98,000. The number of private homes started was down; the number of local authority homes started was down; and the number of housing association homes started was down—indeed, the figure of 19,460 was the lowest for eight years.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Will the right hon. Gentleman confirm that in 13 years of Labour government fewer council houses were built than in the entire period of the Thatcher Government?

[Hilary Benn]

I will happily confirm that we did not build enough council houses, although that began to change in 2007. Indeed, 70,000 affordable homes for which this Government have tried to take credit in their target of 170,000 were started by the Labour Government.

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[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The announcement to help first-time home buyers is great, but the wording needs to be tight to prevent it from being misused as a licence for people to buy a second home or to add further to the buy-to-rent racket that has led to so much misery for those trapped in the private rented sector, while others have become property millionaires by sponging on funds from housing benefits paid for by taxpayers to help people who cannot afford to buy or who cannot get a council house. It would make more sense to spend this money on new council houses—or social housing as it is now known.

Next, there are mixed messages on alcohol tax and the coalition Government’s desire to tackle binge drinking and improve the health of the nation. One minute there is disagreement about whether there should be a minimum unit pricing of alcohol; then the Chancellor knocks 1p off the price of beer, rather than raising it by 3p, as would have happened under the ever-rising structure inherited from Labour. Thus the cost of a pint of beer has gone down by 4p on Labour’s pricing policy. This is not going to help tackle binge drinking or the growing health problems associated with excessive drinking.

We need a variable price structure to help traditional, community and village public houses, which would fit well with the coalition Government’s localism agenda and the last Government’s sustainable communities legislation. Tax on beer and lager should be raised significantly in the mega-pubs and to stop irresponsible discount pricing in supermarkets, but reduced in our neighbourhood public houses, which are closing at a rate of 18 a week, owing, in no small part, to the lack of a level playing field. It is these neighbourhood hostelries that, in the main, are less likely to cause antisocial problems. On 1 November last year, I told the House:

“We need to amend the tax levy on beer sold in our traditional public houses. We should have a tax-neutral approach to keep the Treasury happy and bring huge social benefits, including job retention and creation, rather than there being the loss of jobs that we continue to witness in the sector. Most publicans of neighbourhood and village public houses run responsible establishments. Their customers should be rewarded, not financially penalised because of the irresponsible marketing carried out by supermarkets and mega-drinking establishments.”—[Official Report, 1 November 2012; Vol. 552, c. 429.]

On tackling binge drinking and the often associated incidents of people being injured, deliberately or accidentally, from broken glasses or beer bottles, sometimes used as weapons in fights, I urge the Chancellor to give a tax discount to brewers who put their product in plastic bottles—more accurately polycarbonate bottles. Likewise, I urge him to encourage major drinks venues to use the same material for the glasses in which alcoholic drinks are served. This would dramatically reduce the number of people taken to hospital for injuries caused by broken beer bottles and glasses. I refer the House to the ten-minute rule Bill in the name of the hon. Member for Wrexham (Ian Lucas), which he brought in on 4 September last year. In his speech, he pointed out that according to the Home Office there are about 87,000 violent incidents involving glass every year. Just think how much it costs the NHS to deal with the vicious wounds inflicted.

I urge the Chancellor to introduce a levy on football television rights. There is already too much money sloshing around in professional football, and it is only going to get worse. The next television deal will bring in £5 billion to inflate still further the obscene payments to premiership footballers and a big creaming off by their parasitic agents. I suggest a 20% levy, which the Chancellor could ring-fence and direct to be spent, as a £1 billion Olympic legacy, on school and grass-roots sport.

Thank goodness we have not had a repeat of the pasty tax nonsense, although we are left with the unfairness of VAT being levied on the Subway toasted sandwich. I urge the Chancellor to try a little harder with his attempts to be the common man and axe the 20% tax on toasties and the like.

Finally, how about this for a new income stream? I am grateful to Mr Richard Spendlove, doyen of the BBC evening radio airways across the eastern counties, for this suggestion. He points out that people will pay a small fortune for so-called personalised or elite registration number plates for vehicles, so why not, he asks, re-issue all those abandoned and forgotten numbers from the early years of motoring? Whenever such live number plates come on the market, they can fetch as much as £4,300, which was the asking price yesterday for registration number 88 VR. Mr Spendlove suggests that the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency dusts down its records, identifies the tens of thousands of similar historic numbers that decades ago ended their days in the scrap yards of yesteryear and makes them available. The revenue generated could, I suggest, be used for road safety measures outside schools.

If the Chancellor wants to be popular, he should adopt all those suggestions.

Cyprus

Bob Russell Excerpts

Monday 18th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The arrangements for advice on implementation of the commitment to compensate members of the armed forces cannot proceed until the Cypriots have decided on the final arrangements, which will be in the next few days. Having made the commitment to ensure that pensions are not paid into bank accounts to which access might be questionable, I will discuss the hon. Gentleman’s point with my right hon. and hon. Friends to ensure that similar arrangements are considered for the MOD.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The Minister is presumably unable to say how many of the 3,000 members of the armed forces serving in Cyprus will be affected, but does he agree that serving military personnel who have Cypriot bank accounts, even if they are not in Cyprus, should also be included in the scheme? Also, why will the Government be compensating only for “reasonable” losses and not full losses?

[Greg Clark]

I know that many of my hon. Friend’s constituents will be in that situation and will have bank accounts in Cyprus. We have made a commitment, but these are very early days—we learned only over the weekend that these matters are being discussed. I think it is appropriate for the Government to make an immediate commitment of reassurance to those members of the armed forces. They have no choice about being sent to Cyprus, and when they go on this country’s business it seems to me to be reasonable to make that commitment.

Beer Duty Escalator

Bob Russell Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

I wish to pay tribute to Mr John Parrick, the doyen of Colchester’s publicans and the town’s longest-serving landlord, who in little more than three months will celebrate 27 years as “mine host” of the Odd One Out public house, which I had the honour to open officially on 16 February 1985. The former Mermaid pub had been shut almost a year earlier by the late brewers Ind Coope and John Parrick, a former military policeman who at the time was a staff sergeant at the military corrective training centre in Colchester, left the Army and took the bold step, alongside his wife Bridget, of taking on the abandoned hostelry, which he has turned into an incredible success story, a dream establishment for those who appreciate real beer and real cider.

Under Mr Parrick’s stewardship, The Odd One Out has won many local and regional awards from the Campaign for Real Ale for its range of real beers and ciders. His is a traditional pub, which resonates with a bygone age and has been in the “Good Beer Guide” for 25 consecutive years. However, such is the plight of community pubs—and not exclusively because of the high taxation imposed by successive Governments—that Mr Parrick’s reward is lower than the minimum wage, given all the long hours that he is putting in. He made that clear to me last night that, having studied the economics and the balance sheet. The situation must be even more dire for many other community pubs that do not have the niche appeal of The Odd One Out, particularly if they are tied to the onerous terms of pubcos and brewers.

I hope that this debate will lead to the Government’s restructuring of the taxation on alcoholic drinks. If the coalition is serious about localism, it should know that the local pub is an important part of many of our urban and rural communities. Fiscal policy should be tailored to help small community businesses, including neighbourhood public houses, which are shutting at the rate of a dozen or so every week.

Sadly, a cut in the tax levied on beer sold in community pubs is too late to save The Maypole and The Drury Arms in my constituency, which both shut earlier this year—or, for that matter, The Beer House and The Clarendon, which are currently closed, although many hope that the closures will be temporary. There is uncertainty at The Britannia, which shut recently, although there is talk of its reopening as a gastropub, and at The Lord Nelson, which displays a “For Sale” sign.

I am grateful to Colchester historian Mr Jess Jephcott, author of “The Inns, Taverns and Pubs of Colchester”; he has provided me with useful comments about the decline of the local pub, that great British institution, because of the actions and inactions of successive Governments. Today’s debate about the beer duty escalator must not be viewed in isolation as we look at this sorry saga. Mr Jephcott is an authority on public houses, both historic and contemporary, so I value what he says. He told me:

“Whilst the Beer Escalator issue is an important one, and does play a part in the loss of our pubs, there is a far more damaging issue—that of pubcos imposing unrealistic terms on their tenants. I have this week been reading about Vince Cable’s frustrations with self-regulation over this. It is the pubcos that are killing our pubs, to my mind.”

With great emphasis, he added:

“Tenants are tied to the pubco and cannot shop around and negotiate prices. That is precisely what is killing many of our pubs.”

He says that free houses, or those free of tie arrangement, thrive:

“Cases in Colchester are The Odd One Out, Fat Cat, etc. No tie, no problem.”

Mr Jephcott concluded, with a sigh:

“This is our heritage as well as our way of life. Yet Colchester is plagued by drunks who get drunk before they go out and by bars that make matters worse with their special deals to get them drunker.”

That scenario, of course, afflicts towns and cities throughout the country. Successive Governments have failed to address the scandal. Taxation policies have made matters worse. We need to amend the tax levy on beer sold in our traditional public houses. We should have a tax-neutral approach to keep the Treasury happy and bring huge social benefits, including job retention and creation, rather than there being the loss of jobs that we continue to witness in the sector.

Most publicans of neighbourhood and village public houses run responsible establishments. Their customers should be rewarded, not financially penalised because of the irresponsible marketing carried out by supermarkets and mega-drinking establishments.

I should declare an interest: Adnams Broadside, brewed on the Suffolk coast at Southwold, is my favourite tipple. Some have suggested that I should promote the former Essex brewer Ridley’s Old Bob beer, which has now been absorbed within Greene King’s product range, but I will stay loyal to Adnams and Broadside.

In conclusion, I should say that this debate is taking place in British pub week. I commend those who have secured the debate. I shall resist the temptation of listing every public house in my constituency, but they are all doing a grand job and I hope that they can all be saved.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

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[Andrew Griffiths]

I thank all colleagues who have contributed to the debate so passionately and knowledgably, and I thank the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the Minister responsible for community pubs, who has been present throughout. Both I and my colleague, the hon. Member for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) have been encouraged by the positive way in which both Ministers have engaged with the issue in the few short weeks they have been in office.

We are clearly disappointed that the Minister was not able to give us more positive news from the Dispatch Box, but he should be in no doubt about the clear view of the House. Every Member who has contributed to this over-subscribed debate, has spoken out against the beer duty escalator and in favour of Britain’s pubs and brewers. Let me assure the Minister that we will not let the matter rest there, and he would not expect us to. We will continue this campaign because it is not just a business or brewery that is at stake, but the future of a central part of our communities. We will continue to campaign and do all we can to save Britain’s pubs and breweries.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House welcomes the essential contribution of brewing and pubs to the UK’s economy in providing one million jobs; notes the 42 per cent increase in beer duty since 2008 and HM Treasury forecasts that have shown that there will be no additional revenue generated from beer duty despite planned increases over the next two years; is therefore concerned about the effectiveness of this policy in tackling the Budget deficit, its impact on valued community pubs and the continued affordability of beer in pubs; and therefore urges the Government to support the UK’s beer and pub sector by conducting a thorough review of the economic and social impact of the beer duty escalator to report back before the 2013 Budget.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

On a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. Would it be possible for you to discuss with Mr Speaker the conduct of the previous debate? Injury time was given on numerous occasions owing to hon. Members almost wandering in off the street, lobbing a bit into the debate and then disappearing. Perhaps injury time should not be allowed. In particular, the hon. Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) and my hon. Friend the Member for North Cornwall (Dan Rogerson), were prevented from giving their thoughtful speeches in full, yet they were signatories to the motion.

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Mr Lindsay Hoyle)]

I have a lot of sympathy with the hon. Gentleman, although as he knows, that is not a point of order. He may wish to take the matter up with the Procedure Committee and it will then be for the House to decide.

Oral Answers to Questions

Bob Russell Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

I completely reject the premise of the hon. Gentleman’s question. As I say, green belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty will be protected, but we need to allow economically productive development. I have to say that his question is particularly puzzling as he represents the city of Stoke. Stoke applied for an enterprise zone, and one of the features of such a zone was that we were going to relax the planning rules.

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

When the Eurostar is in France it is in a eurozone country, but when it comes through the channel tunnel into England’s green and pleasant land, the euro is not the sovereign currency. Last week, Eurostar refused to accept British money, even on the train in this country. Will the Chancellor make a robust complaint to Eurostar? [Interruption.]

[Mr Osborne]

The Opposition remind me of the very good election slogan that we had—although it was not particularly successful—which was “Save the Pound”. We have managed to save the pound on the Eurostar—or rather, the company itself has anticipated questions such as the one from my hon. Friend. I am glad to hear that, as he travels to and from Brussels and Paris, he will continue to be able to buy his meals in pounds sterling.

Hospices (VAT)

Bob Russell Excerpts

Tuesday 10th May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The hospice movement is a great British success story. If we wanted to think of something that epitomises the big society, the 209 independent hospices the length and breadth of the land, with an army of more than 100,000 volunteers, tick all the boxes.

The hospice in my Colchester constituency—St Helena hospice, named after the town’s patron saint—which serves the whole of north Essex, has around 800 volunteers who help in a wide variety of ways, raising money and organising events, working at several charity shops and helping at the hospice itself, which is centred on an ancient farmhouse, Myland Hall. Around 180 professionals are employed by the hospice as medical and key support staff, but without the volunteers the hospice could not exist. It is very much a partnership, which for the past 25 years has been a beacon of community involvement. But all this has been achieved with one arm—financially speaking—tied behind their backs.

I refer to the unfairness of the value added tax which penalises the charitable hospices while exempting exactly the same level of operation undertaken at the 36 national health service hospices and hospitals, which are VAT-exempt. This unfairness—the taxman taking money raised for charitable good causes—does not affect hospices alone, of course, but tonight’s debate is specifically about hospices. I look to the coalition Government to take urgent action to provide the necessary means to ensure that the VAT currently paid is refunded so that the money can be spent for the purposes for which it is raised or donated—the treatment of patients.

I am grateful to Help the Hospices, the national umbrella group, for its assistance with background briefing for my speech. I also thank the Charity Tax Group for the information that it provided. The Charity Tax Group estimates that before VAT was raised to 20%, the total irrecoverable VAT across all charities was more than £1 billion. The new higher level of VAT has cost the charitable sector an estimated extra £143 million. For the record, I voted against raising VAT to 20%.

This is not the first time that I have raised with the Government of the day the unintended consequences of VAT charged to charities, and thanks to my intervention several years ago the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown), moved quickly to came up with a solution whereby the Royal British Legion receives a matching grant for the VAT it is required to pay on the production of its Remembrance day poppies. I invite the coalition Government to use this as a precedent to give matching grants to hospices for the VAT that they pay, as an interim measure in advance of seeking to amend the legislation to exempt them from VAT as if they were part of the NHS for this purpose. After all, the work they do is no different from what the NHS does, other than the fact that it involves the voluntary and charitable sector.

If the “poppy” solution is not acceptable, I invite the Government to see whether the relief enjoyed by local authorities and other public bodies under section 33 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and certain health care provisions under section 41 of the same Act could be used to assist hospices. Failing that, why not adapt the provisions in the Finance Bill to ensure that academy schools can recover VAT on non-business supplies in the same way as local authorities can? If it is okay for academies—educational establishments that are not universally welcomed—applying the same solution to hospices would probably generate near unanimous approval. In this respect, I congratulate the hon. Member for Scunthorpe (Nic Dakin) on his ten-minute rule Bill earlier this year, which proposed a simple legislative solution.

When the original European Union VAT system was developed, the special position of charities was not considered. Alas, because hospices provide services that are either exempt from VAT or outside the scope of the VAT system, they cannot recover the VAT they pay on their expenditure on supporting their charitable aims. This is something that I am sure Members across the House would want to see changed.

Increasing demand for hospice care, alongside the Government’s public service reform and big society agendas, is likely to result in more care services being transferred to hospices. Indeed, I am grateful to the Sue Ryder charity, which already has seven hospices. It first alerted me to this serious problem, telling me:

“A recent transfer of an NHS hospice to Sue Ryder under the Transforming Community Services initiative has sparked interest in the viability of charities taking on other NHS hospices and services. We believe there should be a level playing field in VAT between charities and the NHS so that all possible funds can go towards the delivery of care.”

[Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) (LD)]

One of the Sue Ryder care hospices is in my constituency, and I warmly support what my hon. Friend is saying. Does he agree that as we see the outsourcing of more NHS services to providers such as Sue Ryder, that could deliver a windfall to the Treasury rather than directing funds where they are most needed, which is to health and palliative care?

[Bob Russell]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that point, which I was just about to mention. Let me be financially blunt about this: if the hospices did not exist, the excellent work that they do would fall to the NHS and cost the public two to three times more because of the considerably lower cost of hospices, brought about by the special working combination of professionals and volunteers, with fundraising and so on, which is the basis on which hospices were founded and have existed over the years.

I understand that, on average, charitable hospices receive about one third of their funds for the services they provide from statutory sources, which leaves two thirds to be raised to cover all the other costs. This already challenging target is not helped when it is realised that the taxman is helping himself to 20%. I am advised that most local hospices do not have three-year agreements with NHS commissioners, relying instead on year-on-year negotiations that are, by their very nature, subject to budgetary pressures within the NHS. Alarmingly, a survey of member hospices conducted by Help the Hospices last March found that 64% of primary care trusts had frozen NHS funding for hospices for the period 2010-14.

I will set out some statistics about the excellent job that the nation’s hospices do. Collectively, they provide more than 26 million hours of specialist care and support every year, 90% of which is provided through day care services and care in people’s homes, and 77% of adult palliative care in-patient units are run by hospices, with the voluntary sector providing 2,139 adult in-patient beds, compared with just 490 provided by the NHS. All children’s in-patient units in the UK are run by the voluntary sector. Independent voluntary hospice expenditure increased by a fifth between 2007 and 2009, which indicates the continuing growth and importance of hospices in the life of the nation. More than £1 million is raised every day for the nation’s hospices, from fundraising, legacies and donations.

The value of the voluntary work carried out by the 100,000-plus volunteers is estimated to be worth in excess of £112 million every year. Help for Hospices has told me:

“Hospices are unique among providers of healthcare because they contribute so significantly to the funding and provision of hospice and palliative care. In 2009, hospices spent £687 million. For every £1 the State invests in local charitable hospices, those hospices deliver £3 worth of care.”

It thus makes sense that the burden of VAT on hospices should be lifted so that they can do even more good for the benefit of the communities that they serve.

Help for Hospices also told me:

“Hospice care receives overwhelming public support in the UK. A recent survey showed more than 80 per cent of people believe everyone with a terminal illness should have the right to receive hospice care.”

My only observation is that I am amazed the figure is as low as 80%.

I would like to say a little more about the St Helena hospice in Colchester, which I visited on Saturday ahead of this evening’s debate and in order to inspect the newly extended Joan Tomkins day care centre, which was officially opened to coincide with the annual fete in the grounds of the hospice.

The original day care centre, named in memory of the late wife of local business man Mr Robin Tomkins, whose generosity made the building possible, was opened in April 1988 by the Princess of Wales. I remember that well, because my mother was in the nearby hospice and died a few days later. The princess spoke to my father at my mother’s deathbed, and he spoke afterwards of the warmth of compassion that she had shown.

St Helena hospice, the main building, was officially opened in April 1986 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, so we have just celebrated its 25th anniversary. As an aside, I should have said that my mother was one of the volunteers in the early months after the hospice opened.

Like other hospices throughout the country, St Helena is rooted in the local community that it serves. It provides free medical and nursing care and therapy to adult patients with any diagnosis. Alongside the two day centres there is also one at Clacton, and there is in-patient accommodation in the purpose-built extension to the historic Myland Hall.

Services are also provided for patients in their own home. Indeed, in the past five years there has been a 58% increase in the services in patients’ homes. St Helena hospice also provides pre and post-bereavement support to family members, including children, and attached to the hospice is an education centre, providing education for health and social care professionals.

It will cost St Helena hospice more than £4.6 million in the current financial year to provide its valuable services, and it would be great if it did not have to pay value added tax, but could instead spend that money on the purposes for which people wish it to be used—supporting the work of their local hospice.

Help for Hospices told me:

“As the population ages and people approach the end of life with ever-more complex co-morbidities, a spectrum of highly flexible and adaptive hospice and palliative care services need to be available.”

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

Not only the services and the care provided but also hospice-build should be exempt from VAT. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Minister should address that in his reply?

[Bob Russell]

The hon. Gentleman makes an exceedingly good point. We have the nonsense, right across the construction industry, whereby new-build is VAT-exempt, but when a building is added to or converted, as in the instance to which I believe the hon. Gentleman has just referred, VAT is levied. When a hospice wants to extend its building, as in the extension and modernisation of the Joan Tomkins day care centre that I mentioned, VAT is levied, as I understand it. That is wrong.

Help for Hospices also told me:

“The Government has committed to a ‘level playing field’ for all organisations delivering public services. However, charitable hospices continue to face extra costs that statutory and private providers do not.

Tax burdens should be removed from hospices where they can be. This is particularly necessary as hospices are providing public services and investing considerable charitable funds into the ‘health economy’ and, unlike other private and public providers of healthcare, are subject to significant funding and contracting challenges.”

I believe that the public would overwhelmingly take the view that the coalition Government should urgently introduce measures to deal with the unfairness of levying VAT on our hospices. I have put forward suggestions as to how that can be achieved, and I now invite the Minister to pursue these matters.

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Mr David Gauke)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) on securing this debate and on speaking with such evident passion and knowledge about the hospices in his constituency and the hospice movement more widely. I think I speak for all Members in expressing a sense of admiration for what the hospice movement does. I certainly know of the fantastic work that a number of hospices perform in my constituency.

I am pleased to have a further opportunity to explain and discuss the Government’s policy on an issue that has generated considerable interest and is evidently of concern to a large number of hon. Members. It might be helpful if I could start by reminding Members of the current position with regard to VAT and the constraints that we are acting under. Before I do so, I would like to confirm how much the Government appreciate the energy and input of charities across a wide spectrum of national life and interests. We can all agree on the important role that they play in our society and agree that we are fortunate that they are prepared to come forward with their immense contribution.

As we all know, VAT is a broad-based tax levied on final consumption. It is charged by registered businesses on their supplies and can be recovered by a business when the purchase is destined for use in the making of supplies that carry VAT. In this respect, charities are no different from others when they are in business, as they can recover VAT. A business, however, bears the VAT on purchases when it is making supplies that are exempt from VAT. Since the supplies it makes do not carry VAT, it is unable to claim back the VAT. Exemption is applicable to a limited range of supplies such as the rent of land and buildings, education and health care. The application of an exemption has to be in line with international agreements—in this case, the principal VAT directive. Since health care is included in the list of exemptions, we are obliged to apply an exemption.

The hon. Gentleman’s central concern is how the impact of VAT on hospices can be mitigated. Ideas that have been mooted include the application of a refund system or arrangements similar to those applying to the NHS. With regard to a refund system, it would, in principle, be possible to introduce such a system in respect of the non-business activities of charities. However, such refunds, as a matter of Government expenditure rather than taxation, would place a very significant cost burden on the Exchequer, especially given the current fiscal position. Furthermore, many charities are engaged in activities where they could be in direct competition with private sector organisations: those activities include the provision of care and welfare services. A refund scheme for VAT incurred in relation to these services would represent a distortion of competition. Any scheme that could be devised would be complex and administratively burdensome for charities to operate.

[Bob Russell]

Will the Minister explain where the competition is in the treatment of cancer patients? That is something new to me; I did not realise that it was in the competitive world.

[Mr Gauke]

I wanted to apply this initially to the broad issue of costs incurred by charities as a whole. Clearly, there can be an issue in the provision of care and welfare services more generally, and I was looking at it in that context rather than specifically with regard to hospices.

It is true that the NHS can recover the portion of its VAT costs that relate directly to out-sourced services used in the provision of free healthcare—for example, cleaning, laundry, catering and estate management. That amounts to about 20% of the total VAT incurred across the NHS. This ability to reclaim some VAT costs is taken into account as part of the overall funding arrangements for the NHS. Refunds do not extend to VAT paid on goods and services purchased to support business activities that are exempt from VAT, such as private health care and property rental.

In addition to the obligation placed on the Government to ensure that the VAT system is fiscally neutral and does not distort competition, it is not within our gift to change unilaterally a VAT system unanimously agreed in Europe and applying in the single market. We need to apply the mandatory exemption in relation to the business supplies of health care providers, with the associated block on recovery. Similarly, under European agreements the Government cannot extend existing VAT zero rates or introduce new ones. Reduced rates can be applied only to a specific list of goods and services, and there is no such reduced rate that applies to all supplies made by all charities.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Robin Walker (Worcester) (Con)]

Will the Exchequer Secretary respond to a suggestion that has been made by Richard Shaw, the treasurer of the excellent St Richard’s hospice in my constituency? He has suggested that under the NHS reforms, if hospices’ income from doctors’ consortia could be deemed to be VAT standard rating, that would allow hospices to recover a lot more VAT on their charges. Will that be one of the options that his officials look into?

[Bob Russell]

It will now.

[Mr Gauke]

As the hon. Member for Colchester has just muttered, it will now. My hon. Friend the Member for Worcester (Mr Walker) has put that thought on the record, and my officials will certainly take it up.

As I said, there is clearly strong feeling in the House on the subject, and rightly so. We all recognise and respect the value of the hospice movement, and we all recognise the opportunities and benefits of a greater diversity of supply of services. We agree that it would be most unfortunate if the workings of the VAT system were to get in the way of sensible progress. I hope that my comments will provide reassurance to the hon. Member for Colchester that we understand the issues that have been raised and that the Government are taking them very seriously. I hope that we can continue to work closely with the hospice movement in developing proposals.

Question put and agreed to.

Amendment of the Law

Bob Russell Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

He’s one of the guilty men.

[Mr Pickles]

Yes.

Bolsover council states that

“we have taken this step to freeze our share of the Council Tax because we do not feel it is fair that these are passed onto you”.

I do not recall the right hon. Gentleman freezing the council tax during his time in government, but let us hear from him.

--- Later in debate ---

[Dr Whitehead]

rose—

[Bob Russell]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Pickles]

I will give way to my hon. Friend, and then to the hon. Gentleman.

[Bob Russell]

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the third and sixth paragraphs of chapter 4 of the coalition’s programme for Government on communities and local government will form part of the planning legislation? I believe that they will, but I would like that to be put on the record.

[Mr Pickles]

The coalition agreement is not quite holy writ, but it is pretty close to it, so of course those paragraphs will be included.

I apologise to the hon. Member for Southampton, Test (Dr Whitehead) for not giving way earlier.

--- Later in debate ---

[Caroline Flint (Don Valley) (Lab)]

I begin by saying that the violence of a handful of anarchists and attention seekers at the weekend was an absolute disgrace, and I hope that prosecutions will follow. However, I have to add that none of their yobbish and illegal behaviour could detract from the biggest demonstration of British feeling for eight years. People wanted to tell the Government that their cuts are going too far and too fast, and that their lack of plans for jobs and growth just make the pain worse.

[Bob Russell]

Will the right hon. Lady give way?

[Caroline Flint]

I will shortly, but I want to make a little progress.

What the Secretary of State’s rhetoric today has revealed is that the Government have no plans for jobs or growth and no plans for the future. If he wants to talk about the economy that they inherited, let me tell him a thing or two about the legacy that we left. They inherited an economy in which growth had returned, inflation was low, unemployment was falling and borrowing was lower than forecast. I am proud to say that Labour increased funding for local authorities, built or refurbished 4,000 schools and 100 new hospitals and left the nation’s public housing stock in better shape than it had been in during our lifetime. If the Secretary of State got out of his office a little more often, he would see that Britain’s major towns and cities had been substantially regenerated.

Even when the worst recession in our lifetime was visited upon our country, bringing half the banks in the UK and Europe to their knees, we still had fewer repossessions, fewer business collapses and a lower rise in unemployment than during the Tory recession of the 1990s. Today we have an economy that is not growing at all and in which inflation is up to 4.4%, unemployment is at a 17-year high and borrowing will be higher this year, next year and in every year for the next five.

[Bob Russell]

I am glad that my intervention was delayed, because I had not recognised the utopia that the right hon. Lady has just described. Does she accept that the last Government had any responsibility for the financial situation that the UK is now in?

[Caroline Flint]

We were part of a global crisis that affected countries around Europe and the world, but it is interesting that before the international crisis hit, we had the second lowest debt of any G7 country. We had brought overall public sector net borrowing down, and the now Prime Minister and Chancellor committed themselves to Labour’s spending plans. In 13 years, we created 1.1 million enterprises, and in the past two years, which included our last year in government, the World Bank ranked the UK fourth in the world and first among European countries for the ease of doing business.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Until the Labour party acknowledges the problems it left the country and its financial mismanagement, it will never be taken seriously by the British people. The stark reality is that the previous Government took Britain to the brink of bankruptcy—just one more move and we would have been in the same boat as Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

Not everything in the Budget meets with my approval. There are things in it that I wish were not, and things not in it that I wish were. However, it is a Budget of hope, and it is pragmatic after Labour’s years of hopelessness. Among the good things is the fact that I am blessed in Colchester with the most incompetent Conservative party in the east of England, which is matched in incompetence only by the local Labour party. Although I welcome the Budget, it will come as no surprise to Members on the Government Benches to hear that, having spent 40 years opposing the Conservatives, I have not changed my spots. The Budget is more Aldi than Waitrose.

Some Members have referred to their constituencies, and I believe that on occasions such as these we need to remind people that national Budgets have local consequences. They affect local pride and civic leadership. In that respect, I want to state with great honour that last Wednesday Colchester borough council voted to apply for city status, a civic honour granted by Her Majesty the Queen under the royal prerogative. The qualifying guidelines for making such an application state:

“Any local authority… which considers that its area deserves to be granted the rare honour of city status on this very special occasion is welcome to enter the competition… The places to be honoured for the Diamond Jubilee should be vibrant, welcoming communities with interesting histories and distinct identities.”

On that basis, Colchester ticks every box. It is Britain’s oldest recorded town and the first capital of Roman Britain. It is the home of the university of Essex, the most international university in the country, and of which Mr Speaker is a graduate. As a super garrison town, it is also the home of 16 Air Assault Brigade, which is currently serving in Afghanistan. An additional reason why I hope Colchester will become the UK’s newest city is the fact that this is being driven from the ground upwards by an organisation called Destination Colchester, which is bringing together organisations, local businesses and the people of the town. This is the big society in operation.

Among the aspects of the Budget that I am unhappy about are those relating to planning. I urge the Government to look again at the VAT on old buildings, because although converting old buildings to housing is welcome, the 20% VAT levy is a penalty. I hope that they will look at that again. Colleagues will recall that I intervened on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government earlier to mention chapter 4 of the coalition programme for government, which relates to communities and local government. The third point states:

“In the longer term, we will radically reform the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live, based on the principles set out in the Conservative Party publication Open Source Planning.”

The sixth point states:

“We will… create a new designation—similar to SSSIs—to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities.”

I am delighted that the Secretary of State has agreed to visit Colchester to see the fields of west Mile End, which developers want to put under a housing estate of 2,200 dwellings, against all the wishes of the local community.

I will conclude on beer duty, which was an opportunity lost by our Government. I hope that they will look again at the issue, because our towns and cities are troubled by binge drinkers, and one way to address that would be to put up the beer levy by 10p a pint or thereabouts in the supermarkets and the mega-pubs and to reduce it by 10p a pint in our community pubs, traditional pubs and village pubs. In that way, our local communities—the localism aspect of the licensing industry—would receive the boost. At the moment, the supermarkets and the mega-pubs are able to outdo the local, community pubs, and we all know that the consequence is drunkenness in town centres, so I urge the Government to look again to see whether we can have a lower beer levy for our community pubs.

Court of Auditors 2009 Report

Bob Russell Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

Yet again, the European Court of Auditors has failed to approve the European budget. Will the Minister tell us for how many consecutive years that has occurred?

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Fifteen.

[Justine Greening]

In fact, it is 16 years, and the Government view that as completely unacceptable. I hope that the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) will bear with me while I set out some of the steps we have already taken and those we plan to take over the coming months to play our part in getting these issues tackled.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Bob Russell Excerpts

Thursday 28th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

The reading comes from “Proverbs”, chapter 31, verses 8 and 9:

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;

oppose any that go to law against them;

speak out and pronounce just sentence

and give judgement for the wretched and the poor.”

I am grateful to Lexden Methodist church in my constituency for its notices for the week of Sunday 24 October and the thought for the week—political concerns. I mention that because of the deafening silence from the Church in the broader sense on issues of social concern, housing benefit and the housing crisis. There are enough bishops at the other end who could speak out on such issues, but I am still waiting for the Church—archbishops, bishops and cardinals, the whole lot—to speak. I am grateful to Lexden Methodist church for allowing me to put that on the record and I welcome the concept of fairness.

I am not one who says that all private is good and all public bad, or vice versa. It is important to keep a mixture of the two.

[Mr Slaughter]

I do not disagree with the hon. Gentleman, but I think he is being slightly unfair to the clergy. My local vicar has written asking me to join a campaign to get the Chancellor to pay his fair share of taxes following last week’s “Dispatches” programme.

[Bob Russell]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that point, but I was talking about the major, national Church leaders. There are excellent clergy at local level. Indeed, St Margaret’s church in my constituency, which is in a relatively prosperous part of one of the world’s richest countries, has started a food parcel system for hard-up families. The fact that the Church at community level is doing such things speaks volumes, but our national Church leaders are not. I look forward to the Archbishop of Canterbury speaking up.

[Nic Dakin (Scunthorpe) (Lab)]

Archbishop Sentamu said only the other day:

“I am not an economist, and I am not a politician, but to cut investment to vital public services, and to withdraw investment from communities, is madness.”

Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that Archbishop Sentamu is sticking up for people in this country? Does he agree with those sentiments?

[Bob Russell]

I applaud the Archbishop of York for that sentiment and those words—and indeed many others. He and I have something in common: we have both done a freefall sky dive with the Red Devils.

Earlier this morning I met the vicar of Dibley. Actually, that is not quite true. I actually met the Rev. Paul Nicholson, who is chair of Zacchaeus 2000 Trust. Before he took that position, he was the priest in the village of Turville, where “The Vicar of Dibley” was filmed. He is very concerned, as indeed I hope we all are. He points out that contrary to the Daily Mail examples, accommodation for people on benefits is expensive because there is a shortage of affordable housing, owing to the absence of any coherent housing policy for the past 30 years.

The market has failed to provide affordable housing. Property speculators and landowners have grown wealthy, but the poorest tenants face the misery of eviction through no fault of their own. Eviction for rent arrears triggers homelessness, and councils must somehow address that. However, those of us who have a local government background will know that when eviction is brought about by rent arrears, the legal term “intentional homelessness” creeps in, which is a serious problem. Those who were present at Prime Minister’s questions yesterday will know that I asked him about it, and I have spoken on the matter in Westminster Hall debates.

I am grateful to Family Action, a charity that was founded in 1869 and that is now sponsored by Barclaycard. Its analysis of the welfare reforms, which is entitled “Pushed Towards Poverty: 21 welfare cuts for low-income working families”, adds to the anxiety of recent times, which can only get worse. Family Action supports vulnerable and disadvantaged families throughout England, including families in which parents experience mental health problems, learning difficulties, addiction or domestic violence. Critically, it works with families within their homes to improve the parenting, ensure that the children’s development milestones are met, and to help them to access work, training and volunteering. The impact of the changes in general—not just housing benefit cuts—could make it harder for many families to lift themselves out of poverty through work and, in some cases, families such as the ones with whom Family Action works risk finding that employment is no longer sustainable.

In debates such as this, it is worth quoting local examples. The one big benefit of the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme is that a secondary school in my constituency that the Labour Government would have closed will not now be closed. However, alongside that, we need funding for Colchester academy, which opened last month. It was Sir Charles Lucas Arts college. The pupils have a new uniform and the school a new name, but they are still using the same dilapidated building. I therefore look to the coalition Government to deliver a new building.

Finally, I shall draw the House’s attention to the possible unintended consequences and knock-on effects of halting capital schemes. The Sure Start capital grant project at Kendall school in Colchester has already had £102,000 invested, but if the grant is not now forthcoming, all that money will have been wasted. That takes into account only the financial aspects, not the provision of places for pre-school children and so on. A local building company was all set to start work, planning permission has been granted and a chain reaction of education provision is on the verge of commencing for the benefit of the school and the local community, but it needs the Sure Start money.

I also wrote to the Secretary of State for Education on 23 September. I headed the letter “The Big Society—common-sense and avoiding an own goal”. It relates to St John’s church in Colchester where the erection of a new church hall is again dependent on the Sure Start money. If that project does not go ahead, £115,000- worth of preparatory work will be wasted and donations, bequests and fundraising work will all have been to no avail. I urge the Government to look at what is going on. These are capital investments that would generate jobs and provide benefits for the local community.

Comprehensive Spending Review

Bob Russell Excerpts

Wednesday 20th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

The hon. Gentleman is not known for overstatement, but I would say to him that we inherited a situation of rising unemployment, the biggest fall in output in a generation, the biggest banking crisis—thanks to the way in which the previous Government had regulated the banks—and a huge budget deficit. In the next hour—or however long you allow for questions, Mr Speaker—every single Labour Member who gets up should propose an alternative plan. It is very difficult to make choices, but they can attack this plan only if they have an alternative.

[Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

I welcome the Government’s commitment to end child poverty—during this Parliament, we hope—which Labour failed miserably to do, but may I draw the Chancellor’s attention to what the coalition programme says about rented housing? Hundreds of thousands of families will be adversely affected by the removal or cutting of housing benefit. Will he confirm that local authorities have a statutory duty to house homeless families, and that the cost of bed-and-breakfast accommodation is considerably greater than that of housing benefit?