Brandon Lewis
Main Page: Brandon Lewis (Conservative - Great Yarmouth)
Andrew George (St Ives) (LD)
6. What his policy is on the funding gap between rural and urban local authorities; and if he will re-open the 2014-15 settlement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
I recognise the case that has been made for funding for rural authorities. In February we made some adjustments to the financial settlement for 2013-14 and confirmed changes to sparsity top-ups.
Nicholas Soames
I thank my hon. Friend for that answer, but does he agree that rural authorities are due to receive, on average, a 5.58% reduction in formula grant, which is more than two percentage points greater than urban authorities, which are due to receive, on average, a 3.54% reduction? Is not that actually extremely unfair and not a sensible way to encourage growth in the rural economy?
Brandon Lewis
This year we changed the sparsity levels within the banding so that the reduction for rural areas is not as great as that for urban areas, thereby slightly narrowing the gap. I appreciate that Members who represent rural areas have made a strong case this year for going even further, which is why we brought in £9 million-odd in extra finance to help local authorities servicing those rural communities with deprivation.
Andrew George
I am grateful to the Minister for that response, but surely if he will applaud Cornwall council, for example, for freezing its council tax this year, he must accept that it has been persistently underfunded despite being the poorest region of the UK. When will Cornwall and places like it get a fair share of the available money?
Brandon Lewis
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right: Cornwall has frozen its council tax this year. That is good news for residents across Cornwall, and I am pleased that the council decided to do it. Throughout the finance-setting debate we discussed the difference between rural and urban areas, and that is why we put in the extra money to help to narrow the gap. Over the course of the year, before next year’s settlement, we will continue to discuss the situation with Members representing rural areas, although I must be clear that only in exceptional circumstances would we reopen the settlement.
Mr Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford South) (Lab)
One of the reasons for the gap is that urban areas have to deal with the influx of European workers who come here under freedom of movement, and cities such as Bradford have to bear the brunt of that. Has the Department looked at this issue in relation to the concentration of new workers coming to areas such as Bradford?
Brandon Lewis
When we do the setting every year we look at all the developments in different communities. People are also moving into rural areas. In Norfolk we would class ourselves as rural, but we have a population coming from overseas as well. It is something that we consider across the board.
Alison McGovern (Wirral South) (Lab)
I am proud to be from Wirral, not least because we are the perfect mix of rural and urban together, but people in Wirral are suffering from the severity of the Government’s cuts, which are linked to deprivation levels. When will the Government say what they will do to tackle deprivation, especially in areas such as Merseyside where it has hit councils so hard?
Brandon Lewis
It is sometimes easy to forget, and I remind the hon. Lady, that an area such as Liverpool has a much higher base start in the first place. A constituency such as mine, which has some very high deprivation, has a spending power of £2,200 per dwelling, whereas Liverpool’s is up at about £3,000. There is a big difference in the first place, and we have to bear that in mind when we are trying to make comparisons between different authorities.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
4. Which county council has set the lowest council tax in England.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
Councils are in the process of setting their budgets for the coming financial year, and we will, as a Department, publish official figures in due course. As well as recognising areas such as Lancashire that have done superb work in cutting council tax, as has Dorset by 5% this year, I can confirm that Northamptonshire county council currently has the lowest council tax of any county without a separate fire authority.
Mr Hollobone
Northamptonshire county council is proud to have the lowest county-council council tax in the whole of England, and it has frozen its council tax for the past three years. Will my hon. Friend the Minister congratulate Councillor Jim Harker and his team of Conservative councillors on Conservative-controlled Northamptonshire county council on delivering the most affordable county-council council tax in the whole country?
Brandon Lewis
I am absolutely delighted to give those congratulations. It is superb to see Conservative county councils across the country, of which my hon. Friend’s is a particularly good example, working hard to deliver cost-effective services for their residents. It is also appropriate to say, while I am at the Dispatch Box, that his district council should be commended for the excellent work it is doing on freezing council tax. It is taking this financial settlement in the right way and looking to the future in terms of how it can deliver growth for its area and thereby create real benefit for its residents locally.
Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)
5. What steps he has taken to help pensioners with their council tax bills.
Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)
16. What representations he has received which support the privatisation of fire and rescue services.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
The short answer is none. The Labour party’s claim that the Government are privatising, or seeking to privatise, the fire service is completely untrue. Rather, we are supporting locally led mutuals and co-operatives, which I would have thought the Labour party would have backed, given that its coalition partner is the Co-operative party.
Rushanara Ali
The fire service Minister has written to the Chair of the House of Commons Regulatory Reform Committee outlining plans that could lead to 112 fire stations across Greater London being run by a private company. Why is he planning to take such risks? I do not agree that there is no plan. We know already that companies such as AssetCo have cost taxpayers millions of pounds. Will he give a straight answer?
Brandon Lewis
I just did. The Labour party is giving out information that is simply not correct. We are looking to work with an area such as Cleveland, for example, where the Labour-led fire authority wants to mutualise. We think that mutualisation is good and the right thing to do, so I am disappointed that the Labour party seems to be turning away from co-operatives and mutuals. I would have thought it supported them, given the discussion in a recent publication by the Co-operative party containing a foreword endorsed by the leader of the Labour party.
Chris Williamson (Derby North) (Lab)
Nobody believes the housing Minister—the fire Minister, I mean, although I do not believe the housing Minister either, given his answers to previous questions. Nobody believes the fire Minister when he says he has no plans to privatise the fire and rescue service. After all, the Conservative party has form on this. If he does not want to privatise it, why did he write to the Regulatory Reform Committee seeking its views
“on our proposals for a Legislative Reform Order that would enable fire and rescue authorities in England to contract out their full range of services to a suitable provider, including a public service mutual...or other appointed contractor?”
Brandon Lewis
I have to congratulate the hon. Gentleman, who spoke about this last week at the Local Government Association’s fire conference, on his ability to start a campaign to stop something that was never started in the first place. As I have outlined, the simple fact is that Labour-led Cleveland fire authority wants to consider mutualising. Unlike the Labour party, it seems, we are happy to support employee ownership in mutuals, and will continue to do so. I hope that the Labour party will go back to supporting co-operatives.
Mr Stephen Hepburn (Jarrow) (Lab)
17. What plans he has for reform of council tax benefit; and if he will make a statement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
Council tax benefit was abolished and replaced by local council tax support schemes in the financial settlement and will take effect from 1 April. We must remember that council tax benefit spending more than doubled under the previous Administration. Our reforms mean that local authorities will have control over what they do locally and an incentive to drive local economic growth.
Mr Hepburn
Thousands of the poorest families in my constituency are facing huge council tax rises as a result of the changes to council tax benefits. Will the Minister try to justify on the one hand slapping down poor people—people who live from hand to mouth day after day—while on the other hand giving millionaires tax cuts?
Brandon Lewis
I call on the hon. Gentleman to put pressure on his local authority to come up with a really good scheme that delivers good local growth and protects people. The Government have put in place support to protect the most vulnerable, as well as setting out guidelines to protect pensioners. I am disappointed that he could not persuade his local authority to do the right thing, like many Conservative authorities are doing.
Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
Duncan Hames (Chippenham) (LD)
I know that the Minister will want to avoid unnecessary job losses in front-line local government services, so what guidance will he give to local authorities on the retention of marriage registrars once the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill becomes law?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
I am very happy to look at this matter. The hon. Gentleman asks a fair question and I am happy to have a discussion with him about it once the Bill becomes law.
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
The Secretary of State is on record as saying that councils that flout the law in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 should face justice, so why have 27 local authorities spent millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on flouting the law by employing private investigators to conduct unauthorised surveillance operations?
Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)
Can the Minister confirm that in order to proceed with the mutualisation of the fire service in any region, there must be full agreement among all the employees in that region?
Brandon Lewis
I can confirm that we are looking at how to work with Cleveland to deliver a mutual fire service, if it wants to do it that way. We are working through this at the moment and may be looking at consultation. We will go through that process and look at the feedback we get from it.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
Will the Planning Minister instruct the planning inspectorate not to sanction on appeal entirely inappropriate housing development outside town and village envelopes using the five-year rolling housing supply targets where the local authority concerned is doing all it can and more to meet Government guidelines on the development of local plans?
Simon Danczuk (Rochdale) (Lab)
I have been contacted by a Rochdale retailer who has just two instalments to pay on his business rates and should get until the end of the month to pay them. The council has involved the courts and the bailiffs are banging on the door, threatening to close the business down. Is this any way for a council to act to improve the high streets? Will the Minister have a look at this?
Brandon Lewis
I will happily have a look at it. I have to say that the local authority should do what it can to help deliver further economic growth locally by working with businesses, but if the business rates were due, the authority would obviously have to go through proper due process. I will be happy to talk to the hon. Gentleman outside the Chamber about this matter.