Orgreave

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Tuesday 1st November 2016 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

The IPCC has held an investigation, and if there is new evidence, it will look at the potential for further investigations. That is a matter for the IPCC, which is, by definition, independent. The hon. Lady also touched on the point that our police forces police by consent in this country. That is a two-way thing. In fact, we will be debating that subject tomorrow. It is important that the police and crime commissioner and the new leadership of the South Yorkshire police look at how they build that relationship with the public. It is also important that we and the public respect the police, as they continue to police us by consent. No doubt that will be part of the debate tomorrow afternoon.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

It is not good enough for the Minister to say that there should have been an inquiry earlier, because papers on Orgreave were still being released up to Christmas 2015. Those papers prompted calls for an inquiry because they showed an abuse of power in South Yorkshire police and the concocting of statements. Yes, no one was killed at Orgreave but lives were ruined and innocent people were sent to jail on remand. More importantly, in the mining areas that I know well—I am the direct descendant of generations of miners—trust in the police was completely destroyed in communities where children were previously brought up to trust and support the police. Until there is an inquiry, those wrongs cannot be righted. How can the Minister possibly keep denying us one?

[Brandon Lewis]

If the hon. Lady looks at what I have said this afternoon, she will see that I have not commented on what the previous Government did or did not do. I have stated specifically that that is a matter for those who were members of that Government to comment on, not for me. Our decision is about the Orgreave case, based on the facts that the Home Secretary and I have looked at and the meetings with the families. The hon. Lady talked about the public’s view of South Yorkshire police, and of the police in general, and it is important that we continue with the reforms and ensure that South Yorkshire police have the support they need to rebuild those relationships with the public. That is the outcome that should be right for people across the country. We should continue with the reforms and I hope that she will support us in doing so.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Wednesday 18th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

As my hon. Friend knows, we are not fans of top-down reorganisation in local government, unlike the last Administration. However, I am very supportive of any local authorities that join forces to find new and innovative ways of saving back-office costs, and I shall always be happy to meet their members and discuss what is achievable for them.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

If the Minister believes in fairness, can he explain why West Oxfordshire, one of the richest local authorities in the country, will gain from the settlement, while, according to the Audit Commission, the most deprived areas in the country will lose from it? Are not the Government pursuing a systematic policy, in local government, health and taxation, of transferring money from the poorest areas to the richest?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady’s argument falls completely flat for a couple of reasons. First, we are helping the hardest-hit councils, such as Pendle, Hastings, Great Yarmouth and Hyndburn, whereas the last Government left them with a black hole to fall into in 2010. Secondly, the hon. Lady is living in the past, because this year the Government adopted a reward-based system that enables local authorities to increase their income through the business rates retention scheme and the new homes bonus. Councils that do good things such as building houses and securing economic growth will experience the benefits of that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Monday 21st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

As I said, these are local schemes. I can confirm to the hon. Gentleman that under Labour spending on council tax benefit hit £4 billion a year, costing hard-working families almost £180 a year and costing more than education, defence and health combined. This Government are dealing with the mess of the economic deficit and debt left by his party’s Government.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Does the Minister believe that disabled people being summonsed to court, three-bedroom houses that cannot be let and poor people having to choose between paying their council tax bill and eating constitutes a success? If so, what would constitute a failure?

“Councillors on the Frontline”

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Thursday 5th September 2013 Westminster Hall

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. He reminds me of my time as a councillor, when I would—Members touched on this issue earlier—sit in meetings with council officers. Occasionally, they would, I do not doubt, be blaming somebody unfairly, but they would certainly use the opportunity to say to members that if we did not take a certain action it would upset the Audit Commission, that it would not help us with our comprehensive area assessment—or something else that the normal public do not care about or understand, and nor should they, because it is usually wasting their money—and that the Government will pull part of our grant from somewhere else.

That is why taking away ring-fencing was so important. I appreciate that the hon. Member for Croydon North and other Opposition Members have commented on how important that was. It is also why it was important that we got rid of some of the burdens—not only such things as the standards committees, but the Audit Commission itself and the way it worked. The hon. Member for Warrington North commented that we have the Local Audit and Accountability Bill, which is the final nail in getting rid of the Audit Commission, coming to us very soon. She commented on the Secretary of State’s powers, and I hope to be able to convince her, through the process of the Bill, that it is the right thing to do. It is already part of the code anyway, but she should look carefully at some of the authorities out there that are wasting taxpayers’ money on wholly inappropriate literature. We will talk about that, no doubt, in the months ahead.

My hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East is right in talking about how council officers will use funding. I have spent part of today talking about this very issue. Opposition Members have made the point about council funding and how it has changed. The challenge I put to the local government sector is that it is difficult for the general public to give that real credibility, until we can see every council involved. There are great councils doing great, innovative work to make sure that they are being efficient, but there are still lots of councils out there that have not looked at everything they can do, in terms of front-line services, innovation and shared management, and cracking down on the £2 billion of uncollected council tax and the £2 billion worth of fraud and error. Councils have increased their reserves by another £3 billion in the last year alone to a record high of £19 billion. That money should be going to ensure that we have great front-line services and innovation.

[Helen Jones]

As the Minister will remember from our discussions on the Local Government Finance Bill, the warnings came frequently that because of the uncertainty of the system he was introducing, local authority treasurers would be advising local councils to increase their reserves. That is exactly what has happened.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Monday 8th July 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that they balance their budgets, and they have been doing that. It is particularly interesting and impressive that since 2010 public satisfaction with local authorities has increased. It is also important that small district councils in particular, which are working with silo expensive management teams, look at sharing management to make sure that they spend the money on front-line services looking after residents, and not on bureaucracy.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

In the Jackanory world of the DCLG, it announced that local government spending would fall by 2.3% after 2015, but will the Minister admit that important resource spending, even on his figures, will fall by 8.5%, rising to 10% when the new homes bonus is top-sliced, and that when predictions for business rates are taken into account, some councils could lose up to 19% of their grant without the compensating growth, hitting the poorest again? Does that not mean that the most vulnerable are paying the price for this Government’s economic failure?

[Brandon Lewis]

I am sure that the hon. Lady remembers that we have put protections in place for the most vulnerable—councils have a duty to ensure that they look after them. In fact, about 40 authorities actually had an increase this year, because we have moved local government financing from the old Labour style of a begging bowl and “If you do badly, you get more” to a reward-based system whereby if an authority builds houses, it gets money, and if it brings about business growth through business rates retention, it gets more money. Councils can provide better services, work together and be more efficient in that way.

Local Government Finance (England)

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. There are some really good councils throughout the country, doing really good work in protecting and making the right decisions for their communities and freezing council tax. I congratulate Bournemouth borough council on doing just that.

Councils clearly have a part to play in reducing the deficit. Opposition Members should not kid themselves, residents or us about their position. They would not have done anything different. In fact, their party was planning to make spending cuts of £52 billion by 2014-15—and, given that they have opposed every single saving that the Government have made, they still have £52 billion of cuts to outline. I hope that they will do so today.

Another point that Members should consider, which is relevant to the question from the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), is that this is a fair deal. It is fair to north and south. Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham and Newcastle all have more spending power per dwelling than the national average. They are all at least £500 better off per household than, for instance, Wokingham in the south-east. The settlement is also fair to all councils, even those that Labour left facing a massive financial cliff edge, such as Great Yarmouth and Pendle. Thanks to the new efficiency support grant, the seven authorities that face the biggest hit to their budgets—Burnley, Barrow-in-Furness, Bolsover, Hyndburn, Hastings, Great Yarmouth and Pendle—will be protected.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

Will the Minister explain why the Government took £573 million out of the relative needs block of the settlement to distribute it on a per capita basis? Is it not the case that they are taking no account of the differing needs of local authorities?

[Brandon Lewis]

That is simply not correct. The settlement does take account of needs. The areas that would have been most heavily affected—such as my constituency in Great Yarmouth, which would have lost more than £3 million a year thanks to the position left by Labour—have already benefited from a two-year transition grant, and now we are introducing the efficiency support grant.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Monday 17th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the fact that rural areas—I represent a rural area in Norfolk, as he knows—have different issues from metropolitan and urban areas. It is important that those local authorities have the flexibility and the powers, which they now have under the general power of competence, to make decisions about what is right for their local community, bearing in mind its make-up and style.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

In the debates on the Local Government Finance Bill, the Government voted down all attempts to have levels of need considered when funding is allocated to local authorities, yet the result of their current policy is that the 10 most deprived authorities in this country face cuts in spending power eight times greater than the 10 least deprived authorities. When the Secretary of State announces next year’s settlement, will he attempt to rectify this injustice or will he, like the Chancellor, make the poorest and the most vulnerable pay the price for the Government’s disastrous economic policy?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Monday 12th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. Obviously we are doing what we can to ensure that the most vulnerable are well protected. It is just a shame that we have had to do that because so many Labour councils, such as Manchester and those of some hon. Members who have spoken today, have decided to take forward schemes that hit the most vulnerable. It is this Government who are doing their best to ensure they are well protected.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

This is an emergency relief scheme for Tory council candidates, and it is a shambles, is it not? The Secretary of State spent 12 months telling us he wanted local schemes; he has now had to design a national one. Because councils are getting back only a fraction of the money that has been cut, the Institute for Fiscal Studies says that it is not possible to design schemes that meet the criteria within the funding available. There is no clarity on whether councils will have to spend more money on consultation, and because the grant lasts for only a year, they will then have to design new schemes and consult on them again for 2014. Meanwhile, at the sharp end, the poorest people in the country are faced with bills that they cannot meet and the threat of being taken to court.

[Helen Jones]

Would an omnishambles be an improvement on this?

[Brandon Lewis]

It is amazing that the party that left us with a council tax benefits bill that had more than doubled is now complaining that this Government are trying to sort out the economic mess we inherited. It is very simple: we are talking about a voluntary scheme, and if councils want to take it up, they can. They will have the money in March to help them through the first year and they can then take their schemes forward, but many councils will have structured schemes that protect the vulnerable in the first place. It is a shame that too many Labour councils are trying to affect the most vulnerable. This Government are doing what they can to protect them from badly run Labour councils.

Local Government Finance Bill

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Wednesday 31st October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention and hope that you, Mr Deputy Speaker, will allow me 30-seconds’ leeway to thank him for his kind words. This is the first time I have been at the Dispatch Box during a debate in which he, who he is a good friend, has spoken, so I want to put on the record how fortunate I am to be following in the footsteps of someone who laid so clear a path, and one that I support and agree with. Equally, that offers a challenge, because I have quite an act to follow. As in all the matters we are discussing this afternoon, he is absolutely right that enterprise zones are structured in that way so that there is no such disincentive. It is important to bear in mind how the incentives work. Business rates retention offers local authorities a clear incentive to help drive growth, because they will benefit from all the growth they see. That is something we very much want to see so that local authorities are absolutely at the heart of driving economic growth.

I will turn now to some of the question hon. Members asked. The hon. Member for Warrington North asked what happens when a major business goes down mid year, a point the hon. Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright) also touched on. The payments to major precepting authorities would be set on the basis of estimates of income made by the billing authority. Those payments will not change, so billing authorities might need to consider how they would fund any shortfall in the short term before the safety net calculations are made.

[Helen Jones]

Will the Minister explain how a billing authority would fund a shortfall of 20% in its business rate income?

--- Later in debate ---

[Brandon Lewis]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but he will excuse me if I stay within the remit of the Bill and do not delve into changes to financial and tax arrangements that the Treasury, the Welsh Assembly, the Local Government Association and many Members across the House will undoubtedly have a view on. I welcome his decision to choose this moment to start that debate.

What I think is important in business rates retention and the way it moves the goalposts and the way local councils work is that it is really starting to shift back to what local authorities always want—I know this from my time as a council leader—which is to have their hands on the purse strings and the ability to have a direct impact on the amount of money they can bring in. They want more direct control over the way they work, their decisions, the way they develop the local economy and community and the way they involve the community. Local authorities will see a financial benefit and will be able to use that income to provide even more benefits for their communities and residents, and perhaps they will also use it to keep council tax down and, in so doing, further develop the work the Government are rightly doing through the council tax freezes we have brought in over the past few years. This is a very important step forward, and we are pleased that local government seems to be enthused by it. We hope that it motivates them towards growth.

We are looking at the consultation results that we have received, and we will return to them later this year. We are setting out a whole new framework in which local government can work and where it becomes part of driving its local economy. That is not only a key part of how it shapes its community; it means that it can benefit from the advantages and growth that it sees in that community. The community will see that the local authority is benefiting in that way, and we will get a positive circle that can only be good for our communities, for our residents, and for economic growth in our country.

Lords amendment 1 agreed to, with Commons financial privileges waived.

Lords amendment 2 agreed to, with Commons financial privileges waived.

Before Clause 9

Council tax reduction schemes: review

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I beg to move amendment (a) to Lords amendment 3.

--- Later in debate ---

[Helen Jones]

The hon. Gentleman, as a former leader of a local authority, should know that in the current circumstances, local authority treasurers are advising councils to build up reserves because of the uncertainty of the system that the Government are introducing.

[Brandon Lewis]

Will the hon. Lady share with the House her view on whether borough treasurers should run their local communities and councils, or whether the leaders and politicians should make those decisions?

[Helen Jones]

Of course the politicians should make the decisions, but in cases such as this they make them based on proper professional advice. If they did not, the Minister would be the first to criticise them.

Business Rates

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Westminster Hall

[Brandon Lewis]

At the moment, the estimate is done across the country. We are looking at publishing these estimates, but what the Valuation Office Agency can and will publish is a matter for the VOA. We are looking to ensure that that is resolved before the Bill’s Second Reading on Monday.

Postponing the 2015 revaluation in England will avoid local firms and local shops having to face unexpected hikes in their business rate bills during the next five years. As business rates are linked to inflation, there will be no real-terms increase in rates over the period. The reform therefore provides certainty for businesses to plan and invest, supporting local economic growth.

Since the last revaluation, which was based on 2008 valuations, the economy and property market have faced exceptional changes. A revaluation at this point would therefore be likely to result in sharp changes to business rate bills in many parts of the country and in many sectors. Tax stability is vital to businesses that are looking to grow and to help improve the economy. The Government are committed to maintaining up-to-date rate bills through regular five-yearly revaluations, which will resume, as I said, after 2017.

We can look only at estimates for the revaluation in 2015, because the detailed work has not yet started. The estimates have been prepared by the Valuation Office Agency and are based on professional judgments informed by limited rental market evidence up to January 2012. They suggest that many smaller and medium-sized firms would have seen rate increases in 2015. Overall, the estimates suggest, as I have said, that 800,000 premises would have had a real-terms increase in their rates from a 2015 revaluation. The retail sector, some parts of which have criticised our decision to postpone the revaluation, would have faced big hikes in bills in 2015.

[Helen Jones]

If I understood the Minister correctly, he said that the detailed work had not been done by the VOA. If that is the case, how can he be confident of the numbers that he has given on winners and losers?

[Brandon Lewis]

As I have said, the publication of the figures is a matter for the VOA, and one that we are looking to resolve before the Bill’s Second Reading on Monday, but those are the figures from the VOA that we have at the moment. To do the full, detailed calculation, we would need to go through the full revaluation procedure, and the figure for that is just under £50 million. I will come back to that in a moment. We have taken steps to change the legislation, but both Houses—I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) raised the point about reviewing and looking at what is happening—will of course have the chance to examine the policy fully during the passage of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill.

Variation in business rates can have a significant impact on businesses. As has been noted, business rates can add 50% to property costs and can equate to 7% or more of turnover. Large-scale changes in these costs can be very disruptive to businesses at a time when they want to concentrate on delivering growth. That is why we felt that postponing the revaluation was the right thing to do. It provides certainty and stability, allowing businesses to have confidence in what they are doing.

I am aware of concerns that have been heard recently from organisations such as the British Retail Consortium that business rates are generally too high and should not be increased in line with inflation. In fact, the system of increasing the rating multiplier only in line with inflation, which was introduced in 1990, has provided valuable certainty for businesses over the years. It has meant that they have been able to forecast their business rates bill between revaluations and plan accordingly. That was touched on by the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones), I believe.

The Government have said that they will review the case for uprating in line with CPI instead of RPI, or using a 12-month average instead of the September inflation figure. That commitment still stands. I do understand that in the current economic climate, there are retailers and other businesses that would like lower business rate bills, and there are businesses that would like the Government to raise less money from business rates at the next revaluation. When we consider calls, such as those made today, for lower business rate bills, we have to balance that not just against a system that has capped business rate yields for 22 years, but against the Government’s deficit reduction priority and the tough decisions needed to reduce the deficit. To back up the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton, it is important, if there is to be that deficit reduction, that we do not make further spending pledges, which is, to an extent, what hon. Members have invited me to do today.

To date, the approach to granting business rates relief has been to target it where support is most needed—on, for example, small businesses, charities, and businesses in hardship. However, we find discussions with groups such as the British Retail Consortium helpful—I will meet it in the next couple of weeks—and will of course continue to keep the rating system under review.

Let me touch on a couple of specific points that were raised. I am aware that there have been delays in relation to rating appeals at the VOA. It has devoted extra resources this year to help to clear the backlog. My officials have regular meetings with the VOA to discuss the appeal numbers. Postponing the revaluation will allow it to deploy more resources to clear the appeals, but we will also be looking to work with the VOA to see what more can be done to clear appeals.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Brandon Lewis and Helen Jones

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

I thank my hon. Friend. He is right to highlight the issue of pensioners. We are protecting all their current rights.

[Helen Jones (Warrington North) (Lab)]

I welcome the Minister to his new post. As councils begin to consult on their schemes, it is clear that poor working families will have to pay between 15% and 30% of council tax, when previously they paid nothing, leaving many with a choice between paying the bill and buying food. Is that what he meant when he said on his blog:

“This government is rewarding those who work”?

Does it not say all we need to know about this Government that they are introducing a tax rise for the poorest working people on the same day that they are introducing a tax cut for millionaires?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady seems to be making a spending commitment of about half a billion pounds. I am not sure whether that has been approved by the shadow Chancellor. We are ensuring that local authorities have real choices over how they manage the reduction. They can look at a range of areas, including providing more efficient services to the front line. We are looking to ensure that local authorities play their part in economic growth and in getting more people into work in their communities.

[Helen Jones]

If the Minister will not listen to us, perhaps he will listen to his own Tory councillors. Surrey councillors say that the scheme penalises claimants who go out to work. The Secretary of State’s county council says that it has major implications for some of the most vulnerable members of the community; the Foreign Secretary’s council says that the scheme is unfair; and the Prime Minister’s council thinks it is so bad that it is refusing to implement it at all. Is that not because they know that this is Pickles’s poll tax and it is heading for disaster?

[Brandon Lewis]

The simple fact is that the scheme is giving local authorities the power to have local decision making over their budgets. Through the consultation, we will see a range of different options, which we will receive towards the end of this month. The scheme is making local councils part of their economic growth programmes, so that we see more people into work and ensure that it always pays to work.