Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier(3 years ago)
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Brandon Lewis
The UK Government have been very clear and transparent about our intentions all the way through, as we were when we launched the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill last year, as we were when we took action back in March, and as we were when we published the Command Paper. The current situation with the Northern Ireland protocol is not working for the United Kingdom internal market and it is not working for anybody or any business in Northern Ireland. That is not sustainable and it needs to be corrected.
Dame Meg Hillier
The Secretary of State has said today that the Northern Ireland protocol is not working for the people of Northern Ireland, but it was his Government who negotiated the protocol and voted for the exit from the EU. Is he not embarrassed to stand here as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in a Government who have effectively thrown Northern Ireland under the bus in the name of Brexit?
Brandon Lewis
The objectives the Northern Ireland protocol include ensuring that the everyday lives of people and their communities are not disrupted, that the UK internal market is respected and that all three strands of the Good Friday agreement are respected. The EU’s implementation of the protocol is breaching those issues and we will not tolerate that. It is abhorrent to be in a situation in which members of the Jewish community in Northern Ireland cannot practise their religion under the EU’s requirements. That should not be tolerated by anybody in this House.
Housing and Planning Bill
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier
Brandon Lewis
It was rather surprising to see the PAC reviewing a policy that has not gone through the House yet and which will deliver more home ownership to more people across the country, whether through the extension of right to buy, which will benefit 1.3 million people, or the intervention on starter homes.
Meg Hillier
The Minister cited the PAC report published last Friday. Just to be clear, the Committee does look at issues in advance of their becoming law, to make sure that taxpayers’ money is protected in the process. He makes great play of providing more affordable homes for sale, but it is not clear how he will fund it or that there will be a like-for-like replacement of the homes he is forcing boroughs such as mine to sell in order to pay for them. Will he promise now to protect long-term social housing for the people in London who can afford nothing else, certainly not a starter home?
Brandon Lewis
In terms of making good use of our social housing stock, I am sure that the hon. Lady will support us in the votes later today, if there are any, on high-income social tenants. If she is that interested in delivering more housing in this country, however, I am surprised that this is the first time she has engaged directly with the Bill. The hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), who mentioned the PAC report, asked about the data behind the policy. As I outlined at the end of last week, there are 16 million pieces of data impacting on this policy.
Brandon Lewis
The right hon. Gentleman might like to go back to look at the evidence given to the Committee that scrutinised the Bill or at the Bill itself. The £450,000 is a cap. He needs to look at the average price a first-time buyer pays for a home in this country, which is £181,000. If we then include a 20% discount and allow the purchase with a deposit of just 5%, that really changes affordability. I hope the right hon. Gentleman will support the chance for more Londoners to get on the housing ladder, while understanding equally that this is not the only thing we are doing to promote affordable home ownership. There is a £4.7 billion scheme out there now for shared ownership, which also plays an important part, particularly in places such as London.
Meg Hillier
I am grateful to the Minister for giving way so that I can clarify both the role of the Public Accounts Committee and my role as Chair of it. We had a forensic investigation by the National Audit Office. We set out to be helpful to the taxpayer and to the Government in implementing their policy, ensuring affordability. We set out the key questions that needed answering before such a policy could be delivered. If I may say so, this Minister is being very cavalier in sweeping aside the findings of our report, which were well-measured, cross-party and unanimous.
Brandon Lewis
I have huge respect for the hon. Lady, but I was not sweeping anything aside at all. What I am more focused on—I make no apologies for it—is ensuring that we counter the cavalier attitude of the Labour party, which wants to do down people who want the chance to have a home of their own that they can afford to buy. We are determined to deliver our manifesto promise on that.
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend and neighbour makes an interesting point, and people reading Hansard will want to draw their own conclusions about what it means. We are clear: it is right that social tenants on higher incomes contribute more in rent where they can afford to do so, but we are also mindful that the policy should protect work incentives.
Meg Hillier
I take great offence at the suggestion that two people—two pensioners, for example—on a fixed income of £40,000 a year in my constituency would be considered rich, or that they would have any other housing option. Those of a certain age on a fixed income cannot rent privately because the rent would be more than £1,500, and a lot more for a two-bedroom flat. They cannot buy, because the average property price is £682,000, and they would not qualify for a starter home, even if they wanted something of that size. Does the Minister acknowledge that it is invidious to attack those people who do not have a great deal of money?
Brandon Lewis
I do not think that that recognises the policy at all. The policy means that as people earn more, they will pay a few pounds a week more. I do not think that is unreasonable, and it ensures that we make the best possible use of our social housing stock.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and has spoken to me extensively about the excellent work being done by Councillor Cooney and that council. I am pleased to welcome their positive initiative, which will help to make the planning process faster and more certain for developers in Pendle. I am pleased that we have been able to make £5 million available to local authorities who pilot local development orders that grant planning permission for housing on suitable brownfield sites.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
I welcome the Minister’s response. If what he says is true, why was St Leonard’s hospital in my constituency given to PropCo—NHS Property Services Ltd—in the NHS and why has the fire station, which was closed, been sold for a rumoured £28 million, and neither for local housing? Does he not agree that the best thing for public health in the local area would be good-quality affordable housing for local families, and would he not like to see that happen?
Brandon Lewis
Our target is to have 90% of brownfield land developed by 2020. We have made great progress, particularly on affordable housing, supplying almost 220,000 in this Parliament, and we are now building at the fastest rate in 23 years, but ultimately the planning decisions are for local councils and the local authority.
Affordable Housing
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier(9 years, 9 months ago)
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Brandon Lewis
I will finish the point I am making. The hon. Ladies have made a fair few interventions today and I want to respond to the points raised in the short time we have left. There is no direct cost to buying those homes at that discount. It makes home buying affordable to the very people that the hon. Member for York Central (Sir Hugh Bayley) mentioned. Some of those who have not been able, even with Help to Buy, to get on the ladder will be able to link Help to Buy with a starter home to make house buying accessible. From day one, fixing the housing market and the economy have been top priorities for us in government.
Brandon Lewis
Not at the moment, no. We have channelled new investment into every area of the housing market. We have cut the deficit to keep interest rates low for investors and home buyers. We have introduced a wide range of measures to get Britain building again, and that plan is working. More than 500,000 home have been built. There are 700,000 more homes in England, with house building at its highest level since 2007.
Brandon Lewis
I will give way to the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch and then deal with her points and those of the hon. Gentleman together.
Meg Hillier
We see in London the effects of an untrammelled Tory Administration. Private developers have free reign. There is less affordable housing. Where it is affordable, it is 80% of private rents. That applies to a number of sites, as we have highlighted. Is that the Minister’s ambition if he is in power after the election?
Brandon Lewis
As I have outlined, the ambition is to ensure that we are building the houses that this country needs. Those 200,000 starter homes will give people opportunities that the Labour party simply cannot match. As my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford—my predecessor—outlined, we are at the start of a programme that is building affordable housing at the fastest rate the country has seen in more than 20 years.
The hon. Member for York Central made a good point. People often expect the challenge for the development industry over the past couple of years to have been land supply, but it is not, thanks to the changes that we made to the top-down rigours and structures in planning that stopped development under Labour. Through that, our driving of planning locally and because we have kept interest rates low, we are seeing benefits. Some 240,000 homes have been given planning permission in the past 12 months. Members touched on the changes the Government have made to finance for small building projects, which have made that finance available. We went further a couple of months ago. One area that developers consistently mention is the supply chain. I was delighted yesterday to reopen a brick factory that shut down in 2008 during Labour’s recession. It reopened on Monday and will deliver 2 million bricks a year to the industry.
The construction industry is working and hiring at the fastest rate since 1997, and the hon. Gentleman is right that that delivers the second challenge to the industry, which is skills. One thing we can all do—I hope that all parties agree on this—is encourage more people to come into the sector. It is a phenomenally rewarding career, with wide opportunities at home and, potentially, abroad. There are a wide range of careers in the industry. We need to change some of the perceptions of the construction industry to encourage more people into it. That is why I hosted a skills summit with the Minister for Skills and Equalities, my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Nick Boles) just before Christmas at the fantastic new Olympic park. Developers, apprentices and colleges discussed those issues to try to ensure that we are delivering the skills we need for the future. Construction is no doubt one of the opportunities we have to see more jobs coming to this country, beyond those we have already seen.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier(9 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Brandon Lewis
My hon. Friend makes a good point. I have said at a number of points that it is important that, in building the quantity of homes we want, we ensure that the quality of build and design is there, too, so that communities can be proud of the homes that are being built. That is why I brought together a design panel of various organisations, which is looking at that work to ensure that we are using the best-quality design and build.
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
One way that the Minister can help first-time buyers in my constituency is to tackle high rents and insecurity in the private rented sector. Increasingly, there are reports of people who are not couples being forced to share a bedroom because they cannot afford the high rents in London, yet the Minister is being complacent. Is it not time that the Government acted?
Brandon Lewis
I think that, in asking for rent controls again, the hon. Lady may have just contradicted her colleague, the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds). We have introduced the rent to buy scheme, which was announced towards the end of last year, to enable people who are renting and want to own a home to have another option to do that. I also encourage the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier) to support our starter homes programme, which will make 100,000 extra homes available at a 20% discount.
Housing Market (London)
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier(10 years, 1 month ago)
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Ms Abbott
May I remind the Minister that the Mayor has much broader housing powers than the former Mayor had? That is a consequence of the former Mayor’s campaigning. I also remind the Minister that affordable housing, as the current Mayor defines it, means 80% of private sector rents. That is way out of the reach of ordinary people in Hackney.
Meg Hillier
I point out that on the Colville estate, which is, coincidentally, opposite the New Era estate, the council is building homes for tenants. It is good quality social housing, just as the Minister described. That is a model for what can be achieved with good local leadership and the right funding, and it delivers long-term affordable homes. Surely the Minister can see that as a model, too. Hackney has the answers.
Brandon Lewis
Yes, and I am proud that more council houses are being built under this Government than under the previous Government. Councils are building council houses again. The hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington spoke about councils being able to deliver more and to borrow more.
At the start of self-financing, councils had borrowing headroom of £2.8 billion, which has not been entirely used up. I encourage councils to go ahead and progress with developing new housing. We have also recognised that some councils needed extra borrowing powers, so we have already announced £122 million of additional borrowing headroom for 22 authorities, to support the delivery of more homes in their areas. We have consulted on proposals to increase local transparency about the value of local authorities’ social housing assets. That is an important step forward.
We have had to rebuild the housing market in this country. There are now more than 4 million households in the private rented sector, and that number is increasing. Private rented sector rents in England—I appreciate that I am talking only about England—have fallen in real terms every year under this Government. Last year, the average increase in England was 1%, which is below inflation, for the 12 months ending in September. In London, rents increased by only 1.5% over the same period, with inflation at 1.2%. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that standards are met, but the Government are taking steps to improve quality and choice in the private rented sector.
I want to see more people investing in the private rented sector. Landlords who own 10 properties or fewer make up by far the majority of the sector, and it would be good to see more institutional investment and professional experience in the sector. That is why we have established the £1 billion build to rent fund, which will have delivered contracts by March of next year for up to 10,000 new homes.
Some of those contracts are already in place for homes across London, and I expect more to follow. We have established the private rented sector taskforce to encourage more entrants into the sector, and we are determined not to jeopardise that investment by increasing red tape and unnecessary regulations, such as rent controls. Rent controls demolished the market last time they were introduced and reduced it to about 8%, although we are rebuilding that.
We recognise that standards must continue to improve. We want professionalism in the sector to increase, to make it more attractive to investors and tenants. We have taken action to tackle bad landlords so that they either improve or leave the sector. That is why I entirely support what the Mayor is doing with the London rental standard. We are also giving tenants the know-how, through our “How to rent” guide, to get rental deals that meet their needs.
Hon. Members have raised a couple of questions and suggestions. The hon. Member for Hackney North and Stoke Newington said that she supports the mansion tax in principle. I am sure that she will not be surprised to hear that I do not support it, not least because the effective delivery of a mansion tax would involve the revaluation of many homes. When that has been done elsewhere, it has caused problems for people right across the scale and tended to hit the most vulnerable. A mansion tax would also risk penalising people—in the main, pensioners—on low incomes whose properties have appreciated in value. The Opposition’s policy seems to change every day, however, so I have no doubt that it will develop and change further.
Hon. Members have said that they believe that foreign investment in the housing market is having a negative impact, and I think that we need to put that in context. Foreign investment in new housing has been helping to provide the finance required to build the housing that we need, particularly in a global city such as London. Without such up-front investment, financiers would not have released the cash needed for development to go ahead, and building would have completely stalled. The developments that we now have would not be in place.
Not only do those developments provide homes in which people can live and work, but they unlock associated affordable housing development. Even where property is foreign-owned, much of it is rented out, which generates an ongoing return for the investor. A good example is Battersea power station, which has been derelict and undeveloped for about 30 years. Development is now going forward thanks to a combination of private investment from Malaysia and public infrastructure support from the Government. To put the situation in perspective, the Bank of England recently estimated that foreign buyers represent only 3% of all residential property transactions in London.
Meg Hillier
I understand that something as intractable as Battersea power station may have needed a kick start from someone wealthy, wherever they were in the world. In Hackney, however, new developments are being bought off plan by landlords who will never set foot in the country. They were originally built to provide homes for local people, but they never reach the hands of local people. I do not think that that is what the Minister is talking about, and I hope that he does not support that approach.
Brandon Lewis
We sometimes also see British institutional investors—British companies—investing in the private rented sector overseas. In places where that has happened, they tend to be grateful to have good management. I want to see good management, good landlords and good institutional investment coming into the private rented sector. The Mayor of London has recently launched a mayoral concordat on new homes in the capital. Key developers have been contacted and asked to commit to selling new homes on every development to Londoners before, or at the same time as, they go to overseas buyers.
A couple of hon. Members spoke about properties being built and left empty. The number of empty homes across England is at its lowest rate since records began. The vacancy rate in London has dropped to below 2% for the first time ever. Hon. Members have touched on the question of how we improve the private rented sector by looking at letting agents. Although landlords and letting agents are free to set their own charges, they are prohibited from setting unfair terms or fees under existing consumer protection legislation.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Brandon Lewis and Meg Hillier(10 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Meg Hillier (Hackney South and Shoreditch) (Lab/Co-op)
13. What steps he is taking to increase the building of affordable homes.
The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)
Almost 200,000 affordable homes have been delivered since 2010. A further £23 billion of investment will deliver 165,000 affordable homes between 2015 and 2018. This will be the fastest rate of affordable house building for the past 20 years.
Brandon Lewis
I respectfully point out to the hon. Gentleman that we actually inherited the lowest level of house building since the 1920s from the previous Government. In fact, as I have just said, we are about to get the fastest rate of building in the past 20 years. Just to be specific, in his home area of Greater Manchester alone, 5,724 new affordable homes will be delivered as a result of this Government’s investment in this period’s affordable homes programme.
Meg Hillier
The Minister has been keen to bombard us with statistics and to blame anybody but this Government, but it is they who have set affordable rents at 80% of private sector rents. In areas such as Hackney, that means that such rents are not affordable to the average, ordinary working person, while it also puts pressure on the housing benefit bill. When will the Government rethink this crazy and unfair policy?
Brandon Lewis
To an extent, I am having to apologise for the previous Labour Administration’s failure to deliver the sufficient number of council houses that we need. It is good to see that, under this Government, building is getting going again.