Grant Shapps
Main Page: Grant Shapps (Conservative - Welwyn Hatfield)
Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con)
10. What plans he has to provide support through his Department’s housing policy to serving and former members of the armed forces.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
I am absolutely determined to ensure that serving and former serving personnel from the armed forces are treated properly when it comes to housing on their return.
Mr Gray
Serving men and women form a disproportionately large part of those who are homeless or rough sleepers. I therefore very much welcome the Government’s notification that they are a priority group under the Firstbuy scheme. However, many of them cannot afford to buy a house at all. Will the Minister now consider whether he can bring pressure to bear on local authorities, so that serving men and women are also designated as a priority for local authority housing?
Grant Shapps
I do not just want to remove the housing disadvantage for those who have served in the military; I want to put them at a positive advantage. That is why we have announced today that they will receive that priority in the Firstbuy scheme. I can also tell my hon. Friend that they will be a priority in the social housing allocation list. Also, if I may correct one point, the new figures for rough sleepers out today from CHAIN—the Combined Homeless and Information Network—show that just 2% of those who have served previously in the military are on the streets.
Christopher Pincher
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his answer. Will he join me in congratulating Tamworth borough council on the steps that it proposes to take in prioritising service people on its housing list? Professional organisations such as the Residential Landlords Association have also been encouraging their members to support service people with housing needs. Does that not demonstrate that the private sector can work with the public sector to deliver the housing element of our armed forces covenant?
Grant Shapps
I have no hesitation in congratulating Tamworth on its approach to the armed forces, or the Residential Landlords Association, which has done much to push this issue. I congratulate them, and I will go further when we draw up the social housing regulations after the Localism Bill has passed.
Mr Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab)
4. What recent assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in central Government funding for local authorities on levels of local authority service provision.
Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)
5. How much funding his Department has allocated from the new homes bonus scheme (a) to Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency and (b) in total since the scheme’s inception.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
The first new homes bonus allocations were made in April. Over six years, Lancaster will receive some £1.4 million and Wyre some £1.6 million. Across England, the allocations will total almost £1 billion during the spending review period. The next allocations will take place next April.
Eric Ollerenshaw
I thank my right hon. Friend for that reply on behalf of the two district councils. How long will it be before this policy and others of the new Government begin to address the failure over the past 13 years to get the right number of new houses that we need?
Grant Shapps
The policies are already having some impact. In the first year of this new Government, house building starts were up 22%. That compares rather favourably with the period during which the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint), who is now the shadow Secretary of State, was Housing Minister, when house building starts were a third lower than they are today.
Mr Clive Betts (Sheffield South East) (Lab)
The Minister will be aware that some Labour Members are rather sceptical about whether the new homes bonus will deliver more homes than were being built before the recession. Given that no research is being done into the effectiveness of the scheme, and that there is no evidence about such schemes in other countries, does he agree that it would be appropriate to have an independent review of the scheme’s effectiveness? If so, what period of time should the review cover?
Grant Shapps
The Chairman of the Select Committee is wrong to say that no research has been done into the scheme. Indeed, the impact assessment stated that it would increase house building starts and, as I have just said, there has been a 22% increase in house building starts in the first year of the policy. Let us compare that with the year before the policy was put in place, when house building under Labour was at its lowest level since the 1920s. There is therefore growing evidence that the new homes bonus is working rather well.
Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)
I make my usual declaration of an indirect interest.
The new homes bonus is paying out taxpayers’ money but it is not delivering. Planning permissions fell by 17% on year for the first quarter. Let us not confuse that with starts, which took place as a result of investment by the previous Labour Government. The Town and Country Planning Association, the Campaign to Protect Rural England and the Royal Town Planning Institute are clear that the changes in the Localism Bill will enable developers to buy planning permissions. Are those professionals wrong?
Grant Shapps
The idea that one quarter can be judged against an entire year’s evidence is, of course, nonsense. The evidence for the entire year is that house starts are up by 22%. I would rather take a year’s figures than one quarter’s. We know that councils right across the country, including Labour councils, are welcoming the new homes bonus money, which is now starting to make a real difference. Yes, it is right for local authorities and local people to take fully into account the economic benefits of building more homes in their areas.
Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)
6. What steps he is taking to reduce the level of fraudulent claims for funding awarded by local authorities.
Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire) (Con)
14. What steps his Department is taking to support home ownership.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
I can announce today that, subject to contracts, more than 100 developers will offer the equity loan product Firstbuy and I can also say that this will build more than 10,000-odd homes as we initially anticipated—something like 10,500 in England—and bring up to £500 million-worth of investment across the UK.
Robert Halfon
Is my hon. Friend aware that, under the last Government, the waiting list in Harlow quadrupled? Does he accept that one of the best ways to break the poverty trap is to help families into shared equity schemes to give them a foot on the property ladder?
Grant Shapps
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The waiting list doubled across the country, but in Harlow it quadrupled during the period of the previous Government. That is not good enough; we must build more homes to get ourselves out of that trouble. In addition, we need innovative products that share equity. I know that my hon. Friend is a keen supporter of that and I am sure it will help in his area as indeed it will in the areas of all Members across the country.
Nadine Dorries
Many residents in Mid Bedfordshire who are living in social and council housing would love to have the opportunity to buy the home they live in. We know that such policies introduce aspiration and narrow the gap between rich and poor, enabling people to get on to that property ladder. Does the Minister have any plans to introduce schemes like right-to-buy again so that residents in Mid Bedfordshire can have some hope?
Grant Shapps
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to talk about right-to-buy, which helped millions of people achieve the aspiration of owning their own homes. This Government fully support that objective. I think it is right, however, to recycle that money into building more homes. Under the affordable rent scheme that I have recently introduced, that is precisely what will happen: if people end up buying their home, more homes will be built, which will help to lessen that record social housing waiting list that we were disgracefully left with after 13 years of Labour Government.
Mr Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)
Does not the Minister recognise that, far from promoting home ownership, his Government’s policies have led to a stagnant market in which housing starts are collapsing and public confidence has been shattered by a combination of the Minister’s incompetence and the Government’s economic management. Does he not recognise that the latest figures from the National House-Building Council—the most authoritative source—show that housing starts in April 2011, the latest for which figures are available, are 18% down on last year?
Grant Shapps
I am deeply shocked that the right hon. Gentleman, who is an acknowledged expert on housing, has chosen to judge what is going on in the housing market on the basis of a single month’s figure, rather than an entire year’s worth of data which shows a 22% increase in housing starts. Housing starts mean that homes get built, which is turn means that we are on the road to recovery in terms of starts and builds.
Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)
It has been reported recently that millions of people will never be able to afford to own their homes, and that only those who inherit equity from their families will be able to do so. However, equity will increasingly be used to pay for long-term care, and owner-occupation will diminish. Is that not the reality?
Grant Shapps
The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to a serious problem involving both long-term care and a reduction in people’s ability to buy homes. That has happened because house prices tripled over the 10 years following 1997. Eight out of 10 first-time buyers are buying their homes through the bank of mum and dad, but today those without that ability will be pleased to hear about our Firstbuy scheme, which will help more than 10,000 people in England to get a foot on the housing ladder for the first time.
David Wright (Telford) (Lab)
8. What recent discussions he has had with representatives of fire and rescue services on the effects of reductions in their budgets; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)
17. What steps he is taking to improve the transparency of spending in local government; and if he will make a statement.
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
All local authorities in England now publish details of their £500 spend online and our Department routinely publishes a wide range of statistics on local authority spend. I say all local authorities but there is one exception to that rule—Labour Nottingham.
Jane Ellison
Ministers have already referred to the sound stewardship of Wandsworth council, which not only publishes everything over £500 spending wise but publishes the salary and expenses of all its staff who earn over £58,200. Will the Minister urge all public bodies to follow that lead?
Grant Shapps
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about this. It is incredibly important that public bodies follow that lead. Transparency is at the very heart of allowing citizens to take part in local democracy and hold public bodies to account, and I cannot imagine for one moment why any public body would want to hold out against that. It is extraordinary that some do and even more extraordinary that one of them is a major city authority such as Nottingham.
Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)
Will the Minister be fully transparent about how much the people of Birmingham will have to pay for the establishment of the imposed office of a shadow executive mayor and what they will have to pay in reconversion costs if they happen to reject that back-to-front proposal when he finally consults them in a referendum?
Grant Shapps
I think we might be finally making progress. The good news for the hon. Gentleman is that when that kind of transparency is combined, everyone can hold local authorities to account—that is the whole point. When people try to cover things up and when huge amounts of expenditure go completely unchecked by armchair auditors, that cannot happen, but this way it can and will.
Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East) (Lab)
18. What assessment he has made of the likely effects of retention of business rates on local authorities in areas with high levels of deprivation.
Jessica Lee (Erewash) (Con)
T4. I would like to bring to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Housing Minister the good work being done by Erewash borough council and the private landlord sector across the borough to encourage landlords to consider housing benefit recipients on an equal footing with tenant on private lets, which has strengthened the process of moving families into appropriate accommodation more quickly. Will he welcome this cross-sector work?
The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)
My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the relationship between local authorities and private landlords is critically important. We have seen how the total stock of social housing declined under the previous Administration. We are going to do something about that by ensuring that we build an additional 150,000 affordable homes, but the relationship with the private sector is absolutely key, and I encourage and wholeheartedly welcome it.
Mr Chuka Umunna (Streatham) (Lab)
T3. Following that answer, we were told that the Government’s changes to local housing allowance will bring down private sector rents. If that turns out not to be the case, what plans have the Government to ensure that private sector rents are affordable for the large section of my constituents who earn too much to qualify for social housing or local housing allowance, but not enough to buy a home of their own and, as a consequence, spend a huge proportion of their income on rent every month?
Grant Shapps
The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right, and this is a huge problem for a large number of his constituents and those of many Members across the House. The answer, of course, is that I hope he will give his full backing to the Localism Bill in the Division Lobby when it comes back to the House, as it contains provisions on affordable rent that are designed to get people out of the private-rented sector and into lower-cost rents of perhaps 50%, 60%, 70% or 80%. That will help his constituents and many of ours to afford that rental.
John Glen (Salisbury) (Con)
T7. Does the Minister agree that the Government’s recent statement of 13 April on Traveller sites provides excellent advice to Wiltshire council when it comes to consider contentious planning issues in Alderbury and Salisbury?
Graham Stringer (Blackley and Broughton) (Lab)
T5. The Housing Minister is familiar with the blight caused by private landlords in old terraced houses in Manchester and Salford. The area-based registration of private landlords has had some success in dealing with the problem, but those schemes under the Housing Act 2004 are coming to an end. If local authorities can show that there has been some success, will he agree to the extension of those schemes?
Grant Shapps
The simple answer is yes. I have visited the hon. Gentleman’s constituency and seen some of the problems for myself. I am very much in favour of the discretionary local licensing schemes, which can play an important part. I pledge that when I come back to see his Collyhurst estate, which is about to have its decent homes funding get under way and have work done on that, I will be very happy to visit one of those licensing schemes.
David Wright (Telford) (Lab)
The 1% increase in mortgage activity over the past 12 months is largely focused on remortgages. Why is that?
Grant Shapps
Because there was an enormous bank crash due to the fact that the debt in the British economy got out of all possible control, with Labour spending money that this country simply did not have. We are in the process of unravelling that mess. I am pleased to report to the hon. Gentleman that for the first time for a very long time average lending to first-time buyers has dropped below 6%.
Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
Further to Question 2, do Ministers accept that in towns where there is a major garrison there is a significant impact on the rented housing sector, both public and private? That being the case, will the coalition Government provide additional resources over and above what they would provide for a town without a garrison so that our current and former service personnel can be housed?
Grant Shapps
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the additional pressures that arise when there is a garrison in a town. As I announced at the Dispatch Box an hour ago, this Government are determined not only to honour returning service personnel but to put them at an advantage by putting them right at the top of the list and for top consideration for such things as the Firstbuy scheme. We will send Firstbuy agents into the garrisons to ensure that they can help to get the right people into these new homes.