Housing Reform

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Selous

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady—my seventh shadow Housing Minister—for making that point, which I would be happy to look into in more detail. The instruction to ensure that government land is properly used and distributed for housing has come straight from No. 10, and I will ensure that I follow up on that request.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

I draw attention to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. May I encourage my right hon. Friend to keep putting families at the front and centre of his policy? More than 15% of UK families face over-burdensome housing costs, and many couples are putting off having children because of the high cost of housing.

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is right, and today’s housing strategy is very much about putting the family front and centre. We have already done a number of things, such as scrapping the density targets, which led to too many flats and not enough family homes. Today’s announcement, and in particular the mortgage indemnity, will be widely welcomed by families across the country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Selous

Monday 5th September 2011 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

The hon. Gentleman has rightly defined the problem of the legacy that this Government inherited, with the lowest house building since the ’20s, but I am pleased to be able to report that, compared with the comparative period when Labour was in power, since the election, housing building starts are up 22%. I hope he will join me in welcoming those statistics.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

T8. If the Prime Minister were to give the Secretary of State an additional role, I doubt he would ask for more money to do it, so does he agree that council chief executives who double as returning officers and already earn more than he does should not receive an additional fee for overseeing elections?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Grant Shapps and Andrew Selous

Thursday 25th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Grant Shapps]

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, the Government share the concerns about the current state of Parliament square. I can inform the House that we intend to introduce legislation shortly.

[Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) (Con)]

11. What recent steps he has taken to reduce homelessness.

[The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant Shapps)]

The Government are committed to tackling and preventing homelessness. We have established a cross-departmental working group on homelessness, taking in eight Departments, and the homelessness grant has been fully protected at £400 million.

[Andrew Selous]

Does my right hon. Friend believe that the Government could learn lessons from the recent successful scheme by the charity Broadway, which got a number of long-term homeless people off the streets and into their own accommodation at an average cost of £794, compared with the many thousands of pounds spent on them while they are on the streets?

[Grant Shapps]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The Broadway scheme is excellent and innovative. It has taken funding and allowed the people who are involved with homelessness provision and the service users to decide how best to use it. I congratulate Broadway, which has managed to get a lot more done for £794, rather than the average of £3,000. It is an excellent scheme from which others can learn.