Greg Clark
Main Page: Greg Clark (Conservative - Tunbridge Wells)
John Howell (Henley) (Con)
9. What steps the Government are taking to devolve powers to local communities.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)
We shall have a moment of silence at the end of Question Time, but I think that, as we gather together in the House at this point, we will all want to share our condemnation of the atrocities in Tunisia, Kuwait and France last week. All our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
The Government are committed to devolving greater powers away from Whitehall to drive economic growth. We have already taken steps to enable that to happen by introducing the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill. I welcome devolution proposals from all areas, including proposals relating to how powers might be devolved to cities, towns, counties and neighbourhoods throughout the country.
Bridget Phillipson
I echo what the Secretary of State said about recent events.
I agree with the Secretary of State about the need for further devolution of powers, but there is considerable disagreement in the north-east about the need for an elected mayor. Will he commit himself to giving people in the north-east a say in a referendum?
Greg Clark
I am having discussions with the leaders of the north-eastern authorities, and I expect to see them later in the week. There is a real groundswell of opinion in the north-east that now is the time to put aside some of the divisions that have held it back, and to have clear leadership. Nothing will be imposed on an area, but I look forward to meeting the leaders and hearing their proposals.
John Howell
Does my right hon. Friend agree that neighbourhood planning represents the best way of ensuring that communities have a real say in the planning system when it comes to deciding where houses should go, what they should look like, and what green and open spaces should be preserved?
Greg Clark
I do indeed. My hon. Friend is a pioneer of neighbourhood planning. He worked closely with me when I was last a Minister in the Department to ensure that it was introduced, and it has been a huge success. The first neighbourhood plan was in Thame, in his constituency. More than 1,500 communities are now engaged in the neighbourhood planning process, and 300 neighbourhood plans have been published for consultation. I am delighted that my hon. Friend has accepted my invitation to work with me to see what we can do to speed up the possibilities for other neighbourhoods throughout the country.
Jo Cox (Batley and Spen) (Lab)
The Government’s decision last week to shelve plans for the electrification of the Leeds to Manchester railway line fundamentally undermined the concept of the northern powerhouse. When were DCLG Ministers first informed of the decision, and were they informed before or after the election? What opportunity was given to local authorities such as Kirklees to make recommendations to various Ministers?
Greg Clark
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport made a substantial statement on the matter, and it was clear that he was dissatisfied with the performance of Network Rail in this respect. However, it is worth our reminding ourselves—and it is important for those in the north to recognise—that £38 billion is being invested in the transport system, which is the most significant investment since Victorian times. As for electrification, only 10 miles of line were electrified during the 13 years for which the last Government were in office, but we are committed to it.
Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford and Stortford) (Con)
The success of city deals so far has been due to the fact that Ministers have avoided over-prescriptive rules, and instead have focused on what each deal can do for each community. May I strongly encourage the Secretary of State to ensure that that flexibility is retained, particularly in smaller towns and counties?
Greg Clark
I will certainly take that approach. My hon. Friend was a great force in working with the local enterprise partnerships in their early days, and respecting the fact that every place is different. It would be ludicrous to observe those differences and then impose a uniform requirement in all places.
Peter Kyle (Hove) (Lab)
May I associate myself with the Secretary of State’s comments about Tunisia?
In all the debates about the northern powerhouse, I am very keen for us not to forget the southern powerhouse. What powers does the Secretary of State expect to devolve from Westminster to cities such as Brighton and Hove?
Greg Clark
The hon. Gentleman should be aware of the success of the Brighton city deal, which has been warmly welcomed throughout his area, and which is one of the reasons for the fact that unemployment in his constituency has fallen by 53% since May 2010. That is a powerhouse that is performing.
Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)
One of the great advantages of my right hon. Friend’s devolutionist approach is that city deals can capture the variation that occurs in key areas such as the housing market, which will vary from city to city. Will he talk to organisations such as the Royal Town Planning Institute, which is keen to establish what further work can be done to capture the link between devolution and housing delivery?
Greg Clark
I will indeed, and again I pay tribute to the work my hon. Friend did in the Department in inaugurating this transfer of powers. Housing will be of great importance in all the deals we are negotiating and expect to conclude. There is an appetite for that right across the country and I will certainly take the advice of the RTPI.
Joan Ryan (Enfield North) (Lab)
2. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of home ownership since 2010.
Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)
12. What the replacement rate of council homes sold through the right-to-buy scheme has been since 2012.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)
Local authorities have three years from the date of sale of each home to replace the property. In the first year following the reinvigoration of the right to buy, there were 3,053 additional sales. Within two years—by the end of 2014-15—3,337 replacements were started or acquired.
Daniel Zeichner
I recall that at the start of the previous Parliament one-for-one replacement was promised, but across the country the actual figure has cracked out at one for 10, and in my city it is one for nine. Why should anyone believe these assurances now?
Greg Clark
I welcome the hon. Gentleman to the House. He must not have listened to my answer, because I said that there were 3,053 additional sales and 3,337 replacements, which is more than one for one.
Debbie Abrahams
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Moody’s, the National Housing Association and the CBI, to name but a few, have raised concerns about the Government’s right-to-buy proposals. What assessment has the Secretary of State made of the impact of those proposals on the financial viability of housing associations and, in turn, their ability to build new affordable housing?
Greg Clark
The impact of the policy will be to extend the aspiration of people across this country to own their own home, because 86% of people want to do so, and there is no difference between the aspirations of housing association tenants, council tenants and people who own their own home. That is the impact we are achieving through the policy.
John Cryer (Leyton and Wanstead) (Lab)
Does the Secretary of State expect the replacement of housing association homes that are sold off to be the same as, above or below the rate for council homes previously sold off?
Greg Clark
As my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning made clear, the requirement will be one-for-one replacement. With regard to council house sales, replacement of more than one for one has already been achieved for the first year.
Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)
May I start this session of topical questions by paying tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Sir Eric Pickles) for his five successful years in leading the Department?
Building on my right hon. Friend’s achievements, my commitments and those of my excellent team are, among other things, to continue to increase the supply of housing so that people can achieve their aspiration of a home of their own; to decentralise powers and budgets to local communities through the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill; and to maintain an ongoing commitment to turning lives around through the troubled families programme. This week, the Prime Minister announced that almost 117,000 families have so far been helped.
Jack Dromey
With the biggest housing crisis in a generation and an acute shortage of affordable and social housing, would that the Government’s right-to-buy Bill were buried and not brought forward, because it will make that bad situation worse. On the timetable for the Bill, the Prime Minister promised that it would be introduced in the Government’s first 100 days. Can the Secretary of State confirm that it will be brought before Parliament before the summer recess?
Greg Clark
The hon. Gentleman is a former shadow housing Minister, and many of his colleagues are having occasion to reflect on Labour’s failure to offer any substantive policies; he should take his share of the blame. He should be clear from my previous answer that the right-to-buy policy, in relation to council houses, has increased the supply of housing. Whether on increasing housing supply or increasing aspiration, he should get behind our policy. The Bill was in the Queen’s Speech and it will be introduced very shortly.
Gareth Johnson (Dartford) (Con)
T2. The Minister will be aware that the number of empty homes in the UK is now at the lowest level since records began. Will he assure the House that he will continue to work with councils such as Dartford council, which is successfully bringing more and more empty homes back into use?
Emma Reynolds (Wolverhampton North East) (Lab)
I congratulate the Secretary of State on his promotion and join him in his condemnation of the terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the victims, families and friends.
The reason the Secretary of State does not know when he is going to bring forward his housing Bill is that the policies were written on the back of a fag packet during the election campaign and were based on forcing councils to sell 15,000 homes a year. Since then, I have asked his Department how many of these homes will become vacant every year, and it said it does not know. How many council homes will he force councils to sell off every year?
Greg Clark
I do not smoke, so there is no question of writing on the back of fag packets, but what I do know is that the Opposition policies for which the hon. Lady was responsible were very much inadequate to the task. In fact, one of her own colleagues, the hon. Member for Barrow and Furness (John Woodcock), has said that the Labour party’s housing policies made his “heart sink”, and each member of Labour’s leadership parade has called attention to the party’s failure to come up with credible policies. We are very clear that extending the right to buy is a way of achieving people’s aspirations. I have yet to hear from the hon. Lady whether she agrees with the right to buy.
Emma Reynolds
We are in favour of people’s aspiration to buy their own home, but we are also in favour of policies that add up and stack up. The Tories are just plucking the figures out of thin air. They have no idea how many council homes will be sold. Indeed, the property specialist Savills estimates that the number is closer to 5,000 rather than 15,000.
This is not just about existing council homes, but about homes that councils are building or planning to build. Is the Secretary of State going to force councils to sell brand-new homes even before those who are on the waiting list—elderly people, families and others—are able to move into them?
Greg Clark
The hon. Lady gives every impression of not being in favour of the right to buy, but she cannot bring herself to say it. I invite her to make her policy clear. Our policy is very clear: on expensive council houses in the top third of the area, it is an efficient use of those assets to sell them in order to be able to allow more homes to be built. That is a very straightforward policy.
David Mowat (Warrington South) (Con)
T3. The Secretary of State may recall canvassing on the brand new Edgewater Park estate in Warrington three months ago, where the major issue was lack of adequate broadband. Will he consider requiring that broadband be provided for new estates in the same way as other utilities such as electric and water?
Greg Clark
I do indeed recall canvassing with my hon. Friend in his constituency and it was a very successful session. He is absolutely right to say that it is important to have broadband connections when new homes are built. In fact, my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning will meet Joe Garner of BT this very afternoon to press that point. Of course, it is not just a planning matter; it is for BT to make sure that it is alert and adept enough to make those connections.
Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Lab)
T4. Was the Secretary of State as surprised as my constituents at the decision to suspend the electrification of the Leeds to Manchester rail line? Does that help or hinder the Government’s stated objective of a so-called northern powerhouse generating economic growth in Leeds and the north?
Mr Sheerman
And I have been here since prayers, Mr Speaker, so I have been very patient.
The Secretary of State knows from the migration figures that more and more people want to come and live in this wonderful country, and he knows that more and more people want affordable homes. Will he do something dramatic about building houses and will he stop his plan to sell off housing association stock, or does he want to turn our cities into ghettos, as the French have done with theirs?
Greg Clark
No one could be more determined to increase our housing supply than Conservative Members. The hon. Gentleman will know that, when I was the Minister for Planning, we reformed the national planning policy framework, which has increased planning permissions by more than 60% to 260,000 homes a year. What we have done in office is in stark contrast to what Labour Members did in office, when housing completions fell to an all-time low.
Mr Nigel Evans (Ribble Valley) (Con)
T9. I cheered for joy when the Minister for Housing and Planning said that, under this Conservative regime, the wishes of the public would be paramount on the siting of wind turbines. Will the Secretary of State make sure that the message gets through to the Planning Inspectorate when it looks at such applications on appeal?
Greg Clark
I can give my hon. Friend that assurance. I made a written statement to the House and wrote to the Planning Inspectorate to make it crystal clear that the final say on onshore wind farms must be with local people.
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD)
Does the Secretary of State agree with the Department of Health that local authorities should not charge carers for the support packages that they receive to enable them to carry on their critical caring roles?
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)
Lichfield District Council is in early negotiations with the West Midlands combined authority and other local authorities, but it wishes to maintain control over planning and housing policy. Will that be possible for local authorities such as Lichfield?
Greg Clark
As my hon. Friend knows, our intention is to transfer powers from Westminster to local communities, and it is for them to determine their arrangements. Places such as Manchester had that in mind when they set their own arrangements, so it is absolutely available in the west midlands.
Anna Turley (Redcar) (Lab/Co-op)
What has the increase been in the number of families who have met the troubled families assessment criteria since the programme began? Has the Minister made any assessment of the impact of his Government’s £12 billion of welfare cuts and of his swingeing local authority cuts on already struggling families who need joined-up local support?
Greg Clark
The hon. Lady visited my old school in South Bank to congratulate students there on being in the finals of the mock trial competition. Perhaps she will convey my congratulations to them as well.
On troubled families, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister made a statement last week in which he said that more than 117,000 families have had their lives transformed by this crucial programme. It has saved public money as well as transforming lives. We will build on that during the Parliament. I look forward to her support, because Redcar and Cleveland is one of the principal authorities delivering on this.