Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

First, I join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to the workers at Port Talbot and to the emergency services, which responded with characteristic bravery and dispatch to deal with that very worrying incident. The Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Andrew Stephenson), and I spoke to the company and the trade unions the next morning, and we are all relieved that the situation was not worse. Of course, we send our sympathies to the workers affected.

As the hon. Member for Aberavon (Stephen Kinnock) knows from an earlier answer, we are clear on the importance of the steel sector for the future of manufacturing generally, and I take a personal interest. These are early days for the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle, but I know he shares my enthusiasm, and perhaps we can both come to that meeting.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

T4. British businesses in all sectors currently benefit greatly from the ability of UK-based law firms to advise and act for them on contractual, regulatory and intellectual property matters when they conduct business within the European Union. What steps is my right hon. Friend taking with other Ministers to ensure that commercial advantage is not lost as we leave the EU?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend, who chairs the Select Committee on Justice, makes an excellent point on one of our principal sources of export earnings. More than that, the pre-eminence of law in the UK brings firms from jurisdictions around the world to do business here. We are determined that we should maintain our good relations across the continent and that we should keep up to date in our practices. He will know that, through the industrial strategy, we are investing in the regulators’ pioneer fund to make sure that legal services take their place at the cutting edge of innovation.

European Union (Withdrawal) Act

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Thursday 10th January 2019 Commons Chamber

[Robert Neill]

Remain!

[Greg Clark]

He campaigned to remain in the European Union—I was never under any misapprehension about that—but he advocated a managed, considered and orderly approach. He stated in his election address in Bromley and Chislehurst that that was the approach he would take, and I think he has delivered on that commitment during this Parliament. He has also pursued his commitment to achieve a deal that protects jobs, businesses and livelihoods.

[Robert Neill]

I campaigned to remain, as my right hon. Friend did. He may recall that I have referred to the importance of a managed no deal for a particular business in my constituency. He may be interested to know that since the debate in which I spoke about that, I have had an email from the managing director, who said that with a managed deal—the Prime Minister’s deal—his business is survivable. In the event of no deal, he says, it will downsize 75%, close or leave the UK. That is what is at stake.

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is right to draw attention to the stakes. This is a matter that engages all Members of Parliament. We all have a responsibility to our constituents now and for the future, and every one of us will need to make an individual decision that reflects that.

I want to mention a few colleagues, and I am sorry not to be able to do justice to all the contributions that have been made; there were more than 50 of them. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) said—wrongly, I think—that it was too late to engage across parties and across Parliament. If I have misrepresented her, I would be delighted to hear it; I was going to admonish her gently for saying that. If we believe, as I do, that this is the most important decision that this Parliament will take, it is never too late to establish that agreement.

Leaving the EU: Airbus Risk Assessment

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 25th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Not only will Airbus be here, but it will be expanding its operation and recruiting more apprentices for very successful careers.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

May I welcome the Secretary of State’s firm restatement of a properly Conservative position that respects business and puts pragmatism above ideology? Will he make sure that the same applies to negotiations on our key services sector, which represents 80% of the economy?

Nuclear Safeguards Bill

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

2nd reading: House of Commons
Monday 16th October 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend, who has a close connection with his constituents who work at Culham, is absolutely right. He knows that we are keen to agree the greatest possible continuity for the arrangements for research at Culham as soon as possible.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

Will my right hon. Friend confirm that there is nothing in the Bill that will prevent us from seeking associate membership or arrangements with Euratom under article 206 of the existing Euratom treaty, and that it remains Government policy to seek to do so?

[Greg Clark]

I can confirm that the Bill has been prepared on a contingency basis. The discussions around our continued arrangements with Euratom and with the rest of the European Union have not been concluded, but it is right to put in place in good time any commitments that are needed in primary legislation. Euratom has served the United Kingdom and our nuclear industries well, so we want to see maximum continuity of those arrangements.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

The right hon. Gentleman will know that the five business organisations have put forward a sensible set of principles to govern the transition and the shape of a final agreement. Those suggestions seem very sensible. Part of the point of engaging with business, as I do rigorously and frequently, is to ensure that that voice is heard.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

One of the important principles that those business organisations have stressed is the essential nature of having contractual and legal certainty for those who are entering into legal obligations so that they know that that will continue to be enforceable once we leave the EU. Will the Secretary of State therefore ensure that particular regard is had to the need for transition periods to be based on the reality of business practice, rather than on arbitrary considerations?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 21st March 2016 Commons Chamber

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

The Secretary of State has reflected on the importance of protecting local authorities from an erosion of the tax base. That is a welcome measure. In setting the baseline for business rate retention, will he ensure that the measures include an incentive for local authorities to encourage the development of small business premises just as much as larger ones, to ensure that there is a mix?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. One of the reasons for the 100% retention of business rates is so that there is a direct connection between local authorities and their businesses. Of course, the best authorities, including his own, have always seen it as their duty and responsibility to promote and attract businesses. This approach means that they will get their reward for it.

Local Government Finance (England)

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Wednesday 10th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful for what my hon. Friend has said. Blackpool has important pressures that need to be met, and he has made representations, as indeed have his local authorities. It is true that some advised that some transitional relief should come at the expense of places such as Blackpool. However, I have been able to find a way for us to provide some relief for the years in which the reductions in grant are sharpest, without making the situation worse for places such as Blackpool, which have benefited from the settlement.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

This is actually a very progressive and good settlement for the long-term future of local government, because it is genuinely devolutionist. In that context, does my right hon. Friend recognise and accept that it is important not only that he has given transitional relief, which helps outer London boroughs such as Bromley, but that London boroughs and other authorities help themselves by reducing their unit costs in the same way as, for example, Bromley, which has the lowest unit costs in outer London?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I had the pleasure of spending some time with the cabinet of Bromley Council, which is one of the most efficient in London and shows the way for all London boroughs to deliver services that are very much valued by their residents, very cost-effectively.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

The Secretary of State is to be congratulated on having negotiated a difficult minefield with considerable skill. I particularly thank him for his thoughtful approach and for the time that he gave to me, my fellow MPs and my council leader from Bromley when we came to see him. I welcome the fact that he has picked up on the importance of transitional relief in so far as it affects the London boroughs, given the risk that outer London’s particular circumstances can sometimes be lost in the equation. Can he give me details of the timeframe for the operation of the transitional relief? Can he also tell me more about the review of the needs element, which many of us welcome? I regret that we were unable to do that in coalition, but there were many other pressing matters at that time. It is important that the comparatively low unit costs incurred by historically efficient local authorities should be picked up when setting the baseline for retained business rates.

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I recall spending a very pleasant evening with the Cabinet of his council in Bromley and having a more recent meeting there. It is right to think of the demographic pressures in the outer London boroughs. Those boroughs, and many other places across the country, have made the case that the population has aged and more people tend to retire to those places than to others. They also contend that the formula, which has not changed for 10 years, has not kept up with that. I can confirm that the transitional funding will be available immediately, from the next financial year, so that my hon. Friend’s council and others will be able to apply those extra funds straight away.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 8th February 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I do not think the hon. Gentleman does a good service to his constituents. He should know that under the combination of Help to Buy and shared ownership, the deposit that a London first-time buyer can be required to pay on the average price paid of £385,000 is as low as £4,800. The hon. Gentleman would do his constituents a service by promoting these schemes to them.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s comments about the importance of the small and medium-sized building sector. Does he agree that one of the most damaging things that could happen to that sector’s involvement in London would be the imposition of a 50% affordable housing target across sites, which would have no relation to the viability? As experienced under Ken Livingstone, this would actually drive developers away from bringing sites forward.

[Greg Clark]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It is not a matter of speculation but a matter of fact, because, as he says, the last Mayor tried that, and the amount of available housing in London fell. We want to provide homes for Londoners. The present Mayor has an exemplary record in providing affordable homes—indeed, homes of all types—ahead of the targets, and the £400 million that is being invested in the 20 housing zones across London is a tribute to his tenacity.

Housing and Planning Bill

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Tuesday 12th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I hope that, on behalf of her constituents, the hon. Lady will welcome the announcements that were made to extend the Help to Buy scheme in London to provide greater help there. In fact, housing associations, including those in her constituency, have welcomed enthusiastically one of the key features of this Bill, which is the provision that enables them to provide her residents with the right to buy their home and, at the same time, to build more homes in London.

[Robert Neill]

On that point, does my right hon. Friend recognise that it is thanks to this Bill, the work of the current Mayor of London and the initiative of my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) that we are seeing consistently more affordable housing being delivered in London? That is in contrast with what happened under a socialist Mayor and a socialist Government that persistently under-delivered for London.

[Greg Clark]

Indeed, and one of the proud pieces of the legacy of the current Mayor of London, our hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson), is the opportunities he has given across the capital for people to own and rent their own home.

Of course, there are few pieces of legislation that cannot be improved by the deliberations of this House. This is a long Bill and I thank Members on both sides of the House for their informed contributions, their attention to detail and, on occasion, their perseverance. That applies especially to the members of the Public Bill Committee, adroitly chaired by my hon. Friend the Member for North Wiltshire (Mr Gray) and the hon. Member for Mansfield (Sir Alan Meale). I am also grateful for the expert guidance of my departmental officials and to the Clerks of the House.

Finally, allow me to thank my own formidable Front-Bench team, who conducted this Bill through all its proceedings with precision and tenacity and who have strengthened an already important Bill. In the same spirit, allow me to acknowledge the contributions of Opposition Members who served long into the night not just on Report but in the Bill Committee. In contrast to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill, which I am informed has completed its passage unamended in the House of Lords this very afternoon, we might not have greatly expanded the common ground between us during our deliberations on this Bill, but I thank the Opposition for their contributions to a debate that has at times generated light as well as heat.

I join my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) in recognising the notable contribution of my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith). London is a city like no other and it has a property market to match. In view of the special challenges and opportunities, it is right that proceeds from the sale of vacant high-value assets should be used to provide new affordable homes in London on a two-for-one basis. I am delighted that the Bill has been amended fully to support that objective, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park for his advice and advocacy in this matter. London is fortunate to have such a tireless and effective champion.

Of course, it is not only Members of this House who have contributed to the development of the Bill. I would like to put on record my gratitude to all those beyond this Chamber who have made their mark. That includes local government leaders of all parties, experts in planning policy, tenants’ representatives and the housing sector in all its diversity. Indeed, nothing has made a greater contribution to the development of the Bill than the historic deal agreed last year between the Government and the housing association movement. The voluntary agreement on right to buy not only speeds up the delivery of a commitment made to the British people at the election, but provides the basis on which housing associations can play a major role in the delivery of new affordable homes for both rent and purchase. I would therefore like to express my particular thanks to the National Housing Federation and its chief executive, David Orr.

The Bill has been the subject of intensive scrutiny and debate, with more than 40 hours in Committee and a further 15 on the Floor of the House. Furthermore, it has been a debate in which words have had consequences. The Government have listened and, as we should, we have acted on what we have heard. Significant and strengthening changes have been made as a direct result and thus, subject to today’s vote, the Bill goes to the other place in good shape, buttressed by a clear electoral mandate. I commend it to the House.

Local Government Finance

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Thursday 17th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

In the spirit of Christmas, I will be charitable to the hon. Gentleman, who understandably wrote his response before hearing the statement. Far from its being a tactical settlement—that is how he put it—there could be nothing more strategic than a settlement that, for the first time ever, gives what local council leaders have long called for: the certainty of a four-year funding settlement, previously denied them, which gives them the chance to manage their affairs in exactly the way they want.

As the hon. Gentleman might have expected from our previous exchanges, during the past few months I have spent a lot of time with local government leaders, listening to them talk about the most important pressures on them and the most important concerns that they would like to see reflected. They communicated very clearly that funding adult social care was the major priority for all kinds of councils, and in this settlement we deliver the extra resources that we promised. The distribution among the authorities reflects that—something I would have thought he would give us credit for.

On the overall settlement, few authorities would even a few months ago have expected the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to be able to announce, in effect, a flat cash settlement for local government for the whole of the spending review period.

The hon. Gentleman mentioned reserves. The fact is that local council reserves have increased over the past five years from £13 billion to more than £22.5 billion—a 71% increase. We do not assume in the settlement that local councils will make use of them, but they have the opportunity to do so because of the four-year settlement we have granted them.

The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the head of the LGA. I have met all the leading groups in the LGA, including his Labour colleagues. Because we are the biggest party in local government the hon. Gentleman suggests that the LGA is Conservative-controlled, but I have met local government leaders of all sorts. Lord Porter regards our discussions as fruitful and thinks that this is a fair financial settlement for all types of council and addresses the concerns they have put to me during the past few years.

Let me just refer to the expectations and the advice we received from those on the Labour Front Bench. When we had the financial statement last year, the previous shadow Secretary of State said that what councils needed was help with longer-term funding settlements so they could plan to protect services, and more devolution of power so they could work with other public services locally to get the most out of every pound of public funding, and that nowhere was that needed more than in social care. That is exactly what we deliver in this spending review settlement: prioritising social care, exactly what local government asked for; multi-year settlements, for which local government campaigned for many years; and the devolution of power to councils through the localisation of income, with councils responsible to electors and not to Whitehall.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

May I, too, wish you, Mr Speaker, and other Members a happy Christmas? I wish I could wish a happy Christmas to those on the Opposition Front Bench, but given that they look as flat as a soufflé that has gone off, we need not bother.

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on delivering what is, frankly, the most imaginative local government settlement I have heard in my time in the House, including those that I had to deliver myself. He has listened to local government. I particularly welcome the reflection he has made on the importance, stressed by the London Borough of Bromley and others, of the pressures on adult social care. Will he ensure that the same can-do attitude, which my local authority and all the people he talked to in the LGA have, is reflected in the health sector? Where we have co-terminosity with clinical commissioning groups, we really need the drive of local government, and the accountability of local government, to take those partnerships forward.

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right and characteristically self-effacing. During his time as a Minister in the Department, he made an enormous contribution to reforming and driving forward decentralisation.

I can confirm that part of the point of the money we have secured for the better care fund is that local authorities and the NHS work closely together, and to recognise that our elderly people, whether they are cared for in hospital, care homes or at home, are our joint responsibility. This provides the opportunity for councils to work together in the interests of our growing elderly population.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 14th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

I would have thought that the hon. Lady, as a former council leader, would be in a position to welcome the spending review settlement, which not only provided protection in cash terms for the resources available to local government over the four years ahead but did what local government requested and made money available for the care of the elderly through the social care precept. I would have thought that her experience caused her to welcome that.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

Will the Secretary of State ensure that the settlement reflects the pressures on top-tier authorities from adult social care costs, and particularly that it restates the opportunities for greater integration of health and adult social care spend, as supported by, for example, the London Borough of Bromley?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. In advance of the spending review I had a communication from the Local Government Association estimating that the gap, if unaddressed, would be £2.9 billion. In the spending review settlement the Chancellor allocated £3.5 billion, to reflect the need to help our elderly population. That was a significant result for local government. As we come to make the settlement for individual authorities, we will ensure that that is in the hands of local people.

Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill [Lords]

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Wednesday 14th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

That is a very good question, and I am sure we shall have other opportunities to discuss it. Devolving 100% of business rates is more than the grant that goes to local authorities, so it is an opportunity to devolve more powers with the funding to local government. Again, the point of the transfer announcement at this stage is so that we can have a sensible conversation with our colleagues in local government as to what might be the appropriate activities and responsibilities to devolve. I dare say the hon. Gentleman personally and his Committee might have some suggestions to make on that.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

rose—

[Dr Andrew Murrison (South West Wiltshire) (Con)]

rose—

[Greg Clark]

I will give way to my former colleague.

[Robert Neill]

I warmly congratulate my right hon. Friend on the Bill. On the point about further powers that might be devolved, will he in the course of his speech or during the progress of the Bill give us some more substance about how that would interact with some of the specific grants—for example, the police grant, the better care fund, and the operation of the public health grant?

[Greg Clark]

That is probably for another occasion, but of course these things need to be discussed and debated.

I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for South West Wiltshire (Dr Murrison), then I will conclude my remarks, not immediately, but shortly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 29th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[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.

Housing

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Wednesday 10th June 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark)]

I welcome the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) to the Dispatch Box. I had noticed that she had changed jobs, and let me say from the outset that she is absolutely right to raise this issue of huge importance to our country: making sure that people can get a home of their own. It is entirely right that this should be one of the first of our debates. However, in the light of the experience of the past few weeks and the tone that the interim leader of her party took, I was surprised that the hon. Lady was not a bit more rueful about her party’s contribution to the record that this Government are tackling. She herself has admitted in the past that when Labour was in office it built too few homes, so I was surprised at her response to the intervention by my hon. Friend the Member for Thirsk and Malton (Kevin Hollinrake). Many Members have made that point, including the former Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), who was here in the Chamber but who has gone; he said that the Government that he supported did not build enough homes. So I would have expected a bit more humility from the beginning of the hon. Lady’s remarks.

[Robert Neill]

I welcome my right hon. Friend to his post. I know from my own experience that he will be an excellent, top-class Secretary of State.

Is it not extraordinary that the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) said just now that she was proud of the Labour party’s record, when under Labour waiting lists went up from 1 million to 1.8 million and the number of social homes available for rent declined by 420,000?

[Greg Clark]

What is more extraordinary is that the hon. Lady was frank enough to say that she was not proud of that record and that Labour should have built more homes, yet immediately after the election, which might be a time for candour and reflection given that she is supporting one of the candidates for the leadership who wants to change things, she has changed position and become wholly defensive.

Recall of MPs Bill

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Tuesday 21st October 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

My right hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan) and the right hon. Gentleman make my case for me: there is not agreement across the House. I merely observe that this Bill was a commitment that we made in the manifesto on which we fought the last election, and that is true for the three main parties. It is reasonable to reflect that there is an expectation on parties that stood on such a commitment that they will bring forward such a Bill.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend is making a good case, and I shall certainly be supporting him. As the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field) said, is not the key issue that if we are to have a greater degree of openness towards our constituents, there must none the less be something that triggers an objective finding of bad behaviour—be it by conviction or by some other form of sanction? Without that, there is a risk that campaigning MPs who take up unpopular causes could be subject to victimisation by various pressure groups.

[Greg Clark]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his point. He is taking up a popular cause, but there are occasions when Members should and will take up unpopular causes. It would be infinitely regrettable if they were to lose their seat in this House by a campaign that sought to silence them.

Local Growth Deals

Debate between Greg Clark and Robert Neill

Monday 7th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

Of course, I meet the local enterprise partnerships—all of them—regularly to discuss the kinds of deals we are announcing. The hon. Gentleman will know that the local authority leaders work very closely together—in fact, his own local authority leader, Simon Henig, is the chair of the combined authority—and that they are democratically elected, and I know that they make sure that taxpayers’ money is wisely spent.

[Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con)]

May I congratulate my right hon. Friend, both politically and personally, on his commitment to delivering a further significant tranche of devolution? Does he agree that, in order to see this through, it is very important not only that local authorities abandon the tribalism in evidence on the Opposition Benches, but that they make maximum entrepreneurial use of the other important devolutionary power we gave them—the power of general competence in the Localism Act 2011, which will complement this tranche of measures?

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He has personal responsibility for that power, since he, with me, piloted the Localism Bill through Committee. The power is available to local authorities and I hope they will take it up.