Building Safety Update

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 9th October 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

My Department published a consultation earlier this year on a proposal to introduce a ban on the use of combustible materials in the external walls of high-rise residential buildings.

I would like to update the House to confirm that the Government will take forward this ban for all new buildings over 18 metres that contain flats, as well as new hospitals, residential care premises, residential schools and student accommodation above 18 metres.

This ban will be delivered through changes to building regulations and will limit materials available to products achieving a European classification of Class A1 or A2. The Government will publish the consultation outcome and ensure the regulations are brought forward as soon as possible later this autumn.

[HCWS976]

Housing Land Supply in Oxfordshire

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Wednesday 12th September 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

In March this year the Government committed to the Oxfordshire housing and growth deal, to support ambitious plans to deliver 100,000 homes by 2031. The Oxfordshire-wide joint statutory spatial plan to be adopted by 2021 will be supported by £215 million of funding to help deliver more affordable housing and infrastructure improvements to support sustainable development across the county.

Paragraph 217 of the national planning policy framework sets out that the Government will explore potential planning freedoms and flexibilities, for example where this would facilitate an increase in the amount of housing that can be delivered. Such freedoms and flexibilities are to be considered by the Government on a case-by-case basis. In this instance the Government have worked closely with the authorities in Oxfordshire to agree planning freedoms and flexibilities that will support the ambitious plan-led approach through a joint spatial strategy and the housing deal.

As part of the housing deal, Oxfordshire sought flexibility from the national planning policy framework policy on maintaining a five-year housing land supply. This policy supports the delivery of housing by ensuring sufficient land is coming forward to meet housing need. However, we recognise the ambitious plans in Oxford to deliver above their housing need in the long term. The Government want to support this strategic approach to supporting housing delivery through joint working. We have therefore agreed to provide a short-term flexibility which will support the delivery of the local plans for the area and ensure that the local authorities can focus their efforts on their joint spatial strategy. The Government recognise that in the short term this will result in fewer permissions being granted under paragraph 11 of the national planning policy framework but the Government believe that it is important to support these ambitious plans that will deliver more housing in the longer term.

Having considered the responses from a local consultation, which closed on 12 July 2018, I am today implementing a temporary change to housing land supply policies as they apply in Oxfordshire.

For the purposes of decision taking under paragraph 11(d), footnote 7 of the national planning policy framework will apply where the authorities in Oxfordshire cannot demonstrate a three-year supply of deliverable housing sites (with the appropriate buffer, as set out in paragraph 73). This policy flexibility does not apply to the housing delivery test limb of footnote 7 of the national planning policy framework nor plan-making policy in paragraph 67. If a local authority intends to fix their land supply under paragraph 74 they will still be required to demonstrate a minimum of five-year supply of deliverable housing sites, with the appropriate buffer.

This statement is a material consideration in planning decisions and applies to those local planning authorities in Oxfordshire with whom the Government have agreed the Oxfordshire housing and growth deal, namely Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council, South Oxfordshire District Council, Vale of White Horse District Council and West Oxfordshire District Council. This statement applies from today and remains in effect until the adoption of the joint statutory spatial plan in each area, provided the timescales agreed in the housing and growth deal are adhered to. I will monitor progress against these timescales and keep the planning flexibility set out in this statement under review.

[HCWS955]

Tenant Fees Bill

James Brokenshire Excerpts

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Wednesday 5th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I thank Members on both sides of the House for their passionate and constructive contributions to the Bill’s passage through the House. We all agree that the Bill’s aim of making renting fairer, more transparent and more affordable for tenants is important. As such, it is a key part of the Government’s housing agenda. More people are renting, and they deserve help now, which is what the Bill is all about. We want to ensure that everyone, regardless of whether they own their home or rent, or whether they are in the social or private sector, has the security and dignity they need to build a better life.

The feedback and evidence we received recognised the challenges that tenants in the private sector face, especially regarding unfair fees and the need to rebalance the relationship between tenants, landlords and agents. Having listened, we introduced amendments on Report to ensure that the Bill better delivers on our commitment to create a system that works for everyone. I thank all those who have engaged with the process, from our initial consultation through to pre-legislative scrutiny and since the Bill’s introduction to the House. That includes members of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, with their invaluable pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill; those who provided written and oral evidence to the Committee; and the organisations that have engaged so constructively with my officials in drafting guidance for the Bill.

[Mr Betts]

I thank the Secretary of State for his kind words about the Select Committee. Does he think that there is a wider lesson to be learned—that it would be helpful if the Government more generally provided draft legislation for Select Committees to consider, rather than simply coming to the House with proposals that they have already determined without any consideration in Select Committee?

[James Brokenshire]

I recognise the important contribution that Select Committees, and Joint Committees of both Houses, make to pre-legislative scrutiny of draft Bills, and we can point to a number of examples. As I am sure the hon. Gentleman will appreciate, at other times the Government need to act quickly. The Bill has been a good example of the balance needed between ensuring consultation and engagement.

I also wish to pay special tribute to the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for South Derbyshire (Mrs Wheeler), for all her efforts to develop the Bill and ensure its successful introduction. We all send her our heartfelt best wishes.

I also wish to thank the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak), who has been instrumental in leading the Bill through the Commons and has been careful and conscientious in listening to the views of Members on both sides of the House.

We can all agree that the Bill has benefited from everyone’s input and, as a result, will be more effective in delivering on its promise to protect tenants from unfair charges. As we have heard, those charges can impose a significant burden on tenants, who often have little choice but to pay excessive and unjustified fees time and again for each property let or even just to renew an existing agreement. The Bill will put a stop to such unacceptable practices by banning unfair and hidden charges, making it easier for tenants to find a property at a price they are willing to pay and saving renters an estimated £240 million within the first year alone. The Bill will also help to introduce a level playing field for landlords and agents by protecting reputable players in the market from having their reputations tarnished by rogues.

I know that the changes have raised concerns in some parts of the letting market, but agents who offer good value and high quality services to landlords will continue to be in demand and play an important role in the sector. In addition, the Bill introduces a cap on tenancy deposits of six weeks’ rent, and we are not stopping there. We want to ensure improvements to how deposits are protected in the interests of both tenants and landlords, to reduce up-front costs to tenants. That is why we recently established a working group to look at the merits of innovative approaches to tenancy deposits, such as deposit passporting.

I am confident that the measures in the Bill will help to deliver the fairer, clearer and more affordable private rented sector that we all want to see—for tenants, yes, but also for decent, professional landlords and agents who are providing a vital service. I am happy to commend the Bill to the House.

Rough Sleeping

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

I am today announcing a provisional allocation of the further funding for the rough sleeping initiative that I outlined in the recently published rough sleeping strategy.

I have already allocated a targeted £30 million rough sleeping initiative fund for 2018-19 to support those sleeping rough and those at risk in 83 local authorities with the highest need. Today’s announcement of provisional further funding for next year supports the good work that local authorities are already doing with the funding for this year.

Over the last few months our team of expert practitioners have worked closely with local authorities and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to identify service gaps and create tailored packages to tackle rough sleeping in their area this year. Together they have co-produced bespoke plans to tackle rough sleeping based on local government and third sector knowledge of what works. The new rough sleeping initiative team will work closely with local areas to implement the plans and to monitor their progress.

These provisional allocations represent another significant step in our plans to reduce and end rough sleeping following on from the publication of our rough sleeping strategy last month.

A full list of the individual amounts provisionally allocated to the 83 local authorities and the GLA has been published on gov.uk. Alongside the £34 million provisionally allocated today, the Government have set aside a further £11 million for spending on additional areas and projects to those currently supported by the rough sleeping initiative and will announce further details in due course.

This package will achieve substantial results in these areas of high need. It will also build upon the work we have already undertaken in order to meet our manifesto commitment. This work includes piloting the internationally proven Housing First approach in three areas of England, allocating over £1.2 billion in order to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping, including more up-front funding so local authorities can proactively tackle homelessness pressures in their areas, and also the recent changes made under the Homelessness Reduction Act which mean that more people will get the help they need and at an earlier stage.

[HCWS936]

Social Housing Green Paper

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

On 14 August, my Department published our social housing Green Paper “A new deal for social housing” which proposes fundamental reform to ensure social homes provide an essential, safe, well managed service for all those who need it. The social housing Green Paper was laid before Parliament on 14 August (CM 9671).

Everyone deserves a decent, affordable and secure place to live. It is the most fundamental of human needs. While we have made important strides to build the homes we need in recent years, I recognise we have much further to go when it comes to making our housing market work for all parts of our society—not least for residents in social housing. Our Green Paper is an important step towards this.

It is based on conversations with almost 1,000 residents at 14 events across the country, with over 7,000 submitting their views and ideas online. We have heard what people love about social housing—stories of people’s pride in their homes and communities. But we also heard what needs to change. The Green Paper is underpinned by five principles:

Ensuring that homes are sale and decent

Residents were not only concerned about safety, but also the quality and maintenance of their homes. The Government have identified opportunities to accelerate a social sector early response to recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of building regulations and fire safety by supporting residents and landlords to engage on issues of building safety. The Green Paper will also consider whether the decent homes standard is demanding enough and delivers the right outcomes.

Swift and effective resolution of disputes

Residents raised issues about how complaints were dealt with when things go wrong. We want to make the process of handling and resolving complaints faster, easier and more effective. As part of this, the Green Paper asks whether the “democratic filter” should be reformed or removed. In addition, we want to explore whether more could be done to strengthen mediation opportunities so landlords and residents can resolve disputes locally, and help residents to access the right advice.

Empowering residents

We want to ensure residents are empowered, with more transparency about the information they receive from landlords. The Green Paper contains proposals to assess landlords against standards that matter to residents, to publish these assessments, and to strengthen the regulatory framework for social housing. We want to make sure the regulatory framework as a whole remains fit for purpose and published a call for evidence which seeks views on how the current regulatory framework is working, alongside the Green Paper. We are also seeking views on how to ensure residents’ voices are heard and strengthening their choice over the services they receive.

Elimination of stigma

Stigma was one of the most consistent themes raised by residents. We are seeking views on a number of proposals to tackle this including ways to celebrate thriving communities, encourage greater professionalisation among housing management staff and promoting good social housing design. We are also exploring options for improving neighbourhood management and addressing anti-social behaviour, another key issue for residents.

Boosting the supply of social housing and supporting home ownership

Residents told us that they wanted to see more affordable homes delivered. We published the right to buy receipts consultation which sets out our proposals for exploring new flexibilities around how local authorities can use their right to buy receipts. We will also explore how we can help people living in affordable home ownership schemes, such as shared ownership, progress more easily to owning outright.

After listening carefully to social housing residents, we are proposing not to implement the provisions in the Housing and Planning Act to make fixed-term tenancies mandatory for local authority tenants at this time.

We recognise the benefits of fixed-term tenancies in the right circumstances to help social landlords make best use of their housing stock and that flexibility will remain. But we remain keen to ensure that victims of domestic abuse do not risk losing their lifetime tenancy if they are granted a new tenancy after fleeing abuse. We will bring forward new legislation to ensure that councils honour their lifetime tenancy in these cases.

In addition, on 16 August, I launched the £200 million voluntary right to buy midlands pilot. The pilot will enable thousands of tenants across the midlands to buy their home from their housing association, at a discount funded by the Government. The pilot builds on the small scale pilot with five housing associations in 2016-17, and will test two key aspects of the voluntary agreement with housing associations not tested in the initial pilot—the portable discount and one-for-one replacement overall of the homes sold. Eligible tenants in the midlands will need to register their interest on the MHCLG website, with the registration open until 16 September. To give all prospective purchasers an equal chance of participating, places on the pilot will be allocated by ballot.

[HCWS932]

Supported Housing and Rough Sleeping

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

On 9 August, I announced that housing benefit will remain in place to fund supported housing, alongside publication of the Government’s response to the October 2017 consultations on possible alternative funding options. We also announced that we will not be pursuing the sheltered rent model. This demonstrates our commitment to protect some of the most vulnerable people in our communities, by ensuring vital services are in place.

I am also keen to work with providers, local authorities, membership bodies and resident representatives to develop a robust oversight regime, to ensure quality and value for money across the sector. Alongside this enhanced oversight, my Department will undertake a review of housing related support in order to better understand how housing and support fit together.

Taken together, this gives the sector the confidence they need to continue to invest in supply.

On 13 August, I announced a cross-Government rough sleeping strategy setting out the first steps towards achieving our commitment to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and end it by 2027. This builds upon the work of the rough sleeping initiative announced in March, and set outs the further action we will take to support those currently sleeping rough.

To develop the strategy my Department has worked across Government through the rough sleeping and homelessness reduction taskforce, and with the homelessness sector and local areas through the rough sleeping advisory panel, to set out our long-term vision for how both local and central government will work together to build a country where no one needs to sleeps rough again.

The strategy is based around three core pillars: prevent, intervene and recover, with a focus on moving to a “rapid rehousing” approach. Taken together with initiatives my Department had already committed to prior to publishing this strategy, this represents over £150 million of funding dedicated to reducing rough sleeping over the next two years. In addition, we confirmed additional funding for health services for people sleeping rough. We will refresh the strategy on an annual basis, setting out the progress we have made and ensuring that our interventions remain relevant and targeted. We are also developing a delivery plan, to be published in the autumn.

We will prevent rough sleeping by providing timely support to those at risk by, for example:

piloting suitable accommodation and tailored for those leaving prison so they do not end up on the streets;

researching the nature and scale of LGBT homelessness to determine what measures need to be put in place to prevent this;

ensuring that local authorities investigate rough sleeper deaths to understand and tackle the root causes; and

implementing the duty to refer on certain public bodies as part of the Homelessness Reduction Act, to ensure that more people get the help they need faster.

We will intervene to help people already on the street get swift, targeted support by, for example:

rolling out a new initiative, Somewhere Safe to Stay, to help up to 6,000 people who are new to the streets or vulnerable to rough sleeping, offering support to rapidly identify issues that led them to sleeping rough;

introducing “navigators”—specialists who will act as trusted confidantes—who will help people sleeping rough access the appropriate services and accommodation;

providing up to £30 million for health services for people sleeping rough, informed by the findings of a health provision audit to be carried out this year; and

providing training for frontline staff on how to best help people under the influence of Spice, those who are victims of domestic abuse, modern slavery, as well as how best to support homeless LGBT people.

We will help people recover, find a new home quickly and rebuild their lives by, for example:

providing affordable accommodation for those leaving hostels and domestic abuse refuges, and to support them in managing this accommodation;

investing money from dormant bank accounts into housing for those on the streets or at risk of rough sleeping;

launching a new fund to help up to 5,000 former rough sleepers and those at risk to sustain their tenancies by working with them to boost financial independence and access training and employment opportunities; and

launching a £50 million fund for homes outside London for people ready to move on from hostels or refuges but need additional support.

We recognise that this is a challenging commitment but are confident this strategy will pave the way towards achieving our 2027 vision. We are clear, however, that this is just the first step.

The rough sleeping strategy was laid before Parliament on 13 August (Cm 9685).

[HCWS931]

Housing

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

Fixing our broken housing market is one of the Government’s top domestic priorities. The number of new homes built increased to 217,350—a 15% increase on the previous year—but we know there is much more to do. As one step towards this the Government are publishing today the new national planning policy framework, the Government response to the draft revised national planning policy framework and associated supplementary material. Consultation on the draft framework ran from 5 March to 10 May and the Government are grateful to all who responded—and in the light of comments received the Government have made important changes to this framework.

The new framework is fundamental to strengthening communities and to delivering the homes communities need. It sets out a comprehensive approach to ensuring the right homes are built in the right places and of the right quality, at the same time as protecting our precious natural environment.

Critically, progress must not be at the expense of quality or design. Houses must be right for communities. So the planning reforms in the new framework should result in homes that are locally led, well designed, and of a consistent and high-quality standard. Visual tools and design guides and codes promoted by the new framework will help create distinctive places. The framework makes clear that developments should be visually attractive and add to the overall quality of the area. To reinforce the message on design, it also states that planning permission should be refused for development of poor design that fails to take the opportunities available for improving the character and quality of an area.

Equally, building more homes should not be at the expense of the natural environment—there is a balance to be struck between enabling development while also protecting the natural environment. Therefore the new framework also increases protections to ensure we leave our environment in a better condition than we inherited it. Specifically, it increases protection for irreplaceable habitats such as ancient woodland, and ancient and veteran trees so that any development that impacts these habitats would have to be “wholly exceptional”. It also gives greater clarity to the strong protections for the green belt. It makes clear areas should examine fully all other reasonable options before green belt boundaries can be changed. It also makes clear that authorities should plan for improvements to the environmental quality and accessibility of remaining green belt land. The framework goes further to clarify the importance of local wildlife sites in plan making and enhancing the existing environment.

The framework also provides local areas with more flexibility to make the most effective use of the land they have. This includes providing communities with a clear understanding of their local housing need through a new standard methodology. It supports first-time buyers and people in the private rented sector by introducing a new exception site policy and provides greater certainty for local authorities in the decision making and planning appeals processes. It introduces new protections for churches, community pubs and music venues that play such a vital role in communities and can support the local economy. And to ensure communities get the homes they have been promised, the framework provides greater clarity on the contributions that developers are expected to make, because they have a key role in delivery. A new housing delivery test will also measure delivery of homes, with consequences for under-delivery.

These are just some of the 85 reforms from the housing White Paper and the Budget, implemented in the new national planning policy framework. Together with other reforms and support the Government now look to developers, working with local planning authorities, communities and their representatives, and central Government, to meet the challenges of fixing our broken housing market.

[HCWS925]

Local Government Finance

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

Today, my Department has published the “2019-20 Local Government Finance Settlement: technical consultation” as well as an “Invitation to Local Authorities in England to pilot 75% Business Rates Retention in 2019-20”.

The technical consultation reiterates this Government’s intention for the 2019-20 settlement to confirm the final year of the 2016-17 multi-year settlement accepted by 97% of authorities, and to implement council tax referendum principles as announced at the final 2018-19 settlement last year.

Looking to the longer term, the 2019 spending review will confirm funding from 2020-21. The Government are working towards significant reform in the local government finance system in 2020-21, including an updated, more robust and transparent distribution methodology to set baseline funding levels, and resetting business rates baselines.

This Government are committed to rewarding councils for supporting local firms and local jobs. The business rate retention system ensures that local authorities directly benefit from the proceeds of economic growth—with more funding to support local frontline services. All councils, including those which are currently less prosperous, have the opportunity to gain from this system.

The current 50% business rates retention scheme and piloting programme is yielding strong results. Local authorities estimate that in 2018-19 they will keep around £2.4 billion in business rates growth. Our continued reforms to this system will continue to give local authorities even greater control of their finances, but, to ensure a successful implementation, this Government are committed to testing aspects of the proposed new system.

This 2019-20 prospectus invites all local authorities (except for those with ongoing pilots in devolution deal areas and London) to apply to pilot 75% business rates retention in 2019-20.

From 2020-21 we are aiming to roll in additional grants, with a target of reaching 75% retention based on the current 2019-20 values of these grants. These pilots will help us test the retention system at this level. Given the limited time before 2020-21, when we aim to roll out increased business rates retention to all local authorities, there are fewer issues we can usefully test in pilots. It is therefore likely that this pilot programme will be smaller than in 2018-19.

Separately, the Government can confirm that local authorities in areas with a previously agreed devolution deal will continue to pilot 100% business rates retention in 2019-20. Separate conversations will happen with London authorities to decide arrangements following their 100% pilot this year.

Finally, I have noted the strength of feeling in local government around the issue of ‘negative reserve support grant’ and this technical consultation sets out the Government’s preferred approach to resolving the issue in 2019-20.

This preferred approach recognises the commitment made by the Government during the implementation of the business rate retention scheme in 2013-14, that tariff and top-ups would be fixed until the system was reset.

This commitment was made so that local authorities would benefit directly from supporting local business growth and the Government’s preferred approach does not reverse this commitment. In practice this will mean that the Government meet the cost of negative reserve support grant through forgone business rates.

I am placing a copy of the “2019-20 Local Government Finance Settlement: technical consultation” and the “Invitation to Local Authorities in England to pilot 75% Business Rates Retention in 2019-20” in the House Library.

[HCWS928]

Local Growth

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Tuesday 24th July 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

Today the Government are announcing a package of reforms to help all places throughout the UK to prepare for the opportunities leaving the European Union will bring. The Business Secretary and I are publishing a policy paper on strengthened local enterprise partnerships (LEPs). This publication sets out how we will work with LEPs on their role and responsibilities, leadership and organisational capacity, accountability and performance. A copy of the local enterprise partnership policy paper can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strengthened-local-enterprise-partnerships

We have also confirmed that Government will be working with all mayoral combined authorities and local enterprise partnerships to develop local industrial strategies. We will take a phased approach, and the next wave of places we will work closely with are the North East, Tees Valley, West of England, Leicester and Leicestershire, Cheshire and Warrington and Heart of the South West. Government will aim to agree local industrial strategies across England by early 2020. We will be publishing a further statement on local industrial strategies to guide locally-led work. This will be published over the summer. We will also discuss with devolved administrations and other stakeholders how local industrial strategies could work in the devolved Administrations.

Alongside these announcements, I can today set out our progress on designing the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Our manifesto committed to establishing a UK shared prosperity fund to reduce inequalities between communities across our four nations, once we have left the European Union and EU structural funds. This progress statement provides an update on our proposals to develop a UK shared prosperity fund:

The objective of the UKSPF. The UKSPF will tackle inequalities between communities by raising productivity, especially in those parts of our country whose economies are furthest behind. The UKSPF will achieve this objective by strengthening the foundations of productivity as set out in our modern industrial strategy to support people to benefit from economic prosperity.

A simplified, integrated fund. EU structural funds have been difficult to access, and EU regulations have stopped places co-ordinating investments across the foundations of productivity. Simplified administration for the fund will ensure that investments are targeted effectively to align with the challenges faced by places across the country and supported by strong evidence about what works at the local level.

UKSPF in the devolved nations. The UKSPF will operate across the UK. The Government will of course respect the devolution settlements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and will engage the devolved administrations to ensure the fund works for places across the UK.

A national framework in England that works for local priorities. Local areas in England are being asked to prepare local industrial strategies to prioritise long-term opportunities and challenges to increasing local productivity. This prioritisation will help local areas decide on their approach to maximising the long-term impact of the UKSPF once details of its operation and priorities are announced following the spending review.

Consulting the public. We intend to consult on the UKSPF this year, as we committed to do in our industrial strategy.

Furthermore, in 2016 the Government guaranteed funding for UK organisations in receipt of EU funds where projects are agreed before the day the UK leaves the EU. The Government have today announced an extension to this guarantee, which will underwrite the UK’s allocation for structural and investment fund projects under this EU budget period to 2020 in the event of no deal. This ensures that UK organisations, such as charities, businesses and universities, will continue to receive funding over a project’s lifetime if they successfully bid into EU-funded programmes before December 2020.

[HCWS927]

Local Government Update

James Brokenshire Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (James Brokenshire)]

Professor Alexis Jay’s report (2014) into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham and Louise Casey’s follow up report (2015) exposed the serious systemic failures by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to protect vulnerable children from sexual exploitation.

In response, the then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the then Secretary of State for Education took immediate action to protect the children of Rotherham. In February 2015, they appointed commissioners to take over all of the authority’s executive, and some of the non-executive, functions and drive a programme of improvement.

With the support of commissioners, the council has made steady and significant progress in its improvement journey. As a result, my predecessors were able to return functions to the council on four separate occasions: 11 February 2016, 13 December 2016, 21 March 2017 and 12 September 2017.

In her recent progress reports (February and May 2018) and letter (21 March 2018), lead commissioner Mary Ney has recommended that the intervention in Rotherham can now be concluded: “the political and senior officer leadership of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is able to function and continue its improvement without the need of Commissioner oversight.”

The evidence provided to support these recommendations, includes the report of the independent health check, which was undertaken in February 2018 and supported by the Local Government Association. Furthermore, in January 2018 Ofsted rated Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council’s children’s services as ‘good’.

As this is a joint intervention with the Department for Education, together with the Under-Secretary of State for Education, my hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi), I have carefully considered the evidence put forward by commissioners. We have also met with them to discuss their recommendation in more detail. In addition, we have also met the Leader and Chief Executive of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council in person and received assurances from them that they are confident the council is now in a position to drive forward and deliver its own improvement agenda.

As a result of this robust evidence provided by commissioners and the positive conversations with the council, I am pleased to announce that I am minded to exercise my powers under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999 to revoke the Direction of 26 February 2015 as amended, and remove commissioners from the council and hand back the remaining executive functions to the council.

However, I am mindful that the decision to hand back the remaining functions, particularly children’s services, is a significant one. Therefore, I am also announcing that I am minded to put a new Direction in place which requires Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council to undertake an independent review before 31 March 2019 when the new Direction expires. This will enable a last check of the council’s performance once the commissioners have left.

I am inviting the council to make representations on these proposals, which will be considered as part of my final decision.

We are determined to protect children from harm, and we will do everything we can to prevent this from happening again—either in Rotherham or elsewhere. Government Departments are working collectively to ensure that the National Crime Agency’s Operation Stovewood, and victims of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, have the support that they need. The Home Secretary has written recently to Rotherham and the South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner confirming Government’s commitment to working closely with Rotherham over the coming years to assess the demand on services, to encourage as many victims as possible to come forward and to provide support—financial and otherwise—where it is appropriate to do so. To date, the Home Office has provided £12.4 million of police special grant funding towards Operation Stovewood. The Department for Education is providing additional funding of up to £2 million to Rotherham’s children’s social care services, over the four year period 2017-21, for additional social workers to work with children in need of support as identified through Operation Stovewood. The Ministry of Justice has provided £1.6 million to the Police and Crime Commissioner to commission additional services locally and also committed around £549,000 extra funding to provide specialist support, including for the provision of Independent Sexual Violence Advisers. NHS England has worked with regional Health and Justice Commissioners and partners to reconfigure existing resources to support victims in Rotherham, providing £500,000 from 2018 to 2020 to support the sustainability of this project.

I am placing a copy of the documents associated with these announcements in the Library of the House and on my Department’s website.

[HCWS904]