Oral Answers to Questions
Jen Craft Excerpts(1 week, 3 days ago)
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Rushanara Ali
The shadow Minister will be aware that the shortage of housing is driving out-of-area placements. I am very happy to come back to him on his specific example, but the Deputy Prime Minister has written to councils setting out their responsibilities and that out-of-area placements should be a last resort. We will continue to work with councils to support them as they deal with the challenge of the underlying problem, which is the housing shortage and the crisis that has been left behind. We are determined to ensure that we get a grip by providing the support they need with funding, as well as the 1.5 million homes that this Government are determined to build.
Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
Jodie Gosling (Nuneaton) (Lab)
The Minister for Local Government and English Devolution (Jim McMahon)
The English devolution Bill will strengthen public services by delivering local government reorganisation and establishing more directly elected mayors, who will have the new power to convene public services. The Bill will also deliver a new health improvement duty for strategic authorities, and enable more mayors to take on responsibility for police and crime commissioner functions, and health functions as well, to co-ordinate better on local public services. Beyond mayors, the White Paper reasserts the role of local authorities as leaders of place and the delivery arm for the Government’s missions.
Jen Craft
The catastrophic impact of the level of debt left behind by the previous Conservative council is being felt all over Thurrock. Our services have been cut to the absolute quick, and delivery for residents is at an all-time low. Although I welcome the impact that devolution will have on growth and value for money, what reassurances can the Minister offer that devolution will finally give us the chance to turn the page and deliver where it matters for my constituents?
Jim McMahon
That is a shared ambition. The Government are determined to take power away from Westminster and put it into the hands of local communities. We know that driving better outcomes and better public services rests on fair funding, and for too long councils have been impoverished, while more expectations have been placed on them. The funding reforms we are consulting on will be part of rebuilding the foundations, but this is a very significant project to get power away from this place to local communities.
Local Government Reorganisation
Jen Craft Excerpts(2 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Jim McMahon
The Department stands ready to support local areas, both on devolution and on local government reorganisation, and will make sure that there is a genuine partnership when it comes to ensuring that capacity. We will not just rely on local areas to find it; we will work together on that.
We will have to present the information the hon. Member refers to on another date, not today. Until we know what the final programme is, we will not know what is required to deliver it. There is no arbitrary upper limit. Nevertheless, we need to be realistic that there is a high bar on devolution and reorganisation, and we can only allow forward plans that have a credible proposal for devolution. If plans are less developed when it comes to devolution, then even if other parts of them are compelling, and do things that we would want to see come about, politically, I am afraid that cannot stand. They have to be credible plans that ultimately lead to fulfilling the ambition for devolution, and that will be the priority.
Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
The historical bankruptcy in Thurrock, from which my constituents are still suffering, is symptomatic of a system of local government that is letting people down badly. Devolution and reorganisation represent a once-in-a-generation opportunity to capitalise on growing opportunities in Essex, deliver better value and improve services. Does the Minister agree that reorganisation is the right step, and this is the right time? It will allow us to move on from the broken system and deliver more power and opportunities to communities in places such as Thurrock.
Jim McMahon
My hon. Friend will know that there are particular issues in Thurrock, relating to historical decisions taken in that local authority. We believe that efficiencies can be garnered through reorganisation, and that if we redirect money to neighbourhood services that people can see and feel, their satisfaction with local government and local public services will increase. We also accept, though, that some systemic problems are not addressed by reorganisation alone; in the end, the multi-year settlement and the funding reforms that are taking place will have to be the foundation for that.
Playgrounds
Jen Craft Excerpts(3 weeks, 1 day ago)
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Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes) on securing this debate. Playgrounds are a vital part of local community infrastructure, and free access to outside play space locally is something that all children should have the opportunity to enjoy. However, for disabled children and their families, this access is often not forthcoming, and I will briefly speak about that today.
As part of its Let’s Play Fair campaign, Scope carried out polling on playground accessibility. It found that one in 10 disabled children have minimal or no access to their local playground. Furthermore, one in seven people said that could not enjoy playgrounds as a family, because siblings were unable to play together. Half the parents of disabled children said that there were some accessibility problems with their local playground.
My oldest child is disabled. On many occasions, we have visited playgrounds that are unsafe for her due to her disability. Sometimes we can make things work; however, there are times when we just cannot. Structures are built in such a way that my husband and I cannot support her on them safely while also supervising her sister, and there are no accessible alternatives to things such as swings, which is her absolute favourite activity. She gets extremely upset that she cannot play—that she cannot take part—and who can blame her? Why is my child being told that she is not good enough to play and that my family are not welcome in this shared public space? The feeling that a community asset is not for you and your family cuts deep. I know that my daughter will face challenges throughout her life, but being able to play—to be a child—should not be one of them.
I would like to address some of the misgivings about accessible playgrounds. They do not necessarily need to cost more than non-accessible playgrounds. Retrofitting is expensive, but there is no reason why disabled children and their families are not being consulted about what they would need to make their new playground accessible. Indeed, there is even an argument that local authorities and other public bodies would be failing in their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 by not doing so.
Accessible playgrounds are not exclusively for disabled children. Good accessible playgrounds are inclusive playgrounds. Excellent playgrounds allow access for disabled children while maintaining and providing challenge for non-disabled children. The adventure castle at Hylands Estate in Chelmsford, the renovated playground at Wat Tyler Park in Basildon and, closer to home, Elm Road open space, or the Manor, in my patch provide accessible play equipment in a way that allows access for disabled and non-disabled children to play together. But these examples are few and far between, so I ask the Minister to encourage all those who provide playgrounds to bake accessibility into them, talk to children and their parents and finally make play spaces somewhere that all children and their families can enjoy.
Planning Committees: Reform
Jen Craft Excerpts(1 month, 3 weeks ago)
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Matthew Pennycook
The hon. Gentleman gives the impression that I stood up today and said, “This is our solution to all the flaws of the planning system in England.” This is one small part of a much wider planning reform agenda. He will know that, in our first month in office, we brought forward very significant changes to the national planning policy framework. We are committed to introducing a planning and infrastructure Bill early next year. This working paper is one small part of a larger agenda, but it is an important part, because we know that planning applications are taking far too long in particular. We need to streamline the process to ensure that we get the homes and places coming forward that our communities need.
Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
Unlike other colleagues, I have never been on a planning committee. However, I know the effects of the current system and its failings. I know that only 19% of major decisions are made within the 13-week statutory framework, and I know that we have an absolute housing crisis in this country. I know the impact of the delay, prevarication and rampant nimbyism we saw over the past 14 years. Does the Minister agree that it is finally time to grasp these issues head-on?
Matthew Pennycook
In a word, yes. In some ways, I feel quite envious of my hon. Friend having not sat on a planning committee. It is an experience that I think everyone in the House should undergo at one point in their career. My hon. Friend is absolutely right. These proposals are to test some of the measures that we are considering bringing forward in the planning and infrastructure Bill, the objective of which is to encourage better quality development that is aligned with local development plans, to facilitate the speedy delivery of the quality homes and places that our communities need, and to give applicants the certainty they need that their applications will be determined in a timely manner.