Local Government Finance Settlement

Jess Phillips Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2016 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Again, my hon. Friend highlights the importance of the new homes bonus to meet some of those additional pressures. By having the reform, we have made sure that we keep the principle of helping those authorities that are doing the right thing and building those homes. My hon. Friend asked me specifically about consulting on the changes. I should point out that the consultation has happened: it started in December 2015 and is now complete. However, I said that there was a potential new change, which concerns whether the new homes bonus should be available if planning permission is granted on appeal, and we will consult on that.

[Jess Phillips (Birmingham, Yardley) (Lab)]

This morning, children in Birmingham woke up to a £20 million cut in their schools funding. My son’s school already has more than 30 children in every class. He has special educational needs provision, which will now be taken away. That was done following what Government Members might call the “shroud waving” by Conservative Back Benchers about the underfunding of schools in their areas. I am therefore here to tell the Secretary of State that the social care funding disparity in this country deserves exactly the same redistribution. In his constituency of Bromsgrove, the older adult weekly rate in social care homes is £100 less than in the constituency of the Secretary of State for Health in Surrey. Will the Secretary of State stand here in front of me and tell me that it is okay that his constituents already get £100 a week less than those of his Front-Bench colleagues who live in still leafier areas?

[Sajid Javid]

In rightly referring to her constituency in Birmingham, the hon. Lady mentioned my constituency of Bromsgrove, which is next door. I think that she was somehow trying to demonstrate that Bromsgrove gets more per head on average.

[Jess Phillips]

No. Bromsgrove gets less than Surrey.

[Sajid Javid]

I am comparing Bromsgrove with Birmingham and it gets on average a lot less per head than Birmingham. I assure the hon. Lady that that is noticed locally. I guess her wider point was about fairness in the allocation of funding. She knows that some areas have less power to raise money locally through the precept because of the size of their council tax base, and that is precisely why we have introduced the better care fund. Today’s announcement will help Birmingham significantly through the precept, but Birmingham will also benefit from the additional £240 million, which is allocated on need.