Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Wednesday 16th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My right hon. Friend has great experience, and he is absolutely right that we have to crack down on that kind of behaviour and make it clear that we must allow debate with respect, so that people want to and feel confident to get involved in politics. I just hope the Labour party will get its house in order and bring in a respect code as well.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

7. What steps the Government are taking to ensure that people with no fixed address are able to vote.

Immigration Act 2016: Section 67

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Wednesday 19th July 2017 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Just this week, the Home Secretary and I launched and put extra funding into the community support project. We have seen phenomenal work, which people should be proud of, in charities and communities, developing and learning from colleagues from countries around the world such as Canada. I appreciate the time that the Canadian Minister gave us to discuss the issues. My hon. Friend is right: last year alone, we took in more than any other country in Europe. We should be proud of that, but we are clear that we want to build on that. We should be very proud of the fact that we are looking to bring over 23,000 people, to make sure that we are helping the most vulnerable—including the many thousands of children who have already come over and others who will continue to come.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

The Minister will have on his desk petitions from children at St Matthew’s Primary School and Moss Park Infants School in my constituency asking him to respect the rights of all refugee children under the United Nations convention on the rights of the child—their right to an education, in particular. What assessment is he really making of the quality and experience of education that children are getting in camps? Is it not time that we brought children here to settle them and ensure that they have the chance to develop a happy and successful childhood?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady is effectively agreeing with the point I made earlier. We are working with local authorities to make sure that when children come over, they are given the right support and the home that they deserve, to help them be an important part of the community and give them a fruitful and fulfilling life.

Europol

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Monday 12th December 2016 General Committees

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

I very much welcome what the Minister has said. I absolutely appreciate that the position is for today while we remain full members of the European Union and it is not in any way a pre-judgment on how the negotiations to exit may take place. However, by opting in, how will our Europol systems and habits of operating and sharing intelligence and information on crimes that need to be dealt with on a cross-border basis, because they occur on a cross-border basis, be appropriately replicated and provided for after we leave the European Union? For example, is the Minister thinking of setting up shadow systems as a safety net for the post-Brexit world? If not, what other contingencies are the Government putting in place to ensure that today’s Europol protections that the Minister outlined are continued after we leave the European Union?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady makes an important point. It is right to opt in at the moment. We have been working with Europol, a lead partner, for some considerable time. About 40% of everything that Europol does is linked to work that is either provided or requested by the United Kingdom. The hon. Lady tempts me to give a running commentary on our Brexit negotiations, but I will resist that temptation because we are at the start of negotiations, not the end. However, hon. Members and hon. Friends should bear in mind the fact that there are other countries that have partnership agreements with Europol. In fact, the United States has one of the biggest liaison offices. It is obviously not a member of the EU, but it has come to an agreement to work with Europol. It sees the benefit and has found a way to do that. Opting in now puts us in a strong position from which to be able to negotiate what is right for us when Brexit comes, but we will see how that goes in the negotiations.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Monday 30th June 2014 Commons Chamber

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

8. What discussions he has had with local authorities on the future of local welfare assistance schemes after April 2015.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)]

During the consultation for the local government finance settlement, I met a range of local authorities and, indeed, the Local Government Association. More poignantly for this question, the Department for Work and Pensions held numerous discussions when it abolished the poorly targeted crisis loans and community care grants in 2012 and passed funding to councils. It is continuing to discuss local provision with councils in the review that it will publish later this year.

[Kate Green]

Trafford Assist has been quite successful, but its funding is for only one year and is not ring-fenced, and now the council has revealed a shocking £6 million discrepancy in its adult social care budget. Given the pressure that the council will be under to plug that spending gap, it is likely that Trafford Assist will not be able to continue after the coming year. What can the Government do to ensure that such successful schemes can continue into the future?

[Brandon Lewis]

The hon. Lady is right; local authorities are running a range of really good schemes. That is why they have been passed to local authorities. What has been highlighted is that many authorities are running good, efficient schemes and spending way below the amount of money originally put forward. That is also why the Department for Work and Pensions is carrying out the review, which it will be reporting on some time this autumn.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Monday 7th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

My hon. Friend makes a good point about how councils are working efficiently to look at new ways of delivering. In doing that, they are transforming services to ensure that the most vulnerable are the most protected, through the wide range of support that is available through local authorities.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Trafford Council’s “Trafford Assist” programme has been very successful in bringing together sources of support and sources of advice, but the council is worried about how it will be able to sustain the service when the funding closes at the end of the year. Will the Minister have urgent conversations with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that the two Departments between them can make sure that this lifeline funding will continue?

[Brandon Lewis]

I have met various local authorities through the consultation on this year’s settlement, and I will meet them again next year. The DWP has also spoken to local authorities. We must ensure that we do not replicate the previous, poorly targeted system. There is a whole range of support out there, and local authorities are doing very well in pulling together that support to ensure that the most vulnerable have the right care for them.

Business Rates

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Commons Chamber

[Brandon Lewis]

This debate is about business rates and the ports tax was a business rate. If the hon. Gentleman has a look at his own motion, perhaps he will appreciate what he is here for. The ports tax policy also contravened the Treasury’s own guidance on retrospective taxation. However, as proposed by both coalition parties before the general election, this Government have scrapped Labour’s ports tax, cutting business rates by £175 million and reversing the smash-and-grab on small businesses.

Let me take another example: empty property rate relief. As Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath (Mr Brown) hiked up business rates by cutting back empty property rate relief, with no offsetting reduction. When was the stealth tax rise introduced? It was introduced at the very start of the economic downturn—precisely when businesses cannot find tenants for their empty properties. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors slammed the change, saying it was

“purely a revenue raising exercise with no thought of the potential consequences”.

That is what we inherited from Labour, as well as the biggest deficit in our peacetime history. Unfortunately, we have not been able to reverse every Labour tax rise—I wish we could—but we have introduced new rate relief for empty new build property to help to kick-start development.

Let me raise another issue, which relates to my response to the hon. Member for Swansea West a few moments ago. I recognise that small business rate relief was introduced under the previous Administration, albeit funded by a higher multiplier on medium and large firms, but Labour made it as difficult as possible for small firms to claim, requiring reams of complex paperwork every year. In 2009, Labour Ministers blocked a Conservative-supported private Member’s Bill from the hon. Member for Mid Worcestershire (Peter Luff) that would have simplified the relief. This Government have changed that—the Localism Act 2011 made it far easier to claim—but we have gone further: with central Government funding, we have doubled business rate relief for small firms year on year, and an estimated 330 small firms are now paying no rates at all as a result.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

Businesses report to me that when they appeal against business rates, it takes a long time for their appeals to be dealt with. The delays are due to the poor performance of the Valuation Office Agency, and I hope to have an opportunity to say more about that later. I realise that this is not the Minister’s direct responsibility, but will he undertake to have conversations with his colleagues in the Treasury to ensure that the agency performs as it should?

[Brandon Lewis]

I am delighted to be able to tell the hon. Lady that we have managed to reduce those delays. I shall say more about that shortly.

The value of small business rate relief granted in England has trebled, from £330 million in the last year of the Labour Government to £900 million in the last year. I note that the extra rate relief, which is temporary, is scheduled to end next April, but the Chancellor will be reviewing all taxes as part of his autumn statement. As I said to the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts), we must wait and see what lies before us tomorrow.

We have done far more. We have capped business rate increases at the rate of inflation, with the result that there has been no real-terms increase in annual business rates. We have given councils new powers, via the Localism Act, to allow local business rate discounts to support, for example, local shops, community pubs, new business parks or vital local facilities. Under the local business rates retention scheme that was introduced in April, central Government now fund part of any discount that is granted. The discretionary discount is not just for Christmas; it can be applied at any given moment throughout the life of the current Parliament. Councils can do that now, with no complications, no pen-pushing, no bureaucracy, and no questions asked. It is real, targeted, localist tax relief that can be delivered by councils today.

Business Rates

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Tuesday 30th October 2012 Westminster Hall

[Brandon Lewis]

As I have said, the publication of the figures is a matter for the VOA, and one that we are looking to resolve before the Bill’s Second Reading on Monday, but those are the figures from the VOA that we have at the moment. To do the full, detailed calculation, we would need to go through the full revaluation procedure, and the figure for that is just under £50 million. I will come back to that in a moment. We have taken steps to change the legislation, but both Houses—I think that my hon. Friend the Member for Waveney (Peter Aldous) raised the point about reviewing and looking at what is happening—will of course have the chance to examine the policy fully during the passage of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill.

Variation in business rates can have a significant impact on businesses. As has been noted, business rates can add 50% to property costs and can equate to 7% or more of turnover. Large-scale changes in these costs can be very disruptive to businesses at a time when they want to concentrate on delivering growth. That is why we felt that postponing the revaluation was the right thing to do. It provides certainty and stability, allowing businesses to have confidence in what they are doing.

I am aware of concerns that have been heard recently from organisations such as the British Retail Consortium that business rates are generally too high and should not be increased in line with inflation. In fact, the system of increasing the rating multiplier only in line with inflation, which was introduced in 1990, has provided valuable certainty for businesses over the years. It has meant that they have been able to forecast their business rates bill between revaluations and plan accordingly. That was touched on by the hon. Member for Warrington North (Helen Jones), I believe.

The Government have said that they will review the case for uprating in line with CPI instead of RPI, or using a 12-month average instead of the September inflation figure. That commitment still stands. I do understand that in the current economic climate, there are retailers and other businesses that would like lower business rate bills, and there are businesses that would like the Government to raise less money from business rates at the next revaluation. When we consider calls, such as those made today, for lower business rate bills, we have to balance that not just against a system that has capped business rate yields for 22 years, but against the Government’s deficit reduction priority and the tough decisions needed to reduce the deficit. To back up the comments made by my hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton, it is important, if there is to be that deficit reduction, that we do not make further spending pledges, which is, to an extent, what hon. Members have invited me to do today.

To date, the approach to granting business rates relief has been to target it where support is most needed—on, for example, small businesses, charities, and businesses in hardship. However, we find discussions with groups such as the British Retail Consortium helpful—I will meet it in the next couple of weeks—and will of course continue to keep the rating system under review.

Let me touch on a couple of specific points that were raised. I am aware that there have been delays in relation to rating appeals at the VOA. It has devoted extra resources this year to help to clear the backlog. My officials have regular meetings with the VOA to discuss the appeal numbers. Postponing the revaluation will allow it to deploy more resources to clear the appeals, but we will also be looking to work with the VOA to see what more can be done to clear appeals.

[Kate Green]

I am grateful for that assurance. We look forward to seeing the impact of the additional resources. Will the Minister also commit to ensuring that up-to-date data about the VOA’s performance continue to be published? There have been delays in publishing the statistics, which might mean that worse performance is deliberately being suppressed.

[Brandon Lewis]

I will certainly take that point back to the Department. May I highlight that any ratepayers with an outstanding appeal who are in financial hardship or facing enforcement action from a local authority should contact the VOA directly, because it will look at bringing appeals forward in such cases?

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Green and Brandon Lewis

Monday 17th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

16. What recent representations he has received from local authorities on his plans for the localisation of council tax benefit.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)]

Earlier this year the Government consulted on funding distribution, and we are currently consulting on arrangements for local precepting authorities. We intend to respond to the outcome of both consultations in the autumn.

[Kate Green]

(Stretford and Urmston) (Lab): According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, nearly 50% of adults receiving council tax benefit are also receiving a disability-related benefit. What steps will the Minister take to ensure that councils take account of the public sector equality duty in devising localised systems?

[Brandon Lewis]

The Government have given some guidelines to local authorities. I shall be happy to provide the hon. Lady with a copy, but obviously we are ensuring that local authorities have the power to decide locally what is right for their communities.