Oral Answers to Questions

Kirsty Blackman Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd November 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. He has campaigned strongly on the whole issue of housing, and on homelessness in particular. That approach is already taken by housing associations. As they are non-profit organisations, their surpluses are reinvested in the business, often in the next year. For example, in 2015-16 their investment in new and existing properties was more than double the surpluses they generated.

I recently announced an additional £2 billion of funding for affordable homes, including those for social rent. Last week, housing associations were reclassified to the private sector, taking £70 billion of debt off the country’s balance sheet and meaning greater certainty for housing associations in getting on with the job that my hon. Friend and I both want them to do, which is building more homes.

[Kirsty Blackman (Aberdeen North) (SNP)]

Q3. My thoughts are with my many constituents who have friends and family in Nigeria.The SNP has asked 140 times for the VAT paid by our police and fire services to be scrapped, and for the £140 million to be refunded. The Chancellor said only last month that legally, we would not be able to recover VAT and that the UK Government are now constrained by the VAT rules that are in place. Was he misleading us?

[The Prime Minister]

The SNP may have asked a number of questions, but of course it knew, when it took the decision to create a single police and fire authority, that this would be the VAT treatment.