Oral Answers to Questions

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2024 Commons Chamber

[Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con)]

1. What steps he is taking to support rough sleepers and homeless people to move into accommodation.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

17. What steps he is taking to help reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Felicity Buchan)]

We are investing almost £2.4 billion over three years to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, which is an unprecedented amount. That includes over £1.2 billion through the homelessness prevention grant, which councils can use flexibly to prevent homelessness and help families to move out of temporary accommodation. Last week, an additional £107 million was allocated to councils through the single homelessness accommodation programme, providing 808 homes for people sleeping rough.

[Felicity Buchan]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for everything he has done in the homelessness space. The other day, I was looking at the figures from the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017—we have supported 708,000 families courtesy of that Act, in order to prevent homelessness. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we have seen an uptick in rough sleeping and homelessness, which is disappointing. However, with rough sleeping we are still 9% below pre-pandemic levels, and 18% below the highs in 2017. I agree with him about the success of Housing First. We have invested £42 million in those pilots, and we are investing a further £30 million through the rough sleeping initiative.

[Lilian Greenwood]

There are 142,000 children living in temporary accommodation—a record high that is costly to taxpayers, but devastating to the lives of children and families—and the Government’s own data shows that they have utterly failed on their 2019 manifesto commitment to end rough sleeping by 2024. As the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) has just said, rough sleeping has risen by 27% in the past year, and I remind the Minister that it is 120% higher than in 2010. Is she happy for children and families to be paying the price for 14 years of Tory failure on housing?

[Felicity Buchan]

This Government have made a concerted effort to tackle homelessness and eliminate rough sleeping. I am not happy with the numbers in temporary accommodation, which is why the last autumn statement contained a series of measures to address the issue, including an additional £450 million for the local authority housing fund—taking that to £1.2 billion—in order to improve the quality of temporary accommodation. We have also uprated the local housing allowance to the 30th percentile, which is worth £800 per family.

Non-commissioned Exempt Accommodation

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew]

Well, I am afraid just making it up can sometimes have unintended consequences. Members said that the good providers are ready to go on this; if we do not look at the detail and do it properly, we could introduce real obstacles for some of those good providers. I do not want to do that; I want to get this right, as I know my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary does.

Let me move on to future action. As I have mentioned, we have already invested more than £5 million to support areas that are grappling with poor supported exempt accommodation. The pilots have been independently evaluated, and while we wait for the report the Government continue to work closely with local authorities on the provision of best practice and guidance. I assure Members that we are considering all options available to us, including further regulation. However, as I said, we need to be absolutely sure that any further changes to the rules do not put off responsible providers so much as to throw out the good with the bad. I believe that Members—

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36).

Question put forthwith, That the Question be now put.

Question agreed to.

Main Question accordingly put.

Levelling Up

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd February 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien), is hereby dispatched to Stroud—first class.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

How can we take seriously the Secretary of State’s promise to turbo-charge places such as my city when his Government have spent 12 years draining the fuel tank and slashing the tyres? If his offer of a county deal is to deliver meaningful change, does it not need to start with restoring the £100 million that Nottingham has lost through cuts in council funding?

[Michael Gove]

Nottingham has a bright future, and Nottinghamshire has an even brighter one, with my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Ben Bradley) as leader of that council, leading a programme of urban development and regeneration. I look forward to working with the hon. Lady, and with my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield, to ensure that we make Nottinghamshire great again.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [ Lords ] (Third sitting)

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Committee stage
Thursday 9th December 2021 Public Bill Committees

[Eddie Hughes]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. It seems perceptive, given that the paragraph that I was about to move on to says: hon. Members will know that further leasehold reform will follow later in the Parliament, so the efficacy of an impact assessment of this kind, during a period of wider reform, would be questionable. It is difficult to carry out an impact assessment when many moving parts are changing simultaneously; this is not a laboratory experiment in which we can control just one element. As the hon. Gentleman is a member of the Select Committee on Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, I can say that I look forward to working with him in the future. Should any concerns arise, my door is always open.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

I listened carefully to what the Minister said about the definition of rent in the legislation, and the way that it could be used to cover other ways in which some freeholders may act. How confident is he that leaseholders will be aware of that provision? If freeholders seek to increase other costs and charges, will leaseholders be sufficiently aware that they can exercise the rights set out in this Bill?

[Eddie Hughes]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. There are two sides to that story. The fact that this legislation is being enacted, and the attention that will be drawn to that, will hopefully inform a good number of leaseholders. Also, the possible financial penalty—up to £30,000—should act as a significant deterrent for the freeholders, who are much more likely to be well informed and will hopefully be severely deterred by that. As the description of rent is so wide-ranging—it includes anything in the nature of rent—they will well understand that, should they be challenged at tribunal, they would likely be found out.

Given the two sides of that equation, there is good reason for us to be confident that nobody will try to introduce rents through the back door. On that note, I once again ask the hon. Member for Weaver Vale to withdraw the new clause.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [ Lords ] (First sitting)

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 7th December 2021 Public Bill Committees

[Maria Eagle]

I very much welcome the intent of the Bill, which is to replace the standard charging of ground rent of real monetary value to leaseholders with a peppercorn rent. I welcome that very much; it is an entirely good and proper reform. Anybody who has had to deal with land law over the years—whether as a lawyer, or just as an MP trying to advise constituents—knows just how complicated it is to change these ancient and difficult land law provisions, which go back to feudal times in many ways and which very much have case law behind them. As we can see from this simple Bill alone, significant provisions have to be added to do the simplest things. I have every sympathy with the Minister, who has a record of trying to grapple with the complexities of English land law since he was Back Bencher. It is by no means easy.

I welcome, generally, clause 4, which reduces to a mere peppercorn the ground rent that is chargeable for new leaseholders. That is entirely to be welcomed. However, I want to set out to the Minister the difficulties that many of my constituents have. Thousands of them have in the last few years bought leasehold houses. This is particularly an issue in the north-west. As my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale rightly said, there has arisen a penchant for selling newly built, often detached houses as leasehold properties. That has, and can only have been to enable the freehold—the reversionary interest—to be turned into a financial product that, over years, often decades, provides a stream of income for whoever retains the reversionary interest, who is often not the original developer or builder of the properties. It is sold on in financial markets to those who are interested in long-term investments providing a stream of income.

Many of my constituents, trapped in such leases, had no idea when they bought the houses that that would be the case, and that they would owe obligations for decades to whoever held the reversionary interest. They had absolutely no idea that the person who held the reversionary interest could change, and that it would be traded on financial markets and bought by people who wanted to exploit to the maximum the provision for income generation over years. The Bill, unfortunately, does not help any of my constituents who are stuck in such provision.

I am entirely in favour of changing that provision by means of the Bill, which I welcome, but there is an argument to say that the Bill actually makes things startlingly worse for those already trapped in such leasehold provisions that have ground rent and sometimes accelerated ground rent. It makes starker the fact that it is anomalous. I have many constituents on a number of estates across my constituency of Garston and Halewood who are finding it difficult to sell their properties. They have suddenly realised that they do not own a house, as they thought they did, but that they are renting it.

I am extremely anxious that the Minister does not rest on his laurels, having got this complicated piece of simple legislation through the House and on to the statute book, but that he realises that there is so much more to do to assist those who are stuck—particularly in my constituency and in the north-west—in newly built houses that they now find they do not really own. They are being financially exploited by remote owners of a reversionary interest that will endure for perhaps 99 or 999 years.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the Bill, by doing the right thing for new houses, will actually make the situation even worse for those who are in existing houses, because potential entrants into the housing market will choose to buy a new leasehold house that is covered by these provisions, rather than a house that her constituent may wish to sell that is under the existing provision?

[Maria Eagle]

That is the very concern that I have. It not only shines a light on the dilemma and the problems of current leaseholders, who will not be covered by these provisions, but sets theirs up as an anomalous set of arrangements. Until the Minister comes back with legislation to change more thoroughly what has happened in existing cases, which I know will be difficult, these people will be in a more difficult position than they currently are. Not only will they have the ongoing financial burden of the exploitative provisions that have grown up, particularly in the north-west of England, but they will find themselves left behind. The danger is that the Minister may have to move on to other legislation of concern in his Department, and may find that doing something for existing leaseholders is very difficult in land law terms. I know it is difficult to change existing leases by statute.

--- Later in debate ---

[Eddie Hughes]

As I referred to in the discussions about previous clauses, I believe that the legislation will apply once it has been enacted following Royal Assent, so it will apply to new contracts that come into force once the Act is in force. It would not necessarily apply to a property that is being bought today. It will apply only once the law has been enacted. We will have Royal Assent, legislation will be provided and then it will be enacted.

[Lilian Greenwood]

rose—

[The Chair]

Minister, you have the floor and you decide who you give way to.

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[Eddie Hughes]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. The Government are signalling strong intent by virtue of introducing the Bill, which backs up the suggestions we have made previously about our intent. With regards to other pronouncements that the Government have made, I think people will rightly expect that legislation will follow in due course. My hon. Friend is completely right.

[Lilian Greenwood]

I wish to follow up on the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Garston and Halewood. Clearly, the Bill will apply only from the date that it receives Royal Assent. Is the Minister concerned that some developers that have acted in unscrupulous ways that the Bill is designed to prevent will see the deadline of Royal Assent as an opportunity to place more people in the position that has been outlined by my hon. Friends and Government Members? Developers might try to get in before the deadline of Royal Assent, rather than taking the message that these sorts of leaseholds should not be offered and are inappropriate. What discussions has the Minister had with developers, and what sense does he have of whether people will act opportunistically?

[Eddie Hughes]

I thank the hon. Lady for her contribution but, fortunately, the evidence does not back up the concern she has voiced. We saw a prevalence of this type of construction. That has peaked, and now its popularity is decreasing, so we already see that developers understand that, effectively, the game is up and the world has moved on. I would like to think that, thanks to the efforts of hon. Members in this room, we are publicising the Bill and our constituents will become better informed as a result of our contributions to the debate. Hopefully, that will serve to protect them.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mike Amesbury]

Taken together, the amendments revisit a question that I have posed to Ministers many a time in previous debates in Committee, on Second Reading and so forth: what about the costs of remediation for leaseholders? It is something we are all familiar with—here in Committee and well beyond—in particular for leaseholders caught in the scandal. We are of course waiting for the next stage of the Building Safety Bill—Report—in the Commons after spending many weeks in Committee. I see the Minister and some other familiar faces. While we wait, hundreds of thousands of leaseholders are receiving bills for astronomical amounts of money to remediate dangerously cladded housing. The cost is for more than cladding, as many people know—there are missing fire breaks, wooden balconies and so forth. Some of the bills top £100,000. I know my hon. Friend the Member for Salford and Eccles—a not too far distant neighbour—is very familiar with those kinds of bills in her constituency.

The cost of remediation on shared owners’ shoulders can equal the value of their share of the property. Again, shared ownership leaseholders are too often charged 100% of the remediation cost for properties that they own only a small proportion of. Meanwhile, the associated costs of the building safety crisis, such as waking watch and insurance premiums continue to go up—we have examples of 1,000% and 1,400% right across the country. Despite repeated promises from Ministers—at my last count we were at 19 if I include the new Secretary of State—the issue is very much ongoing.

The amendment will not solve the problem. The Opposition have repeatedly set out a plan to get the building safety crisis fixed and ensure that developers, not leaseholders, bear the brunt of the costs. I am interested in the recent language from the Secretary of State in that regard. He seems to say some of the right things—there are some warm words—but we are now desperate for action. The amendment would at least ensure that shared ownership leaseholders cannot be charged for ground rents while they are also being charged for remediation work, taking one of the many costs of the crisis off their shoulders. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

[Lilian Greenwood]

I certainly recognise the situation that my hon. Friend describes. I have a large number of constituents living in flats and being asked to pay astronomical costs for the remediation of their properties for which they bear no responsibility. Will he clarify whether the amendment would apply only where remediation costs are unfairly distributed between the freeholder and leaseholder, or would it apply in all situations where leaseholders are being asked to pay remediation costs?

[Mike Amesbury]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. This is about historical remediation costs, but it is a good point to raise. I look forward to the Minister’s response.

Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill [Lords] (Second sitting)

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 7th December 2021 Public Bill Committees

[Eddie Hughes]

I can say only what I said earlier: I do not think that clause 8 and the duty to inform are required. I am not sure that it would necessarily make it easier. The hon. Gentleman questioned why somebody would want to pursue it themselves. As I said, they would no doubt be a well informed and able person. I am not sure that the duty to inform would have applied.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

Will the Minister expand on clause 15(5), on the amount of interest payable not exceeding

“the amount ordered to be paid under section 14”,

and the equity of that? It strikes me that if someone is required to make a payment and a long period has expired, which is why interest is being added to the amount, for what reason would that be deemed not payable? How would that be fair on someone who has been disadvantaged in that way?

[Eddie Hughes]

I think it simply represents the fact that, in reality, we will ensure that we pursue these things more quickly. We should not be in a position where the two are of equal level. I understand the hon. Lady’s point and will consider this further as the Bill progresses.

East Midlands Economy

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Ben Bradley]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention; he has neatly predicted my next paragraph, which is about the integrated rail plan and Toton. All sorts of rumours have gone around over the summer. As the chair of the east midlands HS2 delivery board, I have had a lot of conversations with Ministers and officials about this matter and have pushed for the certainty that he asks for. HS2 is a major opportunity for the east midlands. I recognise that it is not universally popular, so I am not going to go on about the benefits of the eastern leg in full or the wider project, but this is a debate on the east midlands, so I will focus on the local part.

The key, for us, is that Toton is a major centre for our future growth. It is a site where we have invested almost a decade of work and planning, and tens of millions in infrastructure and preparation, including direct tram connections to Nottingham city, where there is huge interest in investing in skills, research and innovation, as well as in commercial and residential development. Success for Toton could unlock plans to the north, around Chesterfield and Bolsover, for a major engineering centre built around HS2, which has the potential to create 2,500 jobs in an area of north Nottinghamshire and north Derbyshire that should be at the heart of the levelling-up agenda. Those are former coalfield, post-industrial towns—the epitome of the kind of red wall areas that need support and to which we made big promises of support at the last election.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

I have to confess that I am a little confused by the hon. Gentleman’s reaction to the intervention by my hon. Friend the Member for Chesterfield (Mr Perkins). Is he suggesting that the connectivity that the HS2 eastern leg would provide—not just a station at Toton, but the fast connections to Leeds, York, the north-east and Scotland, as well as the connection to the west midlands—somehow does not matter and is not essential to the future success of our region?

[Ben Bradley]

I thank the hon. Lady for that. She knows that that is not what I am suggesting, and she will no doubt have seen over the summer that few have been as vocal as I have been in their public advocacy for HS2 and the eastern leg. The key thing for the region is that, whatever HS2 looks like, it involves that key investment at our Toton site, unlocking opportunities for jobs and growth in the north of the county, and tying together our local transport network and connectivity across the east midlands to boost our economy. There is huge potential: I believe that the eastern leg in full would create enough jobs, investment and economic opportunity up the length of the route to pay for itself and to be of huge benefit to the country. I am just focusing on the key priorities for us from the east midlands perspective. Whatever the IRP looks like, those are things that must be in it to benefit our region.

Whatever anyone’s view on HS2 as a whole, given that the PM has committed to delivering it in some shape or form, the key for our region is Toton, and the surrounding plans and projects form a big part of the IRP decision. Whatever the Government decide and whatever form it ultimately takes, the Department for Transport and other Departments must work with us, the region, Midlands Connect and other local stakeholders to include the Toton plans and make the most of that investment.

I know that decisions on the IRP are to be taken soon. As the chair of the HS2 strategy board, I would welcome a conversation with the Secretary of State for Transport ahead of that decision about what is possible and about ensuring that key local priorities are part of that decision. I know the headlines will be about how much track is going down and whether HS2 goes from place A to place B, so there is a risk that our local requirements will be lost. That cannot be allowed to happen. For us, whether it is a win for the area and whether we can support the decision as local stakeholders ultimately depends on the details. Does it deliver growth, and where? What is the impact on our regional connectivity? Will it help to deliver projects like the Robin Hood line, access to Toton and the midlands rail hub? Those are key questions that need to be answered in the IRP. I trust that the Minister will pass on my request for that conversation with the DFT.

It is worth saying that these sites—Toton and the related freeport—could all benefit from partnership with the devco, combining the existing opportunities and incentives with a master-planning element and simplified processes for the development corporation to deliver bigger, better and faster. It is important that it has the right oversight, and I will get on to that, but bringing key sites together under this delivery mechanism could supercharge the whole package. As I said, the whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. This is a package of interventions, with key decisions to be taken in the coming months.

Point No. 4 is about devolution. I held an Adjournment debate on this topic in the summer before we went into recess, in which I laid out the potential benefit of devolved powers for our region and the impact we could make on our communities if we could make bespoke local interventions. We could improve our skills offer, intervene where there are health inequalities, improve and join up our transport network, boost economic development, collaborate more effectively across different authorities, and plan for housing in a more strategic and joined-up way. There is a lot we could do with the right powers and budget devolved to a local level. The Government have asked for proposals, and in Nottinghamshire at least—clearly, I cannot speak for other areas—we are extremely interested in that conversation. We have spoken with Ministers and officials. We have a clear idea of what we want to achieve and we want to be out there, leading the way.

Following all those conversations with local and national stakeholders in Notts, we agree with the Government that the best way to deliver devolution in areas such as ours is through the mechanism of county deals. We want to bring forward deals for Nottinghamshire and Nottingham, using our existing legal framework for collaboration—our economic prosperity committee—to manage a joined-up approach to delivery, working with our districts and boroughs. In return, we are offering a package of local public service reform, bringing both tiers together under the EPC to deliver more efficient and effective local services. We have agreed to that across all the Nottinghamshire local authorities; we have done much of the work and planning in the background already; and my chief executive and I will camp on the lawn outside the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government until we get the thing done. The Minister just needs to say the word and set us up a pitch in an appropriate place.

Although I am not party to all the local discussions, I hope that colleagues across the region will be able to put forward similar deals for Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire in due course, giving us all access to the huge potential of those devolved powers and offering us the opportunity to work together across the region on delivery. That could also give us the ability to work together on the oversight of these projects—the development corporation, the freeport, HS2 and others—and allow us to steer the ship for future sites and projects. I recognise from the Prime Minister’s speech that he clearly sees devolution as a mechanism for delivering the levelling-up agenda. We want to be at the heart of that; I certainly want Nottinghamshire to lead the way, and to be among the early adopters of this project.

As you can see, Sir David, the four projects as a package are linked and interdependent, and if delivered together could be much more than the sum of their parts. As a region, the east midlands does come together already, so we have strong foundations on which to build. Under the leadership of Sir John Peace, chairman of the midlands engine, public and private sector partners from across the region have been working on HS2, the development corporation and our freeport ambitions. That has led to a strong sense of trust and confidence among senior stakeholders, and we know that we have the good will and the momentum to do more. Currently, we are working with Sir John on plans to capitalise on that good will by strengthening our regional partnership. We call that partnership the alchemy board, and I am confident that it can provide us with an effective east midlands partnership umbrella, so that local devolution efforts have a place to share and develop significant opportunities on a regional level. There is work to do to make changes to bring that together, but we have the building blocks in place, and I think it is an attractive proposition.

I hope it is clear that on a regional level, we have some key projects and a vision for the future that can create wealth across the east midlands. Those four things are already under way and are coming together this autumn for decisions. With Government support, they can create tens of thousands of jobs and thousands of homes, and change the life chances of people in the east midlands. If the Government deliver the powers for the devco in their planning legislation; if they back our freeport bid and support us through the full business case to reach delivery stage; if they ensure that whatever the bigger picture on HS2, Toton forms a big part of the IRP, and that our local connectivity and economic growth also form a big part of that plan; and if they agree to get us on track for early devolution packages, in line with their own policy goals to be announced in the White Paper this autumn, we will be well placed to level up the east midlands and to deliver on the Government’s own promises. All of this is already under way, and all of it fits with the Government’s own plans and priorities, so we should get on with it. I hope the Minister will be able to give us some positive soundings on that today.

We can add to that list a ton of other projects, including growth corridors, midlands engine rail, the midlands rail hub, Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production fusion energy, Space Park Leicester and Infinity Park Derby. My colleagues will no doubt add many more projects to that list, but it is an exciting time in the east midlands, and this autumn is a particularly exciting time, with key things coming together.

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[Lilian Greenwood]

The hon. Gentleman is making a powerful argument for more powers and more funding for the region. I know that there is an appetite for people to have more control over those sorts of investments, but this happens in a context of national policy. In his own constituency, more than 10,000 families will lose £20 a week when the universal credit cut kicks in next year. What impact does he think that will have on the local economy in his constituency, and what is he planning to do about it?

[Ben Bradley]

I thank the hon. Lady for that intervention. It is hugely important that we support people in my constituency and around the east midlands to meet their basic needs from day to day. Off the back of the covid recovery, we need to ensure that we put people in the best possible place. Vitally, we are helping people to get by and to get back into work. We are helping people to interact with our economy, to get out there and to overcome their fears. We are working with businesses to reopen and grow. At the county council, we are absolutely invested in supporting vulnerable people, as we have done successfully throughout the pandemic, and I pay tribute to the many thousands of staff who have been working incredibly hard to do that. Regardless of national decisions, we will work hard at the local level to support everyone across Mansfield and Nottinghamshire over the coming months and years.

The key point is that we need Government support on some key decisions this autumn in order to back the east midlands, which has consistently been bottom of the tables for public and private sector investment, and which should therefore be top of the levelling-up agenda. We have a package that already exists and that could boost our economy and improve the life chances of the local people whom the hon. Member for Nottingham South (Lilian Greenwood) mentioned. I therefore call on the Minister and the Government to back the plans to make these four key decisions in favour of the east midlands this autumn.

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[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David.

I congratulate the hon. Member for Mansfield (Ben Bradley) on securing this debate. I am pleased to see that so many colleagues wish to take part. My hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris) was disappointed not to be available this morning, because he is serving on a Bill Committee.

Over the past 18 months, my constituents—all our constituents—have faced the most incredible challenges as a result of the pandemic. Far too many people have lost their lives, or lost loved ones, and many people have lost incomes, jobs and businesses. No one knew that we would face a pandemic, but some of the weaknesses in our economy, which covid has only made deeper, were known. I am afraid that the Government have consistently failed to address those and, more than that, have wilfully made them worse. They have failed to take the action that we all know is necessary to ensure that the east midlands can grow strongly in the future.

For many people in my constituency and our region, making ends meet, keeping a roof over their head and putting food on the table is a constant worry. That is not news; for far too many constituents, economic insecurity has become the norm. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Margaret Beckett) highlighted, 76,000 workers are on zero-hour contracts. If they get sick, they do not get paid. If they challenge their employer, they face losing their job. They cannot plan for the future, and they cannot imagine how they could ever own their own home.

Even those with regular employment feel uncertain about the future. That insecurity has taken its toll. Over the last decade, wages in the east midlands have fallen by more than £10 per week in real terms. Homelessness has increased by 55% since 2010. In 2019-20, before the pandemic hit, there were 101,534 food bank referrals in our region.

We can do better and be better—we all want that—but it requires Government action: not words about addressing regional imbalance, not promises about new investment, but action. We need promises to be kept and we need investment to be delivered.

I want to say more about the action needed, but first I will talk about what is not needed: next month’s proposed cut to universal credit. More than 9,500 households in my constituency face losing more than £1,000 a year as a result of the Government’s plan to make the biggest ever overnight cut to social security. Not only will it be devastating for the families who need that £20 per week; it will be very bad news for our local economy—the local shops and businesses where they spend that money. Taking £20 a week away from almost 40,000 families in Nottingham is taking millions of pounds away from Nottingham businesses and struggling high streets. It comes in the middle of a jobs crisis and threatens our economic recovery.

That is not just an issue in Nottingham; across the east midlands region, 389,680 families will be hit by the cut to universal credit. A quick bit of maths: that is £400 million a year out of the east midlands economy. As has been highlighted, 40% of those low-income families in receipt of universal credit are working families. Cutting the incomes of those who are unemployed or on low pay is shocking. Cutting their spending power is economic madness. I hope MPs on all sides will stand up to the Government and do the right thing for their constituents and the east midlands. There will be an opportunity to do that tomorrow, I believe.

Government do not just need to avoid doing the wrong things; they need to start doing the right things. The east midlands has consistently lost out on Government investment, which has had a huge impact on our success. GDP growth in the east midlands over 20 years has been below the UK average. Productivity has remained below the UK average over the same period; indeed, it has been in relative decline. Doing something to turn that around and make our region more productive is essential, yet the east midlands receives the lowest public expenditure on economic affairs, on services per head, and on transport in total and per head.

Transport spend in our region declined to just 58% of the UK average in 2019-20. If it was funded at the UK average, we would have £1 billion per year to invest in improving transport networks. That really matters, because it is about investing in the future and making us a more productive region. No single issue is more important in transport investment than building the HS2 eastern leg in full, as the Government have repeatedly promised. That will benefit millions of people in our communities—even those who never set foot on a high-speed train. It will create thousands of apprenticeships for young people and skilled jobs for talented employees, and will regenerate our area, particularly around Toton. It will act as the catalyst for private sector investment to turn our great ambitions for our regions into a reality.

Of course, there are transport benefits, too. It is absolutely essential that we get more people and freight travelling on our railways if we are to hit our zero carbon target. It is essential that we improve our connectivity east to west—east midlands to west midlands—and to the north: to Sheffield, Chesterfield Leeds and further north still. We must give people a real alternative to travelling by car.

The Government have repeatedly promised investment in the east midlands transport networks and have repeatedly broken those promises. I feel like a broken record on this issue, but I have been campaigning for the electrification of the midland main line for more than a decade. It was paused, then delayed, then scrapped, in direct contravention of promises made to my and all hon. Members’ constituents in 2015, 2017 and 2019. Now I fear that exactly the same thing will happen with HS2. Well, we cannot stand for that to happen, and I hope the Minister will take the message back to the Government that the east midlands deserves better than to be left at the bottom of the pile. He must listen, and the Government must change their view.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Regional Growth and Local Government (Luke Hall)]

Thank you, Sir David. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, and indeed to be back in Westminster Hall. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield (Ben Bradley) on securing this important debate, and thank all right hon. and hon. Members for their contributions. The thing that has been shared universally is a passion for securing the best possible future for the region, and securing investment and the maximum support possible for everybody’s constituents. That goal is absolutely shared by the Government.

I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield on all the progress that he has made in his role as the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council. We all recognise that such strong local leadership is essential for securing our economic recovery and for levelling up. I join the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington (Jeff Smith), in thanking all local authorities in the east midlands for the hard work and leadership that they have provided in leading the way through the recovery.

We are committed to unlocking economic prosperity across all regions of the country. We want to address long-standing geographical inequalities, deliver economic opportunity and improve lives right across the country. As the Prime Minister announced in May, our landmark levelling up White Paper will be published later this year, and will set up bold new substantive policies that will improve opportunities, support businesses and boost livelihoods across the country, including in the east midlands. Indeed, an east midlands MP, my hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien), has been appointed the Prime Minister’s adviser on levelling up. Only last week, our officials were in the east midlands to hear first-hand some of the opportunities available in the region, and some of the challenges faced.

The levelling up White Paper will be a natural continuation of our commitment to support local places. We are already backing that up with our ambitious investment programme, including the £4.8 billion levelling-up fund that was announced at the last spending review. That will be available to all parts of the country and will help improve everyday life. It will include regenerating town centres and high streets, improving connectivity—we heard about that this morning—and investing in cultural and heritage aspects. Those are exactly the kind of projects that my hon. Friend the Member for Mansfield said are so urgently needed in the region.

[Lilian Greenwood]

I was listening carefully to what the Minister said about levelling up. He has heard how the east midlands receives lower than average Government investment in a whole range of areas, including transport. Is it his Government’s intention to address that shortfall? When he talks about the levelling-up fund being available to the whole country, does he not envisage priority being given to an area such as the east midlands, which historically has missed out, to level us up? Is that his intention?

[Luke Hall]

We have been clear about the areas of the country that are in the highest categories of need. The levelling-up fund is based on the fund’s priority themes of economic recovery, transport connectivity and regeneration. We have recognised that need in three districts in Nottinghamshire: Bassetlaw, Mansfield and Newark and Sherwood, as well as the city of Nottingham, which has been identified as a category 1 priority. In Derbyshire, Derby and the districts of Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Erewash and High Peak have been identified as category 1, as has the city of Leicester. Those bids are being assessed and an announcement will be made later this year.

Unsafe Cladding: Protecting Tenants and Leaseholders

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 1st February 2021 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab) [V]]

As, I think, the 73rd speaker in today’s debate, I do not think I will be making any unique points, but I am pleased to have the opportunity to add my voice to those calling on the Government to act: to act to ensure that all my constituents are safe, and to act to protect our constituents from unfair charges.

I have been contacted by numerous leaseholders who are facing unacceptable pressures. They describe panic attacks, sleepless nights and tears, living in fear of fire and in fear of looming bankruptcy. For example, constituents tell me that their building, a recently converted office block, may qualify for a proportion of the non-ACM cladding fund, but that it is also fraught with myriad other problems, including missing cavity barriers and substandard fire doors. They already face bills for waking watch costs and survey work. They anticipate that their building insurance will increase by 200% to 300% this year. One says:

“This is weighing heavily on my and my wife’s minds…I purchased a newly converted flat. I had a survey. I did the due diligence.”

My constituents did nothing wrong, yet now they face crippling upfront charges.

Of course, my constituents are not the only ones whose dream home has become a nightmare through no fault of their own, yet developers and property owners seem to be getting away with it. Those leaseholders need your help, Minister. The Government should and could pay the upfront costs, and ensure that developers and building owners are held to account and pay for the remediation measures needed. That is what is needed. That is what this motion seeks to do. I hope that all those who want to protect leaseholders will support the motion tonight, as I do.

Minister, I look forward to your response and I know that my constituents are listening to you, too, in this debate. They know that the only hope of their getting out of an impossible situation is for the Government to act, and to act quickly. I hope you will take the opportunity to do so.

Council Tax: Government’s Proposed Increase

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Monday 25th January 2021 Commons Chamber

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab) [V]]

Today’s debate is about fairness, and the 5% hike in council tax is not fair: it is not fair on my constituents, and it is not fair on my city. As many of my right hon. and hon. Friends have already said, we are in the midst of an economic crisis. The Government bear some responsibility for the fact that our country faces the worst recession as a result of the pandemic and their failure to properly control the health crisis. This is the worst possible time to be raising taxes, yet this Government are forcing local councils to do just that, even though they know that it will hit families who are already struggling to make ends meet. Of course, those impacts will not fall evenly: they will fall hardest on the places with the highest levels of deprivation and the least ability to make up the shortfall in central Government funding.

Over the past decade, Nottingham City Council has seen its central Government grant cut by hundreds of millions of pounds. It has tried to protect services, the very services that my constituents rely on, but this year, the situation that it and other councils face is more serious than ever. Instead of doing as they promised and standing by councils that did “whatever is necessary” in response to coronavirus, the Government have left them with unreimbursed costs—£28.4 million, in the case of Nottingham City Council. It is not good enough; the Government need to do as they promised, and make up that shortfall.

Almost 40% of Nottingham City Council’s entire budget is spent on adult social care, and that percentage is rising as we face supporting more older and vulnerable residents. Central Government have repeatedly promised to meet the challenge of funding social care, but year after year, they fail to do so. Local councils have no choice but to apply the social care precept, even though in deprived cities such as mine, where demand for services is greatest, it generates far less than in areas with lower levels of demand, where councils can raise more through council tax. The Government’s approach is fundamentally unfair. It seeks to hide the truth of their decision, passing the blame on to local authorities even though they know that council tax is regressive. It is levelling down, instead of levelling up.

Leaseholders and Cladding

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts

Tuesday 24th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Christopher Pincher]

My right hon. Friend campaigns for Harlow possibly like no other colleague campaigns for any constituency in the country. He was integral to our work on space standards for upbuilding and ensuring that buildings have light in all habitable rooms. In answer to his question, I point him to our affordable homes programme, under which £12.2 billion will deliver 180,000 affordable new homes in the next five years, and to our reforms to the housing revenue account, which will allow local councils more easily to build social homes if they wish. Harlow may wish to pursue those two endeavours.

[Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)]

I have been contacted by numerous leaseholders in my constituency who, through no fault of their own, are worried sick because they are being told that they need to pay thousands of pounds for essential fire safety works, including the removal of unsafe cladding. Some are vulnerable or on low incomes and all fear losing their home or being trapped in a financial nightmare. I think that the Minister agrees with the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee that leaseholders should not be required to pay for the remediation of historical building safety defects, but what is his advice to my constituents, who are receiving enormous service charge bills that they cannot afford and should not be asked to pay?

[Christopher Pincher]

I entirely sympathise with the situation that the hon. Lady’s constituents and those of other right hon. and hon. colleagues face. We are entirely cognisant of the fact that individual legal contracts between owners and leaseholders allow owners to pass on costs to their leaseholders. That is one of the reasons we invited Michael Wade to do the work that he is doing. We will work as fast as we can to ensure that the solutions that we are working through are available to mitigate any costs that leaseholders may fear they have to pay. That is also why we will continue to make public funds available, as we have through the ACM fund and the building safety fund to remediate buildings that are most in need and for which there is no other means of quick and easy remediation.