Oral Answers to Questions

Marcus Jones Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

5. What information his Department holds on the financial status of Northamptonshire County Council.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

We collect a range of financial data on local government, which is published online. Local authorities also publish their own financial data, including budget documents and accounts. We routinely engage with a range of local authorities to discuss various issues, including finance.

[Mr Hollobone]

Will the Minister confirm that a major review of fair funding for local government is under way? Given that Northamptonshire County Council is considering closing 28 of its 36 libraries, will he encourage it to bring forward innovative proposals to set up a county-wide libraries trust to keep those vital facilities open?

[Mr Jones]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we are pushing ahead with our review of fair funding for local authorities. I certainly encourage Northamptonshire County Council to look at all innovative ways to provide the services that are valued by its local residents.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

In the light of the county council’s financial situation, would the Minister be keen to look at emerging proposals from across Northamptonshire about how local government might be better restructured?

[Mr Jones]

We recognise the financial pressure that Northamptonshire County Council is under and we stand ready to look at any locally led proposals from across Northamptonshire on how local government might be better restructured to transform challenges into opportunities.

[Andrew Bowie (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (Con)]

6. What steps his Department is taking to ensure that more homes are built.

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[Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con)]

12. What steps his Department is taking to ensure access to safe social housing for victims of domestic violence.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

Victims fleeing abuse must be given appropriate priority access to social housing. We are consulting on new guidance that makes it clear to local authorities that victims moving on from refuges should be given the appropriate priority and that any residency test should not be applied.

[Andrew Percy]

Members on both sides of the House hold Women’s Aid in high regard. It has stated that the Government’s new model will close refuges. What assurance can the Minister give the House that that will not be the case?

[Mr Jones]

I can reassure my hon. Friend that that will not be the case. We will continue the funding at exactly the same level as currently. There will be a dedicated grant for local authorities that will be ring-fenced in the long term, and we will also make sure that vulnerable people will not need to deal with the payment of rent at a very difficult time in their lives.

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

The recent joint Select Committees’ inquiry on supported housing recommended that the Government should establish a national network of women’s refuges to avoid a postcode lottery and to ensure that there is even coverage across the country. Why did the Government reject that recommendation? What will they do to ensure that there is even coverage and that refuges reopen in those areas of the country where they have closed?

[Mr Jones]

We believe that it is right to have a locally led approach in this regard, but we have confirmed that we are committed to reviewing this policy in 2018 under the violence against women and girls strategy. We are looking at all the options, and we have not ruled out nationally commissioning refuges and refuge beds if that is found to be a better solution.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

13. What progress he has made on devolving decision making to local communities in (a) Derbyshire and (b) the east midlands.

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[Vicky Ford (Chelmsford) (Con)]

20. What progress his Department is making on tackling homelessness.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

We are spending more than £1 billion up to 2020 on the implementation of the most ambitious legislative reform in decades—the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017—and establishing a homelessness and rough sleeping implementation taskforce.

[Vicky Ford]

I thank the Government for their work on implementing the Homelessness Reduction Act. Will the Minister give us an update on what money and resources are being made available to local councils so that they can help us to achieve this ambition?

[Mr Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for her very good question. We are providing £72 million to enable local authorities to deal with the new burdens. In advance of the implementation next April, the first tranche of actual funding will go out to councils tomorrow. We will also review the new burdens funding within two years of the implementation of the Act.

[Liz McInnes (Heywood and Middleton) (Lab)]

Is the Minister aware of the pioneering work being done in Greater Manchester to eradicate homelessness? Does he agree with Mayor Andy Burnham that the Government’s target of 2027 for the eradication of the problem is much too far away?

[Mr Jones]

Of course we want to eradicate rough sleeping as soon as is practicably possible, but we are providing funding under the Housing First pilot to help Greater Manchester, along with the Liverpool city region and the west midlands.

[Daniel Zeichner (Cambridge) (Lab)]

T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.

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[Tom Pursglove (Corby) (Con)]

T3. Corby Nightlight is a fantastic charitable organisation that does brilliant work to help support homeless people in our community. What steps are the Department taking to support such organisations, which do important work in our communities?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Marcus Jones)]

I pay tribute to everyone involved in charities such as Corby Nightlight. We are providing a package of over £1 billion up to 2020 to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping. Part of the package involves providing funding for services and projects such as the one in Corby, which does so much to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in society.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

Several national children’s charities and the Local Government Association wrote to the Secretary of State ahead of the Budget to warn that funding for children’s services is unsustainable and insufficient. Instead of creeping to the Chancellor with birthday wishes, what did the Secretary of State do to lobby the Chancellor to provide the £2 billion that councils need to properly safeguard and look after children in need?

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[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

T6. The move to calculate business rates using CPI instead of RPI is reducing bills for many small businesses across the country, but 62 councils are yet to move to CPI despite the Government providing Budget funding. What are the Government doing to ensure that all councils use CPI to calculate their business rates?

[Mr Marcus Jones]

While the vast majority of local authorities have re-billed their businesses, it is unacceptable that some councils still have not. The Government have given councils a £435 million package of support for businesses, so I urge all councils that have not yet done the right thing to do so urgently.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

T2. Given that England’s private rented sector has doubled since 2002, what plans do Ministers have to emulate Scotland’s exemplary new policy under which such renters now have longer notice periods, indefinite security of tenure and a limit of one rent increase a year?

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[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

T8. I am sure the Secretary of State will have seen today’s report from the British Chambers of Commerce, which concludes that, for our businesses to grow and compete, it is vital that local authorities provide an adequate supply of building land and consents for new commercial buildings. I know he is considering business rate retention, so will he ensure that proactive councils, such as Rugby Borough Council, continue to receive incentives to grow their local economies?

[Mr Marcus Jones]

The Government are still committed to further business rate retention. We have relaunched our working group, which is our officials and the Local Government Association, to take that work forward. It is important that any future reform of the system has a balance between meeting need and having an incentive for areas to grow their tax base.

[Ruth Smeeth (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)]

T5. Bus users in the Potteries have been hit by a double whammy of fare increases and journey cuts. Although my constituents might appreciate the irony of two lots of bad bus news arriving at once, they certainly do not appreciate the inconvenience or the impact on their jobs. Many of those cuts could be avoided if Stoke-on-Trent City Council was prepared properly to subsidise public transport. What support is the Minister providing to make sure we have a bus system in the Potteries that is fit for purpose?