Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 16th October 2023 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

As my hon. Friend the Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe) has said, there are pockets of deprivation even in wealthier areas, including Lichfield. Will the Secretary of State give some indication of what sort of timescale there is for the next round of applications?

[Michael Gove]

I simply cannot believe that there are any pockets of deprivation in Lichfield, given who has been representing that constituency since 1992. The idea that there is any home unvisited by its Member of Parliament or that there is any hearth where there is a chill seems to be inconceivable. But nevertheless, we will make sure that levelling-up fund round 3 is brought forward just in advance of the autumn statement, and Staffordshire, I hope, will have its voice heard.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 20th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

I think we can all be proud of Portsmouth city centre, the visitor attractions and the historic communities that the hon. Gentleman is so fortunate to represent. I look forward to working with Gerald Vernon-Jackson and others like him across the party divide in local government in Portsmouth to ensure that the next bid can be successful.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

On the subject of the next bid, my right hon. Friend will know that we are very disappointed in Lichfield that after two bids we were not awarded any grant to help with the leisure centre, but does he agree that an application for Burntwood, an ex-mining town in the Lichfield constituency, might be more successful?

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 9th January 2023 Commons Chamber

[Lee Rowley]

Just as when we discussed this in the statutory instrument debate, the hon. Gentleman has deployed some pretty outrageous rhetoric on an important issue. The issue is important for the integrity of the ballot box going forward, and we will continue to work with all parties. I will be speaking with the Electoral Commission shortly, which just today has begun its process of outlining this to people through its communications campaign, and we will ensure that in May 2023, when people go to the ballot box, they are able to cast their vote, and that people have an absolute commitment from this Government that votes are cast by people who are who they say they are.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

But does not the Minister agree that the reason why Opposition Members say that there is no voter fraud is that they do not know, and only when we have voter ID will we be able to be sure there will be no voter fraud?

[Lee Rowley]

My hon. Friend makes an important point and the basic principle is that we want to ensure that the ballot box is sacrosanct and that the process has integrity, so when people go to vote, it works.

[Alex Norris (Nottingham North) (Lab/Co-op)]

Happy new year, Mr Speaker, to you and to all of our colleagues.

[Michael Fabricant]

To you too, and thank you.

[Alex Norris]

You are very welcome.

Those who set the standards for our elections, the Electoral Commission, thinks that May is too soon for voter ID reforms, and those who have to implement them, our electoral administrators, say the same. There are just 115 days until the local elections and the Minister seems to put a lot of stock in a campaign that is only starting today. The Minister did not address in his answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) nor in the statutory instrument debate what it is in his judgment that he believes supersedes the views of those who actually have to make this happen.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

May I pay tribute to the Iranian team, who refused to sing their national anthem, which was very brave of them?

In areas such as Lichfield, which have very high property prices, people who hold mortgages will also be affected by high interest rates. Although Lichfield is generally regarded as an area to which others might wish to level up to, we do have areas of deprivation. For that reason, may I urge my right hon. Friend to look at our levelling-up bid because it is desperately needed for Lichfield’s people—not those in expensive houses, but those who are in more difficult positions?

[Michael Gove]

Lichfield is the jewel of Staffordshire, but even the most glittering jewels sometimes have flaws and, as a rough diamond himself, I know that my hon. Friend will appreciate that. I recognise that there is a need to help all those parts of the United Kingdom and the west midlands where, even though there may be prosperity, there is inequality that needs to be addressed.

Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2022 Ministerial Corrections

The following is an extract from Levelling Up, Housing and Communities questions on 27 June 2022.

[Michael Fabricant]

I thank my hon. Friend for mentioning the Mayor of the West Midlands—oh my gosh, I have forgotten his name; oh yes, it has come back to me—Andy Street. How does the Minister assess the effectiveness of the Housing First pilot that the Mayor has initiated in addressing rough sleeping in the west midlands?

[Eddie Hughes]

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, has been a strong champion of the Housing First programme and the pilots. That has already achieved 552 individuals securing a tenancy through the programme. They are provided not just with accommodation but with the incredibly vital support that is necessary to help people to sustain a tenancy.

[Official Report, 27 June 2022, Vol. 717, c. 13.]

Letter of correction from the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the hon. Member for Walsall North (Eddie Hughes).

An error has been identified in my response to the hon. Member for Lichfield (Michael Fabricant).

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

Now here is a lesson from Michael Fabricant.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

11. Whether he has had discussions with the Mayor of the West Midlands on steps his Department is taking to help rough sleepers into long-term accommodation.

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

The first thing Andy Street did when he became Mayor of the West Midlands was to convene a taskforce to tackle rough sleeping in the west midlands. He is a valued member of the Government’s rough sleeping advisory panel, where I welcome his advice regularly, and the Government have supported the west midlands with funding for a range of accommodation, including £1 million for new homes under the rough sleeping accommodation programme.

[Michael Fabricant]

I thank my hon. Friend for mentioning the Mayor of the West Midlands—oh my gosh, I have forgotten his name; oh yes, it has come back to me—Andy Street. How does the Minister assess the effectiveness of the Housing First pilot that the Mayor has initiated in addressing rough sleeping in the west midlands?

[Eddie Hughes]

Andy Street, the Mayor of the West Midlands, has been a strong champion of the Housing First programme and the pilots. That has already achieved 552 individuals securing a tenancy through the programme. They are provided not just with accommodation but with the incredibly vital support that is necessary to help people to sustain a tenancy.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 16th May 2022 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

My noble Friend Lord Greenhalgh, Minister for building safety and for fire safety, has been in conversation with the Association of British Insurers, and Baroness Morgan of Cotes has been discussing with him exactly how we might move to a happier situation. I hope to be talking to both insurers and mortgage lenders in the next few weeks in order to move the landscape forward.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

I greatly welcome the legislation that will protect leaseholders when developers are at fault, but what happens if a developer undertakes work, such as cladding, which at the time met building regulations but subsequently has been shown to be unsafe? Who gets protection then?

[Michael Gove]

My hon. Friend raises an important question, and here I have an opportunity to thank those developers, as well as the House Builders Federation, who have acknowledged that they were part of a regulatory system and that even those who sought to do the right thing were on occasions required to accept an ethic of shared responsibility; they have accepted it and for that reason leaseholders, who have no responsibility and no blame to shoulder, are protected.

Oral Answers to Questions

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 29th November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Eddie Hughes]

The simple answer is that this Government already have a pretty good plan, so we do not need to look to others and adopt their plans instead. It is unfortunate that the hon. Lady wrote her questions in advance of my previous answers, in which I mentioned, for instance, the £450 million that we have committed to the boiler upgrade. So there is significant investment in this area, we have a strong and sound plan, and progress is moving at pace.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Has my hon. Friend examined the advantages of ground and air heat pumps? I know it is difficult in smaller buildings to have ground pumps because of the large infrastructure required, but air pumps are a little more possible, so what encouragement can the Government give to retrofit such pumps to existing homes?

[Eddie Hughes]

In the summer I was fortunate to visit the Grey Mare Lane estate in Beswick and see the work going on through the social housing decarbonisation fund demonstrator. Heat pumps are being fitted, and we will have the opportunity very soon to see how people benefit from the experience of having those measures introduced.

Antisemitic Attacks

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Monday 17th May 2021 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for those remarks. Like him, this Government have zero tolerance for all forms of racism, including antisemitism. We must do everything we can to ensure that where individuals do perpetrate these crimes, they are brought to justice.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con) [V]]

I have been heartened by some of the comments made so far. However, it was frightening and horrible over the weekend to watch videos of people hurling abuse from cars; to hear about the rabbi who was badly beaten up; and to see pictures from the Arndale centre of yobs—from Bradford, I am told—intimidating shoppers and shouting antisemitic remarks. And it is dreadful that it is happening in this country. Of course, all racism, whether it be antisemitism, Islamophobia or anti-Catholicism, must be condemned, but my question is: what lessons have been learned about this? Some might say that all of this was predictable as soon as it was known that the march was going to happen. What lessons have been learned, and what new practices are the police going to put in place to make sure that this sort of thing cannot happen again?

[Robert Jenrick]

I, for one, never thought that I would see banners being held aloft on the streets of London, apparently with impunity, saying, “Death to Jews”, or individuals being able to drive for some time through neighbourhoods, broadcasting the kind of antisemitic bile that we saw over the weekend. That is disgraceful. It is wrong and we need to ensure that our police services are equipped to take action quickly and robustly when this happens again in the future. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will speak again to her counterparts so that they can ensure that where such instances arise in the future, action is taken as fast as possible, as we would expect with regard to any other racist or intimidatory incident.

Draft Local Government (Structural and Boundary Changes) (Supplementary Provisions and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2019

Michael Fabricant Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2019 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Local Government (Structural And Boundary Changes) (Supplementary Provisions and Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2019.

Last year, Parliament approved legislation to establish Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, known as BCP, Dorset Council, East Suffolk Council, and Somerset West and Taunton Council in place of the existing 13 councils in those areas. Today, we are considering the fourth statutory instrument consequential to that legislation in order to effect the practical success of those new councils. If approved and made, the order will ensure that all the necessary technical and definitional arrangements are in place so that effective local government continues in those areas. We have worked closely with all the councils concerned; their officials have commented on drafts of the order and have confirmed to us by email that it fully meets all local requirements.

The order provides for several items of business. First, it will establish charter trustees for the unparished parts of the existing boroughs of Bournemouth, Poole and Taunton as the bodies in which the historical rights and privileges associated with those areas are to be vested. For example, Bournemouth and Poole have the historical rights to have mayors and Poole has the right to a mayor and a sheriff; likewise, the Taunton charter trustees will have the right of a mayor for Taunton. I am sure members of the Committee will be delighted to know that historical regalia, such as maces, will also vest in the charter trustees.

Secondly, the order vests the market rights in Bournemouth and Poole to the BCP council, allowing the new council to continue to hold the rights to run charter markets. Thirdly, the order provides for the statutory definition of the area of the ceremonial county of Dorset to be amended in the Lieutenancies Act 1997 and the Sheriffs Act 1887. I am sure that no members of this Committee were present to pass those pieces of legislation, but I know they are held in good heart today.

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

I am happy to confirm that I was not here in 1887. Lichfield is one of the very few cities in the country—only 13, I believe—to have a sheriff, complete with two gold maces going back to the reigns of William and Mary and, before that, Queen Mary. Does the Minister recognise the importance of ceremonial and its value in civic life?