Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Danny Beales (Uxbridge and South Ruislip) (Lab)]

13. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on reducing levels of furniture poverty.

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

We regularly discuss a wide range of topics with ministerial colleagues, including the important matter of tackling poverty, and we also have the ministerial child poverty taskforce. The lack of furniture and other goods is an issue for many people in our country and it contributes to poor outcomes. We are absolutely committed to tackling poverty and inequality, and the household support fund for local authorities, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions, provides considerable support towards that.

[Danny Beales]

I welcome that response. Eight per cent of families in this country are in deep furniture poverty. I have seen at first hand the impact of that: people are unable to have a hot meal without a microwave or a cooker and are unable to have a decent night’s sleep without a bed—they sleep on the floor with a mattress or a duvet. Will my hon. Friend meet me and the End Furniture Poverty campaign to discuss what more we can do as a Government locally and nationally to tackle this issue?

[Rushanara Ali]

My hon. Friend makes important points about the impact of the lack of these essential items through poverty, and I am happy to meet him and the End Furniture Poverty campaign.

[Rebecca Smith (South West Devon) (Con)]

Clearly, people need a home to be able to furnish it in the first place, so what action is being taken across Government to address the barriers that care-experienced young people face in accessing the private rented sector, including through guarantor and deposit schemes?

[Rushanara Ali]

As the hon. Member will be aware, we have a plan to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and the Deputy Prime Minister is leading the ministerial taskforce on ending homelessness. My colleagues have highlighted the work that we are doing to build 1.5 million homes. This is an absolute priority for us and I look forward to working with hon. Members on this issue.

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow and Gateshead East) (Lab)]

14. What steps she plans to take to reform the leasehold system.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Speaker]

But not in this instance! [Laughter.]

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

The national planning policy guidance will recognise the importance of high-quality open spaces and opportunities for sports, physical activity, health and wellbeing in our communities. Our proposals to release grey-belt land for development will depend on developers’ meeting one of the “golden rules” and ensuring that all new developments have accessible green space.

[Christine Jardine (Edinburgh West) (LD)]

T7. My constituency, like most others, is seeing a great deal of new housing being built, which means more infrastructure, more business and more opportunities for growth. Key to that, however, is access to reliable, high-speed broadband. Given the SNP Government’s previous failures to deliver gigabit broadband to every home as promised, can the Minister tell us what discussions are taking place and what consideration is being given to supporting its efficient delivery in Scotland?