Housing and Social Security

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 22nd June 2017 Commons Chamber

[The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Sajid Javid)]

Before I open today’s debate, I want to reflect briefly on the horror that unfolded at Grenfell Tower last week. My thoughts are still very much with the victims, their families and their friends. All hon. Members will have heard the Prime Minister’s statement earlier today and, having visited the site for myself and met some of the bereaved families, I want to echo her determination to get to the bottom of whatever went wrong. I will also write to hon. Members shortly with a detailed update on what we are doing to support the people who have been affected by this tragedy, the progress we are making in rehousing people and the steps we are taking to improve fire safety at similar tower blocks across the country.

In the longer term—this point is perhaps more pertinent to this debate—it is clear that any changes in the wake of this tragedy should not just be technical or legislative ones. What happened at Grenfell also showed us all that we need a change in attitude. We all need to rethink our approach to social housing, and we need to reflect on the way in which successive Governments have engaged with and responded to social tenants. We do not yet know for sure whether this disaster could have been avoided if the people who called Grenfell Tower their home had been listened to, but we do know that for far too long their voices fell on deaf ears. If nothing else, let the legacy of Grenfell be that such voices will never, ever be ignored again.

It is good to see the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) in his place, to which I am delighted to welcome him back after the general election. I am even more delighted that we have not swapped places. I know that we have a great deal in common—perhaps we use the same barber—and it is always a pleasure to debate with him. I look forward to doing so regularly during the next five years. Like other hon. Members, I have heard the right hon. Gentleman talk about his party’s policies on the big issues facing the country, especially the issue of how we can build more homes, and we will no doubt hear him set out some of those policies.

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

On the point about building more homes in the context of what the Secretary of State has said about social housing, does he accept and will he now confirm that, since 2010, the Government’s record on building social homes has been deplorable, with, in fact, a 97% fall in social housing starts?

[Sajid Javid]

There was a deplorable record on building social homes, but that was the record of the previous Labour Government. As the hon. Lady will hear shortly, as I rightly talk about their record, during the 13 years that Labour was last in office we saw, for example, a decline in socially rented homes of 420,000 units.

[Stephen Doughty (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

We of course have a Labour Government in Wales who are committed to building 20,000 new homes, and who are building new social and council housing in Cardiff as I speak. Does the Secretary of State agree that lessons also need to be learned from Wales about its different approach to fire safety, including the fact that we introduced measures requiring sprinkler systems to be fitted in new high-rise buildings and converted buildings? There are a lot of lessons to be learned from Welsh Labour. Will he listen to them?

[Sajid Javid]

When it comes to fire safety, I think we should learn lessons from wherever we can—whether Wales or elsewhere. The hon. Gentleman will know that, since 2007, there has been a requirement for new buildings to have sprinklers.

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

I am intervening, at the suggestion earlier of the Leader of the House, having spent three and a half hours in the Chamber. This debate is largely about housing, but is it possible for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to hold a debate on leasehold? He could then look at whether the Government can intervene on the Mundy decision, which affects the extension of the leases of 2 million leaseholders, and carry on the work of his former deputy Gavin Barwell in reforming Lease, the Leasehold Advisory Service, so that leaseholders who, frankly, should be on commonhold can get a better service and avoid being abused, intentionally or unintentionally, by managing agents and freeholders.

[Sajid Javid]

I agree very much with my hon. Friend. It is important to continue the work on leasehold reform, and we will certainly take it forward. Let me take this opportunity to thank him for all the work he has done and the contribution he has made to the debate on that reform.

During the general election, we heard from the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne and his colleagues about Labour’s housing policy, and no doubt we will hear more shortly. Let us be clear, however, that it was not just an attempt to wind back the ideological clock to the 1970s; it would have undone so much of the progress that we have made during the past seven years.

[Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP)]

Since 2012-13, when the Government introduced the increased discount for right to buy, 51,352 homes have been sold, but for so-called one-for-one replacements over that period, there have been only 9,344 starts—starts, not completions—on site. Is that what the Secretary of State means by a new attitude to social housing?

[Sajid Javid]

If the hon. Gentleman will bear with me, he will very clearly hear the Government’s track record on social housing.

This is the progress that the Government have made since we first took office in 2010: we have a resilient, growing economy; the labour market is in its strongest position for years; and the claimant count is at its lowest level for 45 years, with millions more people in work compared with 2010. That is thanks in part to our wide-ranging process of welfare reform: 520,000 people are receiving universal credit, which is helping to transform lives and to make sure that people are always better off in work than on benefits. In the past year, the number of disabled people in work has increased by more than 170,000. The Department for Work and Pensions has launched tailored support for people with a disability or ill health through our personal support package. We of course remain committed to a strong, humane welfare safety net. Every year, we spend some £90 billion supporting families, people with disabilities, jobseekers and people on low incomes. By 2020, we will have given local authorities £1 billion in discretionary housing payments for residents who need extra help.

[Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)]

The Secretary of State mentioned extra money for people on disability benefits. Does he agree that changing the work-related component so that from April this year people in the work-related activity group have received £30 a week less is hardly the most intelligent way to persuade disabled people to get back into employment?

[Sajid Javid]

Where that happens, we will compensate people in other ways and make sure that the welfare policy remains fair to everyone.

In the last year, we spent £24 billion on housing benefit, helping people to cope with the ever-increasing cost of housing.

We are not just tackling the symptoms of our broken housing market; we are taking action to fix the causes. Our housing White Paper, which was published earlier this year, set out exactly how we will go about that: releasing more land where people want to live, building the homes that we need faster, getting more companies involved in the housing market, and supporting people who need help now. The Queen’s Speech, which promises proposals to

“help ensure more homes are built”,

marks a significant step in turning that blueprint into bricks and mortar.

[Mr Richard Bacon (South Norfolk) (Con)]

The Secretary of State mentioned the housing White Paper, which I thought was a terrific document, but in his little list he neglected one thing. Given that the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015 is now on the statute book and was strengthened by the Government in the Housing and Planning Act 2016, does he think that serviced plots and land pooling may have an important role to play?

[Sajid Javid]

I agree very much with my hon. Friend about the importance of self-build and factory-built housing, and making sure there are enough plots for that. That was why a key part of the housing White Paper was about working on how we can diversify the market further. I thank him for the work he has done and continues to do in this sector. He has made a significant contribution.

We are investing more than £7 billion through the affordable homes programme, which will provide funding to housing associations, local authorities and other providers to deliver 225,000 affordable housing starts by March 2021. We are making the affordable homes programme more flexible so that it funds a range of affordable homes for rent, as well as home ownership. That will enable providers to build a range of homes to suit people’s needs.

My most urgent priority continues to be getting rough sleepers off our streets. We will establish a homelessness reduction taskforce, pilot Housing First and implement the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 so that more people are helped earlier.

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, it is more important than ever that we continue to support housing associations and local authorities with their plans to regenerate housing estates. We have paid out some £32 million in grants to support early phase work with local residents. We are providing practical support and guidance to ensure that tenants are at the heart of all new regeneration schemes, and that their rights are protected. We shall continue to assess bids to allocate £290 million of project finance.

But that is not all: we are determined to make all types of housing more affordable and secure for ordinary working people. That is why we will legislate to stop tenants being charged fees for renting a property. That will mean that tenants will be able to see at a glance exactly what an advertised property will cost them, with no hidden or upfront charges. It will also stop unscrupulous agents who rip off tenants with unjustifiable and opaque fees. The full details will be in a draft tenants’ fees Bill, which we expect to publish during the first Session of this Parliament.

Can we deliver all this? Yes we can. Just look at our track record. Since 2010, we have delivered 893,000 additional homes, including 333,000 affordable homes.

[Nick Thomas-Symonds (Torfaen) (Lab)]

To help the Secretary of State with delivery, I suggest he looks at the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, which was passed by the Welsh Labour Government. It sets out an additional duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness. Would it not be worth the Government following the lead of Welsh Labour on that?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman may be aware that the Homelessness Reduction Act was passed in the last Parliament, thanks to the hard work of Members across the Chamber, especially my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). Trying to prevent homelessness in the first place is precisely what that legislation does. I am sure that the hon. Member for Torfaen (Nick Thomas-Symonds) would welcome that measure.

[Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase)]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the news that thousands of new homes are being built in Cannock Chase, with new homes built every week? Does he agree that sites such as the Rugeley B power station are ideal places for new homes?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid]

I have visited home building sites and potential home building sites in Cannock Chase. I commend the record so far and the proactive attitude that is taken, certainly by the local Member of Parliament, to ensuring that local people have the homes that they need and deserve.

Since 2010, house building starts have increased by more than three quarters. More than 382,000 households have been helped to buy a property through schemes such as Help to Buy and the reinvigorated right to buy.

[Steve McCabe (Birmingham, Selly Oak) (Lab)]

The Secretary of State is telling us about his record. In these changed times, is it still Government policy that housing associations should be required to sell off homes faster than new homes can be built?

[Sajid Javid]

It is Government policy that people should have the right to buy their home, whether it is a council house or a housing association property. The hon. Gentleman will know that we are piloting how the housing association right to buy programme works. We will then work on how we can take it forward.

[Zac Goldsmith (Richmond Park) (Con)]

On that point, the housing associations in London have made it very clear collectively that they are willing and able to massively ramp up the number of homes they are building. The one thing they ask from the Government is to accelerate the release of publicly owned land so that they can do so. Is that still very much part of the agenda?

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend touches on a very important point. The public sector land programme is designed to do just that. In the past seven years, it has released record amounts of land for hundreds of thousands of new homes. There is always more to do. That is why we set out plans in the housing White Paper to achieve even more from that programme.

I can tell Labour Members one more thing that has happened since 2010: more council housing has been built in the past seven years than was built in the previous 13 years. Going back to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith), enough public sector land has been released to deliver at least 130,000 new homes, which is equivalent to a city the size of Nottingham.

More than 300,000 new homes were granted planning permission in the year up to March, which was up 15% on the previous 12 months. New build dwelling starts rose by 15% compared with the previous period. Once people are in their homes, they are staying in them because mortgage repossessions are at their lowest level for 35 years. This Government can offer an ambitious, far-reaching plans for the future of house building, built on solid foundations of real success.

I want to contrast that with what is on offer from the Labour party. Let us look at what happened last time Labour was in charge of housing. When Labour came to power in 1997, the average house cost 3.5 times the average salary. When it left office 13 years later, the average house cost seven times the average salary—a massive collapse in affordability and the biggest the country has ever seen. That hit ordinary working people the hardest.

[John Healey (Wentworth and Dearne) (Lab)]

We are discussing this year’s Queen’s Speech, not 1997’s. Does the Secretary of State accept that the 13 years of the last Labour Government saw 2 million new homes built in this country, 1 million more people becoming homeowners and the largest investment in new affordable housing for a generation by the end of that period?

[Sajid Javid]

I will come to the right hon. Gentleman’s record in particular in just a moment, and then I will let him know what I will and will not accept. Let me remind the House that, on Labour’s watch, the number of social rented homes fell by 420,000. In fact, the only thing about social housing that actually grew under Labour was the waiting lists—by a massive 70%.

[Ms Buck]

I am looking at the live tables—published online yesterday, I believe—concerning the record of the Government that the Secretary of State represents. It shows that the number of social rent starts was 39,492 at the end of 2009-10 and had fallen to 944 by 2016-17. Can he explain that?

[Sajid Javid]

Over the past six years, 330,000 new affordable homes have been built, which is a record in a six-year period and is certainly higher than the last six years of the last Labour Government. For every 170 right to buy sales, Labour built just one new council house—a replacement rate of less than 0.6%.

In 2010, when house building completions hit their lowest peacetime level since the great depression, who was the Minister in charge of housing? I will let hon. Members know: it was the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne himself. You will forgive me, Mr Deputy Speaker, for being a little bit sceptical when the right hon. Gentleman stands up and claims to have all the answers.

What is the great answer to housing shortfalls and rising unaffordability? What is Labour’s magic bullet to fix the broken housing market? It is a Ministry of Housing. Young people struggling to get on the housing ladder or people who cannot find a place big enough for their growing family should not worry if nothing in their area is affordable because Labour is going to create a new Government Department. It is the typical Labour prescription: there is no problem that cannot be fixed with a bit more bureaucracy.

That is the difference between Labour and the Conservatives in a nutshell. We want to build more homes for hard-working people; they want to build more offices for civil servants. Moving the furniture around Whitehall may create the illusion of action, but it does not get any homes built. Only this Government can deliver the housing and market reforms that this country needs. Only this Government can provide the economic strength we need for house builders to thrive in a post-Brexit world. Only this Queen’s Speech takes the first steps towards fixing our broken housing market. That is why I am delighted to commend it to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[John Healey]

I am glad that the hon. Gentleman’s constituency of Bexhill has seen the benefit of some Government investment and support in recent years. The part of the Barnsley borough in my constituency certainly has not. The Government seem simply to overlook large parts of the country.

I now turn to housing, the theme of today’s debate, and to Grenfell Tower. The Prime Minister was right today to apologise, to admit that local government and national Government were too slow, and to take charge herself. However, in a set of important commitments, which we welcome, she set several hares running and failed to answer a number of important questions. Earlier, my hon. Friend the Member for Hammersmith (Andy Slaughter) made the point that the safety checks that are imperative for all 4,000 tower blocks around the country are about not just cladding but all aspects of fire prevention and fire safety. The Secretary of State needs to make it clear that the checks will be comprehensive and rapid and that if local authorities need support and resources to carry them out, the Government will make that available. He also needs to make it clear—the Prime Minister did not—that if remedial work is needed to make the blocks safe and funding is required for that, the Government will provide it to ensure that the buildings are safe for their residents.

[Sajid Javid]

The right hon. Gentleman is right: the checks need to be comprehensive. Everyone agrees about that and local authorities are carrying out those checks. Many have already done so. My Department contacted every single local authority and we have made it clear that we will make the testing facility available for free—we have said that we will pay for all the tests. We have also made it clear, as the Prime Minister did today from the Dispatch Box, that if a local authority needs support and help to implement any necessary changes, we will work with it to provide that.

[John Healey]

Support, help and funding if local authorities need it: is that what the Secretary of State is saying to the House, yes or no?

[Sajid Javid]

We have made clear exactly that if a local authority needs support, including funding support, we will work with it to provide that.

[John Healey]

I am grateful for that and I think that the House is, too. It has taken a dozen questions to the Secretary of State, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House to get that statement, but it is of course welcome.

I paid tribute to the Prime Minister for her leadership, having acknowledged that the Government were slow to get a grip of the matter and appreciate the scale of the tragedy. I also pay tribute to the Mayor of London, who has given a strong voice to the concerns of local communities and residents and strong leadership to the emergency services that struggled to deal with the tragedy. I pay tribute, too, to my new hon. Friend the Member for Kensington (Emma Dent Coad). She has been simply magnificent in her first week in the job as a Member of Parliament. I thank my less new hon. Friends the Members for Westminster North (Ms Buck) and for Hammersmith, both of whom know the area well and, as neighbouring MPs, spent much of the past week with my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington.

I was with our Labour leader in Kensington the day after the fire. Firefighters with more than 30 years’ experience told us that they had never seen anything like it. The police commander was right when she said to me, “You have to be here to appreciate how truly apocalyptic this fire was.” It was not a natural disaster, but man made. It should never have happened and must never happen again. Hon. Members of all parties have a deep responsibility to ensure that it does not.

Some have said, “Don’t try to score political points from the tragedy,” but it is about politics: ideology and policy, which the House exists to debate and decide. The residents and communities affected by the terrible tragedy want us to tackle precisely the political and policy decisions that those in power took. The Prime Minister has talked about the lessons to learn and promised that all necessary action will be taken after the investigation. As the official Opposition, we will not rest until those who need help and a new home have it, until anyone culpable has been held fully to account and until every measure is in place to prevent such a thing from happening ever again.

Surely what has happened must shock the country and us into changing the policy, ideology and responsibility of government. When a country as decent and well off as ours fails to provide something as basic as a safe and decent home to all our citizens, things must change. When this happens in one of the richest parts of the country, it offends our sense of living together as one nation, with each and every person equally treated and valued by our society and our Government. Things must change.

For decades after the second world war, there was a cross-party consensus about the value of social housing. There was also a recognition that, in only one year since then did we build more than 200,000 new homes without councils doing at least a third. In 2015 we saw the first year since the second world war when central Government provided no new funding to build new social rented homes. Labour’s decent homes programme to overhaul and upgrade social housing has been stopped. Last year, Ministers ended secure long-term tenancies for new council tenants.

The Secretary of State talked about the Government’s track record on social housing. My hon. Friend the Member for Westminster North exposed it. Perhaps the Secretary of State could ask his officials for table 1012. My hon. Friend gave the figures for the number of starts; I will give the figure for social homes completed that people can live in. It was 37,000 when Labour left office. Last year, it was just over 1,000. That is the Government’s track record on social housing. It must change.

[Sajid Javid]

The right hon. Gentleman referred to the decent homes standard for social housing. The programme has not been ended. Since 2010, £1.7 billion has been provided. As a result of the Government’s work, the number of homes that fail to meet the decent homes standard is down by 41% from its peak in 2007.

[John Healey]

Will the Secretary of State confirm exactly how much is in the Homes and Communities Agency programme this year and last year for Government investment in the decent homes programme?

[Sajid Javid]

I shall be happy to write to the right hon. Gentleman and give him the exact number.

[John Healey]

Good. It is a small number, and it has a zero in it—and nothing else.

Let me return to the serious points that I wish to make. Secondly, let me say to the Secretary of State that all markets, organisations and consumers need regulation to guarantee safety, ensure fair practices, safeguard standards and stop abuse; yet that is not the mindset of current Conservative Ministers. Never again can a Minister who is challenged on fire safety measures say, “It is not the Government’s responsibility,” and justify it by citing the Government’s “one in, two out” rule on regulations. That must change.

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Monday 21st January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

It is good to hear from the true heir of Beveridge. The quotes describing the Labour party that I just read out were in party conference speeches and at a conference at the LSE—

“The party that said that idleness is an evil. The party of workers, not shirkers.”

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

Disgraceful!

[Steve Webb]

It is disgraceful, as my hon. Friend says.

The second question that has arisen is why the Bill is necessary. It has been suggested that the Bill is simply a political device, but that draws a veil over the fact that we are dealing with one of the biggest deficits in peacetime history. To listen to the Labour leadership, one would think that they took such matters seriously. The leader of the Labour party said on “The Andrew Marr Show”, in an interview, I think, with James Landale:

“So when it comes to the next Labour government, if I was saying to you, ‘I can absolutely promise to restore this cut or that cut’, you would say ‘Well, where is the money going to come for that?’...We are absolutely determined that Labour shows we would be fiscally credible in government.”

We have not heard a lot of that today. The shadow Chancellor has said:

“The public want to know that we are going to be ruthless and disciplined in how we go about public spending”.

In fact, we have heard speech after speech calling for the Bill to be scrapped but there has not been a hope of hearing where the money would come from.

The Bill and related measures save £3.6 billion. When I challenged the shadow Minister, the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms), about where that money would come from, he said—I paraphrase—“We wouldn’t start from here.” I am afraid that the Opposition have to do rather better than that.

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

Let me start with some comments on tone. The Government have been wrongly accused by many on the Opposition Benches of using inflammatory language on this most important issue, but let me refer to some of the inflammatory language that has been used:

“Let’s face the tough truth—that many people on the doorstep at the last election felt that too often we were for shirkers not workers.”

Those are not the words of any Government Member, but those of the shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, so let us hear no more about tone from Opposition Members.

I thank all 36 hon. Members who have made contributions to the debate. They have shown how passionate they are about this issue, not least my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State Work and Pensions, who has devoted nearly a decade of his career to this important matter. While he was chairing the Centre for Social Justice and looking for ways to lift the poorest out of poverty, the Opposition spokesperson, the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne), was at the Treasury, dishing out money like there was no tomorrow. I therefore find it quite bizarre that he, the man who so eloquently summed up the economic legacy in another quote of his—

“I’m afraid to tell you there’s no money left”—

has told us from the Opposition Dispatch Box how to spend even more. He has told us to commit more money to public spending—money he knows we do not have.

Spending money is something that the right hon. Gentleman and the Opposition have an excellent record on. In the decade before the financial crisis and despite a growing economy, welfare spending increased by 20% and has continued to rise from 11% of gross domestic product in 2008 to more than 13% by 2012.

[Ian Lucas]

Will the Minister give way?

[Sajid Javid]

I will give way just this once.

[Ian Lucas]

Will the Minister confirm that the Bill has been introduced because of the Government’s failure to deliver on the economic pledges they made in 2010?

[Sajid Javid]

The hon. Gentleman should ask that question of the shadow Secretary of State. There is no money left! Let me put it simply: welfare spending costs the UK—

[Mr Byrne]

Will the Minister give way?

[Sajid Javid]

I will give way on that point.

[Mr Byrne]

Will the Minister confirm to the House by how much extra borrowing has gone up over and above his initial forecast because of his failure to deliver growth and jobs in the economy?

[Sajid Javid]

We are dealing with the economic mismanagement of the Government of whom he was part and the deficit is already down by 25% since we came to office.

We are spending more than £200 billion a year on welfare. That is almost £1 in every £3 raised in taxes—more than the budgets for health, education and defence combined. After 13 years of economic mismanagement and overspending, the British people want a country that lives within its means once again. We need to find savings across the Government, and the uprating measures announced in the autumn statement are forecast to save £2.5 billion by 2015-16. It is interesting that not one Opposition Member addressed how they would fill that funding gap by opposing the Bill. That proves they have no answers for the problems the Government face.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—

[Sajid Javid]

As a Treasury Minister, I know only too well how crucial those savings are—[Interruption.]

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Dawn Primarolo)]

Order. The Minister has said he is not giving way, so we do not need people shouting from the side of the Chamber that he should do so. It is up to him.

[Sajid Javid]

I have five minutes left to sum up the whole debate and I need to take that time.

These savings are crucial. They show that the Government are dealing with the record budget deficit they inherited. They will help to build confidence that the UK is a country in which it is safe to invest in the long term. Meanwhile, in the short term, these are savings that we can reinvest to make a real difference for a stronger economy.

Several of my hon. Friends raised the issue of fairness, including my hon. Friends the Members for York Outer (Julian Sturdy) and for Cannock Chase (Mr Burley). We need to continue to get Britain back to work, but we also need to ensure that being at work pays. Since the beginning of the financial crisis, those in work have seen their average earnings increase by 10%, while those out of work have seen their benefits rise by 20%. This is not fair on taxpayers. It is not fair for my working constituents to pay out more to sustain welfare benefits at the exact time they are facing pressures to stretch their wages further. Nor is it fair to benefit claimants if we ensnare them in a position where it pays to claim benefits rather than to get out and find work.

It is worth reminding the Opposition that those people who work in the public sector, whom this Government employ to carry out their work—such as the people whom the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill used to send out to buy his soup when he was a Cabinet Minister—have seen their pay frozen for two years and will see it increase by 1% for a further two years. The Opposition supported that course of action, but they do not think it is right to have the same restraint—a rise of 1%--applied to benefits and tax credits.

Several hon. Members also rightly raised the issue of protecting the most vulnerable. Welfare spending is all about protecting the most vulnerable members of society. My hon. Friends the Members for Erewash (Jessica Lee), for Keighley (Kris Hopkins) and for Elmet and Rothwell (Alec Shelbrooke) made that point very well, and that is why the disability carer and pension elements of working age benefits and tax credits will be protected. It is why the basic state pension will continue to increase by the triple guarantee—the higher of earnings, prices or 2.5%. Even in the most difficult times, we need to protect those most in need and the changes in this Bill will achieve just that.

We have heard some sensible opinions this afternoon, although it has to be said that they have come almost exclusively from this side of the House. We have also heard some vehement and misguided opposition from the other side of the House. The Labour party opposed the Welfare Reform Bill. The Labour party opposed the benefit cap. Now the Labour party opposes this Bill. The Opposition want to spend billions increasing benefits while people up and down the country face pay freezes. They want to spend billions increasing benefits when they have supported our decision to freeze public sector pay at 1%. Given Labour’s opposition to this Bill, they really need to tell the British people where they would find that £2.5 billion for 2015-16. Would they cut the jobs of 70,000 teachers, or perhaps 40,000 doctors? Perhaps they would raise income tax by nearly 1%. If they do not want to do any of those things, perhaps they need to be honest and admit that the Labour party is for something for nothing, and is the same old Labour party that would borrow billions more to pay for higher benefits. We are taking sensible, measured steps to put right the economic mess that the Labour party left behind, and I commend the Bill to the House.

Question put, That the amendment be made.

Living Standards

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Wednesday 30th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Claire Perry]

rose—

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

rose—

[Mr Byrne]

I will give way in a moment. There are not too many speakers on the Treasury Bench today, so there will be plenty of time for interventions.

Let us consider what the Chancellor’s proposals mean for jobs. The OBR now predicts that unemployment will rise next year, and unemployment forecasts for the years ahead are up year after year until 2015. The Government say that there is no alternative, because they still believe that unemployment is a price worth paying. Unemployment is bad this year, but it will be worse in the years ahead: the OBR said yesterday that it will rise up to 8.7%, while youth unemployment already stands at over 1 million. The brutal price that our young people are paying for the Government’s failure to get people back to work is now clear to hon. Members across the House. Those young people will be at the sharp end of rising unemployment in the years ahead. I will give way to the hon. Member for Devizes (Claire Perry), who will perhaps tell me how the Government can do more to get down youth unemployment in her constituency.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Byrne]

Youth unemployment came down to record lows under the Labour Government. It was coming down before the election, because we chose to act. Now the key back-to-work scheme for young people has been taken off the shelf for the past year and a half. What is the result? Youth unemployment in the hon. Gentleman’s constituency is going up. He should explain that to young people in his constituency, and he should apologise to them. The back-to-work scheme set out by the Deputy Prime Minister last week is not even planned to come into place until next April. That shows how much his party cares about getting young people back to work.

[Sajid Javid]

rose—

[Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con)]

rose—

--- Later in debate ---

[Claire Perry]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Sajid Javid]

Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?

[Mr Byrne]

I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, as I have given way to the hon. Lady before.

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for giving way. When he left office, why did he leave a note saying there was no money left?

[Mr Byrne]

It takes some audacity for a Member on the Government Benches to stand up after a Budget that has added £158 billion to the nation’s credit card and throw cheap jibes across the Chamber.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Monday 28th November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

The trouble is that we just cannot take the Opposition seriously when we know that they have already announced 10 different ways of spending that money. We as a Government are delivering real action through real schemes that work and are affordable, and that is something that they failed to do. It is worth saying also that Labour is the party under which, back in 2009, more than 1 million young people were not in education, employment or training—despite the fact that Labour Members tell us otherwise.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

7. What steps he is taking to ensure that individuals are able to build up pension pots under automatic enrolment.

[Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire) (Con)]

10. What steps he is taking to ensure that individuals are able to build up pension pots under automatic enrolment.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I am pleased to confirm that we will go ahead with the introduction of auto-enrolment next year as planned, and I can confirm further that all businesses remain in scope. We have, however, decided to extend the reform’s current five-year implementation, so that small businesses will not have to start enrolling their workers until the start of the next Parliament. The revised plans will, nevertheless, still result in more than half of all workers being enrolled before the end of this Parliament. This is a positive programme, and there will be no exemptions.

[Sajid Javid]

This Government are doing a huge amount to help people deal with the challenges of old age. In that context, does my hon. Friend have any plans to change the rules governing short-service pension refunds?

[Steve Webb]

As my hon. Friend points out, certain pension schemes but not others currently allow people to take money out within the first two years, and that is an anomaly. We need to ensure that money put into pension savings stays there, and that is why short-service refunds for defined contribution schemes will not be part of the long-term landscape under automatic enrolment.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Monday 28th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Grayling]

In the context of Merseyside, we have been very pleased by the co-operation and support that we have had from the chambers of commerce. They are actively recruiting more mentors among the local business community. The lessons we have derived from Merseyside will enable organisations in other parts of the country and Jobcentre Plus to follow best practice in getting the scheme up and running nationwide in the course of the year.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

20. What estimate he has made of the likely effects on welfare expenditure of implementation of the provisions of the Welfare Reform Bill.

[The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr Iain Duncan Smith)]

In real terms working age welfare spending climbed by 54% over the past decade from £48 billion in 1999-2000 to £74.7 billion in 2009-10. The explanatory notes to the Welfare Reform Bill report that there will be savings of some £960 million in 2012-13,rising to around £3.9 billion in 2014-15. We have also set aside £2 billion to cover the costs of implementing the universal credit.

[Sajid Javid]

This Government inherited a record Budget deficit, which rightly requires the re-examination of every Department’s spending. Instead of getting constructive suggestions from the Opposition, we too often get opportunism, including a demeaning comparison this weekend between protesters, civil rights marchers, people who fought for women’s rights and anti-apartheid campaigners. Does my right hon. Friend believe that the best way to bring down our welfare bill sustainably is to get people back into work by giving them the right work incentives?

Welfare Reform Bill

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Wednesday 9th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Byrne]

That is the evidence from the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

At the last election, the Labour party manifesto contained a pledge to reform housing benefit to ensure that the people claiming it would not live in the kind of homes that ordinary working families could not afford. We believe in that policy. Is the right hon. Gentleman now renouncing it?

[Mr Byrne]

Not at all. The point that we are making is about the way in which this reform has been adopted and steamrollered through, and about the lack of consultation between the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Department for Work and Pensions. This has been so mismanaged that many people—the Mayor of London, Shelter, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government—are now saying that the cost of housing benefit could go up. Surely that is not the DWP’s intention. We need a bit more detail about a policy that might actually deliver the necessary savings on housing benefit.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

I welcome the Bill, and the excellent and thoughtful contributions that we have heard from all parts of the House. This Bill is important for many reasons, and it goes to the heart of the kind of society that we want to be. Do we want to be an opportunity society that rewards people for hard work, believes in equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome, and believes that we should have a welfare state that stands behind people to cushion them if they fall, not one that stands in front of people and stops them progressing and reaching their ambitions and aspirations? That is the essence of the Bill. If one believes in an opportunity society, one believes in this Bill.

Some 1.4 million people have claimed out-of-work benefits for nine of the last 10 years. In that time, 600,000 people have gone straight on to the welfare register on leaving school and have never worked since. In short, many people have come to see welfare as a career option. I have seen that as an MP when meeting my constituents. In particular, I met a local farmer some months ago who employs 52 people on the national minimum wage for unskilled work. Of those 52 people, 40 are foreign workers from eastern Europe. When I asked him why that was the case, he said that our young people lacked a work ethic. In many cases, he had interviewed people but when they had considered the job and checked the numbers, they realised that they would be worse off if they took the job as opposed to staying on welfare.

Our welfare budgets have rocketed in such a way that today, 2 million children are growing up in households where no one works. Incredibly, the proportion of working-age adults living in poverty is the highest since records began. Worklessness and benefit dependency is costing our country a fortune. This entrenched poverty and worklessness throughout Britain is bad for benefit recipients and bad for society, and often leads to higher levels of debt, family breakdown, and alcohol and drug abuse.

At the heart of the problem is the lack of work incentives. We have a proliferation of benefits that makes the system so complex that people do not know whether they would be better off in work than out of work. I went to my local jobcentre a few months ago and asked the staff how long it would take them to tell somebody if they would be better off in work if they came in and said that they could get a part-time job tomorrow for 10 hours a week on the minimum wage. The answer was that it would take 90 minutes on average. They added that even when they give an answer and it happens to be yes—in many cases it is no—because it takes so long, many people have so little faith in the answer that they decide not to work in any case. That has to change.

We cannot address only the symptoms of poverty and worklessness; we have to address the causes, such as welfare dependency, educational failure, addiction, debt and family breakdown.

I will highlight three areas of the Bill that I believe represent the right way forward. The universal credit is the most important part of the Bill, because it will ensure that everyone is better off in work than out of work. The taper relief, at 65%, strikes a good balance between budgetary pressures and giving the right incentive to work. However, I hope that in the longer term, Ministers will look again at that rate with a view to reducing it. I caution that in implementing the universal credit, Ministers should look carefully at the IT systems, because they will have to work with other agencies, including Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. Many previous Governments have bungled new IT systems in terms of time or cost. This therefore has to be considered carefully. So does the passporting of benefits, to ensure that the nature of the taper relief is maintained and there are no cliff edges.

I also wish to highlight the changes to housing benefit, which are welcome because for the first time, they will ensure that people on housing benefit cannot live in properties that ordinary working people would have no prospect of being able to afford. That was a commitment in the Labour party’s manifesto, and I hope that all Members wholeheartedly endorse it.

The change to the consumer prices index for the uprating of housing benefit is also welcome, partly because it will save £300 million a year and we have to find savings given the budgetary pressures. Also, as such a huge proportion of people in social housing receive housing benefit, it may lead to a change in the rents demanded. Finally, I wish to highlight the welfare cap, which will be £500 a week for couples, meaning that no family can earn more than £26,000 a year in benefits net, or £35,000 gross, which happens to be equal to the national average household wage.

In summary, the Bill is a huge step forward in creating an opportunity society. It restores the dignity of labour and ensures that the Government will be standing behind people in case they fall, to help cushion that fall, but will not be in front of them to prevent them from progressing and meeting their ambitions and aspirations.

Youth Unemployment

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Wednesday 16th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Ruane]

I am informed by my hon. Friend that it is £30,000 for Eton. Under the scheme, its cost £6,500 to turn around a young life. But no, that is too much. There are a million young people—and the number is rising—on the dole. What will be the cost if they fall into a life of crime? If that positive path is denied them, they might turn down a negative path. It costs £50,000 a year to keep a person incarcerated. That is money down the drain.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Chris Ruane]

No, I would get told off. I am sorry, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I feel that I would.

My local future jobs fund is administered by Rhyl city strategy and is one of the most effective in the country. It had a monthly target to put 320 people back to work. It was bang on every month. It was so effective that it had to hunt for another 100 young people to put back to work, which it got through the WCVA. That effective partnership has been snuffed out by the Conservative party. A key part of the success of the FJF in my constituency was that the funding was delivered to a local partnership. That minimised bureaucracy and red tape, which the Conservative party is always banging on about—there was no red tape or bureaucracy in the FJF in Rhyl. That was welcomed by the employer.

Shorter-term, unsubsidised schemes will not work. They did not work in the past, and they will not work in the future.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Dugher]

My hon. Friend is exactly right.

Those 2,000 private sector jobs in my constituency are coming from ASOS, the online fashion company—I do not see too many takers in the Chamber for its clothes, but we live in hope—but those jobs did not happen by accident. The reason 2,000 jobs are coming to my constituency is that when Labour was in government, we built the facilities that will house those jobs. We built the road that attracted the company in the first place. The public sector plays a big part in supporting private sector jobs.

[Sajid Javid]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Michael Dugher]

No; I want to make some progress.

We want to see more private sector jobs, but the Government need to move away from the mentality that says that public sector jobs are not, as the hon. Member for Enfield North (Nick de Bois) said, “real” jobs. In many parts of the country, the choice is not between a public sector job and a private sector job; it is between a job and no job. The criticism that too many of the jobs were in the public sector—a criticism that I share—is not a reason to scrap the scheme, but a reason to strengthen it. It is an argument to expand it to include more private sector businesses in those unemployment blackspots and to invest in industry.

The positive benefits of employment cannot be overstated. Most people cite a lack of confidence and skills as the reason for not finding work. Having a job is good for people’s well-being and their physical and mental health. It provides them with an opportunity to prove themselves, giving them an identity, confidence and self-worth—the pride that comes from having money in their pocket and the dignity of knowing that they have just earned it. Everyone knows that it is also easier to get a job for those who already have one.

We saw the impact of previous Conservative Governments in areas such as the one that I am proud to represent—a whole generation of young people growing up with little or no hope of getting a job. It is clear that this Government have not learnt from those mistakes, and are once again letting young people down. There is a growing consensus that the Government need a plan B to get the economy right—growth has stalled—but it is equally obvious that they need a plan A to deal with unemployment and, in particular, the lack of opportunities for young people in my constituency and throughout the rest of the country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Ian Lavery (Wansbeck) (Lab)]

I would like to focus on the young people who have lost their jobs. They are real people, and I welcome this opportunity to discuss on the Floor of the House of Commons the betrayal of those young people. They represent the nation’s future, but they have been bruised, battered and neglected. They are not needed and not worthy—that is the message the Government are pushing to those people.

We have a serious problem, in that those young people are in danger of becoming the lost generation. Employment is a major social ingredient in anyone’s life, and in modern, civilised society. It gives self-esteem and confidence. It breeds purpose in individuals. It is a rung on life’s ladder, which can often be quite cruel. As we debate this issue today, we see an increase of 66,000 young people who are unemployed.

The constituency statistics in the information from the House of Commons Library show that, in the 100 worst-affected constituencies, there are 10 applicants for every job vacancy. On average, across all constituencies, there are five applicants for every job. In my constituency, however, 14.3 people apply for every vacancy. Is it any wonder that our young people, our future generations, feel so let down and demoralised? They feel utterly betrayed by the actions of this Government. Is it any wonder that they are taking to the streets and demonstrating in their tens of thousands in every city against the Government’s attack on young people? They are organising and giving voice to their views. As politicians, we should listen to their call for opportunities, for a chance in life, for dignity, for decency and for equality. That should be readily recognised by the Government.

[Sajid Javid]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Ian Lavery]

No! [Laughter.] Go on, then. I apologise for that.

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for so graciously giving way. There is a lot that hon. Members on different sides of the House can disagree on, but will he acknowledge, perhaps in a bipartisan spirit, that some of the Government’s welfare reforms—for example, the introduction of the universal credit, the increase in apprenticeships, and the move to ensure that people are better off in work than out of work—are a step in the right direction?

[Ian Lavery]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I believe that we should wait to see the details of the universal credit. The devil is often in the detail.

The future jobs fund was abolished within days of the election by the Tories. At this stage, I must offer my personal view that I do not accept that this is a coalition Government. It is a full-blooded, blue-blooded Tory Government, propped up by a few desperate Liberal Democrats who are prostituting every principle that they have ever stood for, and abandoning every young person in this country.

The future jobs fund offered a golden opportunity to 200,000 people, but those full-time jobs will be wasted. They were much needed in communities such as mine. The future jobs fund was sowing the seeds of success, and it was proving successful to those young people. It was giving young people who had never had a job before a much-needed break in life. They need and deserve an explanation from the Government. They need to know why, immediately after taking office, the Government abolished a great opportunity, perhaps one of the last opportunities that they will be given for a long time.

I am aware of the eight-minute limit on speeches, Mr Deputy Speaker, but at this point a triple whammy comes to mind: the attack on education maintenance allowance, the increase in tuition fees, and the cancellation of the future jobs fund. People will not forget, and they are asking now why the attack on young people continues and where it will end. The number of unemployed young people has risen by 66,000, and the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts huge further increases in the not-too-distant future. Everything in the garden is not rosy for our young people or for our future. Every 100,000 people who are out of work cost the Treasury £500 million. We cannot, in any circumstances, return to the days of the 1980s, when 26% of people were unemployed.

In my constituency, there are 14.3 applicants for every job vacancy. Unemployment in the region stands at 9.6%, and 46% of working women in the northern region are employed in the public sector. In my constituency, the public sector employs 11,000 women—68% of working women—and more than 50% of men. How dare any Member say in the House that public sector workers deserve redundancy before anyone else? We are talking about teachers, firemen, policemen, council workers and cleaners. How dare anyone suggest that their jobs are meaningless because the private sector should rule?

The attack on public services in my constituency will be unbelievably harsh. The creation of 200,000 jobs through the future jobs fund would have been immensely valuable. Moreover, 10,000 jobs would have been created in the north-east in the renewable energy, environmental and emerging low-carbon technology sectors, and 15,000 would have been created in social enterprises. That is much-needed employment. The Government’s action in abolishing the future jobs fund is an absolute disgrace: it was politically motivated and ideologically driven.

I will not forget 20 October 2010, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the loss of 490,000 jobs. I shall not forget the triumphant, jubilant cheers from the Government Benches. That made me sick to the pit of my stomach. The people will not forget, and I will not forget. I am pleased to have been able to take part in the debate, and I support the motion wholeheartedly.

Housing Benefit

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Tuesday 9th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend was right to point out that I was shocked to learn in the Select Committee that I had been homeless as a child. I believe, however, that the question is not so much one of the definition of homelessness as one of whether people living on housing benefit should be forced to make the same choices that other low-income working families are forced to make. Those low-income working families typically pay rent to the 30th percentile and their children are forced to share bedrooms, as they would be in any ordinary family. It should be no different for anyone on housing benefit.

[Mr Duncan Smith]

My hon. Friend’s exchange was the most interesting one to come out of that Committee sitting, and he is right about this. I do not think that the previous Government intended these consequences; they simply failed to recognise that their change was going to fuel this growth. If they are honest with themselves, they would say that they know that. The ex-Chancellor actually said that he thought that this was out of control. These are the sort of choices that ordinary people have to make when they cut their budgets in accordance with what housing they can afford, and that is what we are trying to do here. It is not about punishing people; it is about trying to get the rents in the social area of private renting back into line with what people are paying who are working and earning marginal incomes and are therefore unable to make ends meet.

Work and Pensions (CSR)

Sajid Javid Excerpts

Thursday 4th November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Miss Begg]

There is no dispute about the fact that we would like to see the benefit bill reduced. The best way of doing that is to get those who can work into jobs so that they do not need benefits on which to live. As for pensioners, the Government, with their triple lock, have taken the decision that they do not want to see them getting less benefit. That is partly why the cuts have fallen so heavily on working-age people. The Government have protected benefits and increases in benefits for those who are on the basic state pension and other related benefits. They have made a value judgment and decided that some people deserve increases in their benefits while others do not.

Let us not forget the bigger economic argument. Poor people will spend their benefits in the local community. Problems can arise if benefits are cut: the money going into the local economy drops, jobs are lost and shops close. Cuts will cause problems in the local economy. Very often it is the benefits’ pound that keeps many things working in some of the poorer communities. There is not an absolute answer as to whether benefits should go up or down depending on the economic wealth of the country, but there is an absolute measure of poverty in which we should not expect people to live. Sometimes, some of our benefits are at a level that keeps an individual living in poverty.

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

The hon. Lady said that when benefits are paid to individuals, the money is used in the local economy, and that that can somehow be helpful. I have heard such comments quite often and they are based, I believe, on an economic fallacy. If the Government did not make payments—benefits or otherwise—the money would not be borrowed by them in the first place, and those who had lent the money would have spent it in the economy anyway. Such a point is worth making because we should base our discussions on the known facts.

[Miss Begg]

We live in a welfare state and a civilised society, and we have benefits that are paid to people who are in work as well as to those who are out of work. One reason why we take such decisions is that we believe that it is bad for a society to have an enormous gap between the rich and the poor. That is partly why we have our tax and benefit system.