Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield

Tuesday 6th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid (Bromsgrove) (Con)]

We are seeing a sad increase in suicide rates across the country. In 2012, the then Government published a 10-year cross-Government suicide prevention plan. Earlier this year, the Government under the leadership of my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) committed to a new 10-year plan that would be published before the start of 2023. There is no sign of that cross-Government 10-year suicide prevention plan, but maybe I am wrong, and perhaps the Government are about to publish it, because I know that so much of the work has already been done. May I ask my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to show that he takes suicide prevention seriously and publish this plan as soon as possible?

[Maria Caulfield]

I thank my right hon. Friend and pay tribute to him for all his work in this area; he has driven this agenda forward. I want to reassure him that we are looking at that. He will understand that we have had some changes in recent weeks, but I assure him that tackling the issue of suicide is a high priority, and we will make an announcement shortly.

Windrush Scheme

Debate between Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield

Tuesday 5th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

The deportations to which the hon. Lady refers took place under the UK Borders Act 2007, which I mentioned earlier and which was debated in the House as a Bill. It gives little if any discretion to the Home Secretary, but every single person who is being deported is a foreign national who has committed a serious offence.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

Is not a significant issue in all this the decision made in 2009, by the Labour Government of which the right hon. Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy) was a member, to destroy the landing cards and registry slips that constituted the only official documentation of some people’s arrival in Britain? Was not a mistake made then?

[Sajid Javid]

My hon. Friend has highlighted an important point, and it is worth emphasising. Members of the Windrush generation were affected by decisions made by a number of Governments, including the last Government.

Local Government Funding

Debate between Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

I share the hon. Lady’s concern about the rise in homelessness. It is almost 50% lower than it was at its peak in 2003, but it is still too high, and she is right to point out that it has been rising. All hon. Members should be concerned about that. This is why it is important that we should continue to help those programmes that can prevent homelessness and those that can help those who find themselves in that difficult situation. She might be pleased to know that a recent pilot in Southwark of some of the measures that will be put in place across the country in April as a result of the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, which had cross-party support, has resulted in a one-third fall in homelessness acceptances. I hope that those are the kinds of measures that we can all support.

[Maria Caulfield]

I tried to intervene on the shadow Secretary of State earlier to ask about Labour’s proposals to raise money for local councils through a land value tax, which is also known as a garden tax. Such a tax would see families whose properties were worth £300,000 paying an average of £4,500 a year. What is the Secretary of State’s view on those proposals?

[Sajid Javid]

I am pleased that my hon. Friend has raised that point. A moment ago, I talked about how Labour had brought our country to the brink of bankruptcy and how, given the chance, it would do it all over again. She has just illustrated that point. All that Labour knows is borrow, borrow, borrow and spend, spend, spend, and it wants hard-pressed taxpayers to pick up the bill. She mentioned Labour’s garden tax. It is interesting that the shadow Secretary of State did not want to dwell on that, but it appeared in Labour’s 2017 manifesto, and it was calculated at the time that it could result in a charge of £3,700 a year for the average home, which is roughly £2,000 more than the current band D council tax. That reminds me that the hon. Member for Derby North (Chris Williamson) was recently sacked from the shadow Front Bench for exposing Labour’s plans to double council tax. So the facts are out there, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point.

Northamptonshire County Council

Debate between Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield

Tuesday 27th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

No on both counts.

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

I also commend the Secretary of State for his swift action in response to this problem. I am pleased that the inspector has said that these problems are not centred on funding. Is the Secretary of State concerned that there are other councils at risk of not being able to meet their best value duty, and what steps is he taking to identify such councils?

[Sajid Javid]

If we had concerns that a level existed similar to the one that materialised in Northamptonshire, I certainly would have taken action by now. That is not to say that there are not councils that we are working closely with, that we are keeping an eye on and that we provide advice to. It is important that we continue to operate in that way, that we continue to have a high hurdle for intervention, but that we do not fail to intervene whenever necessary.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sajid Javid and Maria Caulfield

Monday 4th December 2017 Commons Chamber

[Sajid Javid]

Time and again, the hon. Gentleman stands at the Dispatch Box asking for billions and billions of more spending. He has no idea how the funds are raised, and he would do much better to support the measures that we are taking to keep our economy strong so that we can pay for all those services.

[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?