Local Government Finance

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 7th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I am grateful to the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), and to the Chancellor for listening to our concerns about significant pressures on local authorities, especially those with responsibilities for child and adult social care. I welcome the recently announced £600 million of extra funding, including £500 million for local authorities with child and adult social care responsibilities. East Sussex County Council has welcomed the extra £5.386 million it will receive.

However, despite this extra funding, East Sussex County Council, a well-run Conservative council, has reported that, due to the significant pressures arising from the current economic situation and changing demography and need, the financial position for the coming year is the most challenging it has seen in recent years. This is in direct contrast to Labour-run Hastings Borough Council, whose independent auditor, Grant Thornton, said:

“We have identified significant weaknesses arising from funding gaps and unidentified savings and the council’s approach to due diligence when undertaking commercial investments which has resulted in a failure to achieve expected financial returns.”

The borough council is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, so the Labour leader and six Labour councillors resigned from the Labour party and set themselves up as the Hastings Independent party. Their change of name will not absolve them of their failures and their refusal to take responsibility for the mess they got the council into.

Although welcome, the additional funding does not bridge East Sussex County Council’s financial gap for 2024-25, and it is for one year only. That means that, despite previous careful budget management, the budget for the coming year will still be supported by a significant withdrawal from limited reserves and there remains considerable uncertainty about funding for future years. That is not a sustainable position, at both a national and local level, because available reserves would be depleted by the end of 2025-26.

In its budget and 2024-25 council plan, East Sussex County Council agreed proposals to spend its £538.1 million net revenue budget on services and activities that will deliver its priority outcomes, including funding to cover a range of significant demand and cost pressures being experienced by services. Those plans are supported by a 2.99% increase in council tax and 2% adult social care levy. That decision was not made lightly, given the current pressures on household budgets, but in the light of the very significant deficit the council faces in the coming year and beyond, it needs to apply those increases in order to safeguard services as far as possible.

East Sussex County Council also agreed an £837.9 million, 10-year capital programme, which includes badly needed investment in local roads and highways structures, in reducing the council’s carbon emissions and in school places, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Dealing with our potholes in East Sussex, especially those in Hastings and Rye, desperately needs more funding from national Government, and I must emphasise that with a view to the March Budget. So we must look at how we fund the particular needs and characteristics of East Sussex. There is an urgent requirement for sustainable, long-term funding to meet these needs, and that must be understood by the Government, so that our residents benefit from high-quality services in the future. That means reviewing, developing and implementing a fairer funding formula for local authorities, and for the police, that reflects the actual need, as well as deprivation, geography, demographics and so on. That is especially important for local authorities with coastal communities, which, due to a lack of granular data, are often left behind.

Fairer funding does not necessarily mean more Government funding—as we have heard, it has been focused on more urban areas—but a redistribution or reallocation of existing resources more equitably. It is very encouraging to hear the Minister outline the plan for a fairer funding formula to come soon, in the next Parliament. Coastal communities face unique challenges related to their geography, demographics—often they have older populations—population density and economic activities. A fair funding formula would consider those specific needs, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

Coastal areas often have diverse populations, including seasonal residents and tourists. These fluctuations have an impact on service demands, infrastructure maintenance and social services. A fair formula would account for population dynamics and deprivation levels in these regions. Coastal communities are often more isolated due to their geographical location, which affects transportation, healthcare, education and access to essential services. A fairer formula would address the challenges of sparsity and ensure adequate support. Coastal areas require investment in flood defences, coastal erosion management and environmental protection. A fair formula would allocate funds to address those critical issues. Coastal economies often rely on tourism, fishing and maritime industries. A fair funding formula would recognise the need for economic resilience and support diversification efforts.

A fairer funding formula is essential to ensure that local authorities, especially those in coastal communities, receive adequate resources to address their unique challenges, focus on actual need and serve their residents effectively.

Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Bill

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Friday 3rd March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to speak on Third Reading of this important Bill put forward by my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). Supported living—supported housing—gives some of the most vulnerable people in our communities a safe haven. It offers them the most choice and control over their lives, and a chance to live a life like everyone else around them. Supported living can have an enormous positive impact on an individual’s quality of life—from their physical and mental health to their engagement with the community.

In 2020, the Government announced the national statement of expectations for supported housing, setting out their vision for ways of working in the sector and recommendations for standards in accommodation. This was an important step in establishing what good supported housing looks like and how it can be achieved.

Most supported housing providers deliver high-quality accommodation and go above and beyond minimum standards. However, it is vital not only that all supported housing is of high quality, but that the people who need the support have the accommodation that meets their needs and allows them to thrive—the right support in the right place—and that the vulnerable are protected from unscrupulous people who seek to take advantage of them. There is no one-size-fits-all approach, but best practice also involves collaboration across housing, health, commissioners, providers and the third sector.

We have some fantastic supported housing organisations across beautiful Hastings and Rye—Aspens comes to mind, as well as Support 4 Independent Living. East Sussex County Council works really hard through its supported accommodation team to support providers who have houses, flats, or self-contained bedsits to provide accommodation, and assist tenants referred by adult social care services, and I am sure that the team would welcome this Bill. We have a very high level of need for supported housing services not only in Hastings and Rye, but across east Sussex, and local authority funding needs to better reflect this high need and I ask the Minister to consider that.

I note and welcome the Government’s amendments, further clarifying the licensing powers included in the Bill. This is a Bill that will help some of the most vulnerable in our society and I wish it well as it progresses through the House.

Social Housing and Regulation Bill [ LORDS ] (Second sitting)

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Committee stage
Tuesday 29th November 2022 Public Bill Committees

[Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)]

We welcome the concession made by the Government in the other place on professional training and qualifications, and the resulting inclusion of the clause in the Bill. However, if we are to be certain that this legislation will expedite the professionalisation of the sector, we are absolutely convinced that the Government need to go still further.

As the Minister said, the clause amends section 194 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 by adding a proposed new section allowing the regulator to set regulatory standards on the competence and conduct of social housing managers, and making it clear that such standards may require providers to comply with specified rules relating to knowledge, skills and experience. However, the clause as drafted includes no requirement for those involved in the management of social housing to meet objective professional standards. We therefore agree with, among others, Grenfell United and Shelter, that it therefore risks introducing an insufficiently high bar for registered providers in respect of the professional training that they implement.

New clause 4 seeks to strengthen the Bill in relation to professionalisation by amending section 217 of the 2008 Act, concerning accreditation, to require managers of social housing to have appropriate objective qualifications and expertise.

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

On professional qualifications, I completely understand that we need to have properly qualified people overseeing those in social housing and giving them support, but most professions—whether lawyers, accountants, firemen or police—have a professional body. What professional body does the hon. Gentleman propose should be behind social housing, because I do not think that there is one, is there?

[Matthew Pennycook]

I will touch on that. The Chartered Institute of Housing does a considerable amount of work in this area. For reasons I will come on to, however, the review that it is undertaking perhaps does not go as far as we need in the ways in which we think this legislation must be amended to drive professionalisation along the lines that many groups are calling for.

As I was saying, we think it is vital that those requirements should be put on the face of the Bill. As a result of the progressive residualisation of social housing over the past 40 years, it is now overwhelmingly let to those most in need. According to the latest English housing survey data, half of social renters are in the lowest income quintile, compared with 22% of private renters and 12% of owners; more than half of all households in such tenure have one or more members with a long-term illness or disability; and more than a quarter are 65 or over. We also know—this is certainly the case from my own post bag—that many social tenants find themselves facing intimidation by criminal gangs, domestic abuse and racial harassment, and that a minority are in desperate need of urgent moves to escape serious youth violence. We will return to that point when we debate new clause 1 in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood.

As a result of frequently having little voice or power, and because there is a chronic shortage of social housing, tenants have few if any options to move if they receive an unprofessional service from their landlord. They face significant barriers when it comes to challenging poor conditions. We therefore must do more to ensure that those managing the homes of social tenants are properly qualified to do so and that they have undergone the necessary training, for example in anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice, to ensure that they are treating tenants fairly and providing them with the necessary support. We rightly expect those working in other frontline services, such as education and social care, to have the professional qualifications and training necessary to carry out their work effectively, and to undergo continuous professional development. We should expect no less for those managing social homes.

Levelling Up Rural Britain

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I commend my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon (Selaine Saxby) on successfully bringing the debate and her excellent speech. There is no doubt that the Government are delivering for rural communities, including £5 billion for Project Gigabit and the £1 billion shared rural network deal with mobile operators, and my constituency —beautiful Hastings and Rye—has benefited from those investments. However, there is more to do.

The productivity rate in rural areas has fallen behind the England average. Digital connectivity remains worse than in urban areas. Rural public transport is bitty and expensive to run, impacting on residents’ access to education or work—and even GP and NHS services. Median earnings are lower for those working in rural areas, and house prices tend to be more expensive than their urban counterparts relative to local earnings. Poverty is also more dispersed—it is hidden among the better off—making it more difficult to identify and tackle, especially as regards fuel poverty.

Research commissioned in 2021 by the Rural Services Network showed that wages are lower in the countryside, but that many living costs—fuel, travel and heating costs—are higher. It is also more expensive for local authorities to provide statutory services due to geography, demographics and density of population. Local authority funding formulas do need to be reconsidered.

It is not just about targeting more money to rural communities. Financial constraints are an issue globally, so we need to be much cannier about how taxpayers’ money is spent. Less must go further. Much more can be achieved if local authorities work with local enterprise partnerships, the voluntary or civic sector, local businesses and local colleges and schools. Partnership working across our social infrastructure rather than working in silos prevents the doubling or quadrupling of efforts and resources. Communities can drive levelling up.

Rural and coastal areas have many similarities as regards levelling up. The “Levelling Up” White Paper followed the inquiry into rural health and care, which launched on 1 February and highlighted the significant problems experienced by many rural communities in accessing health and social care services and the factors that contribute to them, which range from poor digital connectivity to a lack of public transport services and lack of affordable rural housing. In the same way, the chief medical officer’s report on health disparities in coastal communities highlighted similar underlying issues. It is the underlying factors of poverty and deprivation that need to be sorted out, especially housing, education, skills and connectivity, including transport. I echo hon. Members’ calls on bus services.

Affordable housing for residents who live and work locally is vital in rural areas, including more homes for social rent. The levelling up of rural areas economically and socially will not happen without addressing the housing issues, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Devon highlighted.

The tourism and hospitality sector plays an important role in rural communities. Tourism is vital, but it adds to pressure on local authorities and police services. For example, in beautiful Hastings and Rye, we see thousands of people arrive at Camber Sands in the summer months and Rother District Council needs extra resources to deal with the extra rubbish collections and security guards needed. Sussex police also need extra resources to deal with what is in effect a Wembley-sized football match about 15 times a year in the summer months. The all-party parliamentary group for the south-east recently produced a report on levelling up the south-east, with one recommendation being that local authorities should be able to raise, for example, a local tourism tax. We should consider that carefully to help local authorities to pay for those extra services so that the cost does not fall on local council tax payers.

Reducing hospitality VAT would help lower prices and protect businesses, especially in coastal communities such as Hastings and Rye. In the last Budget, the Government reduced VAT on draught beer and cider. Following discussions with many of my local hospitality businesses, I ask the Government to consider further the impact of VAT not only on pubs but on restaurants. Reducing VAT back to 5% or even 12.5%, as they did during the pandemic, would be really helpful. Many businesses are struggling with increases in energy costs and supply chains, and they cannot pass the costs on to their customers. If they do not have customers, there will be no pubs or restaurants and jobs will be lost. But levelling up is not just about solving problems. It is about finding solutions and opportunities, and rural Britain has so much potential to unleash if given the opportunity to do so. Rural levelling up is an economic, environmental and social opportunity which will benefit the whole of the UK. Our rural areas possess a wealth of natural capital which can underpin rural levelling up. Nature-based solutions to climate change can make the most of this, as well as farmland providing our food.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recognised the huge potential for environmental services to drive rural levelling up, noting that rural areas account for the majority—74%—of the UK’s £1.2 billion natural capital. The rural business and the rural powerhouse all-party parliamentary group highlighted the potential for natural capital markets to help level up rural areas, such as payments for carbon, biodiversity and food projects. If wetlands, peat, trees and soil are restored, maintained and protected, they can help to boost our rural economies by providing jobs, food, eco-tourism, leisure and health benefits, as well as protection against flooding. Investing in restoration and adaptation projects offers opportunities for low-income rural communities that yield financial returns on investments, create jobs, stimulate local economies, and regenerate and revitalise the health of ecosystems.

Coastal Communities

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Thursday 8th September 2022 Westminster Hall

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the future of coastal communities.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. As chair of the all-party parliamentary group on coastal communities, and in my capacity as the MP for the beautiful constituency of Hastings and Rye, I am leading this debate on the future of coastal communities, and I am grateful for the support received from Members on both sides of the House.

Coastal communities are integral to the UK’s environmental, social and economic wellbeing. The covid-19 pandemic profoundly impacted on our coastal communities, exposing and exacerbating long-standing social and economic structural challenges, which need an urgent and co-ordinated response for there to be a sustainable recovery. Coastal communities are also the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, with erosion and flooding posing an ever greater threat to both the built and natural environments.

We have long been a proud maritime nation and historically reliant on our coastal communities to help deliver national prosperity, but today too many of them face shared challenges and disproportionately high levels of deprivation. These communities have enormous potential, which can be unleashed with ambitious vision, partnership working and the right investment from both the public and private sectors. Both Labour and Conservative Governments have been alerted to the challenges of coastal communities over the years—lots of reports, but not enough real action.

In 2007, a Communities and Local Government Committee report on coastal towns highlighted the shared characteristics of coastal communities, including poor-quality housing, deprivation, the inward migration of older people, and the nature of coastal economies. The report said that coastal towns have too often been on the margins of central Government regeneration policy, with its focus on inner cities. The report led to the creation of the coastal communities fund.

Later, in 2019, the House of Lords Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities published a report entitled “The future of seaside towns”, highlighting familiar challenges and making a number of recommendations. The challenges highlighted included the lack of transport connectivity, poor education standards and attainment, skill shortages, high levels of population transience and disproportionately high levels of people claiming sickness and disability benefits. The recommendations identified how regeneration could be supported in coastal towns, including through a dedicated source of funding specifically for coastal communities beyond the completion of the coastal communities fund.

We have seen that fund replaced with the UK shared prosperity fund, but it is disappointing that many coastal local authorities, such as Rother District Council and Hastings Borough Council, received the minimum amount of £1 million—a quarter of the amount received by inland Chorley in Lancashire, which received over £4 million, or Cannock Chase, which received over £3 million. Often the funding pots are competitive. The APPG for the south east, which I also chair, published a report this year called “Financing the future—what does levelling up mean for South East England?” One of the report’s recommendations is that levelling up must address the issue of short and long-term local government finance, with an emphasis on certainty and flexibility—not one-off and often competitive funding pots.

To really plan for the future of our coastal communities, we need long-term strategies and locally led plans. Improvements to coastal transport networks and targeted investment for school improvement programmes were also recommended in the Lords Committee report, hence my consistent campaigning for a faster service from London via Ashford, linking Rye, Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne not only to each other but to London. That is essential for better connectivity, which will in turn encourage and boost local employment opportunities and economic growth.

I welcome the new education investment area funding for East Sussex—Hastings has been designated a priority education investment area—but we must do more. Education and skills are vital tools in social mobility and are essential for economic wellbeing and social inclusion. It is vital for economic growth that education and skills evolve with the needs of the modern labour market. In that regard, our coastal communities have enormous potential in terms of the green revolution, but they are not being given the focus needed to unleash that potential and become a greater resource for the UK.

In 2020, the Office for National Statistics produced a significant study of coastal communities. It highlighted what we already know about the challenges, including the prevalence of deprivation, slower employment and population growth—even a decline—and an ageing population. A poll commissioned by Maritime UK revealed that coastal communities are set to lose 49% of their young people amid employment concerns. Jobs were cited as the overwhelming reason why Maritime UK and the Local Government Association coastal special interest group jointly published their “Coastal Powerhouse Manifesto” in September last year, urging the Government to form a coherent plan for the coast and highlighting a number of areas in which action must be taken to catalyse investment, level up coastal communities and realise the potential of all the UK’s coastal regions.

To date, coastal regeneration funding has largely focused on heritage, recreational and arts projects. Those are important, but further specific action is clearly required to generate higher wages and higher-skilled jobs. Maritime UK’s “Coastal Powerhouse Manifesto” sets out proposals to extend freeport benefits to all coastal areas, boost connectivity to the rest of the country, develop new skills in coastal communities and install a shore power network across the coast to provide the infrastructure to charge tomorrow’s electric vessels. It is also worth noting the research and recommendations of the KMPG and Demos report “Movers and Stayers: Localising power to level up towns”, which was published in July.

Most pertinently, last year, Professor Chris Whitty published his annual report on health disparities in coastal communities. Life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy are all lower in coastal communities. The standardised mortality ratios for a range of conditions, including preventable mortality, are significantly higher. Life expectancy at birth in Central St Leonards ward in my constituency is 11.2 years lower for males, and 8.7 years lower for females, than in Crowborough North East in the rural, more affluent Wealden district.

Such case studies consistently emphasise that coastal communities face not only challenges with the recruitment and retention of health and social care staff, but knock-on challenges with service delivery. Last week, I visited the Parchment Trust, a local charity in Hastings that provides occupational and day-care services for people with learning and physical disabilities. Those at the trust do amazing work, but they struggle with recruiting and retaining staff—largely because of the pay they can offer. East Sussex County Council, which commissions services from the trust, has limited resources but an above-average population of elderly people and people with social care needs, and that is not reflected in local authority funding formulas.

Professor Whitty clearly outlines in his report that tackling the underlying drivers of poor health—including deprivation, poor educational attainment, housing, alcohol and/or substance misuse, homelessness and rough sleeping, underdeveloped transport infrastructure and a lack of diversity in jobs and coastal economies—and focusing proportionate and appropriate NHS and care resources to provide for physical and mental health and social care needs will help to prevent ill health in the long term. That will benefit not just our coastal communities but the whole UK.

High levels of deprivation, driven in part by major and long-standing challenges with local economies and employment, are important reasons for the poor health outcomes in these communities. Tackling deprivation is key, and although the levelling-up White Paper articulates how policy interventions will improve opportunity and boost livelihoods across the country, it does not specifically target coastal communities. For the Government’s spending, taxation, investment and regeneration policy to bring about meaningful changes in these communities, they must be at the heart of the Government’s levelling-up plans.

However, we must not focus solely on the challenges facing coastal communities, because they also offer fantastic and unique opportunities. Coastal communities have unleashed nature-based potential both on land and in our oceans—for renewable energy industries and in the fight against climate change, which can also drive social and economic benefits. Our coasts and seas contain some of the UK’s most varied ecosystems, and investing in coastal restoration and adaptation projects offers low-income coastal communities opportunities that yield financial returns on investments, create jobs, stimulate local economies and regenerate and revitalise the health of our ecosystems.

We might look, for example, at the work my hon. Friend the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton) is doing with the Sussex Wildlife Trust on restoring the kelp forest off the coast of Worthing, which is helping to capture carbon. Restoring and maintaining blue carbon habitats in our seas could create jobs directly in conservation, as well as indirectly in nature-based tourism, helping to level up our coastal communities even further.

Coastal communities have their own distinctive and unique role to play in our regional and sub-regional economies, as well as in the national one. We must ensure that all places create and share in prosperity, so that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy a higher quality of life. If given the necessary social, economic and environmental support and investment, our coastal communities can be an even greater national resource, rather than a problem requiring a solution. It is therefore vital that levelling up recognises the unique challenges that coastal communities face and responds to them with meaningful policy action. It is also vital that this Government recognise the unique opportunities that coastal communities present to us economically, environmentally and socially and respond to them with meaningful policy action.

To address the challenges and exploit the opportunities of coastal communities, we need a dedicated Minister for coastal communities who can work across Government, supported by a national strategy for coastal communities and the reinstatement of a cross-departmental working group for the coast. This much-needed recognition and investment from the Government will help to secure the future of the coast and generate improved economic resilience and environmental sustainability through creating better connectivity, economic diversity and stronger communities and by restoring pride in our coastal identity as an island nation.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

--- Later in debate ---

[Sally-Ann Hart]

I thank the Minister, the SNP spokesman the hon. Member for Gordon (Richard Thomson), and the other Members present for their contributions. It is of regret that the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen), chose to politicise and personalise her response in an otherwise constructive cross-party debate. Having stood against my predecessor in 2015, she is still fighting a battle for Hastings and Rye, rather than focusing on her new role and constituency. My concerns are for 2022 and the future, not the fight of 2015.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 16th March 2022 Westminster Hall

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the status of local enterprise partnerships.

It is a pleasure to speak under your chairmanship, Ms Rees, and I thank everyone for attending the debate.

I am delighted to have secured the debate at such a critical time for local enterprise partnerships, when strategic, business-led, local economic growth remains in rather a state of suspended animation following the LEP review. In East Sussex, we have been well-served by LEPs over the past 10 years and I am delighted that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Levelling Up recognised and affirmed the vital role that LEPs can continue to play in the recent levelling-up White Paper. It would have been all too easy for him to have looked for a headline and to have announced the creation of successor bodies, so I congratulate him for the leadership and common sense that he has shown on the issue.

That said, the sector is in limbo as it awaits clarity on its future role and, critically, confirmation of the funding it needs to fulfil it. That is creating an inability to plan, and the continued uncertainty has seen some of our most talented people leave LEPs. It is also having an impact on our business leaders, who give their time and experience in support of their local areas. They will not stay at the table for long if the uncertainty continues or if they do not feel valued.

It is six weeks to the day since at the levelling-up White Paper was published and LEPs have very much welcomed its conclusions. The value of LEPs is based on an array of evidence about their impact across the country, and a visit to any of their websites or social media platforms will demonstrate the huge amount of work that is under way. Only last week, the Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Chris Philp), who is the Minister with responsibility for the digital economy, was in Hull to launch the latest LEP local digital skills partnership, which equips people across Hull and East Yorkshire with the skills needed to support the region’s digital jobs boom and to ensure that more residents can benefit from the thriving local tech sector. LEPs are also home to, and work closely with, world-leading sector champions, from creative industries, cyber and net zero through to defence and space. LEPs are already bringing together critical clusters to support innovation and turbocharge growth.

In research and development and innovation, LEPs are making groundbreaking advances based on high-tech economic clusters. They are demonstrating their value in a way that is crystal clear, whether through cell and gene therapy in Hertfordshire, the first test flight of a hybrid electric aircraft in the south-west, developing new agri-tech systems in the midlands, strengthening cyber-security technology in Gloucestershire, automation and robotics in Oxfordshire, or building new supply lines for future electric vehicles in Coventry. Some of the largest stand-out examples of innovation are driven by LEPs, which was also cited in the White Paper.

In my own beautiful constituency of Hastings and Rye, the South East local enterprise partnership, or SELEP, has had a major impact thanks to its ability to convene partners, build strong relationships and help to put the required structures and processes in place to help local businesses thrive.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

I commend the hon. Member for having secured a debate on LEPs, because the LEP in my own Thames valley region does a great deal of work to bring together businesses, local government, the third sector and higher education so that they work collectively not just for our region but for UK plc. Does she agree that when those groups are all talking in unison and agreeing with the likes of myself that we need to build a western rail link to Heathrow, which is the No.1 infrastructure priority in our region, the Government should agree to such work rather than delaying it, as is currently the case?

[Christina Rees (in the Chair)]

Order. It is nice to see that you have not lost your technique for long interventions, Mr Dhesi.

[Sally-Ann Hart]

The hon. Member for Slough (Mr Dhesi) makes a good point about partnership working, but I cannot comment on the western Heathrow link as I do not know enough about it.

Turning to skills, LEPs have significant success in the sector, in particular through skills advisory panels. Business feeds directly into that SAP data and relies on the cross-co-operation and capacity of LEPs to gather and deliver that level of information at scale. No other organisation does that locally and it connects directly with the aims of the Government’s proposed unit for future skills. LEPs also co-fund the Careers and Enterprise Company’s enterprise adviser network, which has brought nearly 3,000 business volunteers into schools to support and stimulate vital career choices for students. The convening role of the LEPs has boosted the benefits, scale and reach of that partnership, enabling more business stakeholders to connect directly with local schools.

Furthermore, LEPs work in cross-partnership to deliver solid results for their skills boot camps and institutes of technology, addressing skills needed in green technology, the heavy goods vehicle and logistics sector, digital, advanced manufacturing and the construction sector. Again, that helps to deliver on another White Paper ambition to resolve acute national and local skills shortages.

Only last week, the Higher Education Commission launched its latest report on innovation, again highlighting the central role that LEPs can play in driving innovation across our regions. More broadly, LEPs have played a critical role in supporting our local small and medium-sized enterprises through the pandemic and the recovery, too. That is absolutely right in East Sussex.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

I was delighted to hear my hon. Friend refer to the work of the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP in supporting suppliers of the electric vehicle supply chain. She talked about SMEs, and the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP has supported 5,500 businesses, organising a whole range of roundtables. Is not the great strength of LEPs that they bring private sector expertise into an area that was originally only for the public sector?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sally-Ann Hart]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. The commerciality of the minds in the LEP adds to the local authorities, giving that broad cross-section of expertise.

In the past year alone, 1.6 million businesses turned to their local LEP growth hub for advice and support. During the most challenging times of the pandemic, LEPs designed and delivered more than 100 local initiatives, targeting help and support to give local businesses the best chance at survival. They played a similar role in preparation for exiting the EU. They are now looking at how global challenges are impacting on local business. The intel is fed into central Government weekly, providing real-time data and insight. LEPs have shown it, the White Paper confirms it, and I am confident from my discussions with my local LEP that they have a unique role to play in the future.

The LEP structure, however, of regional collaboration with public and private organisations and individuals, with a unique focus on improving local economic growth, is potentially under threat. Six weeks on from the review, LEPs have no confirmation of their future role nor, more critically, how or whether they will be funded to fulfil that role—hence I am here today to ask the Minister for clarity on that important issue. We must turn the words of the White Paper into tangible policy. Action is now a matter of urgency.

In conclusion—though quite a long conclusion—I would welcome the Minister’s consideration of the following points. The Government must please clearly define and establish the future functions of LEPs and make them clear to all parties. If the functions are not clear, or no obligation to consult them is made, any meaningful role will simply be lost to posterity in future structures.

It is vital that the local independent business voice of LEPs is safeguarded for it to be engaged in local economic planning and decision making, and that the LEPs’ local government partners recognise that. More than 2,000 local business leaders offer their time and expertise through LEPs to support their local economies. They are an asset that we cannot afford to lose. Involving that local voice in devolution agreements will help to keep business around the table. The private sector expertise and investment has many regional benefits and we need to encourage a culture of enterprise and engagement.

We also need to recognise that LEPs’ business acumen is already helping to identify and drive some of the biggest groundbreaking economic clusters in the country, generating jobs and pulling in more private sector leverage than public finance alone. In one example, a LEP’s brokering capability generated an investment ratio of 12:1 for a local sector cluster, and it is still increasing. That capability, at minimal cost to the public purse, could simply disappear if we do not clearly establish their function now. It is not the number of allocated capital pots that counts; it is about LEPs having the ability to influence how that capital is spent. That is really fundamental.

For many, the journey to devolution could be a lengthy one. The White Paper suggest that it is a decade-long ambition, and some suggest even longer. In some areas, there may be no greater appetite for Mayors or county deals than we currently see, and the focus on immediate mayoral combined authorities reflects only about 32% of all areas, because approximately 68% of LEPs are not covered by MCAs. LEPs rely on European funding to support skills and deliver projects, so they will therefore need to access the UK shared prosperity fund to do the same, as the vast majority will not be in MCAs. Ultimately, we need to identify the functions and pathways for LEPs outside MCAs.

Through their unique collaboration and local business voice, LEPs broker investments that deliver the jobs, environment and local taxes that local communities need and depend on. It is now vital to ensure that LEPs have the teeth and funding, so that they can continue to develop the opportunities that play such a significant part in levelling up the entire country from north to south and east to west, including our coastal communities.

[Christina Rees (in the Chair)]

I would like to start the wind-ups at 5.12 pm in order to give Sally-Ann Hart a couple of minutes to sum up at the end. I do not think there is any need to put a time limit on speeches, as long as you are kind to one another.

--- Later in debate ---

[Sally-Ann Hart]

I thank the Minister for his fantastic response and the hon. Member for Nottingham North (Alex Norris) for his contribution, as well as my hon. Friends the Members for Buckingham (Greg Smith), for Stroud (Siobhan Baillie) and for Northampton South (Andrew Lewer) for their excellent contributions, and my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (Mark Pawsey) for his contribution through interventions.

LEPs clearly have a role to play and are an asset to all the constituencies represented today. They are not perfect, but they have the ability to harness the power of businesses and they have a commerciality about them that local authorities just do not have. When it comes to decision making on the if, why, how, when and what of spending money, it is really important that we have the LEP voice in our regions. LEPs really do encourage business growth. If we want to develop a culture of enterprise in this country, LEPs really do play an important role in that. They really do manage to convene partnerships, which is one of their strengths. I was therefore delighted to hear the Minister’s confirmation that LEPs will continue and will be funded and that clarity will be provided soon.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the status of Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Budget Resolutions

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Monday 1st November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I welcome the Budget’s investment in people, families, education and skills, and jobs, which are all vital for combating poverty and levelling up. For too long, many of the worst-off people and places across the UK have been left behind by uneven economic growth and fewer opportunities. Levelling up means that everyone gets an equal opportunity to unleash their potential to make a difference. That will help to combat poverty. Poverty does not make the most of a person’s potential and deprives our society and economy of the skills and talents of those who have meaningful contributions to make.

Levelling up is important to my beautiful constituency of Hastings of Rye: a coastal community with so much potential to be unleashed, if given the opportunity. We have fantastic contributions to make as individuals and businesses, with huge potential for growth in, for example, culture, tourism and manufacturing. I am delighted that Hastings was successful in its towns fund bid, with £24.3 million awarded and another £85 million leveraged to invest in the town through its investment plan. However, I will highlight Professor Chris Whitty’s recent report on health disparities in coastal communities and his recommendations.

While I welcome the new Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, Professor Whitty highlights the clear commonality in the drivers of poor health, which include deprivation, poor housing, alcohol and/or substance misuse, low educational attainment, poor transport infrastructure and connectivity, and a lack of diversity in jobs and local communities. Will the Minister consider those common factors in strategies for levelling up coastal communities during the Parliament?

I welcome the Chancellor’s focus in the Budget on helping working families to meet the cost of living and helping to support more vulnerable families. Poverty reduction comes through well-paid jobs, but more money for universal credit—an in-work benefit—is essential in enabling people to work and get the financial support that they need. By reducing the taper rate from 63% to 55%, millions of people will be able to keep more of their income—it is a tax cut for the lowest paid. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Sir Iain Duncan Smith), who pioneered universal credit, said:

“More money for Universal Credit is vital to support the conservative ideals of hard work and determination.”

I also welcome the rise in the national living wage, which will help working families to meet the cost of living and help to level up.

Investment in people continues with investment in education and improving skills. It is fantastic that we are increasing skills funding by 42% in cash terms, meeting our national skills fund commitment. The new numeracy programme will help to tackle poor numeracy skills, improve basic maths skills and therefore improve people’s earnings and employment opportunities. Again, that is levelling up.

I welcome the funding boost in our primary and secondary schools, but I would like to see the opportunity area funding that supports social mobility and levelling up in some of the most disadvantaged areas extended to more left-behind places, and especially coastal communities. Hastings and St Leonards schoolchildren and teachers have hugely benefited from that targeted funding for the past five years.

The continuation of the holiday activities and food programme is very welcome. To coin the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Vicky Ford) when she was children’s Minister, the HAF programme is a living, breathing example of levelling up in action.

I have got so much more to say, but I have to cut it short. The Budget is very welcome.

Rough Sleeping

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 8th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship this afternoon, Ms Rees. I congratulate the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran) on securing the debate on this crucial issue.

I was elected in December 2019 with a pledge to end rough sleeping on the streets of Hastings and Rye, which is a pledge I intend to keep. As constituency MPs, we will all have had experiences of meeting and hearing from those who have unfortunately fallen into homelessness and rough sleeping. The distress and desperation that individuals in that position experience is hard to hear and challenging to overcome.

The Government have committed vast amounts of investment since the last general election to support work to eradicate rough sleeping, and to support those who find themselves homeless. In the 2021 Budget, the Chancellor pledged a further £676 million, which included a rough sleepers’ support scheme of £221 million. Hastings has benefited from that investment in eradicating rough sleeping, and I thank the Government for that.

As welcome as the funding is, I have discovered something that is equally important in tackling the issue, and that is collaboration. When I was first elected and made tackling rough sleeping one of my top priorities, I was struck by how many organisations were already working on this: councils, churches, faith groups, large national charities and individuals doing their bit here and there. What was evident, though, was the disjointed approach to providing support to those who most needed it. It was clear to me that there needed to be more collaboration and joined-up thinking.

Thanks to the fantastic work of Homeless Link, in east Sussex we now have more of a joined-up approach. Following a meeting last year, we have set up a forum aimed at preventing homelessness and mitigating the risk factors of rough sleeping. It includes local charities, churches, organisations, local authority officers and homelessness support representatives from all over, particularly those who are involved in housing and health support. The forum meets on a regular basis, which means that all those concerned with tackling the issue can meet to discuss progress and next steps. By working together, they are beginning to end the pandemic of rough sleeping in our area. The Government have played a crucial role, in providing funding and impetus to eradicate rough sleeping. Combined with the collaboration of those on the ground, that is now delivering results.

I agree with the hon. Member for Oxford West and Abingdon that another crucial aspect in tackling rough sleeping is the Housing First policy. Piloted in 2017, the policy has supported and helped countless people, and was the foundation for the Government’s approach to those sleeping on our streets during the covid-19 pandemic. It is the principle of helping those with the most complex needs not just with housing and support for long-term accommodation needs, but to tackle the causes of their rough sleeping, whether they be mental health issues, drug or alcohol misuse, unemployment or family and relationship breakdown. Providing that wraparound care and support, rather than just a roof over someone’s head, is the best way to tackle rough sleeping and ensure that people do not end up back on our streets.

That is why collaboration is so important in our approach to this issue. We need individuals and organisations from all areas to provide that wraparound support and work together to tackle the issue. That includes volunteers, local authorities and other organisations. I conclude by asking the Government to ensure that we focus not only on funding, but on policies such as Housing First and the collaboration they instil in those working on the ground. Funding and collaboration are the two crucial ingredients we need to make a success of our pledge to eradicate rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament.

Winter Homelessness Support

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Wednesday 16th December 2020 Westminster Hall

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Nickie Aiken) for securing today’s debate. I absolutely agree with everything that she and the right hon. Member for East Ham (Stephen Timms) said about social housing need. Investment in social housing is absolutely imperative.

A year ago, I was elected on a promise to end rough sleeping in Hastings and Rye by the end of this Parliament, and to prevent homelessness—a promise to local residents that I intend to keep. I am pleased that although we have been battered and bashed by covid-19, the Government have not lost sight of their desire to ensure that we support the most vulnerable and eradicate rough sleeping once and for all. The determination to live up to that promise is clear in the actions that have been taken throughout the covid-19 pandemic to help and support rough sleepers and the homeless.

There was the initial funding of £3.2 million given to local authorities in March for the Everyone In campaign to help get rough sleepers off the streets as coronavirus spread. To ensure that rough sleepers do not return to the streets after the pandemic, the Government launched the Next Steps accommodation programme, which provides funding of more than £250 million to local authorities and their partners in 2020-21 for short and medium-term accommodation solutions, and also more than £150 million to 276 schemes for longer-term accommodation solutions.

This winter the Government have announced masses of funding and a welcome package to protect rough sleepers over the winter months. All told, over this pandemic and into the winter, the Government have allocated more than £700 million in ring-fenced funding to support rough sleepers and those at risk of rough sleeping. In Hastings we have an acute issue with rough sleeping. The local authority has one of the highest rates of rough sleeping in our region, having increased from three in 2010 to 48 people sleeping on the streets in 2018. That increase is deeply concerning, but it is not just the raw numbers that alarm me; it is also the way in which we approach the issue.

The best thing we can do is to offer rough sleepers and those registered as homeless Housing First with full wraparound support. Too often, I have heard of cases of rough sleepers being taken off the streets and put into temporary, insecure and poor quality accommodation and simply left there. I want to see a proper series of interventions that provide more secure quality accommodation, access to health services to deal with any addictions, health concerns or mental illness, and also support with skills training and employability advice to help sustain tenancies and get rough sleepers off the cold, wintry streets and back on their feet, standing tall with a future to look on with hope and pride.

Too often we have sought quick wins in short-term solutions. We need to make sure that we have a long-term plan with the funding. I am pleased with the support and the emphasis that the Government have put on supporting local authorities and organisations to help the most vulnerable, but, going forward, we need a more holistic approach to tackling the underlying causes of rough sleeping to really give these people a fresh start.

Oral Answers to Questions

Sally-Ann Hart Excerpts

Monday 16th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Robert Jenrick]

I thank the officers and councillors at Cheshire West and Chester Council for the hard work that they have done already and no doubt will do in the weeks ahead. We have provided a great deal of support to the council: total covid-19 additional funding is £25 million, and total funding from across Government is almost £39 million. As the hon. Gentleman says, that will be followed up by further funding from the sales, fees and charges scheme, which contributes 75p in the pound in respect of lost income for councils. I have also committed—I will say more on this at the spending review—to a similar scheme in respect of lost income for council tax and business rates.

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend and this Government have prioritised ending homelessness more than any other Administration. It is widely known that social housing can play a key role in preventing and ending homelessness by providing security of tenure, affordability and a safety net to thousands of individuals and families. This year’s affordable homes programme is welcome, but will my right hon. Friend please update the House on what measures he is taking to increase investment in social housing to help to end homelessness?

[Christopher Pincher]

My hon. Friend rightly points out the £11.5 billion that we have made available in the next five years to build 180,000 new affordable homes, a significant proportion of which will be for affordable or social rent. We have already heard about the £700 million or so in total that we are spending to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, and I direct my hon. Friend towards the abolition of the housing revenue account cap, which allows local authorities to build social homes if they wish to. It is a local authority matter and we encourage them to do so.