Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Owen and Lee Rowley

Monday 5th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

Under a Government who created a cost of living crisis that has sent inflation levels soaring, there are now 4.2 million children living in poverty, and 70% of them are in working households. One third of children in the west midlands and 200,000 children in the north-east live below the poverty line. Shockingly, a quarter of all children growing up under the Scottish National party in Scotland now live in poverty. What support can local authorities expect in order to deal with this increase in child poverty, and is the Department’s decision to award levelling-up funding to only one in four deprived areas a factor in the heartbreaking levels of child poverty we see in Tory Britain today?

[Lee Rowley]

The Government offer a huge amount of support to the most vulnerable in our society. We have seen that all the way through covid and through the inflation and energy issues, and we will continue to do it through the welfare system as a whole. The best way out of poverty, where it is possible, is to work, and that is why this Government are ensuring that work pays, work matters and work achieves.

Adult Social Care

Debate between Sarah Owen and Lee Rowley

Wednesday 8th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Lee Rowley]

I am happy to confirm that the Government are trying, where we are able, to offer greater visibility of what is coming and greater long-term understanding. We will continue to try to do that across the local government finance settlement, and I hope this policy statement is an indication of that.

[Sarah Owen]

I appreciate the Minister’s generosity in giving way, and I completely agree on the kind of long-term futures that we talking about for local government, yet we are 23 days away from local authorities setting their budgets and they have still had no indication about their public health grants. If we are going to treat local authorities with respect on healthcare, surely they should be given that well in advance.

[Lee Rowley]

I know that my colleagues across Government will be working hard to get the final elements of the settlement out as soon as possible, but I hope the hon. Lady will acknowledge that, on the basis of my conversations with local government over the past few weeks, there is a recognition that the settlement has provided a good level of funds, that it will be moving in a positive direction and that it provides the stability and greater certainty that local government has requested and that we have responded to as a Government.

To conclude, I again thank the hon. Member for Sheffield South East for instigating and opening this debate. I also thank everybody outside this place who supports adult social care. It is an extraordinarily important part of local government and the state’s activities in general. As has been outlined in this debate, we need to support the most vulnerable and those in need, irrespective of age or condition. Through the changes that are coming in the new financial year, we are trying to provide additional funds, support and taxpayer subsidy to do that, and to ensure that local government can continue to build and improve for the long term in such an important policy area.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Owen and Lee Rowley

Monday 20th February 2023 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

Over a decade of Tory cuts are not the only thing damaging council budgets; fly-tipping is a stain on our communities and costs nearly £400 million a year. Taxpayers are left footing the bill for the 16% increase in this crime under a Tory Government. Councils should not pay the price for Conservatives being soft on crime, so does the Minister agree that it is time to get tough on people who do not respect our neighbourhoods? Will he back Labour’s plan for stronger punishment for fly-tippers and the introduction of clear-up squads?

[Lee Rowley]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her comments. I absolutely agree that fly-tipping is a scourge and a crime, and that local authorities have the resources and the ability to try to do this and to crack down on it. I encourage them to do so.

Draft Architects Act 1997 (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Debate between Sarah Owen and Lee Rowley

Wednesday 7th December 2022 General Committees

[Lee Rowley]

I am grateful to all hon. Members who contributed to the debate, and I will address the points raised. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Luton North for her confirmation that she will join us in supporting this initiative and will not seek to divide the Committee. I welcome the constructive spirit of her speech, and I am grateful to the Opposition for their acknowledgement that the regulations are a necessary and reasonable step forward.

The hon. Lady outlined broader points about Brexit and the economic circumstances we are in. My hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay made important points about the context for those circumstances. With the Committee’s forgiveness, I will not engage in a long debate about macroeconomic or global financial policy here, as many colleagues debate those issues regularly on the Floor of the House. Instead, I will focus on the relatively narrow decision that we have to make today.

The hon. Member for Luton North asked about the numbers and the impact of the regulations. As the Architects Registration Board has indicated, the position with regards to EU access to the United Kingdom remains the same from a regulatory perspective, in that ARB will continue to acknowledge EU qualifications, and hopes that the application made to the European Union will be successful as soon as possible. The regulations extend opportunities for others to come and provide support for the United Kingdom’s economy in the future, which I hope will be welcomed.

Questions were raised about standards. There is a relatively narrow discussion to be had about ensuring we have the opportunity to bring people in, so if people want to come to this country, that can happen, and equivalent qualifications will be recognised. The issue of how the Government approach standards in the future is a broader question; as the hon. Lady said, it relates to a number of matters, including Grenfell, which we are considering, but that is not something to opine on in this Committee.

Finally, the hon. Lady asked broader questions about how the architectural sector across the world deals with recruitment and retention. While I understand the point the she is making, I gently say that that is a broader matter than the Question in front of us. There is also a genuine question for the Labour party to ask about where it thinks the role and responsibility of the state starts and stops.

[Sarah Owen]

I can hear that the Minister is getting to the end of his comments. Has he missed my question about the likely timeframe for the completion of negotiations with Australia, New Zealand and the US?

[Lee Rowley]

I will come to that question. To conclude my point on global recruitment and retention, we obviously want successful sectors, with good pipelines of people coming in and which allow people to build their careers and lives. At the same time, there has to room for individual agency and individual sector decisions, and some of the hon. Lady’s questions should probably be dealt with outside formal legislation, regulation and intervention from Government.

I turn to the question that the hon. Lady reminded me about. Ultimately, the decision in question is one for the Architects Registration Board. The board was set up in statute in 1997 for a purpose, and it will make decisions about who it wants to enter into discussions with, and how long it wants to continue those discussions for, and then it will seek to conclude them and to obtain mutual recognition as a consequence.

The hon. Member for North Ayrshire and Arran, who tempts me to relitigate Brexit, which I will refrain from doing, asked similar questions about the need to sign up to reciprocal arrangements with the European Union, and about ensuring that things move quickly, and I hope my answer to the hon. Member for Luton North has explained my view. I too would like a reciprocal agreement with the European Union signed, so I hope that the EU moves quickly; that would be in its interests.

The hon. Member for Hemsworth asked a series of technical questions about the consultation that was undertaken and its impacts. He asked why the preamble to the regulations states:

“In accordance with section 15 of the 2022 Act, the Secretary of State has consulted the Architects Registration Board”,

but does not reference the broader consultation. That is because section 15 of the 2022 Act requires us to consult with the relevant regulator. The preamble confirms that we have done that, so we are responding to the requirement in the 2022 Act, rather than making a broader point about consultation. As he rightly indicates, we have consulted on this matter. The consultation ran from late 2020 until early 2021. I believe that he referred to the consultation response that the Government provided on 8 June 2021. For the record, there were over 400 responses to the consultation, including from RIBA—he had concerns that it may not have been involved in the discussion. The consultation helped us to come to a set of conclusions about how we would bring forward the change and take things forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Sarah Owen and Lee Rowley

Monday 21st November 2022 Commons Chamber

[Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)]

Before the Chancellor’s statement, the Conservative leaders of Kent County Council and Hampshire County Council wrote to the Prime Minister warning of their likely bankruptcy. Instead of hearing the concerns of local leaders across the country, the Government passed on responsibility to them by forcing councils to raise tax. Not only is that another unfair burden on the British taxpayer, but local government experts have estimated that the Tory plans to raise council tax will bring in more than £80 per household in Surrey but only £39 per household in Manchester and Hull. That sounds dangerously like another Tory failure in the making on levelling up. Does the Minister truly understand the financial emergency facing councils today? If so, how can he justify local residents and businesses having their council tax raised while the Government allow non-doms to avoid paying between £1 billion and £3 billion-worth of tax?

[Lee Rowley]

The hon. Lady highlights a number of things that she obviously wants to make a point about. The reality is that billions and billions of additional taxpayer subsidy was made available within the settlement last week. We will come forward with further information in due course. Ultimately, the Labour party’s position is fundamentally that there can be no contribution from local taxpayers. That is a very interesting place to be given that there ultimately has to be a link between services and taxation. That is something that the Government recognise while still providing billions in taxpayer subsidy from the centre to improve lives and services in the long run.