Private Rented Sector: Regulation
Debate between Sarah Owen and Rachel Maclean(11 months, 1 week ago)
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Rachel Maclean
I thank the hon. Gentleman. On his first point, we believe that we currently have the right balance. Of course, the Bill will proceed through the House. On his intention to table an amendment, I am of course happy to meet him to discuss that.
A number of Members referenced housing issues more generally. The Opposition Front-Bench spokesperson, the hon. Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen), referred to the affordable eco-homes being built by her local council. The House must be made aware—I am sure it is already—that those affordable homes are being built with support from the Conservative Government through the affordable homes programme. We are delivering homes all across the country.
Rachel Maclean
No. I need to wind up. This Conservative Government have made the provision of affordable housing part of our plan to build more homes across the country, including in Luton, so that we can provide aspiring homeowners with a step on to the housing ladder. The affordable homes programme is worth £11.5 billion and will deliver thousands of affordable homes to rent or buy.
The Government are committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes. A large number of the new homes delivered through the affordable homes programme will be for social rent. We have a strong record of building homes all over the country since we have been in Government. We intend to continue that.
I thank all Members for their contributions and look forward to working with colleagues from all parties as we take the Renters (Reform) Bill through Parliament.
HMICFRS Recommendations
Debate between Sarah Owen and Rachel Maclean(2 years, 1 month ago)
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Rachel Maclean
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight the need for specialist support, which is why we have put additional resources into the system. We have expanded the essential independent sexual violence adviser and independent domestic violence adviser scheme, in which individuals are trained to work with victims in a very specialised way and help them to navigate their way through the system. We recognise that it is daunting, but we know that putting those people in place can make an enormous difference to the conviction rate.
Sarah Owen (Luton North) (Lab)
The Minister asks us to support the new communications plan, as I am sure everybody in the House will. She said in her statement that the “Enough” campaign
“is designed to make it clear to perpetrators that their crimes will not be tolerated”,
but it is hard to see how the communications plan is being matched with action. More than 98% of reported rape cases go unprosecuted. When can we expect prosecution rates to increase under the new plans? Is it months, is it years or is it decades?
Rachel Maclean
The hon. Lady will recognise that this is a systemic change—an enormous cultural change that will not happen overnight. In fact, the issues go back decades under multiple Governments. Women and girls and rape victims have been let down. That is why this Government have taken the bull by the horns: we are the Government who set up the rape review to work extensively with the CPS and the police to find out what is going wrong and fix it with cash, legislation and action.