Local Government Reorganisation
Debate between Steve Darling and Alison McGovern(2 weeks, 4 days ago)
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Alison McGovern
I suggest to my hon. Friend that once I have actually made the announcement, perhaps we can have a chat about those things. As somebody who has had mayoral devolution in my area for more than a decade now, and who represents the great town of Birkenhead—recently shortlisted for town of culture—I have a lot of thoughts about this issue, which I will happily share with him.
Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)
Torbay council is the most deprived local authority in the south-west of England. I would welcome the Minister’s assurances that rearranging the deckchairs with this local reorganisation will not detract from regeneration, which is a core driver for that local authority. The new Prime Minister is set to move No. 10 a further two hours away from the west of England. How will he be supporting the south-west?
Alison McGovern
I am not sure that all the hon. Gentleman’s questions were central to the subject of this statement, but he makes an important point, which is: what is the objective here? The objective is to grow our economy, so that we can deal with deprivation, particularly in seaside and coastal places, and have better quality public services to support people. That is the objective, and that is what I think we will achieve.
Local Government Finance
Debate between Steve Darling and Alison McGovern(7 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)
I am sure that the Minister will join me in congratulating Anna Coles, the director of adult and community services at Torbay council, and her team on achieving a “good” rating from the Care Quality Commission this week. The fly in the ointment is that despite Torbay being the most deprived local authority in south-west England, this settlement means that it is set to lose out on adult social care because of the higher than average number of people who are old. Will the Minister explain that?
Alison McGovern
It is excellent to hear that Anna Coles has done so well in providing local services. I do not recognise the figures mentioned by the hon. Gentleman and I would be happy to discuss them with him. Our objective is to get all councils back on their feet, particularly through the Pride in Place programme, in which Torbay is participating.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Steve Darling and Alison McGovern(1 year, 4 months ago)
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Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)
There continue to be unacceptable delays in processing Access to Work applications, both for my constituents in Torbay and across the country. This leads to fears among disabled people that job offers will be withdrawn by their would-be employers. What reassurance can the Minister give the Chamber that the Government have plans afoot to tackle that backlog?
Alison McGovern
The hon. Member makes an important point. We had a manifesto commitment to try to tackle the backlog. We have put more staff in place to deal with that backlog, but we have more to do, because it is important that disabled people are able to take up jobs that are offered to them. We need to make sure that that is a scheme that works.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Steve Darling and Alison McGovern(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)
Children in poverty in Torbay make up 23% of our population but 100% of our future. Barnardo’s recently highlighted that the most powerful tool in the Government’s toolbox to tackle child poverty is ending the two-child cap. Only last week, the annual poverty report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation came to the same conclusion. When will the Minister come to that same conclusion and end the two-child cap?
Alison McGovern
I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question and for coming along to our parliamentary engagement session last week, which I hope he agrees was a productive update for everybody. As I just mentioned, I watched from the Opposition Benches as various policies, including the one he mentions, were introduced. We can see their consequences all around us. We cannot promise to do anything that we cannot pay for, but we are determined to have a child poverty strategy that works.