Wera Hobhouse
Main Page: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)Department Debates - View all Wera Hobhouse's debates with the Leader of the House
(1 year, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Penny Mordaunt
I will tackle my hon. Friend on the last point he makes. We have put through a huge amount of useful legislation, and he will know that we have plans to bring forward some really critical Bills to receive Royal Assent, we hope, before the summer recess. I am all in favour of innovation, so I shall certainly look at what my hon. Friend suggests. It is actually a refreshing change to have my hon. Friend complain about there not being enough legislation, as his usual default setting is to try to prevent any from going through at all.
Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)
Over 1 million households in England are currently stuck on social housing waiting lists. Thanks to my Liberal Democrat council, Bath is now building the first new council housing in 30 years, but clearly a lot more needs to be done to reduce the unacceptably long social housing waiting lists. Last year, 14,000 social homes were lost nationally, and the Government have failed to set targets to replace them. Can we have a statement from the relevant Minister on how the Government intend to tackle this real crisis in social housing?
Penny Mordaunt
The hon. Lady will know that we have been investing in social housing and removing some of the obstacles that have prevented developments going ahead. We have had the largest social housing programmes we have seen in this country in recent years. I congratulate her and her constituency on getting some developments moving, and I shall make sure that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has heard her concerns.