Social Housing Occupancy
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(8 months, 2 weeks ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Gary. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Catherine West) for bringing forward this debate. She has already spoken very eloquently and in detail about the issue of overcrowding in social housing and its impact on health, life expectancy and education. Although her constituency is in London and mine is in the north of England, we face identical issues and this is a national crisis. Indeed, I would say that the shortage of housing is one of the single biggest domestic issues that we face in our country.
In Bolton, the 2021 census showed that 7,000 homes were judged to be overcrowded, and of those 3,840 were households with dependent children—that is thousands of families with children forced to share beds with other family members and forced into cramped conditions without personal space. That is caused by a chronic housing shortage, which is forcing people into the private sector where the rents are unaffordable.
The Minister will tell us that homes will be built in the future. Let me remind him that when his Government came into power in 2010, they cut funding for affordable housing by 63%: the biggest cut to any capital budget. They also cut funding for new homes and social rents, thus causing rapid decline in the building of social homes. The Government have just not built enough homes, especially three and four-bedroom homes.
I have many constituents living in small houses with ill family members who need a room to themselves but they cannot have it. That of course causes a lot of disturbance and problems within the family, especially for children going to school. In fact, I was talking to a constituent yesterday who lives in a tiny two-bedroom home with three children and she is severely ill herself. She is desperate to move into a bigger home, but knows that she will have many years of waiting. That kind of thing has a lot of impact. In fact, covid impacted my constituency massively because as a result of overcrowding there was no space for the families to go and quarantine. Overcrowding affects children’s education and health. It harms family relationships and causes distress and anxiety.
The Government have had 14 years to build many, many social houses, but have chosen not to do so because they have an ideological objection to social housing. If they did not, they would have built them by now and many of my constituents and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green and other Members across the country would not have to face these issues.
Oral Answers to Questions
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(8 months, 3 weeks ago)
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Michael Gove
I cannot reveal the nature of any discussions I have had with the Chancellor, but Sheringham roundabout is one of the single most important infrastructure investments in Norfolk. My hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Duncan Baker) has convincingly made the case to me, and I hope we will be able to get motoring on it before too long.
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Jacob Young)
Our £11.5 billion affordable housing programme will deliver thousands of affordable homes for both rent and purchase right across the country. The levelling-up White Paper committed to increasing the supply of social rented homes, and a large number of the new homes delivered through our affordable homes programme will be for social rent.
Yasmin Qureshi
In Bolton, 20,000 people are on a housing waiting list. There is an 18-month wait for a three-bedroom house and, on average, 800 to 900 people apply for each home that comes up. Families are often referred to the private rented sector, which they are not able to afford—we know that rents are sky high. After 14 years of this Tory Government failing to build affordable homes, will the Minister now apologise to my constituents who are stuck in temporary accommodation?
Jacob Young
The hon. Lady mentions the last 14 years. Well, since 2010, we have delivered over 696,000 new affordable homes, including over 482,000 affordable homes for rent, of which 172,000 are for social rent. We are committed to building more homes for people like her constituents.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(1 year, 8 months ago)
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The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Michael Gove)
It is a pleasure to open this final day of the Budget debate. It is a particular pleasure to be opposite my old friend, the right hon. Member for Doncaster North (Edward Miliband). It is a pleasure that both of us now—I think I can fairly say as elder statesmen of our respective parties—have a chance to be taken around the parade ring one more time in front of everyone. There is a difference, however, between me and the right hon. Gentleman. I went from rising hope to elder statesman without an intervening period of achievement, whereas he was a very distinguished Energy Secretary and Leader of the Opposition. It is a pleasure to see him in his place.
The fact that we are both in the Chamber today also demonstrates the wisdom of one of the Budget measures. In the Budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made it clear that he wanted to bring people who had been dropped from the frontline of the workforce back into the frontline if they still had something to contribute. It is welcome to see not just both of us here, but, within days of the Budget, someone of real talent who had been retired from the frontline coming back: I am referring, of course, to the news that broke just an hour ago that Roy Hodgson has returned as manager of Crystal Palace.
I am conscious that this is not the most significant political or parliamentary event this week. All of us will this week be thinking of another political figure—a blond titan who divides opinion, a figure of undoubted achievement who defied the then Prime Minister over Europe but whose passion for Britain and especially for overlooked and undervalued communities cannot be denied. I am referring, of course, to the former Member for Henley, Lord Heseltine of Thenford, who is 90 today. I hope I speak for the whole House in wishing Lord Heseltine many happy returns. He is a personal hero of mine, although we do disagree on some things. He is that rare thing—a Conservative who has been given the freedom of the city of Liverpool—
Michael Gove
He was against Brexit, that is true. We all have our flaws, myself included. I am pleased to say that many people were in favour of Brexit, including well over 70% of the members of the constituency of the right hon. Member for Doncaster North. Brexit has been delivered by this Government, Brexit is a settled fact and we are all committed across this House to making Brexit work.
Lord Heseltine set an example of leadership: pro-enterprise, compassionate and inclusive in the best traditions of one nation conservatism, which are being carried on by my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Look at what the Prime Minister has already achieved this year. In the early weeks of this year, he issued a section 35 notice with the Secretary of State for Scotland in order to uphold the principle that the Equality Act 2010 should be a shield and not a sword. As a result, women’s rights were protected across the United Kingdom. Shortly after that, he concluded the Windsor framework, which further strengthened our United Kingdom and ensures a closer and more effective relationship, not just within these islands but with our neighbours and friends in the European Union. He then concluded the next stage of the AUKUS defence pact, which means that the waters of the Pacific will be patrolled and democracy will be defended by submarines built here, in Barrow-in-Furness on the shores of the Irish sea, securing jobs and investment for thousands of talented young people for decades to come.
Shortly after that, we had legislation to control illegal migration and a concordat with President Macron, with money being spent in order to ensure that the French police are supported in making sure that illegal people smugglers are dealt with effectively. After that, we had steps to ensure that tech firms were protected in this country from Chinese takeover, and we also had the rescue of the UK branch of Silicon Valley Bank. We also had the establishment of a new Government Department, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. That innovation was called for by William Hague and by Tony Blair—remember him?—and it reflects what every world-leading jurisdiction is doing, ensuring that more research and development investment is directed to where we need it.
All this time, as the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were recording those achievements, what has the Leader of the Opposition, the right hon. and learned Member for Holborn and St Pancras (Keir Starmer), done? Well, he has been energetic in expressing profound concern about the presenter rota on “Match of the Day”. While our Prime Minister has been a new statesman, I am afraid that the Leader of the Opposition has been a mere spectator. While our Prime Minister has been shaping global events, the Leader of the Opposition has been furiously scrolling through his Twitter feed. While our Prime Minister has been halving inflation, reducing debt, growing the economy, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats, I am afraid that the Leader of the Opposition has been reduced to an irrelevance on the bench. We in this Government are delivering impactful, progressive government, while Labour can only look on in consternation and admiration.
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
Despite all the Chancellor’s claims, the OBR downgraded the long-term growth forecasts, with downgrades in all the last three years of the forecast period. Labour’s mission is to seek economic growth. To do that, we will implement a green prosperity plan alongside a coherent industrial strategy, which is lacking from the Government, including building more homes.
As a member of Labour’s shadow Women and Equalities team and MP for a deeply deprived town within Greater Manchester, I took a special interest in the Budget to see what the Government were doing to tackle the issue of structural barriers. How many mentions of inequality or poverty were in there? Guess what? The answer is zero—there was just one reference to regional inequality.
I want to speak about a particular issue that affects my constituents, which many colleagues have already spoken about, and that is people struggling to get on in life because they are bound by their childcare and unpaid caring commitments and held back by exorbitant costs that act as a barrier. We need a national conversation on that. Can hon. Members imagine the increase in economic productivity if we had widespread and affordable childcare? The Chancellor’s childcare provision does not come in until after the next general election and the policy itself will just create a huge surge in demand without addressing the underlying issue of supply.
That brings us to nursery prices. In the north-west, our childcare prices are the lowest of any area; hon. Members might think that that would be cause for celebration, but it is not, because even the cheapest region for childcare still demands 60% of people’s weekly pay, about £400 a week. Can we just take a step back and reflect on the fact that families in Bolton, the 19th most deprived local authority and a town in economic decline according to the latest figures—I am sorry that we have not had £100 million of investment, but that could be because we are not a marginal, unlike Peterborough—are spending almost £2,000 a month on their childcare? It is truly unbelievable, and the Government’s approach is short-termist and unambitious.
Some 4,000 childcare providers have closed since this Government have been in power. The reality is that successive childcare policies have made the situation worse for parents and children since 2020, including the cut to Sure Start and the cut to the education maintenance allowance, which was a lifeline for young teens trying to get on in life.
The Chancellor has shamelessly stolen Labour’s wraparound childcare offer, supporting children with before and after-school clubs to support working parents, but has made it worse. Pathfinder care is not enough for parents—they need real support. That act of desperation by the Government shows that they are devoid of ideas and unable to implement the policy we need. It is Labour that has the solution, Labour that has the winning argument on childcare and Labour that is leading the way to answering the serious problems we face as a society.
Bolton High Street Redevelopment
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(1 year, 9 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered Government support for the proposed redevelopment of Bolton’s High Street.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. I hope that while short, this is not an insignificant debate on the future of the town I am proud to represent.
Bolton South East is the 38th most deprived constituency in the United Kingdom. To say we need Government investment in our town would be an understatement. I invite anyone here to go to the town centre—I have invited the Secretary of State to do so and extend the same invitation to the Minister here today—to see first-hand the deprivation and lack of opportunity. That is the reality and I do not say that lightly. This is not about talking down Bolton or even criticising the council, the Government or the people. It is about getting a fair deal for my town to support good jobs and good businesses and make it a great place to live, work and shop. That is not the reality and frankly, we are not getting a fair deal from the Government. Instead, the reality is boarded-up shop fronts, derelict properties and more rental signs than we could possibly imagine.
Bolton used to have many fabulous independent shops and traders, and the high street was genuinely a great place to spend time. However, economic pressures and the changing world have meant that, naturally, many of those businesses have taken a hit. It is not just independent businesses that find it tough; even large chains are taking drastic action that is hitting our town. We just recently learned that Marks & Spencer—an anchor business and a major high street employer—is to shut its doors for good. Not only will that mean a redundancy process and staff livelihoods put at risk, but another major business has left our town centre because it is no longer a viable place to do business. That follows a range of other huge stores, such as Argos, HMV and Debenhams, which have left vacancies in our high street. Put simply, that can make the high street a miserable place to walk down at times. We need to see change and we need support for that to happen.
The council’s plan, while not perfect, could have been the start of a real regeneration, bringing together the Government, the council, businesses and more with a view to making Bolton one of the best places to socialise or start a business. Party politics aside, surely the levelling-up fund and mission must be about addressing regional imbalances and providing Government support to areas that need it the most. That is the manifesto pledge the Prime Minister and the entire party stood on. Can the Minister therefore outline exactly what levelling up means, both as the individual responsible for setting the policy and as regards her Government’s wider agenda?
I am also perplexed about the funding arrangement, to be frank. As I noted at the start of this speech, Bolton’s levels of deprivation are stark. Our unemployment levels are almost double those of the region and the national average. Almost 50% of children live in poverty. We have a housing crisis, and as a borough we are in economic decline according to all recent data. Ours was once a strong manufacturing industry, and we have huge brownfield mills that now sit empty and derelict. There is so much potential for not just the high street but the whole town, and levelling-up support could provide the impetus we need.
In the first round of levelling up, Bolton’s bid was successful, but its second was unsuccessful. That was because it was apparently submitted late by the Conservative council that runs Bolton. We then made another bid. With those facts in mind, can the Minister outline to me the wider formula behind the levelling-up award? I would like to know, as would many in my constituency, why exactly Bolton was not eligible for the bid to redevelop its high street.
Bolton’s industrial history runs deep in our town. Spinning mills developed into a booming cotton industry, which grew to dominate Bolton’s local economy. Naturally, that has since subsided as our economy developed and time passed, but the remnants remain. In and around out town centre we have large former mills that stand empty and unused. In my view, these pose the best opportunity to create mixed-use properties: homes for young families; a place for businesses to start and grow; and an urban park to create social spaces in a very limited area. I appreciate that this is slightly leftfield and specific, but what consideration has the Minister’s Department given to the opportunities to support the council, businesses and individuals to retrofit those buildings for mixed use?
Turning now to wider regeneration, I will discuss the role of the cultural and night-life economies. Our fantastic Octagon Theatre is a recipient of Arts Council funding, and does a great job. It is a living-wage employer, it produces great shows and it has become a mainstay in our town centre. However, a recent report revealed that the nearby Oldham Coliseum will close its doors after a 100% cut to its funding. Two constituencies in London have 20 projects funded to the tune of £10 million. Apparently, in the whole of Bolton, the largest town in the United Kingdom, there is only one eligible venue worthy of funding. What is more, in the remaining 24 constituencies of Greater Manchester, outside of the city, there are just 21 funded projects. In summary, that is less than one project per constituency, and yet just two London constituencies received 20 grants.
There is no levelling up if it is not practiced at every level. There appears to be an inequity perpetrated here that runs contrary to the levelling-up agenda. Can the Minister outline what steps her Department is taking to push forward a plan for levelling up across all levels of Government, each Department and arms-length bodies, as well as encouraging other sectors?
I am acutely aware of the role the night-time economy plays in Bolton’s local ecosystem, providing jobs, increasing revenue and adding to our local culture. It is particularly important for students and young people in Bolton, as the town is home to a university and various colleges. I recently met with the night-time adviser for Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Sacha Lord, to discuss how we can introduce a best-practice model of nightlife in Bolton.
For our night-time economy to flourish we need to make it safe for customers to enjoy a night out and socialise without fear of harm to themselves or their friends. Bolton’s pilot safety haven scheme will go a long way towards setting the standards for this when it is launched in two months. It will give people a place to rest, sober up, charge their phone, and access paramedics or mental health support, if they are experiencing an anxiety attack or a depressive episode. It is a preventive measure that means that people do not have to go to A&E, saving the police and paramedics money, therefore providing economic as well as human benefits.
This vibrant night-time economy plays a great part in regeneration, and there are numerous examples in other Greater Manchester boroughs. Altrincham, in Greater Manchester, went from being rated one of the worst high streets in Britain to being one of most desirable places to eat, drink and socialise; Radcliffe Market, not far from us, is becoming the centrepiece of the town there; and Prestwich Village is a vibrant spot to socialise. In Bolton, we need to modernise our night-time economy, so that independent businesses and bars, such as Northern Monkey in my constituency, can grow and support the growth of our high street.
We have an annual food festival, which is now the largest in the United Kingdom, and our town is home to the European Ironman. However, as these are annual events, they are not enough. We need further assistance to develop our town centre and high street. What consideration has the Minister’s Department given to the role of night-time venues, bars, clubs and pubs in the regeneration of the high street, not only in Bolton but throughout Britain? Has the Minister had conversations with her counterparts in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy about that?
I appreciate that I have given the Minister much to ponder and reflect upon. I will wrap up shortly, but I must reiterate the grave situation facing Bolton’s high street. We needed that levelling-up funding, which was to build a conference hotel and other facilities. It was a lifeline for our town. Over the last 13 years, since 2010, we have had £250 million in cuts to our council, which have affected the people of Bolton. That £19-million fund would have been a lifeline for our town, yet some of the richest boroughs and constituencies in the country, such as the Prime Minister’s constituency, were given £20 million from the levelling-up fund, leaving us to wonder what levelling up means in the Government’s eyes.
It is interesting that the last two Conservative party general election launches have been in Bolton, and promises were made. However, I am sorry to say that none of the promises made to my constituents have been kept, and people in my constituency are living with the repercussions.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Dehenna Davison)
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies, I think for the first time since I became a Minister. I thank the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) for securing this important debate. As elected Members, we show real passion for wanting our communities and our areas to be the best they can possibly be, and debates such this one are important in raising both the successes and some of the challenges that our local areas face. I am grateful to her for articulating powerfully the case for further investment in Bolton’s high street and in the town’s wider economy.
As the hon. Lady highlighted, Bolton has many strengths and assets, whether historical architecture or dynamic businesses based in the town centre and surrounding district centres of Farnworth, Little Lever, Westhoughton and Horwich. The town also hosts the famous Ironman UK race and the Bolton food and drink festival. She invited me to go and visit her constituency; I would love to take her up on that, although probably not to do the Ironman, as I am not sure I am fit enough. She mentioned the Northern Monkey bar, which sounds a little bit more up my street, so maybe we could tie that in.
While her constituency has many strengths, the hon. Lady is right to say that Bolton town centre is facing significant challenges. I think we can agree that those challenges have only been accelerated by the covid pandemic, through changing retail demand, more shoppers moving online and, as she highlighted, the loss of anchor stores, including Debenhams and Marks & Spencer. She also noted that her constituency is among the most deprived places in England. According to the index of multiple deprivation, Bolton is the 17th lowest rated local authority for crime, 44th for income and 42nd for employment. The Government recognise that towns such as Bolton are having to adapt quickly to the post-pandemic world and the rising cost of living, which is why in recent years we have sought to breathe life into such communities with a series of transformational funds that are specifically designed to spur growth, job creation and renewal in the places where that is most needed.
Through local growth and levelling-up funding, we have invested over £180 million in Bolton’s economy since 2014. As the hon. Lady knows, that included £20 million in her constituency from the first round of the levelling-up fund, which is creating a new highly advanced vocational and professional training facility, the Bolton College of Medical Sciences. That will mean that roughly 3,000 students a year, including 1,000 apprentices, will receive high-quality tuition and learn skills that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It will also contribute to the tackling of local health inequalities.
The hon. Lady asked what levelling up means to me and how I define it. It is straightforward, which makes it much more difficult. It is straightforward in the sense that levelling up is about ensuring that any young person, wherever they grow up in the UK, has access to the same fantastic opportunities—that is the simple version. The more complicated answer is that that means there is a need for intergovernmental emphasis; to ensure equal access to opportunity, we must look at healthcare, as we have touched on in relation to the college; transport; job opportunities; the potential for growth; and of course education. She asked what the Government, and our Department specifically, are doing. There are a number of things, some of which I will come on to, but the most specific and relevant is the creation of an inter-ministerial group on levelling up, chaired by our Secretary of State, to look at what every Department is doing to ensure that levelling up is being prioritised in their activity. That is just one thing, but there are plenty more, as I will touch on with regard to devolution.
Bolton town centre is also benefiting from £22.8 million in investment from our towns fund. I am grateful to the hon. Lady for all her work on the town board to oversee that vital work, which includes projects such as the redevelopment of Bolton Central Library, Museum and Archive, which will improve the leisure and learning offer for local people; the improvements to Bolton’s historic market, as she mentioned, which will maintain a much-loved community asset and drive footfall in the town centre, which is crucial; and the innovative new Wellsprings business hub for the creative and digital sector, which will provide real opportunities for local businesses and entrepreneurs. That is backed by £6.3 million of Government funding, which will create a greener, more connected town centre through the planting of trees and shrubs, improvements to public spaces, and new cycle routes and walkways—a real game changer not just for the high street but for the town’s economy as a whole.
As the hon. Lady mentioned, everyone involved in Bolton’s application for round 2 of the levelling-up fund will have been disappointed by the result. I know that she was one of the biggest backers of the Bolton town centre north regeneration project, and my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Chris Green) also threw his full support behind the De Havilland Way corridor scheme, which is a priority project for the region. There was an overwhelming response to the second round of the fund—over 500 bids, totalling well over £8 billion. In contrast, in the first round we received 300 bids, which was still oversubscribed, in the context of having just £2.1 billion to allocate. The hon. Lady will understand that we knew that a lot of places would be disappointed. At this stage, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific applications, but I know that officials in my Department and in the Department for Transport are currently feeding back on unsuccessful bids. Full written feedback will come imminently, and I hope that that will help explain the rationale behind the decision and help with improvements to the bid for any future funding rounds.
The hon. Lady asked how applications were judged. As in the first round, funding was targeted in areas most in need according to the index of priority places, which takes into account the need to address issues such as under-regeneration, low productivity and poor connectivity. Each bid was assessed by officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities against the published assessment criteria, and officials then came up with a shortlist based on the highest scores against those criteria. To ensure that there was a fair spread of bids across the UK, funding decisions were then made by Ministers, based on the assessment score but also taking into account factors such as geographic spread and past investments. A place’s relative need is also baked into the process. In this round, 66% of investment went to category 1 places.
The second round has predominantly gone to areas in Great Britain that have not received funding before through the levelling-up fund, in order to ensure that investment reaches as many places as possible across rounds 1 and 2. I want to emphasise a point that we definitely should not lose sight of: there will be a further round of the levelling-up fund. More details on that will be announced shortly.
It is worth stressing, too, that the levelling-up fund is by no means the only investment from my Department in the region. More than £13 million from our future high streets fund has been spent on improving the nearby Farnworth town centre. As part of our £1 billion investment in Greater Manchester through the city region sustainable transport settlement, we are improving bus services between Bolton and Wigan for a faster and more frequent service that residents can rely on. All of that is accompanied by better cycling and walking routes in both Bolton and Farnworth town centres.
We are therefore doing a lot of investment, but despite those many investments and the progress that we are seeing together, no one can deny that Bolton will still need significant support over the coming weeks and months as we seek to build a brighter and more prosperous future for the town. Crucial to that mission is recognising that Government investment alone, however great, can only go so far. We also need significant reform to the way in which we support people and places in the long term, recognising that the current system of funding local councils needs improvement.
That is exactly why we are pressing ahead with the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill to revolutionise how Government, the private sector and charities fund and invest in communities. The Bill also liberates councils to hold high street rental auctions so that landlords are encouraged to put empty buildings to good use. It makes the temporary freedoms around al fresco dining permanent, so that we can create more buzzing, vibrant high streets. It makes it much easier for councils such as Bolton’s to issue compulsory purchase orders so that they can repurpose boarded-up shops and derelict sites. All those changes are accompanied by a series of common-sense reforms that mean that no council has to pay over the odds in “hope value” to landowners when they issue compulsory purchase orders. That is a small change but it will deliver big savings for the public purse.
The hon. Member for Bolton South East asked what cross-departmental work is happening around levelling up. One of the best areas where we can demonstrate that is the devolution agenda. Empowering local leaders through our White Paper devolution commitments and regenerating towns such as Bolton are fundamental to our levelling-up plans in the north-west. I am really pleased to see that our negotiations on a new, deeper devolution deal with Greater Manchester, focused on delivering new transport, skills, housing and fiscal powers, are progressing well. Indeed, the reforms to the bus network are a direct result of that deal. We want to go even further, delivering a London-style integrated transport system to further enhance the Bee Network and deliver an accessible and integrated multimodal transport system that better connects residents and businesses in Bolton with the Greater Manchester region.
This is not just about businesses and the economy; we also want the trailblazer deal to provide the combined authority with the ability to drive housing supply and improve the quality of existing stock. The hon. Lady may have seen that, in his recent speech to the Convention of the North, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced £30 million across Greater Manchester and the west midlands, to support improvements to social housing. In the same speech, the Secretary of State made it clear that crime and antisocial behaviour were more likely to flourish in communities that have suffered neglect and underinvestment. That view is clearly backed by public opinion. At the end of 2021, More in Common and Public First polled more than 4,000 people and found that, for much of the public, tackling antisocial behaviour is the prerequisite to levelling up. To quote one of their survey respondents in Oldham, a town less than an hour’s drive from the hon. Lady’s constituency:
“What’s the point in making the area look nice if it’s just going to end up getting vandalised in a couple of months”?
That, in a nutshell, is the problem.
That is why we will shortly publish a comprehensive action plan on antisocial behaviour, one that means stronger enforcement, tougher penalties for those who damage public property and, of course, more activities to help keep young people out of trouble. That will be accompanied by a renewed effort to tackle public drug taking, while making our streets safer overall, to prevent the intimidation and harassment of women and girls—something on which the hon. Lady has been a passionate campaigner. On the point about women’s safety, nightclubs and the use of spiking, which I know is a huge concern for people right across the House, we are crystal clear that anyone found committing such an appalling crime will face the full force of the law. On its own, the crime can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. The Government have worked closely with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to look at existing legislation, concluding that there is no gap in the law that a new spiking offence would fill, but we can all agree there is more to do around raising awareness of spiking and how to report it.
That is why the Government will undertake a targeted consultation on amending statutory licensing guidance, which could include specific reference to spiking—a definition of it, how to recognise it and how to report it to the police. It is worth noting, too, that in April last year, the Government reclassified so-called date rape drugs—including GHB and GBL—which historically have been associated with drink spiking. That measure, and funding through the safety of women at night fund and the safer streets fund, is supporting local initiatives to help to prevent this heinous crime. Our report on the prevalence and nature of spiking, as well as the action we are taking to tackle it, is due to be published by the end of April.
We do not want to talk about nightlife only in terms of the dangers and fears, because for many of us having decent nightlife in our town centres is one of the things that makes life so joyful. The hon. Lady spoke about support for night-time venues, particularly pubs. I am waiting for an invite to Northern Monkey, which sounds like a class venue. I am looking forward to visiting it.
Throughout covid, we ensured that additional measures were put in place specifically to help hospitality businesses, which was crucial because they faced the brunt of covid. There are still additional measures on business rates to try to support those venues, but if the hon. Lady has suggestions about what more could be done, I would appreciate her feeding those back to us.
I hope that my speech has shown the depth and breadth of our commitment to levelling up in Bolton—in infrastructure, public services, regenerating boarded-up shops on the high street, and tackling crime and antisocial behaviour. In response to the hon. Lady’s broader points about properly supporting and funding local government with its own capital programmes that generate real economic and social value, I have set out our ambitions with respect to devolution and our Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill for empowering local authorities and ensuring that councils and local leaders have the tools, resources and funding they need to regenerate, invest in their high streets and level up communities.
Yasmin Qureshi
The Minister talks about the fact that local authorities must have the powers and abilities to do that, but she will recognise that over the past 12 years, Bolton Council has had £250 million of cuts. That does not allow it to do the things it wants to do. Specifically, what additional resources are we going to get to enable us to do that?
Dehenna Davison
The hon. Lady will know that the local government finance settlement has been issued for the coming year, and investment in Bolton is receiving quite a substantial increase, although that is only part of the picture. I have touched on devolution, whereby Greater Manchester Combined Authority has received a swathe of public investment, as well as additional funds and powers, to tackle some of the core issues that Bolton and Greater Manchester face.
Under our new trailblazer devolution deal, we are looking at moving that even further, giving the combined authority the powers it needs to deliver, and with that additional investment. Obviously, I cannot provide too many more details at the moment, but I urge the hon. Lady to watch this space. I hope she will be pleased with the package that we put forward as part of the trailblazer deal.
Broadly, I have outlined our vision for Bolton, and indeed places across the UK that have been overlooked and where there has been under-investment for far too long. As levelling-up Minister, I am fully committed to working with the hon. Lady and Members from all parts of the House to make that vision a reality.
Question put and agreed to.
Affordable Housing: Planning Reform
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(2 years, 11 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank the hon. Member for St Ives (Derek Thomas) for securing this important debate on planning reform and affordable housing, and also for his work as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on brain tumours, of which I happen to be a member.
The two issues we are debating today are of great importance to people across the whole country, including in my constituency of Bolton South East. Access to affordable, good-quality housing is the single biggest issue that fills my mailbox every week, and I am sure it fills other Members’ mailboxes as well. The importance of housing has been highlighted by the covid pandemic, and specifically by the effect it had on those parts of the country where there is a lot of overcrowding due to multi-generational households or because many people cannot afford a home of their own and are living in rented accommodation—perhaps renting a room in a house. The pandemic threw up this big problem that we have in our country and, to be fair, it is not a party political issue. Over the past 40 or 50 years, there seems to have been a failure to build more affordable, decent homes in our country across the piece.
Obviously, most Members are not able to help when our constituents write to us about such issues, irrespective of how much effort we make, because the housing stock is just not there. In Bolton alone, there are 9,000 people on the waiting list for a council property. I pay tribute to the work of Bolton at Home, whose representative I met this summer at one of its new developments. Jon Lord, the chief executive officer, told me that a single three-bedroom home for social rent, which had just been finished, had received 400 applications from families—400 people applying for one home. How is Bolton at Home meant to choose which of those 400 families, who are all equally needy, is deemed worthy of that property?
When it comes to owning a home, an affordable home is classed as costing no more than 30% of the average monthly household income. Although the median income in Bolton is around £26,000, which equates to a house price of around £80,000, the average house price in my area is £125,000. How does that add up? That builds on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell) about the cost of housing in relation to salaries.
Some 14,000 of my constituents are on universal credit, the majority of whom are working people on low incomes. We are living through a massive housing crisis, and that is compounded by the fact that mine is the 37th most deprived constituency in the United Kingdom, with almost 9% unemployment and 40% of children living in poverty. The route out of the crisis is clear: we need to build more homes.
On planning reform, I want to briefly discuss an issue that is important to my constituents. I am concerned that the Government will implicitly force local councils like mine to turn greenfield sites into housing developments, rather than existing brownfield sites. In Bolton, historically an industry-based town, we are blessed with more than 100 existing brownfield sites, predominantly in the form of ex-factories. However, the lack of available funding and the costs of converting those premises means councils are often forced to give planning permission to build on green spaces. Often, if planning permission is denied, companies appeal to the Secretary of State and, because of the rules, most of the time they are successful, so our green space is taken.
I would like to see a legislative and financial framework to assist housing developers, private developers, local authorities and social housing companies to convert existing brownfield sites into affordable housing, which could alleviate much of our housing crisis. That is a possible solution that could lead to affordable housing. We do not have to have this crisis. It is not just in Bolton—across the country, there are brownfield sites that are eyesores, blotting the landscapes of our towns and cities.
We should do something practical to see how we can use brownfield sites rather than greenfield sites. We know that because of the particular buildings that are there, the preparation needed to make it possible to build on that land will cost money. I ask the Government to work nationally, through a special body, with local authorities or even with private developers to give out grants to make the land usable, and then it can be built on. The houses could then be sold with a 5% or 10% profit on each property, or it could also be done through a housing association. There are ways that we can deal with the issue.
Again, it is not a party political issue. Brownfield sites have not been utilised by any Government for so long, and they are pieces of land that could be used for building good homes. I really hope that the Minister will go back and talk to the relevant people. I am sure that they can work out a suitable, fair formula that helps everyone to convert brownfield sites and thereby provide homes. I know that if the brownfield sites in my area were converted, my constituency would not have a housing problem.
Definition of Islamophobia
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(3 years, 2 months ago)
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Mr Mahmood
Of course. I had not completed my list, but I am grateful to my hon. Friend for completing my list.
If Islamophobia is being suggested as a medical fear, then the term Islamophobia is acceptable. If not, as it seems, and the terminology is incorrectly used, then the correct term would be anti-Muslim hatred, racism or Muslim hatred, which clearly defines on the basis that that is something being done. The actual definition that has been put forward for Islamophobia encompasses any distinction, exclusion, restriction towards or against Muslims, that has
“the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social and cultural”
and other fields.
As has been said, Muslims have been discriminated against by companies when they have Muslim-sounding names. The hon. Member for Peterborough, who led the debate, mentioned that and that is what we want to get away from. The only way we will get away from that, as with the Race Relations Act 1968, is to have definitions that are purely actionable in terms of Muslim hatred. That is what we want to look at and that is what we are here for.
We are not here to have a term for people to accept, with no real translatable meaning and which we cannot act upon. If we want to serve our constituents and tackle the issues of Muslim hatred that they go through, we should pin down the definition. We should make it clear that if people behave in such a way, somebody will call on their door and deal with it, and that if people do that through social media, somebody will look them up and call them to account. We want a definition that actually works, a definition that actually delivers for our people—not a definition that claims “a fear of”, because I never agreed with that definition.
We should push the Government—of course we should—to adopt that definition. My two learned colleagues, my hon. Friends the Members for Bradford East (Imran Hussain) and for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi), have both been barristers. I am sure that if they were to look at this in far more detail they would find that a much more appropriate way of going forward and trying to resolve the issue. I do not know why my hon. Friend is shaking her head, because we want to have laws that enable us to prosecute people who have racist tendencies towards Muslims. That is what I want. I do not want excuses.
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
I thank my hon. Friend for giving way. I was actually just moving my head; I was not agreeing or disagreeing. On the point about prosecution, yes, we have laws in place, but that does not detract from the fact that the definition of Islamophobia needs to be made. As a barrister, if someone is asking my legal opinion, I would say yes, we do need the definition.
Mr Mahmood
In answering that, I say to the hon. Lady, as a barrister, that I explained what phobias there are, and they are usually used in medical terms, not in legal, prosecutorial form. The Government have to define this and we have to define this in legal terms—that is what is important.
Yasmin Qureshi
Language develops over the years; language and words change and are culturalised. Language does not stay static forever.
Mr Mahmood
It is not static at all. Of course language develops—I am fully aware of that. However, there is language that we have to use in Parliament, which has been established for over 500 years. Our work is based on precedent; we will continue to formulate our laws based on precedent, as we have done in the past.
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Murray. I congratulate the hon. Member for Peterborough (Paul Bristow) and my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford West (Naz Shah) on obtaining this urgent and timely debate. I thank all colleagues who have spoken. It has been a sterling debate. I particularly want to touch on what my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South (Zarah Sultana) was saying. I do not know if it will help her, but many of us Muslim women have been abused in a similar format. I have had emails and messages on social media saying that I am, and I quote, words beginning with “f” and “b”, and that I should be sent off to Saudi Arabia to be raped. There are all kinds of interesting words being used and letters written. That does not help, but I hope that she understands.
Islamophobia has been rising in this country and in the western world at a very disturbing rate in recent years. Despite this, as we have heard today, there is still no accepted definition of Islamophobia. There are three million Muslims in the UK—almost 5% of our overall population. Despite Muslims having been present in this country as far back as the 16th century, many believe they are treated as the other. Islamophobia permeates all domains of our society. It threatens education, limits employment prospects and impacts everyday issues, including health, wellbeing and housing.
It is time that we finally address the issue. In 2019, the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims worked tirelessly to create a definition of Islamophobia that was widely applauded and supported by over 750 organisations. As was mentioned, the definition has been adopted by the Labour party, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National party, the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Greater Manchester. It has been debated in this House and has received cross-party support, so it is disappointing that two years later, we are still urging the Government to do the right thing. That is an absolute denial from this Government. To add insult to injury, they cannot even bring themselves to use the term “Islamophobia”.
In May, the Singh report, resulting from an independent investigation into the handling of Islamophobia by the Conservative party, was published. It was a damning indictment of the discrimination rife in the party. It found that Islamophobia is a serious issue for it, and that the concerns had too easily been denied or dismissed. Indeed, it even looked at the Prime Minister’s comments about women wearing burqas looking like “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”, which we have heard a lot about. It found that Islamophobic incidents of hate rose by 375% in the week after the Prime Minister made those comments. The report called for the party leadership to publish an action plan to set out how it will tackle the failings it found. Will the Minister today acknowledge the scale of the problem? Will he update us on the progress his party has made on the action plan and the new code of conduct?
In my party, I pay tribute to the work of the Labour Muslim Network, which brought to our attention its findings and concerns about Islamophobia. Unlike the leadership of the Conservative party, we are seriously committed to tackling and eradicating Islamophobia, both in our party and in society.
We are often told by critics of the APPG’s definition that it should not imply that some Islamophobia is rooted in racism, yet the evidence says otherwise. Last year, the largest number of referrals to the Government Prevent programme related to far-right extremism. Indeed, the Security Minister warned that far-right terror poses a growing threat, and we all know the consequences of that ideology.
A recent report by Hope Not Hate found that Islamophobia has become the driving force behind the rise of far-right movements in the UK, and that anti-Muslim prejudice has replaced immigration as the key driver of such groups. A poll found that 35% of Britons think that Islam is generally a threat to the British way of life. We see this happening globally, and particularly in western Europe, where there has been a rise of far-right political parties and discriminatory laws passed in France and other countries. Earlier this year, a UN expert concluded at the UN Human Rights Council that Islamophobia has reached epidemic proportions globally, and that Muslims are often targeted because of visible characteristics, such as names, skin colour and clothing.
Many, including this Government, argue that Muslims are not a race. Of course they are not a race, but they are racialised when they are treated as having characteristics that mark them as wholly different. The question when it comes to racism is whether there is a set of attitudes and behaviours that are socially widespread and used to justify discrimination against a particular group. That is why it makes sense to call antisemitism and Islamophobia forms of racism.
I am the chair of the APPG on religion in the media, and last year we conducted an inquiry on religious literacy in the British media. Our report found that media reporting can be sensationalist, and that it reinforces stereotypes and contributes towards discriminatory attitudes. Headlines such as “1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis” and references to “Muslim problems” have real-world consequences. Of course, journalists should be able to question and criticise religion—we live in a democracy that values freedom of speech—but this is about not censorship but transparency. We ask the Government to consider looking at press regulation, because the current system of self-regulation is not working.
Does the Minister at least accept the inescapable reality, which is that Islamophobia has damaging consequences for the life chances of and equalities enjoyed by British Muslim communities? There are people in the UK who are scared to leave their home for fear of verbal or physical attacks. People have withdrawn from public services, with devastating knock-on consequences for their health and education. They feel like outsiders in their own country. That should shame us all.
Last year, in the other place, when the Government were asked about the progress that they had made on adopting a definition, they said that the definition proposed by the APPG was not compatible with the Equality Act 2010, which treats race and religion separately, and
“could have consequences for freedom of speech.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 13 February 2020; Vol. 801, c. 2337.]
Can the Minister tell us whether he or the Government have published for public scrutiny any evidence regarding the legal advice that suggests that the APPG definition is incompatible with the Act? It has been repeatedly noted by experts that the working definition of Islamophobia is not legally binding, and therefore presents no challenges to statute, which takes legal precedence. I ask the Minister not to revert to the predictable, rehearsed responses and platitudes that we have heard from the Government. Each time they do that, they show their disdain for the British Muslim community.
In this debate, the ask is simple: adopt this definition, which has been accepted by cross-party MPs, national groups and hundreds of organisations. In some respects, I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr Mahmood). We need a definition because it will be a starting point for addressing the real issue of Islamophobia that we face in this country. Islamophobia is rising not just in the United Kingdom but in France, Austria and other parts of the western world. Muslims are being treated as though they are fifth columnists—as though they do not belong in this society.
I referred to our inquiries on media coverage. I do not want to restrict free speech—I am sure nobody here wants to—but we ask the Government to look at cases in which the newspapers and others publish pure lies. There is a difference between covering something and carrying blatant lies, like the story about one in five Muslims having sympathy for Isis, or The Sunday Times coverage of a Muslim family who had adopted a child in the east end of London, which turned out to be completely made up.
Those kinds of stories cause people to view Muslims with suspicion and lead to hatred towards Muslims. Let us face it: a lot of people will probably never meet a Muslim in their life, and their understanding of what a Muslim is comes from what they read in the newspaper or watch on the television. Therefore what our media, social media, press and others say is an important part of this debate.
Imran Hussain
My hon. Friend makes a really valuable and pertinent point. Does she agree that the situation is far worse than that? We see Islamophobic tropes increasing under the guise of freedom of speech. Would she agree that freedom of speech is not an absolute right? It does not give you a right to promote hatred, and it certainly does not give you a carte-blanche right to attack Muslims.
Yasmin Qureshi
I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I hope that the Minister has heard, and takes on board the points and issues that have been raised in the debate, and I look forward to his response.
Mrs Sheryll Murray (in the Chair)
I remind the Minister to leave a couple of minutes at the end for Mr Bristow.
Planning Decisions: Local Involvement
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(3 years, 5 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab) [V]
The Labour party and I understand and accept that the planning system in its current form is problematic and needs to be reformed, but the plans this Government have presented just hand power over to the developers—those developers who have donated loads of money to the Tory party recently—and away from communities such as mine in Bolton South East.
The Tory Government’s proposals fail to address the wider issues that face our country. The climate crisis is more acute than ever, and without a concerted effort to integrate planning infrastructure and development, we will struggle to achieve our net zero targets. We need sustainable transport. Bolton South East has a disproportionate number of people who are reliant on public transport—70% of them do not have a car—yet none of these plans talk about integrated solutions for the community. It is only Labour with Andy Burnham in power in Greater Manchester that is leading the way on an integrated transport network and the public ownership of buses.
There are currently 1.6 million people on housing waiting lists, and the Government’s projection is to build 100,000 to 340,000 homes per year for the next 10 years, but these do not appear to be homes for social renting, affordable homes, retirement home or sheltered accommodation. There is a huge need for those types of accommodation, and I would encourage the Government to plan for those types of houses as well as those for first-time buyers. We need to concentrate on the people who are the most vulnerable economically and in many other ways. They need to be accommodated.
The new planning laws will be on top of the national planning policy framework introduced in 2012, which allowed green belt land to be used to build homes. We have seen that in my constituency, where a local developer, Peel Holdings, was able to get permission to build thousands of homes on the green belt even though it owned many brownfield sites that it had acquired over the years and that it could quite easily have built on. However, everyone knows that brownfield sites are more expensive. We need social housing, and there are brownfield sites in my constituency that could easily benefit from development, so I would like the Government to set a target to ensure that these houses are built. As the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) said, housing is required, but it is required in the right areas. We cannot have thousands of houses in the salubrious parts of a town or community while people in the inner cities or towns do not have homes.
Affordable and Safe Housing for All
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(3 years, 6 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
I want to talk about my constituency, which has been in the news recently, and the problems it faces. There are many intergenerational households in my constituency, and they are often overcrowded, not out of choice but because people cannot afford housing in the private sector and there are long waiting lists for social housing. Many of them are on the minimum wage, on zero-hours contracts and in insecure work, and most are unable to work from home. They are the factory workers, kitchen workers and hospital workers. Many do not have cars and have to use public transport.
It is not uncommon for many people to occupy one house—perhaps six people living in a two-bedroom house. If one person gets infected, how are they supposed to self-isolate in that house? For those and many other reasons, it has been quite hard for many people to self-isolate. The Government say they have provided money and support, but that is not correct—certainly not in Bolton, because the rules are so vague and unclear and access to money and support has been an extreme nightmare for my constituents. In fact, it was recently reported that Tory-controlled Bolton Council was found to have the lowest rate of uptake, as the council had made it exceptionally hard for people to access support.
I have raised this issue for many months, but to date nothing has been done. Instead, we hear Ministers talk about the issue of vaccine hesitancy, trying to blame my constituents for the issues we have. Let me explain: the vaccine roll-out in parts of Bolton that are in my constituency was done differently from how it was done in other places. We started with one vaccination centre in the town centre, with around five vaccinators. That was supposed to cover six sevenths of my constituency—a massive area. Some people have to take three buses to get to the town centre.
I raised this issue with the powers that be and the people involved in the vaccine roll-out—I mentioned the locality, the issue of accessibility and the fact that vaccination rates were low because of that. I asked for two additional fixed vaccination centres in my constituency, but that has not yet happened. Over the weekend, we had a temporary vaccination site which was able to vaccinate around 5,000 people. That shows that there is no vaccine hesitancy; the problem lay in the original roll-out.
I am not trying to criticise or blame anyone. Everyone has been working really hard in the NHS, and I pay tribute to all the volunteers who have been acting as marshals, the St John Ambulance brigade and everyone else who has been involved in rolling out the programme. But we have to remind Ministers that their words carry consequences and have effects. I have already had emails from constituents saying, “Well, many of us British people did not go abroad, and therefore your people are causing the infections.” These kinds of comments must be made very carefully.
Commission on Justice in Wales
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank the right hon. Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd (Liz Saville Roberts) for securing the debate, and I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Rhondda (Chris Bryant), for Islwyn (Chris Evans) and for Cardiff North (Anna McMorrin) for their passionate speeches regarding their concerns about what is happening in Wales.
I welcome the report and commend the Welsh Government on commissioning it. It is a thorough, detailed piece of work with many excellent recommendations for the Welsh Government and central Government. The report found that, despite excellent work on the ground and hard work by staff across the country, the justice system is all too often mismanaged and underfunded. That closely aligns with my experience as the shadow Justice Minister.
A balanced assessment, the Thomas commission makes it clear that the justice system in Wales is in urgent need of proper, substantive reform. The conclusion that people in Wales are being let down by the system in its current state is damning. In too many areas, precisely where responsibility is located and who exactly provides the funding is opaque.
The report lists complicated reasons for the problems, as well as some very simple ones. The United Kingdom Government’s spending on the justice system in Wales has fallen by a third since 2009-10. Members of Parliament will be familiar with many of the issues through casework, when people come to them to talk about the devastating impact of cuts to legal aid and the inevitable hardship caused by court closures.
The report found that the Welsh Government have had to spend their own funds on advice services, which they should not have to do. That is not the proper way forward. They cannot be expected to cover the funding gap that has been created by Government cuts to legal aid. The position is therefore not sustainable. The Government need to invest, and spend more money on justice issues in Wales.
I was not surprised to read that courts and tribunal closures have left many people in parts of rural and post-industrial Wales facing long and difficult journeys to their nearest court. Amid the frenzied cost-cutting, the Government appear to have forgotten the deep social value of local justice. The report also states that the advantages of digital technology have not yet been fully realised in Wales. It is not just Wales that has that problem; recently I visited a few Crown courts in London, and the technology there broke down as well.
The report also advocates the establishment of problem-solving criminal courts as well as family, drug and alcohol courts in Wales. We in the Labour party have been calling for such courts for some time—that includes our manifesto—and we are very strong advocates of them. Some FDACs have been trialled in England, but we need to ensure proper coverage so that everyone has access to them.
Calls to establish alternatives to custody for women are sensible, evidence-based policy. The emphasis on greater provision of domestic abuse services and funding for women’s centres is also welcome. I hope that the Government will have the sense to provide the necessary funding.
The report also engaged thoroughly with the Lammy review, asking difficult questions in the process. Far too little action has been taken in response to the excellent work by my right hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr Lammy). I hope the Government will ensure that his recommendations are now dealt with. I have raised the implementation of the Lammy review a number of times at the Dispatch Box.
Those shared issues come alongside problems that are unique to Wales, and which emerge from an excessively complex system and a convoluted devolution settlement that leaves the centralised justice system struggling to co-ordinate with the devolved Department. It is totally unacceptable that the report found that gaps in the provision of the bilingual system are preventing people from accessing justice. No one should be hindered in seeking justice based on the language that they speak.
The commission also found that Wales is the only place in the world where different legislatures make different laws on the same subject, but all within the same body of law. Of course, it is not for me to advocate a particular distribution of power between Wales and Westminster, but it is clear that the current approach is not working. A settlement must be found that facilitates a far more integrated, co-ordinated relationship between different Departments and the agencies they work with. The Government must recognise that the tone-deaf centralised approach is having a deeply damaging effect.
All too often, reports such as these are ignored by the Executive, who encourage them to sink without a trace. I hope that does not happen in this case. When the Minister responds, I hope he will recognise that the report proves yet again that justice cannot be done on the cheap, and that proper funding is required to ensure that people have access to justice. It is not right for the Welsh Government, who already have a tight, limited budget, to have to spend money on this area as well when it is not in their power or remit. Will he commit to working with the Welsh Government to explore and implement the report’s recommendations?
Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 1 Report
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(4 years, 10 months ago)
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Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)
No one can forget their experiences of seeing the Grenfell fire, but I also want to talk about something that happened in my constituency. On 16 November last year, a devasting fire at The Cube—student flats in my constituency—left 200 University of Bolton students homeless.
I pay tribute to Greater Manchester’s fire and rescue service for ensuring that all the residents were evacuated quickly and safely, and that the fire was rapidly brought under control. I also pay tribute to the university staff who came to the scene to give immediate assistance, and who continued to provide physical, financial and mental support, although the university does not own the building. The local community also came together to support the students. It is not surprising that in 2013 Bolton was voted the friendliest, warmest and most considerate town in the United Kingdom.
It is clear that the building regulatory system is broken, and has failed the residents of Grenfell, The Cube and other buildings. The height limit for tighter controls on building materials is 18 metres. The Cube is just 16 centimetres short of that height, and is therefore not subject to the same safety regulations as taller buildings. I welcomed the Secretary of State’s announcement yesterday that he was minded to reduce the limit to 11 metres, but I feel that that does not go far enough. Many buildings lower than that are also high-risk, including hospitals, care homes, schools, and complex buildings such as shopping centres.
The Government have focused on the ACM cladding that was used at Grenfell, but The Cube was clad in high-pressure laminate, which is used on thousands of other buildings across the country. The Government have been warned repeatedly by the Greater Manchester High Rise Task Force—whose representatives I met last week—that the risks extend beyond ACM cladding, but not all cladding systems have yet been tested. The Government must recognise that other cladding materials also present a risk, and that all buildings should be made safe as soon as possible. I was particularly surprised to learn that VAT is being charged on remedial works, and I urge the Government to exempt them in order to help building owners to carry out works in a timely manner.
Apart from the construction issue, there seems to have been a failure to tell people what procedures should be adopted in the event of a fire, and that was certainly not done in The Cube. Apparently the fire alarms went off regularly, and some of the students thought that there had been the same problem on the day in question. One young lady who realised what was going on knocked on every single door and got the people out. However, we must ensure that proper procedures are introduced in such buildings to ensure that people know what to do in case of fire, and also to ensure that there are ways of detecting fires.