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Monday Volume 605 8 February 2016 No. 113 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 8 February 2016 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2016 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament licence, which is published at www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/. 1283 8 FEBRUARY 2016 1284 The Minister for Housing and Planning (Brandon Lewis): House of Commons I associate myself and my colleagues on the Government Benches with your comments, Mr Speaker. Harry Harpham was a very distinguished long-serving councillor and we Monday 8 February 2016 will all miss him in the years ahead. This Government have always been clear that the The House met at half-past Two o’clock most vulnerable will be protected and supported through our welfare reforms. Following our review of supported housing, due to report this spring, we will work with the PRAYERS sector to ensure appropriate protections are in place. Mary Glindon: I, too, associate myself with the sad [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] sentiments that have been expressed about our dear colleague. Speaker’s Statement The Minister says that the review will report in spring. It was due to report at the end of last year. Meanwhile, 2.35 pm the Secretary of State is still pressing ahead with cuts before the review comes out. Can the Minister say why Mr Speaker: I wish to repeat what I said to the House that is? on Friday. It is with great sadness that I must report to the Brandon Lewis: As the hon. Lady may have heard in House the death of Harry Harpham, the hon. Member the recent Opposition day debate, we have always been very for Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough. Harry entered clear that the most vulnerable in our society will be the House at the last general election, following careers protected. We will also ensure a fair settlement for as a miner, as a researcher for David Blunkett, now the taxpayers. right hon. Lord Blunkett, and as a representative of the National Union of Mineworkers at Clipstone colliery. Peter Dowd: Will the Minister acknowledge that, Harry was also a councillor on Sheffield City Council although his announcement to delay the 1% rent cut for 15 years, holding important cabinet responsibilities affecting supported housing is welcome, it does not go in that time, and serving as deputy leader of the council. far enough and the substantive proposals should be Harry was a diligent constituency Member of Parliament, jettisoned to inject much-needed stability back into the who held the Executive to account on behalf of his sector? constituents. Most recently, on Wednesday 20 January, he asked the Prime Minister what support the Government Brandon Lewis: As I am sure the hon. Gentleman will were providing to world-class companies such as Sheffield appreciate, and as I said in the recent debate, we are Forgemasters. working with the sector. The changes will come in in I must tell the House that Harry informed me a few 2018, but we are very clear, and have always been very weeks ago of his circumstances. Let it be recorded that clear, that we will make sure that the most vulnerable in he first fought bravely his illness, and then bore it with our society are protected. stoicism and fortitude, continuing to battle on behalf of his constituents to the very end. Harry will be sadly 11. [903510] Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con): Homeless missed by us all, and our thoughts are with Harry’s hostels and foyers play a vital role in helping rough wife, Gill, and the wider family at this very sad time. sleepers to get off the streets and into long-term homes. I would be grateful if my hon. Friend could confirm that housing associations will be given urgent clarity on whether the local housing allowance cap applies to Oral Answers to Questions those services. If it does not, there is a real worry that many will close and that, as a result, there will be an unnecessary rise in the numbers of young homeless people. COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT Brandon Lewis: My hon. Friend always fights hard for his constituents. Preventing youth homelessness is a The Secretary of State was asked— priority for this Government. We are investing £15 million in the fair chance fund, an innovative payment-by-results scheme. That is helping some 2,000 vulnerable young Supported Housing homeless people to get into accommodation, education, training and employment. We will work closely with 1. Mary Glindon (North Tyneside) (Lab): What providers to find a long-term solution to the funding of assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned supported accommodation. reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing. [903499] Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab): I, too, associate myself and those on the Labour Benches 18. Peter Dowd (Bootle) (Lab): What assessment he with your comments, Mr Speaker. Harry Harpham will has made of the potential effect of planned reductions be sorely missed by the Labour party, his constituents, in social rents and housing benefit support on the and, of course, his family and friends. Our thoughts are provision of supported housing. [903518] with them at this time. 1285 Oral Answers8 FEBRUARY 2016 Oral Answers 1286 Research from Changing Lives, a Newcastle-based Greg Clark: Over the last five years, home ownership, specialist housing agency, estimates that it and other and particularly house building, has been revived from supported housing providers across the country will the crash that happened under Labour. The hon. Gentleman lose a huge sum of money from the Chancellor’s crude should welcome the planning reforms that we made, cuts to housing benefit. The discretionary fund on which have increased planning permissions by 50%. He which the Government say they must rely is totally should welcome the introduction of starter homes to inadequate. What will the Minister do to ensure that give first-time buyers a foot on the housing ladder. He that vital form of housing for many thousands of should welcome the extension of Help to Buy, which people with disabilities and other specialist needs remains has helped so many people to achieve their dream of a and is properly funded in future? home of their own. Brandon Lewis: I say to the hon. Lady, as I have said Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con): Right to before, that we will make sure that the most vulnerable Buy does not apply to rural exception sites. Does the in our society are protected. We are also boosting Secretary of State therefore agree that affordable housing supply with £400 million-worth of funding announced in rural areas is absolutely key? in the spending review to deliver specialist affordable homes for the vulnerable, the elderly and those with Greg Clark: I do agree with my hon. Friend. In disabilities. Of course, there is also our £5.3 billion providing homes in all communities for all types of investment in the better care fund, through which we people we need to make sure that we have diversity of are looking to integrate health and social care. tenure, especially in rural areas. My hon. Friend is right. Property Purchase Schemes Andy Slaughter (Hammersmith) (Lab): The idea that 2. Christopher Pincher (Tamworth) (Con): What any of these schemes are affordable is an Orwellian progress his Department has made on the Help to Buy myth. In my constituency, people need an income of and Right to Buy schemes. [903501] £70,000 to be able to get an affordable home, and that is going up to £90,000 before long. To whom is that The Secretary of State for Communities and Local affordable? Government (Greg Clark): I associate myself with your sentiments, Mr Speaker, about our former colleague, Greg Clark: I do not think the hon. Gentleman does Harry Harpham. a good service to his constituents. He should know that This Government are committed to increasing home under the combination of Help to Buy and shared ownership. More than 130,000 households have purchased ownership, the deposit that a London first-time buyer a home through Help to Buy since 2012. We have just can be required to pay on the average price paid of launched London Help to Buy, and I can tell the House £385,000 is as low as £4,800. The hon. Gentleman that in the first seven days, 15,000 people have registered would do his constituents a service by promoting these to take advantage of it. Since April 2010, more than schemes to them. 53,000 homes have been sold to tenants under Right to Buy, and a voluntary Right to Buy scheme will give Robert Neill (Bromley and Chislehurst) (Con): I welcome 1.3 million more families the opportunity to do so. my right hon. Friend’s comments about the importance of the small and medium-sized building sector. Does he Christopher Pincher: Bovis Homes, a major employer agree that one of the most damaging things that could in my constituency, commends Help to Buy as a tremendous happen to that sector’s involvement in London would initiative, but we all know that we need more small-scale be the imposition of a 50% affordable housing target developers in the supply chain to increase the supply of across sites, which would have no relation to the viability? homes to which Help to Buy can apply. Does my right As experienced under Ken Livingstone, this would actually hon. Friend agree that large-scale developers franchising drive developers away from bringing sites forward.