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Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) Monday Volume 526 4 April 2011 No. 145 HOUSE OF COMMONS OFFICIAL REPORT PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES (HANSARD) Monday 4 April 2011 £5·00 © Parliamentary Copyright House of Commons 2011 This publication may be reproduced under the terms of the Parliamentary Click-Use Licence, available online through The National Archives website at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/our-services/parliamentary-licence-information.htm Enquiries to The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU; e-mail: [email protected] 723 4 APRIL 2011 724 Tracey Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) (Con): Will House of Commons the Secretary of State join me in congratulating councils that have protected front-line services through creative and innovative thinking about their budgets, such as Monday 4 April 2011 Medway council, which has halved its funding to trade unions and given that money to fund library books instead? The House met at half-past Two o’clock Mr Pickles: I do indeed congratulate them. My hon. Friend points out to those on the Opposition Benches a PRAYERS way in which money can be directed towards the front line. I hope that the right hon. Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint) will send out requests that Labour [MR SPEAKER in the Chair] councils similarly to look towards trade unions and reducing their costs. Jack Dromey (Birmingham, Erdington) (Lab): The Oral Answers to Questions Secretary of State has described his cuts as progressive, fair and protecting the most vulnerable. Last Friday, Conservative-led Birmingham city council inflicted the biggest cut in local government history of £212 million. COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT Some 4,000 people face losing their care packages, including some of the most vulnerable, many of whom are in ill health and in the twilight of their years. Is that progressive, fair and protecting the most vulnerable? The Secretary of State was asked— Local Government Funding (Services) Mr Pickles: Let us be absolutely clear: these are Labour cuts. The Labour party was planning £14 billion- worth of cuts, all of them front-loaded. At least we 1. Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab): What changed the formula to help the most vulnerable. We recent assessment he has made of the likely change in find ourselves in a position where we know perfectly the provision of services by local authorities as a result well that the Labour party would have inflicted even of reductions in the level of Government funding to greater cuts on local government. such authorities. [50339] The Secretary of State for Communities and Local New Homes Bonus Government (Mr Eric Pickles): We have given councils much greater flexibility and the financial autonomy to 2. Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con): What manage their budgets. If they share back-office services, assessment he has made of the potential benefits to join forces to get better value for money, cut excessive Kirklees district of the new homes bonus. [50340] chief executive pay, and root out waste and fraud, they can protect key front-line services. 3. Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con): What assessment he has made of the potential benefits to Rugby of the new Mr Watts: I thank the Secretary of State for his homes bonus. [50341] response, but does it not demonstrate that he is miles away from the reality of what is happening in the 10. Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con): What assessment streets? My local authority, which is one of the most he has made of the potential benefits to Gloucester of efficient and a four-star authority that has frozen its the new homes bonus. [50349] council tax for four years, is faced with 500 job losses, massive cuts in most of its services and a £28 million 13. Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab): What loss in spending in its local economy. What is he going assessment he has made of the potential effect on to do about that? regions in England of the new homes bonus. [50352] Mr Pickles: I recognise that the hon. Gentleman has many duties in this House, but perhaps he should have The Minister for Housing and Local Government (Grant spoken to his council leader, Councillor Marie Rimmer, Shapps): Today, I have announced the final allocations who says: to local authorities under the new homes bonus for 2011-12. All parts of England will receive significant “most job losses” funding from the scheme. Kirklees will receive £1.3 million, will be Rugby £435,000 and Gloucester £782,000. The funding “achieved by not filling posts, early retirement and voluntary is completely un-ring-fenced and councils will be able to redundancies”, use it according to the wishes of their local communities. which is hardly the position that he paints. It is also telling that Sally Yeoman, the chief executive of Halton Jason McCartney: I thank the Minister for that reply. and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action, blames Will he confirm the protection of the green belt and will the drop in funding on the ending of the working he consider the suggestion from the Campaign to Protect neighbourhoods fund—a fund that the Labour party Rural England perhaps to have an enhanced rate of new had decided to end in March. homes bonus for brownfield sites to encourage regeneration? 725 Oral Answers4 APRIL 2011 Oral Answers 726 Grant Shapps: I looked carefully at the new homes not incentivise individual authorities sufficiently so that bonus and at where there should be an uplift and I came the sum total of all the individual parts does not meet to the conclusion that the only uplift we would give the Government’s objective, what is plan B? would be to those who built additional affordable homes, and that is a block grant of £350 per home. The green Grant Shapps: The point about the new homes bonus belt is entirely protected; that is in the coalition agreement is that it is just one element in a series of steps that we and we stand by that position. are taking to ensure that house building goes ahead. The hon. Gentleman is right to mention that it slumped Mark Pawsey: The local authority in my constituency to the lowest level since 1924 under the old top-down of Rugby has been quick to recognise the benefits that targets. The new homes bonus will ensure that £200 million come with the new homes bonus and it has ambitious is distributed today, but it does not stop there. We are proposals for new housing development. What steps is also proposing build now, pay later. We are slimming the Minister taking to ensure that planning authorities down some of the many regulations that prevent house across England recognise the lead of authorities such as builders from getting homes built faster, and we are Rugby and allocate land for the new homes that are so encouraging them to renegotiate section 106. badly needed? Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab): It is Grant Shapps: In many ways, authorities such as getting worse. Rugby have led the way by being so keen to produce housing. The difference is that now every single one of our constituents gets to benefit from new homes being Grant Shapps: The hon. Lady says that it is not built. There is £200 million on the table that is being working, but we have already seen an increase in the distributed today. I note that the Opposition seem to be number of homes planned and starting to be built. against their own authorities receiving the money. Mr Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East) (Lab): The Richard Graham: Like my hon. Friend the Member Ansty technology park is in Rugby and the Government for Colne Valley (Jason McCartney), may I ask my announced on Friday that they would sell it off. That right hon. Friend whether more could be done, perhaps was an important job-creation opportunity brought on the paperwork, in order to attract developers into into existence by the old regional development agency constituencies such as mine, which are entirely urban which was scrapped by the Government. Would it not and therefore have only brownfield sites to offer? be preposterous if Rugby gained from the new homes bonus through developing such a site for housing? Grant Shapps: One of the changes that we have made is to enable local authorities to set their own targets Grant Shapps: The new homes bonus is entirely flexible for brownfield sites. I have been to my hon. Friend’s to allow local authorities to decide how the cash that constituency and I know that there are many good sites comes in is spent—those hundreds of millions of pounds available. Rather than housing being built on sites where being distributed today—so that they can take it and the regional spatial strategy seemed to insist that it use it for their own objectives. There is a conversation to went, housing can now go where it is required. Much of be held locally rather than nationally about how that that will be on the brownfield land that I went to see. money is used in Rugby. That is one of the features of the Government’s policy, and of the new homes bonus in particular. Community and Voluntary Sectors Heidi Alexander: Last week the Minister for Housing and Local Government wrote to my hon. Friend the 4. Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab): What assessment Member for Plymouth, Moor View (Alison Seabeck) he has made of the likely effect on the community and claimed that the new homes bonus will not penalise and voluntary sectors of reductions in the level of deprived areas to favour more affluent ones.
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