argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): It is difficult to dignify this Bill with analysis, because parts of it are so squalid and vindictive. What is pay to stay if it is not punishing success or making people on moderate incomes unable to afford to live in places such as my constituency. In the short time available, I want to focus on two of its aspects: one is the enforced sale of council housing, and the other is the end of secure tenancies. Such sales are nothing less than ad hominem attacks on every council tenant, every housing association tenant and everyone who lives in a social landlord tenancy in this country. Frankly, the policy is outrageous. It has nothing to do with housing policy; it is to do with sectarian interests, gerrymandering and social engineering. I agree with Glenn Tilbrook, the lead singer of Squeeze, who memorably sang to the Prime Minister on "The Andrew Marr Show" on Sunday that council housing—affordable and secure homes for people on low and moderate incomes—is "part of what made Britain great" For my constituents, the policy means that 50% of council housing will be sold off: 6,500 homes will be lost from the public sector in that way when there is an absolutely chronic shortage of decent housing and no one can afford private rents or owner occupation in my constituency. I do not believe that such homes will be replaced. Whenever homes are demolished, either they are not replaced or they are replaced by meaner versions at the side of private sites. The hon. Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) let the cat out of the bag when he said that all the Tories will do is replace them with starter homes costing £450,000 and miles away from the areas in which such people are now living The attack on security of tenure is the most disgraceful thing in this Bill. Security of tenure is part of the social compact in this country, as Margaret Thatcher understood. When we had the Housing Acts 1985 and 1988, private tenancies were made insecure, which I regret, but assured tenancies and secure tenancies gave families something they could call a home. Why do this Government want to destroy that Finally, the largest development site in London— 24,000 new homes in Old Oak—is in my constituency. We are now told that they will be starter homes. Who will be able to afford homes at £450,000 each? The hon. Member for Richmond Park should be ashamed of himself. He cannot speak for London on this issue. The speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Sadiq Khan) shows that only one party and one candidate in the mayoral election will stand up for all Londoners in providing genuinely affordable housing in this country.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): There have been many good amendments to the Bill, but sadly they were the ones the Government rejected. New clauses 3 and 4 would have set right many of the inadequacies of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, but they were rejected. New clause 52 —imagine, Mr Speaker, a clause to ensure that rented properties are fit for human habitation: defeated. Houses not fit for habitation were voted for by a Government not fit to govern. The Bill focuses on the abolition of social housing, both council and housing association owned, and it is a deliberate dismantling of the social rented sector.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): Is my hon. Friend aware that as a result of this Bill one of my local housing associations is preparing to sell off stock that is expensive to maintain as it becomes vacant, even if that is through auction, and it is incrementally moving out of the very areas it was supposed to serve?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, and in my constituency 500 council homes in Brent would be at risk of forced sale, rather than going to people on the waiting list. We have 4,500 households on the waiting list in bands A to C. Band D has been abolished, and we have had to tell people that anyone in band D does not stand a chance of getting a home in Brent North. That is the scale of the problems we are facing, and the response that we have had from the Government is totally inadequate to meet the housing needs of people in London. High rent, lower than average incomes and a larger than average household size in my constituency means that affordability is a huge problem Council and housing association rents are to be cut by 1% a year. That is mixed news. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, it will help very few of the 3.9 million social tenants—it just comes off their housing benefit—but it is a great bonus for the Treasury. Some £1.7 billion will be removed from the housing benefit bill by leaving a disastrous hole in council and housing association finances. It is there, in the social rented sector, that the real price of this measure will be paid for and felt by tenants Future planning for housing development will have a greater and greater share of homeownership, rather than social rented housing. Communities will find themselves broken up by redevelopment or, in the long term, by the loss of secure tenancies, which have been a bedrock of stable neighbourhoods. I want children in my constituency to grow up knowing that in three years’ time they will be able to sit their GCSEs and their A-level exams at the same school they started off in at the age of 11. The Government are denying them that right. It used to be that an English family’s home was their castle—no longer.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Gisela Stuart (Labour, Centre-left): I am extremely grateful to the hon. Gentleman for calling this debate. It is unacceptable that people such as my constituent Paramjit Tank, whose family invested some £60,000 in the fund over three years, do not know what has happened to their money. Whatever authorities we have set up, those people are in limbo. Their money has gone and they do not know what is going to happen next.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Mixed Topics
Elizabeth Anne McInnes (Labour, Centre-left): I wish to add my voice to those of other hon. Members who have expressed concerns on behalf of their constituents. I also wish to express the request of my constituent Mel Carney, who says: "I have already waited over three years to learn what has happened to my money." He is asking for transparency from the FCA and for the investigation to be concluded in a timely manner.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Ruth Margaret Cadbury (Labour, Centre-left): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing this debate, because I, too, have constituents who have been affected by this matter, including Anna Hughes who lost 90% of her investment and three years of interest. Is it not right that our constituents who have been affected by the Connaught scheme should have confidence not only in the process of investigation and resolution on this issue, but in the financial system and in the belief that their investments are safe wherever they put them?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Other
Questions: What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.; What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.
Mary Theresa Glindon (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, associate myself with the sad sentiments that have been expressed about our dear colleague The Minister says that the review will report in spring. It was due to report at the end of last year. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State is still pressing ahead with cuts before the review comes out. Can the Minister say why that is?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Questions: What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.; What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.
Peter Christopher Dowd (Labour, Centre-left): Will the Minister acknowledge that, although his announcement to delay the 1% rent cut affecting supported housing is welcome, it does not go far enough and the substantive proposals should be jettisoned to inject much-needed stability back into the sector?
Supported Housing — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Questions: What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.; What assessment he has made of the potential effect of planned reductions in social rents and housing benefit support on the provision of supported housing.; Homeless hostels and foyers play a vital role in helping rough 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 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.
Roberta Carol Blackman-Woods (Labour, Centre-left): I, too, associate myself and those on the Labour Benches with your comments, Mr Speaker. Harry Harpham will be sorely missed by the Labour party, his constituents, and, of course, his family and friends. Our thoughts are with them at this time. Research from Changing Lives, a Newcastle-based specialist housing agency, estimates that it and other supported housing providers across the country will lose a huge sum of money from the Chancellor’s crude cuts to housing benefit. The discretionary fund on which the Government say they must rely is totally inadequate. What will the Minister do to ensure that that vital form of housing for many thousands of people with disabilities and other specialist needs remains and is properly funded in future?
Property Purchase Schemes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Barry John Sheerman (Labour, Centre-left): We should have an end to these excuses. There is a generation in the rented sector who have no hope of owning their own homes. Is it not about time that we had some bold, imaginative policies? How many new towns are there? How many new generations of building are going on? How many houses are being built in Ebbsfleet, for example, which is supposed to be a new town? Will the Secretary of State answer that?
Property Purchase Schemes — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Andrew Francis Slaughter (Labour, Centre-left): The idea that any of these schemes are affordable is an Orwellian myth. In my constituency, people need an income of £70,000 to be able to get an affordable home, and that is going up to £90,000 before long. To whom is that affordable?
Private Rented Sector — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Karen Patricia Buck (Labour, Centre-left): According to a freedom of information inquiry that I carried out last year, only 14,000 of a total of 51,316 complaints made to councils about poor housing were subjected to a local authority environmental health assessment, and, on average, councils prosecuted only one rogue landlord every year. Is it not irrefutable that local authorities lack the resources, certainly, and the will, in some cases, to take action against rogue landlords? What possible grounds can the Minister have for resisting a modest change that would allow tenants to take legal action against landlords who let homes that are not fit for human habitation?
Private Rented Sector — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Victoria Jane Foxcroft (Labour, Centre-left): Much of what the Minister said is not what I am hearing from constituents. Many of those who come to see me speak of substandard homes which are damp and cold and have not been subjected to gas and electricity safety checks, and many are afraid of dealing with their landlords because they fear being evicted. What will the Minister do about that? Does he now regret not supporting Labour’s amendment to the Housing and Planning Bill, which would have ensured that landlords only let properties that were fit for human habitation?
Private Rented Sector — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Tulip Rizwana Siddiq (Labour, Centre-left): Many of the 33% of my constituents who rent privately have been the victim of revenge evictions. Shelter has estimated that in a calendar year 4,000 people in my constituency were victims of revenge evictions and 200,000 people across the country suffered from rogue landlords. The Minister has been speaking about how much work the Government have been doing, but will he clarify what impact the law that was brought in last year has had on the number of revenge evictions across the country?
Brownfield Sites — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Clive James Charles Betts (Labour, Centre-left): I join you, Mr Speaker, in paying tribute to my friend and colleague, Harry Harpham, who will probably be the last coalminer elected to the House. As you rightly said, despite the seriousness of his illness, he was still here three weeks ago arguing passionately for the steelworkers and steel industry in Sheffield. It was a fitting culmination to years of dedicated service to the people of Sheffield. That service included the delivery of the decent homes programme, from which thousands of our tenants have benefited There are many brownfield sites in the Don Valley in Sheffield on which more than 1,000 homes could be built. The problem is that the land is subject to flooding. Sheffield City Council has identified £40 million towards a £60 million flood prevention programme. Will the Minister ask his officials to liaise with officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and city council officers to find a joined-up approach to ensuring that this land can be safeguarded and that those 1,000-plus homes can be built on the available brownfield land?
Brownfield Sites — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Rachael Helen Maskell (Labour, Centre-left): York desperately needs family and social housing, yet the council plans to build predominantly high-value units on the 72 hectare "York Central" brownfield site, which will go no way to addressing our housing crisis. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the principle of York First and putting the interests of the city ahead of asset housing?
Brownfield Sites — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Tristram Hunt (Labour, Centre-left): In 2012, the Secretary of State told the House that the new planning policy framework offered "clear and unequivocal" protection of the green belt, yet the number of green-belt approvals has increased fivefold in the last five years under this Government. The new permission in principle powers in clause 102 of the Housing and Planning Bill will only further undermine the green belt. When will the Government put urban regeneration first, rather than ex-urban sprawl?
Brownfield Sites — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Andrew John Gwynne (Labour, Centre-left): Does the Minister understand the plight of the residents of Haughton Green, an urban village in my constituency, who, under the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s spatial framework, have seen every remaining piece of open green space in that area identified for future development? Is it not time we had a planning system that worked for the people of Haughton Green?
Syrian Refugee Resettlement — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Immigration
Keith Anthony Vaz (Labour, Centre-left): I commend the Minister on being the first Home Office Minister in living memory to set a target for resettlement and meet that target. However, there are still another 19,000 Syrian refugees to be resettled before the next election, and the number of other asylum seekers has risen from 9,000 to 17,000. Where are we going to find that accommodation?
Support for High Streets — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Mixed Topics
Paula Michelle Sherriff (Labour, Centre-left): May I associate myself with the comments regarding Harry Harpham? He was a dear friend, a good and decent man, and we will miss him very much indeed A week before the general election, the Chancellor told the Dewsbury Reporter that within the first 100 days of a Tory Government, the town would be added to a list of enterprise zones in which new businesses would be spared business rates for the next five years. Will the Minister confirm that nine months into a Tory Government, there is no enterprise zone in my constituency, and local businesses on our high street are still paying full rates? Will he offer an apology to local people who were promised one thing when the Chancellor wanted their votes, and got quite another once he was in office?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Questions: In my city of Plymouth, local campaigns seem to regularly mislead my constituents on the spare room subsidy, something that many people see as a fair way of bringing about parity between the social and private rental sectors. I commend the Government, therefore, for making funds available for specific cases where the spare room subsidy is not appropriate. However, will the Minister confirm that Plymouth City Council has chosen to return that discretionary housing payment to central Government every year, so no one should be struggling as a result of this policy?
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): The Secretary of State will know that one of the many proud achievements of the last Labour Government was the rise in the number of families able to realise their dream of owning their own home—the number was up by 1 million over 13 years. Will the Minister tell us what has happened to the number of homeowners since Conservative Ministers took charge in 2010?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Questions: In my city of Plymouth, local campaigns seem to regularly mislead my constituents on the spare room subsidy, something that many people see as a fair way of bringing about parity between the social and private rental sectors. I commend the Government, therefore, for making funds available for specific cases where the spare room subsidy is not appropriate. However, will the Minister confirm that Plymouth City Council has chosen to return that discretionary housing payment to central Government every year, so no one should be struggling as a result of this policy?
John Healey (Labour, Centre-left): Let me repeat: the number of homeowners under Labour was up by 1 million. Since 2010, it is down by 200,000. For young people, it is now in free fall, and they have little or no hope of ever being able to buy their own homes. Never mind the spin or short-term policies, the Minister has no long-term plan for housing. That is why I have commissioned the independent Redfern review to look at the decline in home ownership. We would welcome evidence from Ministers, but will the Minister at least agree to look at the review’s findings, so that five years of failure on home ownership do not turn into 10?
Topical Questions — House of Commons, 2016-02-08
Topic: Housing
Questions: In my city of Plymouth, local campaigns seem to regularly mislead my constituents on the spare room subsidy, something that many people see as a fair way of bringing about parity between the social and private rental sectors. I commend the Government, therefore, for making funds available for specific cases where the spare room subsidy is not appropriate. However, will the Minister confirm that Plymouth City Council has chosen to return that discretionary housing payment to central Government every year, so no one should be struggling as a result of this policy?; What advice does my hon. Friend have for groups such as the Aireborough neighbourhood forum in my constituency, which finds itself in a constant fight with its local authority in trying to make progress? In this instance, Leeds City Council appears to be ignoring Government advice on brownfield sites, without any consequences.; Will my hon. Friend confirm that if the people of Redditch want to be a full member of the west midlands combined authority, they will also be able to take part in directly electing a mayor?; Aberdeen has supported oil, with our residents having to put up with the bad and the good that comes with this. The UK Government have tried to tell Aberdeen that their £125 million of investment will inspire hundreds of millions of pounds of investment from currently hard-pressed Aberdeen businesses. What will the UK Government be doing to encourage businesses in Aberdeen that are suffering, along with the rest of us, to stump up cash?; Under Mayor Livingstone, the number of new housing starts in London plummeted as a direct result of developers walking away from unaffordable sites, thanks to the 50% affordable housing target. What does my hon. Friend think would happen if the new Mayor were to introduce a 50% affordable housing target?; The Inverness city deal from Highland Council is based on the idea of a region for young people. The Highlands area has, over many decades, seen a drain of young people. Much work has been done to address this, including the opening of the Inverness campus, but more needs to be done to attract and retain young people. A plan such as the one put forward can help to rebalance the population demographic. Does the Minister agree that the aims of the plan and the statement of intent are worthy of support?; Only 94 of 1,600 asylum-seeking children and care leavers in Kent have been taken in by other areas under the voluntary dispersal scheme. With more refugee children coming, how will my hon. Friend’s Department get local authorities across the country to accept their share of the asylum-seeking children who are already here?
Barry Strachan Gardiner (Labour, Centre-left): I know that the Minister for Housing and Planning well understands the extraordinarily high cost of private sector housing in London, but does he understand the impact that the changes to the local housing allowance are having on residents in my constituency? Will he ask his departmental officials to provide data on the impact of those changes?