argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. As Housing Minister, he made a major contribution to the revival in house building that was necessary after the crash that took place under the previous Labour Government. We have seen, over the past five years, house building recover from the record lows of the previous decade, but, as this Bill makes clear, these are the first steps away from a much longer record over successive Parliaments. Indeed, the connection between supply, affordability and ownership is obvious to all, and yet for decades successive Parliaments and Governments failed to find a lasting solution not because they did nothing, but often because they failed to tackle the underlying issues In the previous Parliament, the Government’s focus was on recovery from the worst housing crash since the second world war, but in this Parliament, our focus has shifted from rescue to reform. Though wide-ranging in scope, the Bill does not represent the entirety of what needs to be done. As the Chancellor made clear in the autumn statement and as the Prime Minister said last week, the Government are committed to a comprehensive and ongoing programme of reform, addressing the whole of the problem and not just part of it. This Bill is of central importance to the overall strategy.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): The record of the previous Government is very clear: we built more affordable homes, specifically more council houses, than the previous Labour Government did in 13 years, so we will take no lessons from the hon. Lady.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman might not be aware that restrictions are in place that prevent, for a considerable period, homeowners who have exercised the right to buy selling on. In fact, foreign ownership of UK property is still at a very low level. I do not recall the previous Labour Government introducing any particular restrictions on that. Let me point to two flagship manifesto commitments that the Bill implements, namely the extension of the right to buy to housing association tenants and the provision of 200,000 starter homes by 2020. The Bill is making good the pledges that were made directly to the British people and that were backed by the British people in the general election.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Gregory David Clark (Conservative, Centre-right): I hope that, on behalf of her constituents, the hon. Lady will welcome the announcements that were made to extend the Help to Buy scheme in London to provide greater help there. In fact, housing associations, including those in her constituency, have welcomed enthusiastically one of the key features of this Bill, which is the provision that enables them to provide her residents with the right to buy their home and, at the same time, to build more homes in London.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): On that point, does my right hon. Friend recognise that it is thanks to this Bill, the work of the current Mayor of London and the initiative of my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond Park (Zac Goldsmith) that we are seeing consistently more affordable housing being delivered in London? That is in contrast with what happened under a socialist Mayor and a socialist Government that persistently under-delivered for London.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Other
Eleanor Fulton Laing (Conservative, Centre-right): Order. A great many Members wish to speak in this important Third Reading debate. We have only half an hour left. I hope that hon. Members will be courteous and take no more than three to four minutes: that means less than four minutes.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): I am saddened to have heard the speech by the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey), because he and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State are two of the people I have always had the most respect for in this Chamber, but his diagnosis is fundamentally flawed. I am sorry that he has fallen into that error The reality is that the Secretary of State has brought forward a Bill that is necessary, proportionate and sensible. Anyone who tries to characterise anything that comes from my right hon. Friend as extreme is, I am sorry to say, not in touch with political reality. In the past—I understand why the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne was in difficulty—we saw a litany of failure by Labour Governments. As a result, when my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I, with my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Mr Prisk) and others, walked into the Department for Communities and Local Government, we inherited the worst rates of house building since the 1920s, the worst rates of social housing being built, and a market that was depressed and crushed That was particularly so in London, thanks to the very dirigiste and impositional views adopted by the previous Mayor, Ken Livingstone, who choked off the supply of housing, through unrealistic demands for a social element under section 52 agreements on developers and an almost ideological hatred of the private rented sector—a sentiment which, I am sorry to say, slipped through in an intervention earlier. If run properly, the private rented sector has a crucial role to play in the housing mix of London and of any other city or nation. It is sad that we see a retreat not just back to the ’70s and ’80s but to policy of an incompetence that Herbert Morrison would be ashamed of.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Maria Frances Lewis Miller (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend recognise the problems that I experienced under the Labour Government of centrally set house building targets that led to high levels of flatted accommodation rather than the family homes that are being delivered under this Government, with hundreds of families getting starter homes of the sort that they could only dream of under the previous Labour Government?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. The London suburbs, in particular, suffered from the ludicrous policy of counting things in terms of units rather than the number of affordable homes. That meant that places such as Bromley, Beckenham and others were swamped with flats being built—one or two-bedroom units—when the real demand was for affordable family homes. That, at last, we are tackling. Good housing associations such as Affinity Sutton in my constituency were happy to sign up to the agreement with the Secretary of State, because it gives them flexibility to be innovative I remember when I was a councillor tons and tons of people in my ward wanting to buy their home and the Labour Government stopping them. I find it pretty appalling that someone I would usually respect seeks to obstruct and stop people having aspiration. Aspiration goes beyond being forever a tenant—it goes to having a chance to buy and a chance to get on. It is that lack of aspiration that so characterises Opposition Front Benchers. That is why their opposition to this Bill is so sad and, I would say, such a betrayal of hard-working people—people exactly like my shop steward grandfather, who worked hard to buy his own home and was helped to do so. They are exactly the people this Government are trying to help. We will not take any lessons from Labour Members about social inclusion or equality. They are reversing social inclusion and equality. They set it back, and we should congratulate—
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Richard Michael Bacon (Conservative, Centre-right): While my hon. Friend is on the subject of Labour’s lack of radicalism, does he share my confusion that the Labour party, which has control of many councils and billions of pounds of reserves, is not establishing and promoting mutual housing co-operatives? There is nothing in law to prevent Labour from doing that. If it really wanted to promote in perpetuity social rents, there are avenues available to it. Where is the radicalism one would have expected to hear from Labour Members?
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Robert James MacGillivray Neill (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Many local authorities would take that up. Housing co-operatives are a great idea. Labour’s attitude towards the private rented sector has been a barrier to the institutional investment in the private sector that would so improve the quality of the stock. It is the consistent failure of Labour authorities to take their opportunities that is the real story, not the freedoms that this Government and the previous coalition Government had been giving them It is a sad day, but I have to say this frankly to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne and his hon. Friends: I like them as people but they are profoundly wrong in their opposition to this Bill.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): I will do my best to stick to Madam Deputy Speaker’s injunction of an informal four-minute limit It was a pleasure to serve on the Bill Committee and to watch both Front-Bench teams in action. I welcome the Bill as an opportunity further to improve this Government’s record on house building. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (John Healey) cited some statistics a few moments ago. I respectfully remind him that in his last year as Housing Minister, there were 125,000 starts across the United Kingdom, yet last year, under the current Secretary of State and Housing and Planning Minister, the figure had increased by 35% to 165,000 starts. This Government have a record they can be proud of.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Chris Ian Brian Mynott Philp (Conservative, Centre-right): I believe that the level of rough sleeping last year had gone down compared with five years ago. Of course action is needed to combat this terrible problem. I am sure that we can all agree on that There is agreement around the House that there is an under-supply of housing in this country when compared with population growth. That is true, and I welcome the measures in the Bill to increase the housing supply, particularly the measures to build on surplus brownfield land, as encapsulated by local development orders. The measures will also help to protect the green belt by making sure that we focus development in areas where it is most appropriate. The London Land Commission, which is jointly chaired by the Minister for Housing and Planning, is already doing its work. I welcome the announcement made a week or so ago about giving it further powers to bring publicly owned land into development. Similarly, amendments tabled on Report last week to introduce non-local authority providers of planning processing services—not decision making, but processing powers—will expedite the passage of planning consents and further increase the supply of housing. All those measures will help to increase housing supply, and therefore help to improve affordability Another area in which the Bill does welcome work is that of home ownership. The right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne pointed out that home ownership has declined. The decline started in 2007, not 2010, but it is lamentable that home ownership has gone down. I welcome the starter home initiative, which I hope will reverse the trend. It is regrettable that the Labour party has passed up every opportunity to promote home ownership provided for by the Bill, which I shall be delighted to vote for in a few minutes’ time. In effect, every first-time buyer in this country will be given a 20% discount when the Bill becomes law. That is extremely welcome, and will I hope reverse the tide of home ownership decline. We should all be able to support that In summary, the Bill will increase the housing supply and promote home ownership. I urge all Members to support it. I even urge our SNP colleagues to support it vicariously.
Housing and Planning Bill — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Housing
Angela Eileen Watkinson (Conservative, Centre-right): In welcoming this large and excellent Bill, I thank the Secretary of State, who fell short of accepting my new clause 5, but who has agreed to set up a working party to look into why so few local authorities use the powers that are available to them to collect tenure information via their council tax application forms. I believe that the information so collected would be extremely helpful to local authorities and tenants in identifying rogue landlords and letting agents, as well as housing benefit fraud, unregulated houses in multiple occupation, environmental health issues and other parts of the housing and planning function. I look forward to the working group making progress to ensure that those powers are exercised consistently across all local authorities.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): Before we get into the detail of the questions I want to ask the Minister, I think it is important for me to provide some context and background on the issue The Connaught Income Fund Series 1 was established in April 2008. The aim of the fund was to invest in bridging loans, primarily through a company called Tiuta International Ltd. Regulatory demands resulted in the fund being operated by a Financial Services Authority-regulated firm. In the case of Connaught the initial operator was Capita Financial Managers Ltd Capita issued the first investment memorandum as the fund’s promoter under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 in April 2008. In September 2009 Capita Financial Managers resigned and the role of the operator was transferred to Blue Gate Capital management. At the time this decision was taken, a meeting between representatives of Capita Financial Managers and Capita plc was held. Minutes of this meeting, which are in the public domain, confirm that Capita was, at the very least, concerned about Tiuta’s financial viability and was aware of the false representations promoted to investors within the information memorandum. However, despite this level of knowledge and concern about the viability of Tiuta and the improper use of moneys invested in the fund, Capita, upon transferring the operator status to Blue Gate Capital management, did not inform existing investors of its concerns. That is despite the fact that Capita did write to existing investors informing them of the change of operator.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Other
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Gentleman makes an important point that I will come on to. Indeed, the need for information as to why that decision was taken is something I will be asking the Minister to comment on.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Graham Charles Stuart (Conservative, Centre-right): I, too, congratulate my hon. Friend on championing this issue. I have been contacted by constituents. They want to know why the FCA is taking so long conducting its inquiry and when they are going to get information about what is going on within it. They want to be confident that the inquiry is being properly conducted and to see a resolution of this unpleasant and long-running saga.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend has summarised my speech in a pithy intervention. It is important to highlight that when the transfer of operator happened, the subsequent information memorandum issued by Blue Gate was virtually identical to the original information memorandum issued by Capita, and for a further 10 months, more or less, investors’ funds going into Connaught were still managed by Capita IRG Trustees Ltd, which handled investors’ money while Blue Gate waited to receive authority from the FSA to handle client funds The whole issue becomes even more concerning because in January 2011 a whistleblower—none other than the chief executive of Tiuta, George Patellis—contacted the FSA to make a principle 11 notification in relation to the misuse of fund moneys by Tiuta. In March 2011 George Patellis met Ian Conway from the FSA to highlight evidence of mismanagement and the fraudulent use of investor funds. He provided ample evidence to support his claims.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): I will join the hon. Lady in that call, and I agree entirely with her comments On 26 May 2011, three months after the whistleblower provided evidence of wrongdoing, the FSA finally published a note on its website stating that the fund should not be compared to a bank or building society account. That was remarkable, considering it had been provided with evidence of wrongdoing. In the light of that evidence, it is difficult not to argue that a stronger warning should have been provided to investors by the FSA.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): Absolutely. My hon. Friend has just covered part of my speech very well, and I agree entirely with her comments Despite the warnings, and the acknowledgment of those warnings by a note that was issued on the FSA’s website, money was still being invested in the fund for a further 10 months. That is scandalous.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Cheryl Elise Kendall Gillan (Conservative, Centre-right): I congratulate my hon. Friend on calling this debate. It is obvious that there is interest across the House in this matter. Is not the situation made even more dreadful by the fact that constituents like mine who invested £100,000 in 2011 did not receive those warnings earlier? One of the financial advisers who advised several people to invest in the fund is based in my constituency. They are now exposed and they want timely and transparent answers from the FCA. Everything seems to have been concealed in this case.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
William David Wiggin (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that the new body, the FCA, is as toothless as ever and that it is more likely to refer people to the ombudsman than to do anything itself? Will he urge the Government to change that?
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): I regret that I have to agree with my hon. Friend. The financial ombudsman service is too often seen as an option by the FCA when problems are brought to its attention. Unfortunately, I also have some comments to make on the performance of the ombudsman in relation to this issue.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): The hon. Lady speaks for all of us in this regard, and the constituents who are the worst affected are often old and vulnerable and have invested their life savings in the scheme. I share her concerns In March 2012, the fund was finally suspended. It is important to point out, however, that more than half the investment in the fund was invested after the original warnings had been given to the FSA. That issue needs to be addressed. The fund went into administration in May 2012 and finally entered liquidation in December 2012 When I first came across this matter through my constituency casework, most interested parties and stakeholders were complaining that the FSA—and subsequently the FCA—were unresponsive to their concerns. However, that situation appeared to change following the establishment of the all-party parliamentary group on the Connaught Income Fund. At its first meeting in July 2014, the FCA’s director of supervision, Linda Woodall, announced unilaterally that the FCA would facilitate negotiations between the liquidators of the fund and the former operators of the fund, Blue Gate and Capita. This was not a perfect solution, but it offered the hope that some redress and compensation would be offered to investors. That commitment was made during the APPG meeting, but again a question arises: given that a warning was made by a whistleblower so much in advance of this fund being suspended, should the FCA be looking not just at contributions towards compensation from the operators of the fund, but at itself? Did the FCA owe the investors a duty of care?
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): As a member of the APPG, will my hon. Friend say how concerning it is that there has been no communication from the FCA since March 2015? This long period of anxiety for our constituents is what is really troubling so many of us.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Other
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): As the chair of the APPG, I have felt extremely frustrated when Conservative and Opposition Members have asked me for an update, as I am unable to offer one, because there is nothing to be said.
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Angela Eileen Watkinson (Conservative, Centre-right): I, like most colleagues here, have had correspondence with constituents who have lost considerable amounts of savings, with this often changing the direction of their lives as the amounts are so significant. Does my hon. Friend share my hope that the strength of feeling being shown in this Chamber today will force some urgency to be put into finding a solution to this?
Connaught Income Fund — House of Commons, 2016-01-12
Topic: Domestic Commerce
Guto ap Owain Bebb (Conservative, Centre-right): Again, I fully agree with my hon. Friend’s comments, and I do think that tonight’s turnout indicates the concern across the House on this issue. It is important to point out again that the proposed mediation was described as the fastest way of getting some compensation to investors, which is why the APPG welcomed it, although with some reservations. A deadline date of 31 October 2014 was offered for the completion of that mediation. Subsequently, in November 2014 the FCA announced a new date of the end of January 2015, and then in January 2015 it announced a new date of the end of March On 9 March 2015, I was asked to meet Martin Wheatley, the now former chief executive of the FCA, in Portcullis House, where I was informed that the FCA was withdrawing from the mediation process—that was announced the following day. Again, the decision was unilateral. In effect, the decision to go for mediation was a unilateral one made by the FCA without consulting other stakeholders, as was the decision to end the mediation. As chair of the APPG, I think it essential that the FCA explains why it took those decisions. It needs to explain why it thought it was better to end the mediation rather than continue with a method of dealing with this issue that it had claimed would be the most effective way to proceed.