argyrotsipi/train-dataset huggingface dataset:
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I agree. It is a two-point strategy: it is about the money that is raised and incentivising people to stop leaving those homes empty The point about exemptions has been made by other Members, but it is important to labour it, because I do not want my Chippenham constituents to be unduly concerned or worried that they might be penalised by the policy. They will not because it has exemptions for people in the military, for carers and for people who are going into hospital which are designed to help them. If a home is left empty because of probate, the people concerned will be protected. This is not an arbitrary measure—it is smart and fair.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree and I will come on to deal with that point I want to reiterate the point that empty homes attract squatters, which can result in vandalism and antisocial behaviour. That helps to bring down areas and can be upsetting for local residents. Residents often come to my surgery asking, "Why is that property still empty and what can we do about it?" Today, we have an example of what we can do about it, with a measure to incentivise people to use those empty homes.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Scott Leslie Mann (Conservative, Centre-right): I am interested in the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Alan Mak) made about local authorities ring-fencing some of the money for better use. We have a big problem in the south-west with affordability. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) agree that local authorities could consider ring-fencing some of this money so that we can deliver affordable houses for people who live and work in her constituency and in mine?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree. The housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges that we face in this country, so it is right that local authorities would look to ring-fence funds. I am sure that a number of them appreciate the fact that this is a key issue for their residents and will prioritise this. They are best placed to understand their residents and to make decisions based on the local area, because every area is different I want to stress the point that locally people are sitting on properties, waiting for their value to go up. They do not want to rent them out because of the hassle, inconvenience or stress that that can cause. That is a problem because, if they are not selling them, those properties are left empty while people are waiting to get a property. That situation cannot continue. However, I think that the two-year period is fair.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Trudy Lynne Harrison (Conservative, Centre-right): It is simply not fair for homeowners living next door to these properties, whose houses have been affected by damp and other problems resulting from those properties not being properly maintained. That devalues their homes, on which they have spent time and money. They have renovated them, but their pride and joy is being damaged by empty properties next door.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree. I have said that these properties are more susceptible to vandalism and there is antisocial behaviour around them. It is uncomfortable for neighbours and people in those communities The two-year period is fair. It allows homeowners sufficient opportunity to sell the property, rent it out or complete major renovations that might be required. The Bill is an example of the Government supporting localism because local authorities, as has been mentioned by many hon. Members, will still make the decision on whether to apply the premium and the exact rate that is to be charged. They can review the empty housing stock and the housing supply and demand locally, and make an informed decision. That is an example of this Government trusting local authorities I am confident that the majority will continue to use that power. In fact, 2017-18 figures show that 291 of the 326 local authorities chose to apply the empty homes premium. In addition, there is scope for them to assess on a case-by-case basis—for example, where a homeowner is struggling to rent out or sell a property or to do the repairs. This is not a punitive measure, but a fair and measured one. The 2013 guidance will still stand, reminding local authorities to take into account the reasons a property is empty. As I have said, this is about protecting rather than penalising owners of homes. This Government do not want to stop or discourage people from getting into the property market and on to the housing ladder; it wants to encourage and facilitate them. That is the very nature and essence of this Bill I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) that we must be careful that this is not abused. We do not want people to find a loophole whereby they tinker with the property as they approach the two-year marker. I would like to hear the Minister explain how we will address that because it is very difficult to protect those homeowners who are doing the right thing, as opposed to those who are trying to avoid the rules. We need to seriously tackle our housing crisis My only ask of the Minister is to review the impact of the increase and to later look at increasing it again. I believe that, to truly incentivise homeowners to rent out or to sell their property, the cost must be quite high, especially in areas of London or other places where the housing market is very high, because people will sit on those houses and their value will go up considerably, month after month, and they can then write off the increase in the empty homes premium if it is not high enough. There is an argument to review it and increase it times five. If someone is doing the right thing and renting the property out, selling it or doing it up in a timely fashion, they will not be punished at all. There is an argument for looking at whether we have gone far enough today and whether in the future we could go further and build on this.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Neil John O'Brien (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is making her case with great passion on an issue about which so many people care. Will she join me in congratulating the campaign groups that have worked so hard to put it on the agenda, in particular The Big Issue and its "Fill ’Em Up" campaign and Empty Homes?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I completely agree with my hon. Friend that it is important to recognise the work done by campaign groups and all bodies with a vested interest in the issue. It is not just about urban areas. In fact, Graham Biggs, chief executive of the Rural Services Network, a body representing 143 rural local authorities in England, has said: "Anything that enables councils to bring empty properties back into use is welcome." It is also interesting to discuss this Bill in relation to homelessness. We have an odd situation whereby there are thousands of empty homes in the country but also a dreadful and rising problem of homelessness, although the Government are tackling it. As the chief executive of Shelter has pointed out, addressing the situation is not as simple as swapping or flipping those two elements around, because often homes are in different areas from those with the core homelessness problem.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Alan Mak (Conservative, Centre-right): Given that my hon. Friend has mentioned homelessness, it is only right that the whole House commends my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) for promoting the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) agree that that Act’s powers could be used together with the powers in this Bill to tackle homelessness from many directions?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Mary Josephine Robinson (Conservative, Centre-right): Following on from the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Alan Mak), I also congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). We really need to concentrate on the value that we can put into this market, which can be filled by this Bill, and ensure that people who need those homes are given them in a way that suits them and fulfils their aspirations. The Government have announced £28 million of funding for the Housing First project, some of which will go to a pilot scheme in Manchester. Does my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) agree that it will be interesting to see how the Mayor of Manchester approaches the issue and whether he will use that to fill those homes and to get homeless people into them?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Neil John O'Brien (Conservative, Centre-right): I entirely agree with my hon. Friend’s point about the mismatch between empty properties and the homeless, but does she agree with me and the estimate by The Big Issue that in some parts of the country there are 10 empty properties for every homeless family, so surely the Bill can play an important role, along with other measures such as Housing First, in addressing the problem of homelessness?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): Yes, it will have an impact. It is one of a number of ingredients in a recipe for tackling homelessness, an issue on which my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East has led considerably and on which I worked with him on the Homelessness Reduction Act. We also have the homelessness taskforce and Housing First. All of those together will help to tackle homelessness I want to air caution, however, because Opposition Members have talked frequently about seizing empty properties and giving them to the homeless. That is not a solution. The answer is about incentivising the owners of those empty properties and encouraging them to put them into the housing stock, not seizing them. We are not a Government who want to downgrade or derail property rights; we are a Government who want to promote and protect property rights, and also ensure that we can get that housing stock up and tackle the housing crisis.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): On incentivisation, does my hon. Friend agree that, when it comes to unoccupied properties in central London, some investment companies from overseas could just pay an extra amount? Does she think that the time is right to start looking at prohibiting foreign companies from purchasing investment in this country? Perhaps that is a radical step for me as a Conservative, but one wonders whether the time has come at least to have that conversation.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): I am a fan of localism and such decision making could be done on a local level, but I am not sure that I would be as radical as my hon. Friend. I think that the answer lies in increasing the premium rate to a point that makes it unaffordable not to sell the property or to rent it out. I would be interested to hear whether the Government will be commissioning any reviews or studies of the implementation of the measure and looking at potentially raising it further in the future, and whether this is the first step.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Robert John Blackman (Conservative, Centre-right): Does my hon. Friend agree that one of the issues is the starting point at which any multiples would apply? Obviously, property prices in London would start at £1 million-plus, so multiples of that sum, as premiums, would be extremely penal and would therefore lead to people thinking twice about leaving a property unoccupied.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Neil John O'Brien (Conservative, Centre-right): Further to the question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Huw Merriman) about the role that corporately owned empty properties might be playing in the problem, does my hon. Friend the Member for Chippenham (Michelle Donelan) agree that the situation might be more severe than we think, given that previous measures against it, such as the annual tax on enveloped dwellings, brought in by this Government, have raised far more than we expected because there were more of them than we thought?
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes yet another very interesting point. He has made several interesting points and is very informed and articulate. I thank him for his contribution In conclusion, this Bill will be welcomed by my constituents in the Chippenham area, because it seeks to right two ludicrous wrongs. It seeks to support local businesses and to boost our housing stock. It will help our job creators and help to tackle our broken housing market. I urge the Minister to explore further the opportunity of increasing the empty housing premium in the future and I hope that this will act as a first step. I look forward to supporting the Bill tonight.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the hon. Members for Denton and Reddish (Andrew Gwynne) and for Oldham West and Royton (Jim McMahon) for their constructive comments on the Bill, and I will address some of their specific points shortly. We have had an incredibly interesting and entertaining debate, and one of the more succinct that I have heard in my time at the Dispatch Box. It has been extremely helpful to hear Members’ views today, ahead of further scrutiny of the Bill in Committee. It was great to hear some thoughts on what we can do to make progress on this issue The Bill will take forward two specific, short and important measures to promote fairness. It will provide fairness for hard-pressed businesses facing an unjustified tax hike, backdated where necessary. Those businesses have already paid their fair share, and deserve our support rather than being burdened by sudden and unreasonable demands. The Bill will deliver the Government’s goal of supporting those businesses, by restoring accepted and understood practice in the business rates system The Bill will also help those seeking a place to call home. It cannot be right that so many in our society are struggling to find somewhere to live while properties lie empty across the country.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Scott Leslie Mann (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend is aware of the challenges that we face in rural areas, especially in Cornwall, where we welcome the vacant homes premium, but how will local authorities be able to differentiate holiday homes and vacant properties? Some holiday lets are not let for a long period of the year.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Huw William Merriman (Conservative, Centre-right): Does the Minister agree that the true test of this policy will be if council tax amounts actually go down? That will mean that individuals are not behaving in the manner that we just described and will be paying less, thus freeing up the property for those who need it.
Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Housing
Rishi Sunak (Conservative, Centre-right): My hon. Friend makes an excellent point: that should be the long-term test of this policy. It is there to provide an incentive for individuals to bring those homes back into use and indeed, that is what we have seen. Empty properties overall have fallen in the last few years from 300,000 to 200,000, but in areas that are specifically subject to this levy, we have seen a 9% reduction in long-term empty homes since the measure was introduced. Hopefully, we will keep seeing that rate of reduction increase to eliminate as many empty homes as possible. My hon. Friend also raised the topic of foreign ownership. I am pleased to tell him that the Minister for Housing heard what he said and is aware of the issues. In his new portfolio, he is looking into that matter My hon. Friend the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Andrew Jones), who is not in his place, touched on the importance of open spaces. Indeed, the new national planning framework particularly encourages increasing density where possible so that we can do exactly that and preserve our wonderful open spaces. My hon. Friend the Member for Harborough (Neil O’Brien) made so many excellent and insightful points that I do not have time to review them all, but I join him in paying tribute to the campaign groups that have brought the Bill about.
Business without Debate — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I am pleased to note that without any exhortation from me, the sprinkling of Members unaccountably leaving are doing so quietly and a significant number of Members are remaining, which is, as one would hope and expect, so that we can hear the debate on the Adjournment.
Patient Transport Volunteer Drivers — House of Commons, 2018-04-23
Topic: Mixed Topics
Robert Edward Jenrick (Conservative, Centre-right): As I was saying, I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is correct and that there are individuals who travel more than 10,000 miles a year. We have to recognise that, by definition, these are the most active and the most public-spirited members of the public. They are giving up enormous amounts of time; they are almost professional volunteers, given the amount of time they are willing to give up. Their generosity should be provided for and their costs reimbursed wherever possible.
Leaving the EU: Food and Drink Standards — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): DEFRA is working closely with the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that the regulatory regime for food and drink standards and safety remains robust as the UK leaves the European Union, in order to continue protecting the public and retaining the confidence of consumers, businesses and trading partners overseas. The Secretary of State meets Cabinet colleagues on a weekly basis, when discussions take place on the future relationship the UK will have with the EU.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Public Lands
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): The changes to the woodland carbon fund and the woodland creation planning grant that we successfully piloted in 2017 have been made permanent. We also recently made the countryside stewardship woodland creation grant available all year. In addition, we are providing £5.7 million to kick-start the northern forest, and we have appointed a national tree champion to drive forward our tree planting manifesto commitments.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Public Lands
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his characteristically enthusiastic support for that project—we would expect nothing less for the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy initiative, which is truly excellent. I mention in particular the five saplings project, made possible by the work of the Woodland Trust, Sainsbury’s and ITV—the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Frank Field) is also to be commended. Like my hon. Friend, I look forward to planting saplings in my constituency soon, in Macclesfield, and I am pleased that many other colleagues across the House will shortly be doing the same.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Mixed Topics
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question and his keen interest in the need to drive forward ambitious plans to plant more trees. He is a tree champion in his own right. Our national tree champion, Sir William Worsley, is launching the first forestry investment zone pilot in Cumbria today. That new project will help landowners to create vital new woodland and unlock the economic benefits of forestry in areas not traditionally used for tree planting. The project will also provide lessons on how best to support forestry investment.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): I call Tom Tugendhat, who has Question 6. Where is the fella? He is not here. I hope he is not indisposed. I think it is more likely that the hon. Gentleman is planting a tree.
Tree Planting — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Other
David Henry Rutley (Conservative, Centre-right): I know that the hon. Lady has a keen interest in that issue. I will be working closely with the Under-Secretary of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey), to take these activities forward.
Water Company Performance — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Public Lands
Caroline Alice Spelman (Conservative, Centre-right): On 27 May, 300 homes in my constituency were badly affected by a one-in-900-year flooding event. In response to my concerns, Severn Trent has fitted new depth monitors in their water pipes. Is that not precisely the sort of investment that we need the water industry to make in the face of the challenge of climate change?
Recycling — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Other
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): If I can encourage the hon. Member for City of Durham (Dr Blackman-Woods) to overcome any unnecessary shyness, and in light of the fact that we are not likely to reach question 13, I would say to her that her question is very similar to this question, so perhaps she would like to make her point now.
Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme — House of Commons, 2018-10-18
Topic: Immigration
Charles George Eustice (Conservative, Centre-right): The Government have announced that we will introduce a new pilot scheme for 2019-20 to enable up to 2,500 non-European economic area migrant workers to come into the UK to undertake seasonal employment in horticulture. On 18 September, DEFRA published further details on the pilot and opened the selection process for operators through a request for information. The industry had until 17 October to respond, and we will now be working with colleagues in the Home Office to develop the pilot.