Hansard - United Kingdom Parliament

19 Oral Answers
20 JUNE 2011
Oral Answers
20
Mr Pickles: Of course, that is because Bolton receives
an enormous grant from the Government.
T9. [60307] David Rutley (Macclesfield) (Con): In the
week of the anniversary of the emergency Budget,
what additional steps is my right hon. Friend’s
Department taking to help the Government to achieve
their fiscal mandate?
Mr Pickles: We have delivered a good settlement for
local government; we are looking to reduce our own
Department, including reducing at the top and reducing
numbers; and we are looking to extend that by offering
help on growth, on enterprise zones and on local
partnerships for growth. This Department has changed
enormously over the past year by becoming pro-growth
and helpful to local communities, offering power to
local government and ensuring that ordinary people do
not face a big increase in council tax.
Mr Speaker: I think the hon. Gentleman might want
an Adjournment debate on the matter.
Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab): In the
Westminster city council area, 3,000 elderly and disabled
people are losing social care, children’s centres are being
cut, street cleansing is being cut and the youth service is
being cut. In the light of that, does the Secretary of
State think it is a good use of public money to run a
summer roadshow
“to counter the messages that people are hearing about council
services being reduced or withdrawn”?
Mr Pickles: We have been most careful to ensure that
priority has been given to the most vulnerable. That is
why we made sure that £6.5 billion went into the Supporting
People programme, and £400 million into homeless
programmes. We expect that to be reflected by local
authorities prioritising the most vulnerable.
Greg Mulholland (Leeds North West) (LD): It is a
national scandal that wanted and profitable pubs are
being closed against the wishes of the communities they
serve and simply to serve the interests of greedy developers
and pub companies. I was delighted to welcome the
Minister with responsibility for community pubs to the
launch of the all-party save the pub group’s new planning
charter. Will he welcome that charter and work with the
group to ensure that the Government do all they can to
protect pubs?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government (Robert Neill): Iam
delighted to work with the hon. Gentleman and to
discuss his charter—I should be delighted to join him in
a pub, if need be. The Government are determined,
through our planning reforms and the Localism Bill, to
give communities an opportunity to acquire those assets
that genuinely can be viable.
Graham Jones (Hyndburn) (Lab): Conservative-run
Lancashire county council has increased day-care charges
from £5 to £30 starting from this month. Does the
Minister think that the residents and elderly of Lancashire
will see a 600% improvement from that Conservative
council?
Mr Pickles: I dare say that, if Labour had been in
control, we would have seen even bigger increases. After
all, this is the year that Labour was going to impose
pretty big front-loaded cuts on local authorities, and it
was urging local authorities to increase their charges. A
Labour MP should therefore not castigate a local authority
that increases charges after listening to a Labour
Government; he should be encouraging it.
Laura Sandys (South Thanet) (Con): I have a council
that is keen to transfer assets to community groups, and
community groups are, encouragingly, interested in taking
them on. However, there seem to be some barriers in
terms of not only VAT and the complexity of the VAT
system but community insurance policies, so will the
Department put in place a working group to look at the
barriers that are stopping people transferring assets to
community groups?
Mr Pickles: My hon. Friend makes some very important
points, but such matters are way above my pay grade.
With regard to charitable trusts and the like, however, it
would be sensible for her to talk to members of my
Department, and we will do our best to help her.
Mr Nick Raynsford (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab):
I draw attention to my entry in the Register of Members’
Financial Interests.
On waste, will the Secretary of State confirm that his
Department spent £1.3 million in the first four months
of this year on legal advice and consultancy? How
much of that was attributable to the consequences of
his unlawful decision to try to abolish regional spatial
strategies?
Mr Pickles: I am delighted to tell the right hon.
Gentleman that the bill has come down from what it
was under Labour, and that quite a lot of that money
was actually expended on decisions taken by my Labour
predecessor. We have been using that money to unravel
the mess that he and his friends left behind.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con): The village of
Braybrooke in my constituency is gradually being
surrounded by unauthorised developments in open
countryside as a result of applications from the Gypsy
and Traveller community. What additional powers and
guidance will the Secretary of State give to the local
planning authority to ensure that the village is not
completely encircled?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Communities and Local Government (Andrew Stunell):
The current consultation on the planning guidelines is
open for a few more days, and we will be interested to
hear my hon. Friend’s views if he has not already
submitted them. We are determined to tackle this problem,
and the Localism Bill and the changes to the guidelines
are designed to achieve just that.
David Wright (Telford) (Lab): The 1% increase in
mortgage activity over the past 12 months is largely
focused on remortgages. Why is that?
Grant Shapps: Because there was an enormous bank
crash due to the fact that the debt in the British economy
got out of all possible control, with Labour spending