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Opposition day on Wednesday, 11 February 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Grant Shapps. The answering member was Baroness Beckett.

Housing Waiting Lists

Housing waiting lists. Fifth Opposition Day debate (part 1). Main question negatived on division (229 votes to 311). Amendment agreed to on question.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
487 c1374-435;487 c1372-433 
Session
2008-09
Department
Department for Communities and Local Government
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Clive Betts | 487 c1377;487 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I know that the hon. Gentleman does not want to go back to the situation before 1997, but does he no...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1377;487 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I shall leave it to Liberal Democrat Front Benchers to explain their policies and shall instead make...
Show all contributions (137)
Nick Raynsford | 487 c1378;487 c1376 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman seems extraordinarily reluctant to recognise that the key issue is the number of ...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1377-8;487 c1375-6 (Link to this contribution) I am tempted to say that the current Administration always like to think that it is someone else's f...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1377;487 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I understand the intervention and the sense of frustration on the part of some Government Back Bench...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1377;487 c1375 (Link to this contribution) Let me take the hon. Gentleman on to his current policy. He mentions empty homes. Does he support em...
Simon Hughes | 487 c1378;487 c1376 (Link to this contribution) I join the hon. Gentleman in paying tribute to the right hon. Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir G...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1378;487 c1376 (Link to this contribution) My No. 1 priority is the 1.8 million families—4.5 million people—who are now languishing on the Labo...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1378-9;487 c1376-7 (Link to this contribution) I appreciate the hon. Gentleman's interest in our manifesto, but I am afraid that he will have to wa...
Chris Huhne | 487 c1376;487 c1374 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree that we are building too few houses for social rent. We have an enormous opportunit...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1376;487 c1374 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady knows a great deal about social affordable housing and she has hit on a vital point. I...
Karen Buck | 487 c1376;487 c1374 (Link to this contribution) Is it a corollary of the hon. Gentleman's argument that he intends to increase direct Government sub...
Karen Buck | 487 c1375;487 c1373 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way, but I am not sure that he will like the point th...
Speaker | 487 c1377;487 c1375 (Link to this contribution) Order. An intervention should not be a speech.
Lynne Jones | 487 c1376-7;487 c1374-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman's criticism of the Government and their failure to invest in buildin...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1376;487 c1374 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman picks up on an important point. One of the extraordinary things about the Governm...
Karen Buck | 487 c1380;487 c1378 (Link to this contribution) Has the hon. Gentleman communicated that desire to abolish targets to Boris Johnson, who, as we know...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1379-80;487 c1377-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I have some sympathy with the Government on this issue, and ...
Lembit Opik | 487 c1379;487 c1377 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the work that Crisis, the homelessness charity, has done, which quite...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1380-1;487 c1378-9 (Link to this contribution) I would quite simply increase the incentives. The difference between our approach and Labour's is th...
Nick Raynsford | 487 c1380;487 c1378 (Link to this contribution) Given the hon. Gentleman's earlier emphasis on the need to increase the output of social and afforda...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1380;487 c1378 (Link to this contribution) That is a matter for local authorities, local government and devolved government, where that exists....
Clive Betts | 487 c1381;487 c1379 (Link to this contribution) I am fascinated by that answer. Clearly there is a well worked out policy lurking there somewhere. W...
Bob Russell | 487 c1374;487 c1372 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think that there may be a connection between the scenario that he paints and...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1374-5;487 c1372-3 (Link to this contribution) The question is almost as broad as the subject of the debate. We can debate the policies that were i...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1375;487 c1373 (Link to this contribution) I give way to a Member who I know agrees with that point.
Speaker | 487 c1374;487 c1372 (Link to this contribution) I inform the House that I have selected the amendment in the name of the Prime Minister.
Grant Shapps | 487 c1374;487 c1372 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House notes that social housing waiting lists have increased to a record 1....
Robert Syms | 487 c1418-20;487 c1416-8 (Link to this contribution) I declare my interest, as set out in the Register of Members' Interests; I am the director of a buil...
Bill Wiggin | 487 c1420-2;487 c1418-20 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Poole (Mr. Syms), and I shall keep my comments ...
Bob Russell | 487 c1415;487 c1413 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman saying that people must be sacrificed? He must accept that people need t...
Nick Raynsford | 487 c1416-8;487 c1414-6 (Link to this contribution) Of course we have to be responsible about meeting demand, but focusing remorselessly on numbers was ...
Lord Young of Cookham | 487 c1415;487 c1413 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman apply his criticism to the Government's target of building 3 million h...
Nick Raynsford | 487 c1415;487 c1413 (Link to this contribution) I was going to say that all Governments have tended to adopt that approach. It is very easy and simp...
Andy Slaughter | 487 c1425;487 c1423 (Link to this contribution) I will try not to be horrid to the hon. Lady, but what would she say to local authorities who regula...
Justine Greening | 487 c1424-5;487 c1422-3 (Link to this contribution) Today's debate has been interesting and important. The consequences of the problem of housing waitin...
Bob Russell | 487 c1422-4;487 c1420-2 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) is visiting my constituency tom...
Iain Wright | 487 c1428;487 c1426 (Link to this contribution) I will give way, but I am conscious of time and have a lot of points to cover. Given that the hon. G...
Robert Key | 487 c1428;487 c1426 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister. He knows that I am very fond of him and of Hartlepool, and that when ...
Iain Wright | 487 c1428-30;487 c1426-8 (Link to this contribution) I expected better of a distinguished Member. The fact remains that, as my right hon. Friend the Mini...
Justine Greening | 487 c1425-6;487 c1423-4 (Link to this contribution) I am interested by the hon. Gentleman's comment. In his time on Hammersmith and Fulham council, to w...
Iain Wright | 487 c1426-7;487 c1424-5 (Link to this contribution) I start by welcoming the hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening) to her Front-Bench team and the C...
Iain Wright | 487 c1427;487 c1425 (Link to this contribution) It was absolutely disgraceful, and I hope that the hon. Member for Colchester (Bob Russell) will agr...
Bob Russell | 487 c1427;487 c1425 (Link to this contribution) The Minister quite rightly pointed out the appalling legacy of the previous Conservative Government....
Iain Wright | 487 c1427;487 c1425 (Link to this contribution) Actually, that brings me to a point that I wanted to make in response to my right hon. Friend the Me...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1428;487 c1426 (Link to this contribution) I imagine that the Minister might be the one apologising—to the Prime Minister, for what he has just...
Iain Wright | 487 c1427;487 c1425 (Link to this contribution) In a week when people are apologising, I certainly give way to allow the hon. Gentleman to apologise...
Iain Wright | 487 c1428;487 c1426 (Link to this contribution) This is an important point. There has been a gross imbalance between the demand for and supply of ho...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1381;487 c1379 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to go into an extended debate on this—
Grant Shapps | 487 c1381;487 c1379 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman wants to descend into our policy papers, he is welcome to do so. As I said in ...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1381-2;487 c1379-80 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move an amendment, to leave out from ““House”” to the end of the Question and add:"““notes ...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1381;487 c1379 (Link to this contribution) Fine; with interventions, I am sure that we can. However, I am keen that others should be able to co...
Karen Buck | 487 c1382;487 c1380 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely grateful to my right hon. Friend for giving way. I want to emphasise the importance o...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1382;487 c1380 (Link to this contribution) I was not planning to give way so early, but, okay, I will give way to my hon. Friend.
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1389;487 c1387 (Link to this contribution) I have not given way to the hon. Gentleman, so I shall take a final intervention.
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1389;487 c1387 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will not. I have almost concluded, and I gave way to him ea...
Speaker | 487 c1389;487 c1387 (Link to this contribution) Order. That intervention is verging on a speech.
Paul Burstow | 487 c1389;487 c1387 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister, who has been very generous in giving way in this important debate. Ma...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1388-9;487 c1386-7 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman knows, the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my h...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1388;487 c1386 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for being so generous in giving way. She has not commented on the prob...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1388;487 c1386 (Link to this contribution) I will, but very briefly, because I must finish.
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) I do not recall saying anything that would lead anyone to that conclusion, but if anyone did draw su...
John Hemming | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) Birmingham is relatively unusual in that it has retained council housing and 22 council houses were ...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) As I am sure the right hon. Gentleman will recall from his own years in power, that matter is under ...
Lord Young of Cookham | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) This is a key point, which the Prime Minister touched on in his recent speech. Until such time as th...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1388;487 c1386 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I am extremely surprised to learn that, and I am sure that my hon. Friend and other Sheffield p...
Clive Betts | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend accept that local authorities must not only build homes but develop a hous...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) As I hope the hon. Lady is aware, we are taking a fundamental look at how the housing revenue accoun...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1387;487 c1385 (Link to this contribution) The Minister has come to the point that I raised earlier. Why is she consulting only on giving recei...
Bob Russell | 487 c1386;487 c1384 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Lady discuss with other Departments the fact that the Government have control ov...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1386;487 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I take my hon. Friend's point entirely, but I will come to the issue of new build in this sector in ...
Lynne Jones | 487 c1386;487 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my right hon. Friend that there has been substantial investment in the decent homes pro...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1385-6;487 c1383-4 (Link to this contribution) I certainly take the hon. Gentleman's point. If he casts his mind back, he will recognise that when ...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1385;487 c1383 (Link to this contribution) No, I was not making that point, nor will the hon. Lady find, when she looks at the record, anything...
Jacqui Lait | 487 c1385;487 c1383 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady implied that the Planning Act 2008, which introduces the community infrastructur...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1385;487 c1383 (Link to this contribution) Through the Homes and Communities Agency, we are talking to housing associations, among others—peopl...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1386;487 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the hon. Gentleman has raised that issue many times, but if he writes to me about it,...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1384;487 c1382 (Link to this contribution) It is no good the hon. Gentleman wittering on about that. He is the one who said that he wanted to d...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1384;487 c1382 (Link to this contribution) We are taking steps to reform the planning system; we published a review only a few weeks ago. One o...
Anne Main | 487 c1384;487 c1382 (Link to this contribution) Before the Minister gets overly confident with her remarks about skills and keeping the construction...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1382-3;487 c1380-1 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes her point clearly and powerfully, and I am glad that I gave way and allowed her...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1383-4;487 c1381-2 (Link to this contribution) I will return to that point a little later in my speech; if the hon. Lady wishes, I will give way to...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1383;487 c1381 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to hear the Minister point out that the Conservatives began the policy of not allowing ...
Simon Hughes | 487 c1384;487 c1382 (Link to this contribution) The Minister knows that I welcome her commitment to improving greatly the Labour party's record in d...
Clive Betts | 487 c1399-401;487 c1397-9 (Link to this contribution) That constituent is certainly in the process of getting that advice; we are in regular dialogue. We ...
Baroness Brown of Silvertown | 487 c1401;487 c1399 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that when we set up companies that may well put properties back into the p...
Clive Betts | 487 c1401;487 c1399 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point. I think that Local Space is offering a better solution than ...
Anne Main | 487 c1401-4;487 c1399-402 (Link to this contribution) The Government set themselves what I believe was an over-ambitious target of 2 million homes by 2016...
Andy Slaughter | 487 c1404-5;487 c1402-3 (Link to this contribution) Access to housing that is adequate in terms of both size and condition is by far the most serious pr...
Andy Slaughter | 487 c1405-7;487 c1403-5 (Link to this contribution) It would have to be 5 per cent. of a very large number to make any contribution, and it certainly wa...
Speaker | 487 c1407;487 c1405 (Link to this contribution) Order. If Members wish to intervene, it is much more helpful if they stand up and do it in the usual...
Robert Syms | 487 c1394;487 c1392 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a good point about the negative subsidy. It is a big disincentive to local autho...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1394-5;487 c1392-3 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. It means that councils have no certainty about their income, thus m...
Clive Betts | 487 c1397-8;487 c1395-6 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely. That is a major problem. The idea that children brought up in those housing circumstance...
Jeremy Corbyn | 487 c1397;487 c1395 (Link to this contribution) The problem of the lack of family house building is not exclusive to Sheffield; it is a nationwide i...
Clive Betts | 487 c1399;487 c1397 (Link to this contribution) I certainly will. I hope that the hon. Gentleman is going to defend his Lib Dem colleagues.
Paul Truswell | 487 c1398;487 c1396 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to be much more robust with local housing targets for such ci...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1392;487 c1390 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to get into that sort of competition, but I am pleased that there is all-party agreem...
Justine Greening | 487 c1392;487 c1390 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to follow the hon. Lady's argument because, a minute ago, in reply to the hon. Member fo...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1392-3;487 c1390-1 (Link to this contribution) I am amazed that the hon. Lady cannot grasp the point. I must have made it about four times in the d...
Jeremy Corbyn | 487 c1393;487 c1391 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that far too few new buildings for council or housing association rent have...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1394;487 c1392 (Link to this contribution) I agree. The point was made earlier to the Minister, who tried to say that the problem was not new. ...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1393;487 c1391 (Link to this contribution) The problem is that such properties are not being built under section 106 anyway.
Lynne Jones | 487 c1393;487 c1391 (Link to this contribution) I am prepared to say that the right to buy has been an unmitigated disaster. I will not go into deta...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1393;487 c1391 (Link to this contribution) Sometimes it depends on the subsidy offered under the right to buy. There are many variations to ens...
Julia Goldsworthy | 487 c1393;487 c1391 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an excellent case. Is the housing revenue account not made even worse by th...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1390;487 c1388 (Link to this contribution) When I saw today's motion, I could not quite believe my eyes. The Conservatives knocking the Governm...
Paul Truswell | 487 c1391;487 c1389 (Link to this contribution) I think that it was Disraeli who described the Conservative party as ““an organised hypocrisy””. Was...
Baroness Beckett | 487 c1389-90;487 c1387-8 (Link to this contribution) I will have to study the record, and I am not quite sure about the hon. Gentleman's final point. I c...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1392;487 c1390 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. Last week, we debated proposals for community land trusts, which Liberal De...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1392;487 c1390 (Link to this contribution) I agree. There are elements of our constituencies that are very similar. However, I also know from c...
Baroness Teather | 487 c1391;487 c1389 (Link to this contribution) Something like that—I am not sure whether I would dare to use such a term, as it might be deemed unp...
Karen Buck | 487 c1391;487 c1389 (Link to this contribution) On that point, and the impact of the right to buy and a possible extension of the policy to housing ...
Nick Raynsford | 487 c1414-5;487 c1412 (Link to this contribution) First, may I draw attention to the interests declared in my entry in the Register Of Members' Intere...
Lord Young of Cookham | 487 c1412-4;487 c1410-2 (Link to this contribution) I was a housing Minister in the 1980s, and the receipts from right to buy tended to clock up in Tory...
Bob Russell | 487 c1412;487 c1410 (Link to this contribution) I just wanted to ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he agrees that if the proceeds from the right-...
Lord Young of Cookham | 487 c1412;487 c1410 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman will not invite me to fight old battles.
Bob Russell | 487 c1412;487 c1410 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Young of Cookham | 487 c1411;487 c1409 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow my successor but one, the hon. Member for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bu...
Andy Slaughter | 487 c1407-11;487 c1405-9 (Link to this contribution) Is that really the best the hon. Lady can do? She is a near neighbour of mine as she represents Putn...
Speaker | 487 c1407;487 c1405 (Link to this contribution) Members' remarks are in no way confined to their own constituencies. They may talk about whatever th...
Justine Greening | 487 c1407;487 c1405 (Link to this contribution) I actually wished to make a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The concern I wished to raise is tha...
Grant Shapps | 487 c1375;487 c1373 (Link to this contribution) That intervention gets to the heart of the difference between the parties on housing. I will come to...
Clive Betts | 487 c1398-9;487 c1396-7 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. I was going to mention that later. Local authorities have an...
Lord McLoughlin | 487 c1430;487 c1428 (Link to this contribution) claimed to move the closure (Standing Order No. 36). Question put forthwith, That the Question be n...
Martin Horwood | 487 c1385;487 c1383 (Link to this contribution) I am certain that the Minister would want to join me in congratulating Cheltenham Borough Homes in m...
Bob Russell | 487 c1399;487 c1397 (Link to this contribution) I am hoping that the hon. Gentleman, as a good constituency MP, was able to furnish his constituent ...
Clive Betts | 487 c1395-7;487 c1393-5 (Link to this contribution) This debate started very interestingly, when the official Opposition tried to institute collective m...
Simon Hughes | 487 c1392;487 c1390 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that there is an alternative—a way to allow the occupant to get possession...
Subjects
Construction Council housing Housing Finance Empty property Housing associations Homelessness Economic situation Local government Low incomes Planning Private rented housing Waiting lists Standards Sales Social rented housing Repairs and maintenance Rents Temporary accommodation Sleeping rough Housing revenue accounts
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