Commons
Debate
22 July 2025
4 contributions
Changing Places Toilets
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bexleyheath and Crayford (Daniel Francis) for securing this debate and for setting such a beautiful tone at the start of his speech. He speaks with enormous power as a parent of a child with cerebral palsy who requires full-time care, and also as someon…
On the second question, I absolutely will. My hon. Friend’s contribution to this debate was outstanding, as is his wider work. On the first point, as we begin summer recess, a great number of colleagues will be crossing national borders within the UK—in my case to west Wales, but others will be goin…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
22 July 2025
2 contributions
Black Country Day
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. It is so apt that you are in the Chair for this debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) on securing it. Her contribution was a love letter to her community and it gave us all great pleasure. I…
Both for them and for other Walsall constituencies. I definitely would not want to be seen to favour one end of Walsall over the other—certainly not with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz.
I think also of the pride it must give my hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) and his constit…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
7 contributions
Topical Questions
I recognise the efforts of the Birnbeck Regeneration Trust. My hon. Friend is a doughty campaigner for his community. We announced support for 350 communities at the spending review, and further details will follow, but I would be delighted to meet him to speak about Birnbeck in particular.
It is incumbent on all of us to park with a degree of responsibility, particularly at peak times. I think parking-related issues are the No. 1 feature of my mailbag. Our consultation on private parking opened last Friday. I am interested in working with the hon. Lady and all Members to ensure that w…
+5 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
3 contributions
High Streets
We are committed to rejuvenating our high streets and town centres. That includes tackling empty shops through high street rental auctions and legislating for a community right to buy to protect precious assets. That is set out in the spending review, providing funding to up to 350 places to help co…
I cannot accept the hon. Lady’s characterisation. If we look at the history of the 2010 to 2024 Government, we can see that the pressure on local authorities, which we have heard about from across the House, was so great that we saw trading standards wither on the vine across the country. In many pl…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
2 contributions
Community Regeneration Funding: Scotland
We are committed to investing across all four nations and are delivering regeneration funding to many communities across Scotland, including the hon. Gentleman’s. I have met representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which speaks for Scottish authorities, on a couple of occasio…
I note the passion with which my hon. Friend speaks about this. His leadership is going to be crucial to the success of this project. It speaks exactly to why we have taken the approach we are taking: we need local communities in charge. They are the experts on their lives and on what they need, and…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
3 contributions
Housing Associations: Repairs
In June, we announced over £1 billion of investment to accelerate cladding remediation by giving social landlords the same access to Government remediation schemes as that afforded to private building owners. We will shortly publish revised guidelines on how to access the funding, and a joint plan w…
First of all, may I say how sorry I am to hear that my hon. Friend’s constituent Yasmin has been living in those conditions for so long? We have published draft guidance for social landlords to make sure that they understand the requirements under Awaab’s law. As my hon. Friend would expect, we are …
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
10 July 2025
2 contributions
London’s National Economic Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair for the first time, Mr Western. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) on securing this important debate. He set out a compelling case for important things that he wants to see with regards to housing, attrac…
As my hon. Friend says, the evidence is there. With the spending review, we talk about billions of pounds here and hundreds of millions of pounds there, but I always think that these things have to be real in people’s lives, and that will be very real in the lives of the people in her community. The…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 July 2025
8 contributions
Neighbourhood Plans: Planning Decisions
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms McVey. I congratulate the hon. Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans) on securing the debate; thanks to the way he set us off, this has been an excellent way to start the parliamentary day. Throughout his time in Parliament, he has been—and wi…
The hon. Gentleman runs a paragraph or two ahead in my speech; I promise I will address that point shortly. I was talking about local plans, but I will turn to neighbourhood plans shortly.
To help us achieve our ambition of universal coverage of up-to-date local plans, which I think is a shared amb…
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
24 June 2025
Unadopted Estates and Roads
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Butler. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) on securing this important debate, which is characteristic of the type of issues that he champions. I do not think this issue gets nearly enough coverage, and it is g…
Commons
Debate
10 June 2025
6 contributions
Grenfell Tower Fire: Eighth Anniversary
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Kensington and Bayswater (Joe Powell) for securing this opportunity to mark this weekend’s eighth anniversary of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower and the loss of 72 innocent lives, including, as we have heard, 18 children. Time has not diminished the horro…
It has always been clear to me, in my conversations with the bereaved and survivors and with families and next of kin, that the demographics in terms of race speak their own story, and that is similarly the case with disability. That is why it has informed our policy in PEEPs, which I will talk to s…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
4 contributions
Topical Questions
I am grateful for that question, which raises something mirrored in many parts of this country. The duty to make sure that homes are safe is the responsibility of builders and owners. Where they fall short, there are legal powers for the local authority and for the fire and rescue service to compel …
As my hon. Friend rightly identifies, fire is a devolved matter. In England, stand-alone fire and rescue authorities will see an increase in core spending power of nearly £70 million in 2025-26. Those fire and rescue authorities are required to plan for foreseeable risks in their area, including wil…
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
3 contributions
Regeneration Funding: Scotland
The Government’s defining mission is delivering economic growth and driving up living standards. That is why we are investing up to £200 million across 10 Scottish towns over 10 years to support regeneration, tackle inequalities and unleash their full potential. That will empower local communities, …
I can assure the hon. Lady, her constituents and the House that I do not think a week has gone by without her pushing me on Kirkcaldy town centre. She knows that I cannot run ahead of any multi-year spending review that may be upon us soon, but the point she made, and always makes to me, is a good o…
+1 more contribution in this session
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
9 June 2025
8 contributions
Support for High Streets
The Government are committed to rejuvenating high streets by empowering local communities. Through the £1.5 billion plan for neighbourhoods, we are providing flexible funding to support our most challenged communities. We are also tackling vacancy with high street rental auctions and legislating for…
This Government understand the unique challenges that Heswall faces, including as a coastal community. That is why we are driving power and funding out of Westminster to ensure that no community is left behind. Just last week my right hon. Friend the Chancellor announced £1.6 billion in funding for …
+6 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 June 2025
6 contributions
Leasehold Reform
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Dr Allin-Khan. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Brentford and Isleworth (Ruth Cadbury) on securing this debate, on the case that she made and on the passion with which she spoke. This degree of turnout is uncommon for a half-hour debate, w…
I do. I appreciate that there is frustration about consultation, but some of the challenges within the Act show why it is important that we get this right, and that we have a process that delivers the relief that people are so desperately waiting for. One such consultation that has now concluded is …
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Proceedings
19 May 2025
5 contributions
Pubs and Community Funding
I thank the hon. Member for Reigate (Rebecca Paul) for securing this important debate and for that kind invitation, which I will return to. Usually, at 10.17 pm, if there is a difficult question about pubs, it is whether you can squeeze in one or two more—normally the latter—but today colleagues hav…
I would not want the inducement to be seen as my reason for saying yes, although it is an attractive part of the offer. Of course, I will happily come. [ Interruption. ] I owe the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) a trip to Newtownards, because on the day of the Retail NI high street awards, …
+3 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
14 May 2025
6 contributions
Rebalancing Regional Economies
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Dowd. It was a pleasure to hear the outstanding contribution by my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Andy MacNae). I am grateful to him for securing the debate, and I am grateful to my colleagues who have come and found a way to con…
I agree that child poverty is particularly cruel. It is cruel because of the hardship that those children grow up in, but it is also cruel because their potential is snuffed out before they have even had a chance, and we should want everybody to have a chance to play their role in their community. T…
+4 more contributions in this session
Commons
Westminster Hall
13 May 2025
2 contributions
Local Housing Need Assessment Reform
Thank you for that clear direction, Mrs Hobhouse; it is very helpful.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Horsham (John Milne) on securing this important debate and on his leadership. He clearly articulated his concerns on the revised standard method for assessing local housing need. He set us off o…
That excellent innovation by the local authority reflects one of the needs that the public want to see met.
In my final minute, I want to address the point that the hon. Member for Thirsk and Malton made about the Building Safety Regulator. It is right that we have a regulatory framework in place; …
Commons
Westminster Hall
6 May 2025
5 contributions
Parking Regulation
It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Efford.
I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Derby South (Baggy Shanker) and the hon. Member for Newton Abbot (Martin Wrigley) for securing this important debate and for the spirit and intent with which they both spoke. I also thank the Backbench…
I suspect that my reply to the hon. Lady will be the same as I have set out previously to a number of Members, either via written question or in correspondence. The timeframe is coming in due course. I will talk a little more about that, because we are having an important debate. We want to get this…
+3 more contributions in this session