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Amendment of the law

A lot of people did. It is now really important to learn the lessons of what happened and to work out not only how to prevent it from happening again, which is not the subject of this debate, but how to build our way out of the difficulties that we have experienced. The Government have been very bold—some might say excessively bold—in what they have done through the asset protection scheme and the asset purchase facilities that have been extended. We do not know exactly what the outcomes will be, but such schemes are one way to get the financial markets moving, to get credit flowing and to get things moving again. The Government have also been bold in picking up some of the immediate pressures and dealing with them in this Budget. The hon. Member for Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr was a bit unfair on this point. He and I were at the same presentation by David Blanchflower. The fiscal stimulus package that he wanted was not huge, and its main focus was a measure to deal with what happens to young people who miss out. The focus in the Budget on the opportunities for 16 to 24-year-olds is very important, even though it is perhaps more modest than David Blanchflower might have liked. I want to see the detail of these provisions because I want quality schemes to be provided, unlike the youth training schemes, youth opportunity schemes and so on that we saw before. The Budget has dealt with some of the issues raised by David Blanchflower in type, if not in scale. The hon. Gentleman and I have both pressed the Government to deal with those issues, too. Let me talk a bit about housing and about the elephant in the Chamber—the shape of public services and how we fund them. That is a major issue, and we all have an interest in its resolution. I am keen to see improvement in the housing market in terms of people's ability to buy houses and the availability of mortgage finance; I also want the supply of housing to be improved. I am pleased that the Budget has dealt, to an extent, with both those points. More money is being put in, particularly for new builds, which are extremely important, through local authorities and in conjunction with the private sector, in order to ensure the provision of a range of housing and tenures. Again, I want to see the details, because it is important that there should be some qualifications and some clarity about what will happen. I hope that guidance will be given on the cost per unit and so on, as well as specifications for the number of units. I hope that when money is provided to local authorities to enable them to build, they will be given clear guidance on how procurement should work. My local authority is spending money on getting housing up to standard—it is not building new housing, but carrying out refurbishment—and the procurement is being done in such a way that, so far, all the local firms have been excluded from the tender list and have been unable to bid for work. Particularly during a recession, it is extremely important not only to get the houses built and to obtain good value, but to support small and medium-sized local businesses, so that we retain across the country a good range of skilled workers and people who can win and manage building contracts. I hope that when the money is provided to local authorities, they are given clear guidance on two points. The first is on having local labour clauses, so that there are no arguments about whether the jobs are being given to British workers, and so that there is clarity about what is expected in terms of making sure that local unemployed people and local young people coming off apprenticeship schemes get the chance of a job. Secondly, local building firms should clearly be given the opportunity to compete for contracts with the very big contractors on a level playing field. Particularly at present, some of the big building firms will try to keep themselves going by picking up public sector work, and the pricing will be very competitive. Unless we make sure that we support small and medium-sized building firms and enable them to keep going, we might find that when the upturn comes, we have the brickies and the plasterers, but not the contract managers and the people who can look after the range of types of contract that we will need. On the mortgage side, in what may be a hidden part of the Budget, the proposals include those for the mortgage rescue scheme, which is in place now. Four of the big building societies are signed up to it and a number of other building societies are providing similar programmes. It is vital that the money starts flowing again for the provision of mortgages. The most recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that there have been improvements. It is important that that continues and that institutions continue to provide the financing for new building schemes in the private sector. I have been dealing with a case in my constituency in which HBOS reviewed a loan facility provided to a local small or medium-sized developer and withdrew it. As a result, a residential unit, which was to have provided social housing, has been mothballed purely because of a lack of available financing. I ask my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to make absolutely sure that banks that have received public funds stick to their obligations to maintain their 2007 lending levels, and that we get reports quarterly, not just annually. That way, we can be absolutely certain that the banks that the public bailed out are now supporting the public by providing the lending that is needed for recovery.