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Adjournment debate on Thursday, 10 March 2011, in the House of Commons, led by Anne Begg. The answering member was Steve Webb.

Housing Benefit

Westminster Hall debate on a motion for the adjournment on Housing benefit. (Relevant documents: Work and Pensions Select Committee second report of session 2010-11, HC 469, and the Government response, HC 845.) Motion made, and Question proposed, That the sitting be now adjourned.—(Mr Goodwill.)

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
524 c283-328WH 
Session
2010-12
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Chamber / Committee
Westminster Hall
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Alex Cunningham | 524 c324WH (Link to this contribution) If, as the Government say, CPI is the only fair way to determine increases in the future, is the Min...
Steve Webb | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) Let me just explain what I mean by that. The hon. Member for Aberdeen South and others said that we ...
Show all contributions (96)
Karen Buck | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) I will try to make this my last intervention. Given that the Minister says it is a colossal amount o...
Steve Webb | 524 c316-7WH (Link to this contribution) That is where I fundamentally disagree with the hon. Lady. The flaw in her analysis is this static v...
Jonathan Lord | 524 c295WH (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Sheridan. My question is whether the hon. Lady will withdraw her uncharacteristically ...
Karen Buck | 524 c307WH (Link to this contribution) As others have done, I congratulate the Select Committee, as a whole, on producing such a comprehens...
Anne Begg | 524 c287WH (Link to this contribution) That is the problem. As well as the discretionary element, council tax benefit will be devolved to l...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) I just wondered whether the Minister had the shared accommodation figures, and why hard-working taxp...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) It is not 5,000 people; it is 5,000 families.
Glenda Jackson | 524 c318-9WH (Link to this contribution) I want to know the Minister's evidence for believing that landlords in the private rented sector wil...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) Oh, I am most grateful to the Minister for giving way. The words ““direct payment”” never passed my ...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c293WH (Link to this contribution) On that very point, I have a briefing from the National Housing Federation, which states:"““There is...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) On precisely that point, I, too, was somewhat disturbed by the Prime Minister's absolute adumbration...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c304-7WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Aberdeen South (Dame Anne Begg), who chairs the Select ...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c289WH (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend lays her finger precisely on a constituency case that I had. The mother involved gave...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c287WH (Link to this contribution) There is another dimension to the problem; my local authority has raised it with me. This is a perio...
Glenda Jackson | 524 c285WH (Link to this contribution) I have received a briefing from the Residential Landlords Association on that precise point. It says...
Karen Buck | 524 c325WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way again; he is being generous. We will be addressing this...
Karen Buck | 524 c309-12WH (Link to this contribution) It is right that the Labour Government intended to remove the £15 excess. However, the Minister will...
Karen Buck | 524 c307-8WH (Link to this contribution) I certainly confirm that. I am happy to commend the Government on their decision to withdraw the pro...
Karen Buck | 524 c314WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for allowing me to interrupt him again. In many parts of the country, ...
Karen Buck | 524 c314WH (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister mean new tenancies or claims, or changes of circumstance that affect existing clai...
Karen Buck | 524 c316WH (Link to this contribution) Let me make one thing clear. Of course the financial context is important. When I used the word reso...
Steve Webb | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) I do not think that I have ever said that everybody is out to milk the system. Moreover, the hon. La...
Speaker | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) Order. Interventions are becoming a bit long. Does the hon. Gentleman have a question he wants to as...
Steve Webb | 524 c320WH (Link to this contribution) Across the country. It has risen since November 2008 by 440,000. To listen to the hon. Lady talk, on...
Steve Webb | 524 c320WH (Link to this contribution) I hesitate to bring facts into the debate, but the number of properties in the private rented sector...
Steve Webb | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) Indeed. In co-operation with our colleagues at the Department for Communities and Local Government, ...
Steve Webb | 524 c317WH (Link to this contribution) We are focusing specifically on the roll-out of these changes over the next two years. Over that per...
Anne Begg | 524 c317WH (Link to this contribution) May I make a suggestion to the Minister? It is that very point that concerns the housing association...
Steve Webb | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) I have a number of observations to make. First, the hon. Lady cited ““evidence”” that was not eviden...
Steve Webb | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) Can I just respond to the hon. Lady's points before giving way to her again? [Interruption.]
Steve Webb | 524 c316WH (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Westminster North in a second. One of the reasons why deficit...
Caroline Lucas | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) A tiny number of high-profile cases have completely distorted the whole debate. Yes, there will be a...
Jonathan Lord | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) I accept, as hon. Members have said, that these isolated cases are anomalous and are not the norm. H...
Anne Begg | 524 c292WH (Link to this contribution) I hazard a guess that the group of constituents the hon. Gentleman is talking about—we all have them...
Anne Begg | 524 c300WH (Link to this contribution) I wonder whether, with my hon. Friend's experience as a local councillor, he has been able to quanti...
Caroline Lucas | 524 c288WH (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that it is particularly unreasonable to require expectant mothers to share ...
Anne Begg | 524 c285-7WH (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and there is the same situation in my constituency, where there is a housing shortage. Even ...
Kate Green | 524 c287WH (Link to this contribution) I, too, noted the many references to the discretionary housing payment as the solution to the hardsh...
Anne Begg | 524 c283-5WH (Link to this contribution) On behalf of the Work and Pensions Committee, it is a pleasure to open the first debate that we have...
Anne Begg | 524 c285WH (Link to this contribution) That is why it is important that the research is carried out. In his evidence to the Committee, the ...
Kate Green | 524 c285WH (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that we can already market-test to some degree? In my borough of Trafford,...
Anne Begg | 524 c327-8WH (Link to this contribution) With the leave of this Chamber, I will make a few closing remarks. We have heard that only one in fo...
Anne Begg | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I have now forgotten what my point was.
Anne Begg | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) Again, I suspect that the group of people that the Minister is talking about were already in that sh...
Anne Begg | 524 c315WH (Link to this contribution) That is not what I or others were asking for. In other areas, we use proxies or other measures to he...
Anne Begg | 524 c317WH (Link to this contribution) It is actually possible to accept the Minister's argument. The problem is the Government are about t...
Anne Begg | 524 c293WH (Link to this contribution) That gives some of the figures. The problem is the mismatch between what people will now get housing...
Anne Begg | 524 c303WH (Link to this contribution) I agree wholeheartedly with what the hon. Lady is saying, but it is actually much harder for those w...
Anne Begg | 524 c290-2WH (Link to this contribution) Earlier in my contribution, I said that I do not believe that is the case in Aberdeen. Wherever the ...
Anne Begg | 524 c290WH (Link to this contribution) Very often, partly because of the publicity and the tabloid headlines, the assumption is that people...
Anne Begg | 524 c289-90WH (Link to this contribution) As we are speaking, perhaps the hon. Gentleman could read the report, where he will discover that th...
Anne Begg | 524 c289WH (Link to this contribution) I suspect that most hon. Members will have similar examples in their constituency. The Government's...
Anne Begg | 524 c289WH (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I know from the homelessness legislation that that problem already exists. Lots of young pre...
Anne Begg | 524 c287-8WH (Link to this contribution) Governments and local authorities are often accused of making people suffer a postcode lottery. The ...
Jonathan Lord | 524 c292WH (Link to this contribution) On under-occupancy, my local council has a terrific record on providing social and affordable housin...
Jenny Willott | 524 c290WH (Link to this contribution) Is one of the problems not the fact that local housing allowances have driven up rents for everybody...
Kate Green | 524 c290WH (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Member for Woking (Jonathan Lord) has now had the opportunity to consider the Government...
Jonathan Lord | 524 c289WH (Link to this contribution) I congratulate the Select Committee on its excellent work, and the hon. Lady on a very good expositi...
Steve Webb | 524 c325-7WH (Link to this contribution) It is important to remember that we are discussing a change that will not be introduced for more tha...
Steve Webb | 524 c324-5WH (Link to this contribution) No. The hon. Gentleman, possibly with my help, might be confused. We have already had lengthy debate...
Steve Webb | 524 c322-4WH (Link to this contribution) I have a feeling that it might have been the previous Government, in whom the hon. Lady was a Minist...
Steve Webb | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) Okay, I shall give way to the other hon. Lady.
Steve Webb | 524 c322WH (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Aberdeen South, the Chair of the Committee, and then I will g...
Steve Webb | 524 c320-2WH (Link to this contribution) As such a wide range of issues were raised during the debate and a number of hon. Members have contr...
Steve Webb | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady can have 5,000 families, but she is, I think, losing sight of zeros. For someone in th...
Steve Webb | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for setting that context. During the course of this debate, one or t...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) I apologise for coming in so late. I absolutely agree with the Minister when he says that landlords ...
Steve Webb | 524 c318WH (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Lady knows, a lot depends on who takes those tenancies. If they are people who would hav...
Steve Webb | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) Landlords clearly value direct payment. There is no doubt about that. It is common sense and stands ...
Steve Webb | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) I hope that I can just respond to the points that the hon. Lady has made.
Steve Webb | 524 c319WH (Link to this contribution) In a moment. The hon. Lady also said, ““Where are all these properties? There is this massive, pent-...
Steve Webb | 524 c308-9WH (Link to this contribution) It is important that those who listen to our debates understand whether the hon. Lady opposes all th...
Steve Webb | 524 c307WH (Link to this contribution) Just for the record, will the hon. Lady confirm that the SSAC produced its report before the nine-mo...
Steve Webb | 524 c314WH (Link to this contribution) That is a helpful question. We are talking about what happens after April. For people who are workin...
Steve Webb | 524 c312-4WH (Link to this contribution) Let me begin, quite properly, by congratulating the Select Committee on its thorough and detailed re...
Steve Webb | 524 c314-5WH (Link to this contribution) The phrase ““lose their homes”” is rather evocative and misleading. When people say that they have l...
Steve Webb | 524 c315-6WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady has said that proxies can be used, which means that we can identify categories of peop...
Steve Webb | 524 c316WH (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Gentleman has said, local authorities are making plans to reduce staff over the coming y...
Alex Cunningham | 524 c316WH (Link to this contribution) There would have been cuts under a Labour Government as well, but they would have been spread over a...
Steve Webb | 524 c317WH (Link to this contribution) I will give way in a moment. Landlords are quite clear that that is hugely attractive to them. It is...
Caroline Lucas | 524 c293-4WH (Link to this contribution) I warmly welcome the report of the Work and Pensions Committee. I congratulate its Chair and her tea...
Jonathan Lord | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) We had a thoughtful exposition from the Chair of the Select Committee, and I now hear a diatribe abo...
Caroline Lucas | 524 c294WH (Link to this contribution) I am enormously grateful for that information, which clearly sets out what we are dealing with. We a...
Alex Cunningham | 524 c300-1WH (Link to this contribution) I do not currently have the specific details relating to Stockton-on-Tees, but I know that there are...
Jenny Willott | 524 c301-2WH (Link to this contribution) A number of hon. Members have mentioned that the Government's proposals have been driven by the port...
Alex Cunningham | 524 c298-300WH (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the M...
Caroline Lucas | 524 c295-8WH (Link to this contribution) I should be delighted for the housing benefit changes to be challenged under a fairness test, becaus...
Jenny Willott | 524 c303-4WH (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a valid point. In areas of my constituency, a large number of students live in s...
Subjects
Housing benefit Private rented housing Reform Social security benefits Discretionary housing payments
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