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Some owners can, of course, make their own arrangements to cope--often, many do. As the hon. Member for Hammersmith said, some have choosen to take in lodgers to help to meet their repayments while others have moved in with their in-laws and rented out their homes temporarily.The hon. Member for Clydesdale (Mr. Hood) asked who is to blame for the repossessions. At the time of the great lending spree, when some lenders were offering loans of up to four times salary and property prices were soaring, a few voices urged caution. Some people will believe that building societies and banks, which thrust loans upon their customers, can hardly walk away from the problem of arrears by simply demanding repossession, particularly when there is little prospect of selling the property to recover the debt.
Surely it is better, wherever possible, to keep borrowers in their homes. I believe that the building societies are now beginning to accept that view, which will result in a reduction in the number of repossessions. They have a direct interest in reducing the number of properties repossessed-- humanitarian, as well as financial. In fact, the help given by lenders is already considerable. The wide gap between those in arrears in one quarter and the much smaller number of repossessions in the next is testimony to the help which many thousands of households now receive. That help, of course, is not entirely altruistic. Building societies have a responsibility to their members, too, and banks and mortgage insurers have a responsibility to their shareholders. But those duties are leading to a great deal of effort to find new ways in which to help individual borrowers to stay in their own homes, either as tenants or in shared ownership. In each case the insurer or building society takes an equity share. All this we encourage.
Some local authorities and housing associations are also helping borrowers to stay in their homes through shared ownership schemes. The local authority provides the capital cover for the housing association to buy the home and to sell a proportion of the equity back to the existing owner. Mole Valley, Rochdale, Clackmannanshire and Bromley all do this. Local authorities have to weigh up carefully the benefit of doing so in the light of local circumstances and the costs that might otherwise fall on the authority. It is an option only where the borrower has suffered a reduction in income but not a dramatic fall. In those circumstances, the borrower continues to pay a smaller mortgage together with a subsidised rent. Together, those payments are likely, in a typical case, to amount to about 70 per cent. of the cost of the original mortgage. That is why, for most people, talking as early as possible to their lender is the best way forward.
What action can the Government take? Direct Government help is targeted, deliberately, on the unemployed. If someone is unemployed and on income support, the cost of the interest on the mortgage will be met through enhanced income support. In 1990, more than half a billion pounds was made available in that way. This year, the figure will be higher. The hon. Member for Hammersmith totally ignored that contribution by Government and the taxpayer.
One problem is that not all this very considerable sum is used by claimants for the purpose for which it is made
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available. The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that perhaps as much as half may be lost in that way, with the result that repossessions take place unnecessarily.The change in administrative arrangements announced by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People on 5 November is therefore critical, because, in future, lenders will know when borrowers are applying for income support. The Department of Social Security will know if there is a history of arrears and will be able to make a direct payment to the lender, if that is desirable. No one eligible for income support need lose their home. The benefits of those changes will be felt next year.
The hon. Member for Hammersmith tried to wave a magic wand with promises of a mortgage rescue scheme. I found that part of his speech unconvincing. The hon. Gentleman berated the Government for not introducing such a rescue scheme, but he was unable to commit his party to its introduction.
The hon. Member for Clydesdale referred to repossessions and I would like to mention a separate but important initiative aimed at making use of properties which have already been repossessed and which might otherwise stay empty.
Earlier this summer, my Department set up a number of pilot schemes designed to bring back into use some of the 600,000 properties lying empty in the private rented sector. Under that scheme, housing associations act as managing agents for private owners who might not otherwise want the hassle of letting their property. That scheme will open up a valuable source of additional housing, by giving private owners the confidence to let their property and tenants the promise of a fair deal.
The building societies, which have up to 40,000 empty properties awaiting disposal, asked whether they could build upon the pilot schemes. Rather than allowing all those properties to remain empty until they were sold, the building societies agreed that it makes sense to put them to good use. Many have already stood empty for some considerable time. As a forced sale, their value is less than it would otherwise be. There is a danger that they will be vandalised, or that squatters will move in.
Under the new extension to the scheme, the empty repossessed houses on the building societies' books can be let to housing associations for periods of between one and three years, and occupied by families. Later, when the property is eventually sold, the lender should get a better price than he would from a forced sale now. The scheme also reduces the losses of the borrowers. In the meantime, the property is maintained and squatting is eliminated. The process also helps to stabilise house prices by controlling the rate at which empty property is offered in the market. Far from being half-baked, the scheme works to the benefit of all involved.
The Government's philosophy is to maximise investment in housing from all sources--from the private sector as well as from the public sector--and to achieve maximum value from that investment. We are offering people opportunities for home ownership and opportunities for new forms of social landlord such as housing action trusts. We want to promote partnership-- between local authorities and housing associations, between public and private finance and between social and private landlords. More importantly, we want to promote partnership between all those groups and the tenants
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themselves. We are seeking to improve the effectiveness of public sector investment and are attacking incompetence by local authorities.Those policies run with the grain of people's aspirations and with the grain of market forces. For that reason, they are more likely to succeed than the somewhat muddled, uncosted proposals which the Opposition often put forward. Their blinkered approach to housing action trusts and large- scale voluntary transfers--being actively considered by Labour councils and supported in ballots of tenants--shows how out of touch they are.
The hon. Member for Hammersmith seems to think that he could increase spending on housing, without incurring the displeasure of the shadow Chief Secretary, by spending capital receipts. That is nonsense. The money is not just sitting in the bank doing nothing. The capital receipts are used to reduce the level of debt. Let me spell it out clearly. Those capital receipts have either paid off debt or are earning interest which authorities can use to service their debts.
If local authorities were told to spend those notional receipts, they would either have to borrow again, or the Exchequer would have to give authorities more subsidy every year to meet their debts. Either way, we would then have higher borrowing or public spending with the usual impact on interest rates and the public sector borrowing requirement--and the raised eyebrow of the hon. Member for Derby, South (Mrs. Beckett).
One cannot use those capital receipts without it having an impact on public expenditure. That money is not just sitting in the bank doing nothing.
Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North) : Why will not the Minister recognise that so much of the hardship and misery with which almost all Members of Parliament are involved through their case work, correspondence and surgeries is due to the fact that, in the past 12 years, council house building has come to a virtual stop? If the Minister says, "What about the private rented sector?", he should know that in Monday's Evening Standard there were hardly any flats--leaving aside one-room accommodation--under £120 a week. They are usually modest flats, but most cost more. Does the Minister realise that people who are in so much need cannot afford to buy, even with lower interest rates? They can get nowhere with the local authority because of Government policy and can get nowhere with the private rented sector.
Sir George Young : On Monday I visited Walsall--part of the borough which the hon. Gentleman represents. During my discussions with the council it appeared that money that I had allocated to Walsall for housing had been spent not on housing but on other services. The local authority was asking me for more money for housing when it had reallocated money already voted for housing to other purposes. I found that deeply unimpressive.
Mr. Winnick : Will the Minister give way, because I can give him an explanation?
Sir George Young : I asked the chairman of the housing committee for an explanation and found it deeply unconvincing.
Mr. Winnick : Will the Minister listen to my explanation?
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Sir George Young : No, I should like to make progress. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will catch your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker, and make his own speech.Mr. Soley : Will the Minister give way?
Mr. Soley rose --
Madam Deputy Speaker (Miss Betty Boothroyd) : Order. The Minister has made it clear to the House--there is nothing wrong with my hearing-- that he will not give way again.
Sir George Young : The hon. Member for Hammersmith said that he would speak for 20 minutes and then spoke for 35 minutes. I hope that other hon. Members can be called, but they will not if I continue to give way.
Those who live on council estates are rightly concerned not so much with the global sums, the billions of pounds, but with what is actually achieved : the quality of service and the range of choice that they are offered by their landlord. In some cases, local authorities use their resources and manage their stock well. Sadly, in others they do not. In some--mostly Labour-run
authorities--resources have been poured in by the Government year after year with little to show for it, because those authorities have mismanaged the funds. They do not apply them where they will have the greatest and most beneficial effect and they do not involve the tenants, or voluntary or private sectors to get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. In short, they use no initiative and show no inspiration in dealing with housing problems.
One has only to look at Meadow Well in Newcastle or at some of the worst estates in Liverpool to see what effect they have had. Keva Coombes, the former leader of Liverpool council, said :
"Tenants get an appalling service, and they know that. I think probably the fundamental cause is, frankly, we've put the interests of the providers of the service, the workforce, above the interests of the tenants".
He also said :
"We are the worst landlord in Liverpool, probably in the country voids gone up, rent arrears soared and breaking the law on racial equality".
Manchester has 6,000 empty properties--more than any other local authority. Four Labour-controlled local authorities in London failed to collect nearly one third of rents in 1989-90. To overcome problems like that, we have introduced a significant change in our approach. In future, in allocating capital resources to local authorities, we shall rely less on allocation by formula and more on an assessment of the quality of authorities' plans, to direct resources to those councils where they will be used best. In that way, we shall get better value for money, tenants will see tangible results and standards will rise as authorities realise that they need to make a greater effort in order to gain support. We want to hear not only about problems but about solutions.
The Labour party has resisted wave after wave of innovative Government policies until finally public opinion overwhelms it. One of the most recent examples of that attitude has been towards housing action trusts. Originally implacably opposed to the idea that rundown estates should be handed over to the tenants, housing associations and the private sector, Labour now finds itself in the embarrassing position that many of its own councils are pressing for HATs in their areas and tenants are voting
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to leave the control of those councils. So far, the Labour party has taken only one grudging step back and agreed to honour any existing contracts into which existing HATs have entered, in the unlikely event of their gaining power. But the waves are lapping round their feet and soon they will have to beat a full retreat as HATs become more popular and the Labour party's opposition to them another potential vote loser.We must make better use of existing stock. In too many cases, authorities take too long to re-let vacant properties. Homes stand vacant while families awaiting rehousing have to stay in bed and breakfast. If all authorities achieved an average target of six weeks in London and three weeks elsewhere, the effect would be equivalent to 17,000 extra lettings in England, compared with 13,000 families in bed-and-breakfast accommodation. It may sound obvious, but it is important that local authorities should know who is living in their stock. It is just bad management that on many estates authorities have no accurate record of the people occupying their properties and some of those people have no legal right to be there.
Finally, on the problem of those who literally have no home--the rough sleepers--considerable progress has been made as a result of my Department's £96 million initiative to help people sleeping rough in central London. Hon. Members need not take my word ; they can ask the voluntary organisations. In total, 1,500 places have been provided in less than a year and taken up by people who were sleeping rough or were at risk of doing so. Moreover, 176 spaces are still in use in shelters that we opened last winter. By March 1994, the total additional permanent housing generated by that initiative will provide accommodation for 1,800 people. The measure has already made a significant contribution to the housing needs of single homeless people in London. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the many voluntary groups and housing associations that have helped us to make this possible. It is our stated aim to make it unnecessary for anybody to sleep rough on the streets of central London. We have introduced more than money and hostels ; we have introduced an integral approach, with training, employment and health.
More needs to be done to achieve our aims. I am today announcing a new package of measures to help single homeless people sleeping rough in London and around the country. In London, where the problem remains at its most acute, I have set aside £1 million for voluntary groups to enable them to provide up to 300 places in emergency shelters this winter. Those places will be open regardless of temperature. I am pleased to say that nearly 200 places will be available next week. That provision is part of a co- ordinated programme which we are funding through Single Homelessness in London. We are making it as easy as possible for rough sleepers to use those extra places : they are free ; people will not be required to give personal details if they do not wish to ; and we are providing the outreach workers with vans to take rough sleepers to the shelters from pick-up points across the capital. Information on vacancies will be readily available, primarily from the Shelter Housing Aid Centre's hostels vacancy project and, out of office hours, by Shelter's nightline. Both projects are funded by my Department. SHIL has done well in its speedy organisation, as have the other voluntary organisations involved in setting up the programme.
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I am also announcing today that funding for the programme of grants under section 73 of the Housing Act 1985 to voluntary organisations for the homeless throughout the country will increase from £4.5 million this year to £6.1 million in 1992-93-- an increase in real terms of around 30 per cent.--and to a total of nearly £20 million over the next three years.Dr. Keith Hampson (Leeds, North-West) : Will my hon. Friend give way?
Madam Deputy Speaker : Order. The Minister has made it abundantly clear that he will not give way.
Dr. Hampson : Not to every hon. Member.
Sir George Young : I hope that my hon. Friend will understand that I wish to bring my remarks to a conclusion.
Some 93 voluntary organisations, more than 60 of them outside London, already receive grants under this programme for a variety of projects providing practical help to homeless people. I am today inviting voluntary groups outside central London to apply for the extra resources available for 1992-93. In assessing their bids I shall give priority to imaginative new projects offering direct, practical help to single homeless people in areas with significant numbers of rough sleepers.
Dr. Hampson rose --
Sir George Young : The policies being pursued by the Government are designed to provide the improvements in housing and higher standards that people want. More people are now housed, in better conditions, than ever before. More people own their own homes and the vast majority of them are meeting their housing costs. We have moved away from the old municipal paternalism so loved by Opposition Members towards arrangements that give people choice and opportunities to control and influence their own housing. Monopoly of housing tenure led to a decline in standards, and an absence of fresh ideas and solutions. That must have been as clear to the Labour party as it was to us, yet it has systematically opposed all our policies aimed at redressing the situation, from right to buy to HATs, grudgingly accepting them years later when they have shown that they are effective and popular. The Labour party wants to retain a power base for its councils rather than provide what tenants want. The diversity made possible by this Government, through owner occupation for many, influence over management and the use of resources for others, offers the best way forward. I urge the House to support the amendment.
Dr. Hampson : On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hate to do this to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, but in the interests of Back Benchers I feel that I must. It is exceptional and unusual for the Chair to decide when hon. Members do or do not accept interventions. As the Minister made no comment on the last part of the Government motion, and as the distribution of housing corporation funds to northern cities is critically important, he might at least have been given a chance to comment on my case.
Madam Deputy Speaker : I am not sure whether the hon. Member for Leeds, North-West (Dr. Hampson) was in the Chamber when the Minister made it clear on more
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than one occasion that he would not give way again. As he made that statement, I consider that his decision holds good for all hon. Members.5.41 pm
Dr. Ashok Kumar (Langbaurgh) : In addressing the House today I bring a strong message from all the people of Langbaurgh who cast their votes in the by-election on 7 November. During my time in the House I intend to speak for all those voters and represent, to the best of my abilities, the needs and aspirations of my constituency and the wider northern region.
It has been said that Langbaurgh was discovered by the national media during the by-election, and many representatives of the media were amazed to find--to quote The Times--
"the constituency was surprisingly beautiful."
I suspect that many of the people who flocked into the constituency from outside--the media, the party hacks and the pollsters--were surprised to find, not grim steelworks or a photo-chemical smog, but pleasant villages and estates, and attractive countryside and coastline. That is not to say there are no problems in my constituency--there are. Many of them are common to the whole northern region : unemployment, under-investment, isolation and Government indifference. It was due to the popular recognition that the Labour party intends to tackle those problems boldly and head on that I was returned to the House.
I represent a constituency that is a microcosm of British society. It includes former mining villages, large council estates, market towns, seaside resorts and leafy suburbs. It was that cross section of British society which returned a Labour Member to the House, and which will return a Labour Government at the next general election. Langbaurgh was previously represented by Richard Holt, whose death precipitated the by-election which became a vote of confidence in the Government whom he supported. His time in the House was marked by a style of politics which, it could be said, led to his success in bucking the electoral trends in both 1983 and 1987. Certainly, the House will be less colourful and quieter with his departure. I also feel a deep sense of humility in following in the footsteps of Labour's pioneers in the area now covered by my constituency. The Labour party has never been afraid to field candidates who will, with vigour, promote the principles that they were elected to defend. I recall the Labour party's first Member of Parliament for the east Cleveland district, Billy Mansfield--an ironstone miner who left school at 13 and throughout his life, from the pit face to Parliament, fought for his class and his people. I also remember Ellen Wilkinson who colourfully represented the old Middlesbrough, East constituency throughout the early 1920s. She proved that a woman could successfully promote the needs, aspirations and dreams of a heavy, industrial region that conventional wisdom then held could not be won by anybody other than a man.
I am proud and humble to be following that historic tradition and I will not shirk from being single-minded in fighting for the rights of my constituents. The great tragedy is that many of the social evils that those pioneers fought are with us again today. The simple fact is that far too many of my constituents are still unemployed, exist on low wages and are being denied access to the vital health and social services that they need to live a more healthy and less stressful life.
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It is little use senior Ministers telling local people that the recession is technically over. They should try telling someone who has lost his house that it was a technical repossession or someone who is still waiting for an urgent operation that he or she feels only a technical pain. Many of my constituents suffer from severe housing problems. Too many people are still inadequately housed, too many young people are still waiting for their first proper home and too many people in the villages of east Cleveland are still living in pre-1919 terraced houses that are long overdue for renewal and modernisation. A crying local need that is given public voice through Langbaurgh borough council's housing needs survey is for low cost accommodation for low wage earners.The distress that unemployment, poor housing, idleness and ill-health brings should be self-evident to everyone. It is evident to everyone except, it seems, for the Government's Front Bench team. In parts of Langbaurgh--in many of the isolated villages of east Cleveland and on south Middlesbrough council estates--high and continuing unemployment has become a feature of everyday life. For the one in seven of the total working age population who are unemployed in the south Middlesbrough area of Hemlington, or for the 19.8 per cent. of men who are jobless in the steelmaking town of Skinningrove, life is becoming ever more mean and brutish. The social isolation and poverty that comes with such unemployment is biting deep into the very fabric of our local society, and it is not so unexpected, is it, that such alienation has led to problems of split families, mental and physical distress, and the various manifestations of crime, vandalism and other forms of anti-social behaviour? That is not to say that crime can be excused--it cannot. But crime must not be used as an excuse for doing nothing about unemployment.
During my time in the House I intend, in particular, to campaign vigorously for the total regeneration of my constituencys' economy. I will be fighting with my other Labour parliamentary colleagues on Teesside for more inward investment, for help to diversify and strengthen our local industrial base, and for vital Government and European funding to modernise and rebuild our physical, environmental, social and training infrastructure.
The centrepiece of that work, that crusade, will be a new northern development agency. It will sweep away the collection of non-accountable, unelected quangos that pose as the Government's answer to regional needs. The agency will spearhead a new regional renaissance, bring clarity, cohesion and commitment to the need to renew the north of England. It will have responsibility for property assembly and development ; and assist start-ups and growing firms. It will help to set up a northern export agency and, above all, help the technological uprating of northern industry.
During the by-election I launched what I called a 10-point economic plan--a blueprint for Cleveland. That will be a programme for action in the run-up to the general election and a checklist for the action that the coming Labour Government will undertake through the support of the northern development agency. That programme will help to revive and regenerate our local economy. It calls for urgent action to pull Langbaurgh and the wider Cleveland area out of the vicious spiral of decline,
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dereliction and distress. It identifies the essential components, the key demands, of what I intend to call the new deal for Langbaurgh.First, as a practising research scientist I am only too aware of the need for pure and applied research within our industry and commerce linked to our university academics. We desperately need a technologically advanced economy. We need to set up a new and innovative Teesside technology trust, an instrument to effect proper collaboration between industry, local institutions of higher and further education, regional financial institutions, local councils and training providers and, of course, the European Community. That will provide the structured environment in which local industry can identify its technology and research and development needs, liaise strongly with the public sector and work with local academic institutions.
As I have already said, I welcome the fact that the coming Labour Government will set up, as part of the popular move towards regional government--a move which I whole-heartedly support--a northern regional development agency. I intend to see that firms in my constituency benefit from the work of that agency, which should set tough but realistic targets for local jobs created and for local investment. I also intend to fight for the creation of a one-stop shop for local industry so as to stop the bureaucracy and confusion of five different Government Departments all attempting to help start-ups or small and expanding businesses. This office would work with local councils, local enterprise agencies and a democratised enterprise council to offer a direct business advice service. Crucially, I want to see the launch of an emergency jobs and training package for my unemployed constituents. That package could include direct job experience--training and job seeking opportunities provided under one roof.
As those who are close to me and those who witnessed the by-election campaign know, I have always argued that individual opportunity and the economic success of one area are linked. Our economic destiny--nationally as well as locally--will be largely determined by the skills and talents of local people. We need to create a training scheme for local people and local industry. It is not enough to try to force local people and industry to conform to a remote central training plan devised and monitored by distant civil servants or by the shadowy private offices and right-wing think tanks servicing the employment Ministers. But that by itself is not enough. We need to see that all local people are able fully to participate in the local labour market. There must be a level playing field so that all people can exercise their talents and ability.
Problems of disability, special needs, or the availability of child care facilities should not needlessly deny someone the chance of competing equally in the jobs market. I intend during the coming weeks--as a matter of urgency--to begin discussions with Cleveland local education authority and the local voluntary sector to formulate proposals for a properly funded and wide ranging child care strategy for Cleveland.
The issue of industrial pollution figured prominently in the by-election campaign. Environmental awareness is now a key feature of everyday life in Cleveland. Local industry, which is often unjustly attacked, is trying hard to improve its record on pollution and environmental care. It has got little or no help from the Government in undertaking this responsibility. As a trained scientist, I am
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well aware of the scale of the problem and of the means and resources needed to tackle it. I want to promote a new Cleveland-wide programme of applied research into new pollution control, waste minimisation and recycling measures and technologies that will serve to make the county of Cleveland and its industry an internationally recognised centre of excellence in the nation's and the industrial world's battle for a cleaner, greener and more sustainable environment.Langbaurgh, Cleveland and the wider northern region realise--perhaps more than the Government--that we are living in a world where new trading partners and new markets are developing at a headlong pace. The advent of the single European market and the implications of the Maastricht summit will affect us all, and none more so than those who, if nothing is done, could be consigned to the periphery of what may well prove to be the most important global trading bloc of the 21st century. By contrast, the Government seem interested only in placating or fooling as many of their Back Benchers as possible for as much time as possible over the full implications of an issue which cannot go away, however much the Government might wish otherwise. We recognise the importance of our new European home, even if the Government do not, and I shall continue to press for more investment to ensure the maintenance of Langbaurgh's essential trade with Europe and to see that the links to the channel tunnel, our local ports and our local Teesside airport are as well resourced as those of our competitors on the European mainland.
Finally, and most importantly, we need a totally new regional policy. But this cannot be just a faded imitation of the regional policies of past Governments--Labour or Tory. The problems are greater and the challenges more pressing. Langbaurgh, Cleveland and the northern region have suffered draconian cuts in regional assistance and regional funding since 1979. Regional assistance for the counties of Cleveland, Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and Tyne and Wear has been progressively cut by almost two thirds, a drop of about £3.4 million between 1979 and 1987. In the same period the region has experienced the biggest decline in manufacturing investment of any area in the United Kingdom--a decline of some 42 per cent. Under this Government, this gloomy catalogue of disaster, depression and decline is continuing. Figures from the jobcentres in Cleveland clearly show that there has been a drop of some 27 per cent. in registered vacancies since this time last year, and that the pattern shows no sign of abating.
I know that Conservative Members would love me to speak about Cleveland county council. Above all, we desperately need to create sources of regionally-based finance capital, the cash that is needed if firms are to expand, start up or carry out technological uprating. Some far-sighted Labour local authorities in the region are already making great strides towards this goal. In particular, I congratulate Cleveland county council on its imagination and daring in setting up a locally based and locally run £5 million venture capital fund. That is a valuable weapon in the fight to revive Cleveland's economy. Such an initiative will be closely partnered and needs to work closely with my proposed northern development agency and the new national investment bank which will be set up by the next Labour Government, and which will play a key role in areas such as Langbaurgh in the mobilisation of private capital for publicly-led
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long-term investment projects to improve, enhance and uprate the infrastructure needed to sustain the economic growth for which my constituency is crying out.I want to stress again, so as graphically to underline the point, that Labour's victory at Langbaurgh has shown that the country wants change, is crying out for change, and is determined, at the polls next spring, to force radical change. In a famous debate in the House in 1940, a leading member of the then Labour Front-Bench team, Arthur Greenwood, was begged to "speak for England"--an intervention that led to a change in Government. Over a half a century later, the people of Langbaurgh have spoken for England and their voice is finding an echo throughout the land. I both hope and believe that that voice will have the same result.
6 pm
Mr. Paul Channon (Southend, West) : I am sure that I speak for the House when I say how much we appreciated the maiden speech of the hon. Member for Langbaurgh (Dr. Kumar). I am sure that the House will congratulate him on the excellent way that he delivered it, and on his courtesy, clear speaking and the interesting things that he had to say. Nobody yet knows whether his stay in the House will be long or short but, whichever it is, I hope that he will be happy and have an enjoyable and successful time here.
We appreciated the hon. Gentleman's references to our late colleague, Mr. Richard Holt. He is much missed on these Benches and throughout the House, and it was good of the hon. Gentleman to pay tribute to him--we shall not forget it.
I know the hon. Gentleman's constituency fairly well. It is a constituency of many contrasts. It is possible that, when the hon. Gentleman next speaks, he will find that the House does not agree with everything he says, especially if he repeats his last few remarks. However, tonight we shall not disagree with anything he said, at least not in public. I offer him many congratulations. I shall try to be brief, because many of my hon. Friends also wish to speak. I start by declaring an interest, as trustee of a charitable housing association. It is building a project in the constituency of the hon. Member for Langbaurgh, but I have not yet visited it.
I do not often speak in housing debates. The last time I did so was in 1973, when I moved the Second Reading of a housing Bill, which the Labour Government took over and which became the Housing Finance (Special Provisions) Act 1974. I mention this because, the more I have listened to the debate, the more it has become clear that the old controversial arguments have not changed.
Furthermore, it is also clear that, when both sides of the House agree on housing policy, we make progress, but when they cannot, we do not. In the 1960s and 1970s--I give credit to the Labour party for this--the improvement of older housing became a great bipartisan cause. In the 1970s, we all supported the voluntary housing movement, which the Bill that I introduced and the Act from the Labour Government did a great deal to support. All this shows that, when we agree, we have successes, and when we disagree, we have disasters. I do not wish to be controversial tonight, particularly as we do not have much time, but as the hon. Member for Hammersmith (Mr. Soley) criticised the Conservative Government for bringing about the decline in the private
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rent sector, I should point out that the decline has gone on for a very long time. The Labour party's attitude towards rent control and the privately controlled sector, which has been maintained for a long time, has been largely responsible for the decline.As I understand it--no doubt the hon. Member for Knowsley, North (Mr. Howarth), who is to reply for the Opposition, will correct me if I am wrong --there is a suggestion of confiscation if private tenants are to have the right to buy. Perhaps he will tell us exactly what the Labour party's policy is.
I very much welcome--indeed, I wish I had the chance to do this myself--the way that my hon. Friend the Minister has boosted the housing association movement. The number of houses in this sector has risen from 200 to about 500,000. I am certain that that will increase still further. I believe it to be a very important factor in the medium-term housing situation. I am sure that, after the next general election, there will be many more housing action trusts, and many more local authorities will want to transfer their properties to housing associations.
There will also be a welcome increase in the amount of housing being built by the housing association movement. My right hon. Friends in the Department have managed to double the budget from just over £1 billion in 1991 to £2 billion in 1994-95, and 120,000 voluntary housing association houses will be built over the next three years. That is a great step forward, and I believe that it is the way forward for housing in the subsidised sector.
I welcome the three-year approach, which will allow housing associations to plan their programmes properly. It was ridiculous that, in the past, a housing association would not know with any certainty what approvals it would get or how much money it would have beyond the end of the year. It is now much more likely to be rationally organised, and I congratulate my right hon. and hon. Friends on that.
I also congratulate them on their approach to getting private finance. I am sure that we should get value for money in this sector so as to ensure that every penny of public money is spent in the best way to provide more housing for the people who so desperately need it. My hon. Friend the Minister has also launched a study recently into ways to attract yet more private finance into the housing association movement. I hope that he will be able to tell us how long the study will take and how he sees the way forward.
Could not the Housing Corporation, which has large funds, do more? Is there no way, without breaking the public expenditure rules, to allow the Housing Corporation to invest or to go into partnership with a bank or the Housing Finance Corporation or a similar organisation? That would increase the amount of money available to be lent to housing associations, and lead to an even larger housing programme. Perhaps the answer is a mixture of public and private money--I do not know. Such a body might be able to lend at a better commercial rate, which would mean that houses would be cheaper and rents lower. I hope that the Minister's inquiry will look at that and other similar proposals.
I ask my hon. Friend the Minister to be careful about one point. It is true that costs are going down and that it is therefore reasonable to make a change in the total cost
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indicators. However, when housing associations plan a big housing scheme, they plan a long way ahead. They have to make some assumptions about future interest rates, and when they make proposals, they base them on such assumptions. If there are then frequent changes in the cost indicators and the grant is reduced, that is threatening for housing associations. I ask not that it should not be done but that it should be done infrequently, and that more notice should be given. That would mean more stability and confidence in the housing association movement.Will my hon. Friend look at the way in which homeless figures are recorded? Housing associations are probably doing much more to help the homeless than is shown in the figures. For example, I know of a case where a housing association bought a block of flats from some developers and allowed the developers to nominate to those flats. That vacated other flats that the developers had into which homeless people went. That did not show up as a single gain for the homeless in the statistics. There are many similar ingenious schemes around, but they are not sufficiently apparent to show how the housing association movement is helping to alleviate homelessness. The hon. Member for Hammersmith concentrated on mortgage repossessions. We have all heard of terrible cases in our constituencies. Anything that can be done is good, but we can do even more with housing associations. I was glad to hear what he said about the initiative on empty properties. Can we not have an even more active policy so that housing associations know all the practices among other housing associations?
For example, if a housing association can buy a house from someone who has fallen in arrears with his mortgage, it should try to keep that family living there if that is possible. The hon. Member for Hammersmith criticised the Government's scheme, and I agree that it is a disaster if people have to be moved from repossessed properties into bed-and-breakfast accommodation. If a way can be found to keep them in their property, perhaps with a housing association managing it or acting as agent for the local authority, or encouraging the shared ownership about which my hon. Friend spoke, that would be much better. To do that, we need to study the best practice of housing associations. We need some imaginative scheme to help people who fall into arrears but who have not fallen into complete financial chaos. I strongly support the Government in their desire that the voluntary housing movement should be the main provider of social subsidised housing. The expansion of the voluntary housing movement is having an excellent effect on local authorities. Local authorities which face the prospect of losing their housing stock to a housing action trust will pay much more attention to their tenants than used to be the case.
When the housing association movement grows and many more houses are transferred to it, as will probably happen, I hope that my hon. Friend will continue to keep an eye on it. There is no point in a transfer for the sake of it. The object of a transfer is to give the tenants a better deal. The day may come, although not for some time, when large housing associations have to be split up to prevent them from becoming unwieldy local authorities in their own right. The process of reform will have to be kept continually under review. No housing association has a large enough stock to be in such a situation now, but if they are not good enough and if they become impersonal and do not give the tenants
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the service they should, they should be subject to the same criticism as local authorities in a similar position. The point is to provide a better service and a greater opportunity to provide houses using public and private money to the best advantage.There are many other topics that I should have liked to talk about. The policies that my hon. Friend and his predecessors have pursued during the past few years, particularly last year--the new form of tenure, the new partnership, the maximum value for money, the mixture of public and private funds and the new forms of landlord--offer great hope.
As we all know, there is at present a short-term difficulty. My hon. Friend is right to say that a reduction in interest rates would be the best news for those in difficulty with their mortgages, but in the medium term, my hon. Friends have laid a good foundation for British housing. I commend them, and I shall vote with enthusiasm for the amendment.
6.11 pm
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