Jim McMahon MP: speeches

Speeches

• 25 Nov 2024 · Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill · Hansard source

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  That really was not worth giving way for. I have literally just said that 1 million properties will be supported against inflationary increases next year. The 40% will continue, with a cap of £110,000. That is exactly what this Bill is intended to do. If the hon. Gentleman supports it, he can join the Government in the Aye Lobby and vote for it. We know from businesses that the current scheme of discretionary relief does not provide the certainty needed. That is why the Bill will enable a permanent tax cut for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses from 2026-27 through new lower multipliers, ending the year-by-year uncertainty that the previous Government hardwired into the system. That is doing what businesses have been calling for. That rebalancing—from out of town to in town, from online to on street—is exactly what people have called for in communities and in business, and Opposition Members know it. Their frustration is that they did not do it in the 14 years that they had in office. It is down to us to take the steps that are needed in government now, and we are happy to do so. The reasoned amendment raises concerns about the impact on schools in the state sector. I can assure the House that protecting and improving state education is at the forefront of the Government’s mind. In fact, we estimate that only 2,900 more pupils will enter the state sector as a result of the removal of the business rates relief for private schools. Let us be clear about what that means in reality: that goes down to about 300 a year. In any given year across England, 60,000 pupils will move between schools; this is 300. We need to keep that in context, because we have heard a lot of scaremongering about the transfer, but that is what the evidence says. That evidence is placed in the House of Commons Library, in case Members want to take time after this debate to go and look. There might even be enough time to find the documents before the vote if they want to bring themselves up to speed. Importantly, this is about providing much-needed investment in the state school sector. Just how many parents say, “We need specialist support for SEND, because the mainstream provision is not adequate”? How many parents—by their own admission, among Opposition Members—choose to pay for private education because they do not have faith in mainstream provision? Despite what Opposition Members have said about the glory years of the past 14 years, the truth that parents and pupils on the ground feel is very different, and they know it. We have to repair mainstream provision so that parents and pupils can go with confidence to their local school, knowing that they will get the support that they need—support for all pupils, not just some. Several hon. Members have mentioned the impact on faith schools. I want to offer some comfort. Of course we value and understand parental choice, but based on the evidence submitted through the HMT consultation, as well as the analysis undertaken by the Department for Education on removing the charitable rate relief, it is not apparent that private faith schools will be affected by this measure any more than non-faith schools. There is no evidence of disadvantage.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Draft Barnsley and Sheffield (Boundary Change) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  Thank you for that, Mrs Harris. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Brent West for his contribution. Given his diligence in preparing for his speech, I am happy to recommend to the Whip that he joins us for future Delegated Legislation Committees. I thank members of the Committee for—

• 6 Nov 2024 · Draft Barnsley and Sheffield (Boundary Change) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Barnsley and Sheffield (Boundary Change) Order 2024. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Harris. The draft order is straightforward. It provides for the boundary between Barnsley and Sheffield to be revised so that the whole area of the Oughtibridge Mill housing development will be in the city of Sheffield, as well as providing for consequential changes to corresponding ward and parish boundaries. The councils concerned both support the boundary change, as do the affected parish councils. Before I go into the detail of the draft order, and with apologies, I must draw the Committee’s attention to the correction slip that has been issued to correct minor drafting and formatting errors. First, it removes the phrase “Ministry for” where the order refers to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in the preamble; in article 2; in the signature box at the end of the order; and in the second and sixth paragraphs of the explanatory note. Secondly, it provides a clearer map of the boundary change for the explanatory note. A formatting issue meant that the map lacked clarity when it was inputted into the draft order. With the help of the statutory instrument registrars, the correction slip now enables the same map to be sufficiently clear and to cover a full page. Those minor errors in the original draft order have now been corrected. The substance of the order is unchanged, and I hope that the reformatted map provides greater clarity for those who read the order. Few reviews of the external administrative boundaries of local authority areas in England have been carried out since 1992, so from time to time new developments and population changes have caused small-scale boundary anomalies between local authorities. In practice, local government will put in place informal arrangements to deal with such situations, but the very fact that they need to do so is not conducive to effective and convenient local government. Such anomalies can also impact perceptions of community identity: where residents do not feel, for whatever reason, part of a particular area, they may be less likely to take an interest in their council. On 14 April 2022, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England received a formal request, made jointly by Barnsley council and Sheffield city council, for a review of the boundary in the area. Because the existing boundary runs along the River Don, the Oughtibridge Mill development has been split between the two councils. Both councils told the boundary commission that, because of the geography of the local communities and the existing road layout, the impact on service demand would mostly be felt by Sheffield city council, and that services would be better delivered by that council. The boundary commission undertook a review of the boundary and consulted those affected, and a majority of the 19 responses supported the boundary change. Following the consultation, the commission’s final recommendation was to transfer to Sheffield the area of the Oughtibridge Mill housing development that is in Barnsley. Doing so would move a section of the councils’ shared boundary at the River Don so as to encapsulate the Oughtibridge Mill development of 12 existing and 284 future dwellings. There was also a recommendation to realign ward and parish boundaries. After receiving the final recommendations, the Secretary of State allowed four weeks for interested parties to make representations. The Department received none in that period. The draft order provides for the boundary between Barnsley and Sheffield to be revised, so that the whole area of the Oughtibridge Mill housing development will be in the city of Sheffield.

• 6 Nov 2024 · Draft Barnsley and Sheffield (Boundary Change) Order 2024 · Hansard source

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  I do not have a great deal to say in rounding up, other than to reflect on the fact that the consultation included the residents who live in the Oughtibridge site at present, the majority of whom were in support of the move. On the 284 properties that will be brought into the wider development, I would say that most normal people—we are not among them, because we are talking about local government boundaries, which we care a lot about—live in places with identities that they feel connected to. I draw Members’ attention to the sales brochure for the site, which describes it as one of the most attractive developments in Sheffield, and to the fact that the development has a Sheffield address and a Sheffield postcode. I think most people moving into the new development will believe they are moving into Sheffield, and the draft order will allow them to enjoy the services of Sheffield city council. Question put and agreed to.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  This Government are acutely aware of the impact of the cost of living crisis on working people, and that is firmly in our sights as we approach the spending review this week, but we will have to repair a fair amount of the system, not just the finances. The early warning audit has been left shattered following 14 years of mismanagement, and single-year settlements have left councils not knowing from one year to the next how much money they have to spend, so we will have to introduce multi-year settlements. There is a great deal of work to do, and we cannot repair 14 years of damage in three months, but we are well on the way to it.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  May I welcome the Chair of the Select Committee to her place? She will do an outstanding job for local government and housing. The Government absolutely understand how difficult it is for local authorities to make ends meet. We understand that the pressures in adult social care, children’s social services and temporary accommodation are biting hard, and we are working through those issues with the sector.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  Again, I ask hon. Members to wait for the spending review on Wednesday, and for the provisional settlement in December. We are under no illusion about the pressures faced by councils on homelessness. In the end, we need to repair the system, which is about providing safe, secure and affordable housing for people to live in. We will do that, but we also recognise that there is a problem today. Further detail on that will follow.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  I thank the hon. Member for meeting me at one of our regular drop-in sessions. His concern is reflected across the country. Local communities recognise that their council is being forced to choose vital neighbourhood services against targets for adult social care, children’s services and homelessness services. In the end, we need to rebuild the foundation from scratch, and that is exactly what we are committed to doing.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  I can see the shadow Secretary of State making that point repeatedly, because at this stage we are all waiting for the statement and the Budget that will contain that information, but I can say that the right decisions will be made in the interests of working people. We recognise the cost of living crisis that is being faced across the country. I am sure that she, like all Members of the House, is waiting with interest for Wednesday.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  Any decisions related to the Budget will be taken at the appropriate time, as will any decisions on the local government finance settlement. What I can say, though, is that this is a new partnership from this Government: we are not locking local government out, but standing shoulder to shoulder with it. Only last week at the Local Government Association conference in Harrogate, the Secretary of State launched the leaders’ council, a forum where central and local government will reset that relationship.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  We did see the former Prime Minister taking great credit for essentially shifting money from primarily urban and deprived communities into rural shires in an overtly political way. I want to ensure that in the funding review we are carrying out, whether that is the initial rescue operation that will take place this year or the recovery operation through the multi-year settlement, we do not pit one council against another, but take an approach that genuinely understands the needs, cost demands and cost pressures faced by local authorities. In the end, though, we have to accept that there is no fair funding at all if funding does not reflect the deprivation in an area.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  We always say that local government is paid for one way or the other: either we pay at the front-end through fair funding being fairly distributed across the country, or we pay at the back-end because eventually the system falls over and we must repair the damage. If we take ourselves back to the coalition years, when austerity first came in, the cruelty was that we did not reform public services, repairing them from the ground up, to get ahead of those system changes. That was a wasted opportunity.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  We will of course publish a White Paper on the English devolution Bill. It will set out an ambitious programme for a power shift from this place and Whitehall to combined authorities, to local government and, of course, to communities. We are absolutely committed to that top-to-bottom power shift. We recognise that parish and town councils have a role to play.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  I recognise that, in large part, children’s services are the funding pressures that are driving council budgets. We cannot forget, though, that behind every one of those numbers is a child who often is not getting the outcomes they need. Far too often what we are seeing in the system is that high costs are not just sending councils to the point of bankruptcy, but delivering worse outcomes for young people. We want to see far more resilience built back into the system, and there are examples today of councils that are building that public sector provision back into the marketplace.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  Like every Member of the House, my hon. Friend will know that those 14 years have taken their toll, and that it will take more than three months to repair that, but we are absolutely committed to repairing the foundations, and our multi-year financial settlements will give security. Of course, we recognise that the demand-led pressures in many places are the back-end of a bigger problem. Temporary accommodation relates to the housing crisis that needs fixing. The same applies to children’s services and adult social care.

• 28 Oct 2024 · Local Authority Funding · Hansard source

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  Councils across the country, of all political stripes, work hard to deliver vital public services in our country. We know that 14 years of mounting pressure is biting hard. We are committed to moving towards a multi-year funding settlement, ending wasteful bidding competitions that essentially set one council against another. Last week, I met political group leaders at the Local Government Association conference to understand what specific demand pressures they are facing, and we are committed to working together on those big issues. Members will know that we cannot pre-empt the Budget statement due later in the week, but we are of course fully engaged in that process. We stand ready to speak to any council experiencing financial difficulties, as I confirmed in my letter to MPs just over a week ago.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for the work he did in local government, and as chair of the LGA, to make sure that the sector spoke with one voice and worked in collaboration with Government to try to get a better outcome for local councils. This Government will continue in that spirit.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We will absolutely ensure that the true cost of public service delivery is accounted for in different parts of the country and in different local authorities—that will be part of it. However, I say gently that although the Conservatives were the architects of austerity, the Liberal Democrats were definitely there sharpening the pencil.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I am very happy to have a meeting, probably next week, on that issue.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  Within the first couple of days of this Government, the Deputy Prime Minister wrote to local authority leaders, inviting them for discussions on devolution agreements. One of the founding principles is, of course, geography that makes sense—and having coterminous boundaries for public services and the rest does make sense. Without going into the specifics of individual conversations that are taking place, I advise the hon. Member to bring that point into the work on the English devolution Bill, which will make sure that all of England has a voice and a role in devolution.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for her question, and for her work on the agenda to further devolution in her region. We recognise that in some parts of the country, including Hull and East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire, local authorities worked up proposals for the previous Government that were not tabled before the election. We are currently working through those proposals at pace to make sure areas have clarity about where they are up to, and we look forward to reporting on that as soon as possible and meeting with local MPs as part of that process.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  We are well under way in reviewing the consultations that are currently taking place and all the devolution agreements that were not tabled before the election. I am very happy to meet with my hon. Friend outside of this Chamber to discuss the matter further.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  In the final 2024-25 local government finance settlement, a £3 million grant was announced to assist local authorities experiencing significant pressures on their internal drainage board levy. I am publishing today the allocations of funding for 15 local authorities, and I can confirm that King’s Lynn and West Norfolk will receive an allocation of £254,000 from the levy. We are also working closely with our colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to explore options going forward for future allocations.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Council Funding · Hansard source

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  I know at first hand how hard councils work to deliver essential public services, and we want to thank councillors, council officials and council workers for the hard work that they do all year round. The Government are under no illusions about the challenges facing local authorities. It is our priority to reset the relationship between local and central Government, and to end the politics that has seen Westminster hoard far too much power, holding back our towns, cities and villages from realising their full potential. We will provide more stability for councils through multi-year funding settlements, ending the competitive bidding process and reforming the broken audit system. Future local authority funding decisions are of course a matter for the spending review and the local government finance settlement, in which we are fully engaged.

• 2 Sept 2024 · Council Funding · Hansard source

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  Local councils are central to delivering on this Government’s missions, and to changing this country for the better, but we know that many of them are on a cliff edge financially, and many of them will be fearful for their budget going forward. We will work in partnership with my hon. Friend. The Department’s door is always open to local authorities that need to have conversations.