Commons Chamber
11:19
Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
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Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
do want to address some of the points raised by the shadow deputy leader specifically. But first of all, let me take the opportunity to reflect on what has has been achieved over the past 12 months and recognise and thank all those who have embodied the spirit of goodwill and service this year. Firstly, firstly, our charities and organisations who work so hard in our constituencies. None of them are more important than supporting people who are experiencing homelessness. This government, Mr.
Speaker, is backing them with our homelessness strategy, which outlines our commitment to halve the number of long term rough sleepers. We are also delivering on our promise of safe and secure housing by banning no fault evictions and introducing new protection for renters. We're bringing forward planning reform to build the new homes that we need and deliver the biggest, the biggest boost to social and affordable homes in a generation. We also need to recognise the contribution of charities and community groups in supporting the most vulnerable through the cost of living crisis.
Which why? Which is why we've extended the Household Support Fund to support struggling households. We've also launched the Warm Homes Plan to deliver lower energy bills and lift a million households out of fuel poverty. And we published our child Poverty strategy, which will lift half a million children out of poverty. And we're improving children's life chances now and addressing the root causes of child poverty in the future. Mr. speaker, I also want to thank teachers and all those who support our young people, and I hope that they get a well deserved rest over the festive period, because we are backing them by investing in our children's future, recruiting 6500 more teachers nationally and increasing school funding by £1.7 billion.
NHS workers are the backbone of our health service and I want to recognise their dedication. Those who continue to care for patients through the festive period, we're backing them. Mr. Speaker, with our long term plan to rebuild our NHS over the next ten years, protecting investment, creating more appointments and recruiting more GPS and mental health workers. We also need to recognise and thank local authority workers, postal workers, shop workers who work throughout the festive period and keep our country running. And last but not least, Mr.
Speaker, I want to recognise the dedication and the tireless work of our police and emergency services who keep our community safe. We're backing them with the resources that they need to do their vital jobs, which is why we're publishing our provisional police funding settlement today, and will continue to ensure that money is directed to the right places and look forward to delivering on our commitment to recruit more police officers in 2026. Let me address some of the points that the hon.
Gentleman made directly. He asks me what my New Year resolution will be, and it is not to make resolutions. The second point he raises the issue of PQs and he said, I take it seriously. I do take it seriously. Both PQs and other correspondence from Ministers, and we do constantly tell departments that they need to up their game. But he knows because of his work, not least on the modernisation Committee, that there is a deeper issue here around PMQs because there's been an enormous increase in pqs and quite frankly, departments need to up their game.
But at the same time, we need to think carefully about the number of pqs that are put in and whether or not actually the system at times can cope. And this is not just been a problem for this government. It's been a problem, I think, for the previous government, too. And let me finish on this point, because the hon. Gentleman wanted to quote from Dickens and he talks from and about A Christmas Carol. Let me instead turn to A Tale of Two Cities, and let us draw a comparison between 14 years of Conservative government and 18 months of this government, which are now paraphrase, which I paraphrase, which I paraphrase.
It was the worst of times. It's now the best of times.
Speaker, is backing them with our homelessness strategy, which outlines our commitment to halve the number of long term rough sleepers. We are also delivering on our promise of safe and secure housing by banning no fault evictions and introducing new protection for renters. We're bringing forward planning reform to build the new homes that we need and deliver the biggest, the biggest boost to social and affordable homes in a generation. We also need to recognise the contribution of charities and community groups in supporting the most vulnerable through the cost of living crisis.
Which why? Which is why we've extended the Household Support Fund to support struggling households. We've also launched the Warm Homes Plan to deliver lower energy bills and lift a million households out of fuel poverty. And we published our child Poverty strategy, which will lift half a million children out of poverty. And we're improving children's life chances now and addressing the root causes of child poverty in the future. Mr. speaker, I also want to thank teachers and all those who support our young people, and I hope that they get a well deserved rest over the festive period, because we are backing them by investing in our children's future, recruiting 6500 more teachers nationally and increasing school funding by £1.7 billion.
NHS workers are the backbone of our health service and I want to recognise their dedication. Those who continue to care for patients through the festive period, we're backing them. Mr. Speaker, with our long term plan to rebuild our NHS over the next ten years, protecting investment, creating more appointments and recruiting more GPS and mental health workers. We also need to recognise and thank local authority workers, postal workers, shop workers who work throughout the festive period and keep our country running. And last but not least, Mr.
Speaker, I want to recognise the dedication and the tireless work of our police and emergency services who keep our community safe. We're backing them with the resources that they need to do their vital jobs, which is why we're publishing our provisional police funding settlement today, and will continue to ensure that money is directed to the right places and look forward to delivering on our commitment to recruit more police officers in 2026. Let me address some of the points that the hon.
Gentleman made directly. He asks me what my New Year resolution will be, and it is not to make resolutions. The second point he raises the issue of PQs and he said, I take it seriously. I do take it seriously. Both PQs and other correspondence from Ministers, and we do constantly tell departments that they need to up their game. But he knows because of his work, not least on the modernisation Committee, that there is a deeper issue here around PMQs because there's been an enormous increase in pqs and quite frankly, departments need to up their game.
But at the same time, we need to think carefully about the number of pqs that are put in and whether or not actually the system at times can cope. And this is not just been a problem for this government. It's been a problem, I think, for the previous government, too. And let me finish on this point, because the hon. Gentleman wanted to quote from Dickens and he talks from and about A Christmas Carol. Let me instead turn to A Tale of Two Cities, and let us draw a comparison between 14 years of Conservative government and 18 months of this government, which are now paraphrase, which I paraphrase, which I paraphrase.
It was the worst of times. It's now the best of times.
11:23
Andy MacNae MP (Rossendale and Darwen, Labour)
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Andy MacNae MP (Rossendale and Darwen, Labour)
Just to pick up, there was a couple who didn't get in last week. So we're going to start with those So we're going to start with those Andy MacNae. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and a very, very Merry Christmas to you and all the House staff and all colleagues across the place. Since getting elected, myself and colleagues across Lancashire, I've been campaigning for more funding for our local services. And so when new local government funding was announced yesterday, I was really pleased to see this government has properly listened.
With funding now following need in a decade of austerity ending. It's great to see Blackburn with Darwen Council is getting significant increases, and we're working with council leaders to make sure the impacts are felt in every community. But in Rochdale, most of our key services are delivered by Lancashire County Council. These services have been under threat since reform took control, with cuts to nurseries, gritting and care homes all being considered. But now, thanks to this government and lobbying by Labour MPs across Lancashire, the county council will be getting a massive increase £310 million more by 2028.
So reform have no more excuses now. So would later join me in calling on reform to stop the cuts and focus instead on delivering the services we all rely on.
With funding now following need in a decade of austerity ending. It's great to see Blackburn with Darwen Council is getting significant increases, and we're working with council leaders to make sure the impacts are felt in every community. But in Rochdale, most of our key services are delivered by Lancashire County Council. These services have been under threat since reform took control, with cuts to nurseries, gritting and care homes all being considered. But now, thanks to this government and lobbying by Labour MPs across Lancashire, the county council will be getting a massive increase £310 million more by 2028.
So reform have no more excuses now. So would later join me in calling on reform to stop the cuts and focus instead on delivering the services we all rely on.
11:24
Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
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Rt Hon Sir Alan Campbell MP, Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Tynemouth, Labour)
Thank you. Mr. Speaker. I certainly agree with my hon. Friend certainly agree with my hon. Friend that the callous words of the Council appear to be completely nonsensical and in some cases, outright dangerous. In many issues that he raises, including questions about road safety, which he's raised in the past, the government takes these matters very seriously, which is why we are backing local authorities with increased resources. But I would urge reform led Lancashire County Council to take these matters more seriously.
spokesperson.
spokesperson.