Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 24 Nov 2020
Leaseholders and Cladding
"Hundreds of constituents are affected by safety problems, from social housing tenants in Canning Town to leaseholders in Stratford. Those in the Prime Minister’s flagship Olympic park have had the Olympic dream turned into a nightmare. This crisis is getting worse. Just two weeks ago, four more blocks were placed …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 24 Feb 2020
Local Government Finance (England)
"I am staggered, to be honest, because I think that council tax is a regressive tax. Each adult in Newham has lost 50% of the grant that was given by the Government, in an area where more than 50% of our children live in poverty, in order to give to …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 12 Feb 2020
Leaseholders and Cladding
"It is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Davies. This is an extraordinary issue that is causing terrible problems to many constituents and I am sorry that I will not have the time in this debate to do their cases justice.
I am currently dealing with 31 …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Westminster Hall - Wed 12 Feb 2020
Leaseholders and Cladding
"I thank the Minister for the extensive detail that she is giving, but will she address the gentle point that I made? Even if the Minister had another five minutes, that would not be enough to address all the issues, many of which have not been raised simply because of …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 29 Jan 2020
Homelessness
"I want Government Members to understand the root causes of much of the homelessness in West Ham. More than a third of my constituents work hard for less than the London living wage. A month’s rent for a cheap two-bedroom property in Newham is £1,300. If someone has one of …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 23 Jan 2020
Holocaust Memorial Day
"I congratulate the hon. Member for Bassetlaw (Brendan Clarke-Smith) on his excellent maiden speech. Given that I was thoroughly entertained throughout and gripped by what he was saying, I am sure he will have a long, prosperous and useful career in this Chamber.
I want to thank and pay tribute …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 23 Jan 2020
Holocaust Memorial Day
"The hon. Gentleman is, of course, right.
I know I will not be the only person in this Chamber to own a copy of Martin Gilbert’s tremendous yet totally horrific book, “The Righteous”, which documents many stories of brave people who defied that law and similar laws, not just in …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Written Question
Thursday 3rd October 2019
Asked by:
Baroness Brown of Silvertown (Labour - Life peer)
Question
to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults entitled, No place at home, published in September 2019, if his Department will allocated resources to local authorities in areas with high rates of county lines grooming and exploitation to ensure the provision of (a) in-area placements and (b) accommodation to children and young people (i) involved in and (ii) vulnerable to county lines criminal exploitation through (A) children’s services, (B) social housing services and (C) temporary and emergency housing.
Answered by Luke Hall
We are working across government to reduce the risk of children being criminally exploited and groomed by gangs, including involvement in ‘County Lines’. Last year we strengthened the statutory guidance for safeguarding children, ‘Working Together’, to support practitioners in preventing child criminal exploitation. We are also investing £2 million in the Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme, to provide dedicated advice and practical support to local area partnerships, focused on developing effective multi-agency responses to identifying the risks and warning signs of exploitation so that action can be taken early.
Ensuring children and young people have safe and secure living arrangements is absolutely vital in reducing the risks of criminal exploitation. This is particularly important for children in care, who are some of society’s most vulnerable children. We have made over £200 billion available until 2020 for councils to deliver local services, including children’s services, and provided a further £410 million in 2019-20 for local authorities to invest in adult and children’s social care services. Thinking ahead to next year, we are now able to confirm that all social care grants available this year will continue at least flat in cash terms.
Taken together with a new £1 billion cash grant for social care, this means that councils will benefit from having £2.9 billion of extra funding available to them for the core services that are so important to residents. Beyond social care, we are protecting vital front-line services by increasing elements of core settlement funding in line with inflation, and we will consult on a 2 per cent core council tax principle for all councils next year.
Outside of the main Local Government Finance Settlement, local government will also see increases from wider resources made available this Spending Round, including a £700 million increase in grant funding for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to make sure that there is sufficient provision to meet the needs of children in their care. We are supporting local authorities to increase the sufficiency of care placements and ensure that placements meet children’s needs, including investing part of our £200 million children’s social care Innovation Programme into three residential care projects to increase councils’ capacity and improve commissioning practice.
Government provides largely un-ringfenced funding to councils, giving them freedom over the money they receive. This allows them to work with their residents to decide how best to make their spending decisions.
Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 11 Jul 2019
Leasehold Reform
"The issues that colleagues have been raising across the Chamber today are very familiar to my inbox. My constituents have been affected by exactly the same issues, and I want to tell a couple of stories to illustrate them.
Mary told me that she was really lucky to be able …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 16 May 2019
Definition of Islamophobia
"At a primary school a few years back, I met a little girl who told me how scared she had been when she heard about a plane that had flown into the side of a mountain. She was not scared to fly—oh no; she was terrified that the pilot would …..."Baroness Brown of Silvertown - View Speech
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