Business of the House

Eddie Hughes Excerpts

Thursday 8th February 2018 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am delighted that the hon. Lady is supporting apprenticeships, as many of us in this Chamber do in our constituencies. I take every chance to recommend to colleagues that they get an apprentice for their parliamentary office. I have had an apprentice in each of the last seven years, and it has been brilliant for me and for them. This is an important issue across all our towns. There have been more than 3 million apprenticeships since 2010, and there is much more to do. We should all combine forces to improve these life opportunities for young people.

[Eddie Hughes (Walsall North) (Con)]

May we have a debate on the progress made on house building and the further action needed to build the number of homes we so urgently need in this country?

[Andrea Leadsom]

My hon. Friend raises a really important point. He will be pleased to know that this week the Prime Minister chaired the inaugural meeting of the housing implementation taskforce to talk about the progress we are making and what more action is needed. More than 217,000 additional homes were delivered last year—the highest level we have seen in all but one of the past 30 years. That takes us to more than 1.1 million extra homes in England since 2010. There is more to do, but there has been good progress.