Secure Tenancies (Victims of Domestic Abuse) Bill

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

3rd reading: House of Commons & Report stage: House of Commons
Tuesday 8th May 2018 Commons Chamber

[Toby Perkins]

I would like to start where the right hon. Member for Basingstoke (Mrs Miller) finished. I agree entirely about the importance of this Bill, which the Minister herself described as being so important. It behoves all of us to consider why somebody who has been through the appalling domestic violence that many of our constituents have experienced would then be willing potentially to stay in that relationship if their security of housing tenure was in danger of being lost. What does it say to all other housing tenants that something so crucial should be glibly given away by Government in their case? The fact that this Bill is so important makes a really vital point about the need for secure tenancy much more broadly.

The hon. Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Bim Afolami) said that this was a Tory party manifesto commitment. I did not realise there were any Tory party manifesto commitments still standing, so if it was indeed that, I welcome it. I do not remember the part of the general election campaign where the Tories told us that they were going to take away secure tenancies for all other council housing tenants, so I do not entirely understand how they committed to ensure for domestic violence victims something that they had not told everyone else they were going to take away from them.

I support the amendments tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Melanie Onn). On amendment 1, recognising local connections within the Bill is incredibly important. There is real inconsistency not just in the way that different local authorities view their responsibilities towards domestic violence victims but in the provision of refuges. I was shocked to hear from Women’s Aid that Devon County Council not only has no provision for refuges but gives no money towards refuges that Women’s Aid provides. In Chesterfield, we are so well served by the refuges provided by the Elm Foundation that we often provide for domestic violence victims who are coming from other areas. Many of the people who are going to use these services will not be local people. It therefore behoves all local authorities everywhere to make provision on behalf of domestic violence victims.

Where there is that inconsistency of provision, the areas with the greatest provision of refuges end up taking more people on to their council house waiting list and then providing that housing, and so those who are best at providing refuges also see the greatest pressure on their housing services. That is a real disincentive to local authorities in making this provision.

[Mrs Miller]

The hon. Gentleman is making an important point, but he will have heard the Minister say that she will be undertaking the first ever audit of local authority provision. Does he not wonder, as I do, why that has not happened before?

[Toby Perkins]

I welcome the audit, but the question is what happens afterwards. I would like this to be a statutory service with a responsibility on local authorities to provide it. Will there be any move by the Government towards that? Having the information is one thing, but the next thing is what the Government do with it.

On amendment 2, my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Yardley (Jess Phillips) made an incredibly powerful point about the bedroom tax, describing the circumstances where domestic violence victims might lose their children and then find that they are moving into a small flat and are told by the family courts that they do not have appropriate accommodation to get their children back. I was not at all convinced by what the Minister said about why the amendment was not relevant. I urge my hon. Friend to press it to a vote, because we cannot talk about straining every sinew and still have a barrier of that kind in the way of domestic violence victims.

There is a broader need for us to recognise the threat to refuges that exists not only because of local authority funding cuts but because of proposed changes to housing benefit. We must look at the impact that that could have on refuge provision. I urge the Government, if they are serious about supporting domestic violence victims, to make every possible representation to the Department for Work and Pensions with regard to implementing those housing benefit changes. I support the Government on this important Bill. However, I urge Members to support all the amendments, particularly amendment 2, because they will add further powers to the Bill.

Small Business Saturday

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

Thursday 4th December 2014 Westminster Hall

[Toby Perkins]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for saying that because it fits in with something I will say in a few moments about the Government’s role of ensuring that all businesses in a free market get a fair chance. His contribution was powerful in several ways and I look forward to returning to it.

My hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough (Andy McDonald) reflected on the fact that small business owners often work incredibly long hours to keep the wheels of commerce turning, and he was right to point that out. He also said that they are often the last to be paid, both personally in terms of taking money out of the business, and often because they are way down the list of supplier payments. As he knows, the Labour party feels passionate about that, and there is a role for the Government to ensure that we do more to eradicate the scourge of late payment to small businesses.

The sense of excitement and anticipation my hon. Friend feels as he looks forward to small business Saturday positively crackled out of every word of his contribution. He demonstrated his wide-ranging—almost encyclopaedic—knowledge of the small businesses in Middlesbrough, and he particularly promoted the fabulous fashions available there. He did not let us know whether he was dressed in one of the latest of those fashions, but I suspect that he and my hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Tom Blenkinsop), who was here a moment ago, are examples of just some of the fashions available on the Middlesbrough high street, and what fine examples they are too.

The hon. Member for Cheadle (Mark Hunter) paid tribute to the businesses that go the extra mile. He made an incredibly important point about the contribution businesses often make to the vibrancy of the high street and the community by supporting initiatives, either with local authorities or as part of the business community, and business improvement districts have been important contributors in that respect. It is important that everyone gets together to make sure our high street has a vibrant offer.

Many hon. Members reflected on the progress that has been made on woman entrepreneurs and on their importance, and that is an incredibly important issue. One of the key challenges the country continues to face is how to develop women’s entrepreneurial potential further, particularly after they have had children. We continue to do less well than we could, because of the impact of child care costs and the fact that we are a time-poor society in many ways. Broadband is important, because women entrepreneurs often want to run businesses from home. There are therefore a huge number of challenges the Government should look to take up, and it is great that Members have reflected on the importance of the issue.

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Gentleman has reflected on the importance of child care, particularly for women entrepreneurs. I therefore hope that he will welcome the tax break that the Government have, for the first time, given the self-employed in relation to child care. Surely that is an important step in the right direction, and I hope that he will support it.

[Toby Perkins]

I absolutely do. The right hon. Lady may be aware that the proposal first featured in Labour’s small business taskforce report, and we are pleased that the Government have brought it forward. Whoever’s idea it is, the fact that good ideas are followed up is positive.

The right hon. Lady is right to focus on child care. She and many other people across the House will look forward to the day when child care is not seen as just a women’s issue, but it remains one of the barriers that women entrepreneurs face. I am therefore pleased that the Labour party has made a commitment to increase the level of free child care to 25 hours a week. We have seen some positive steps under this Government, notwithstanding our concerns about the increase in costs in the sector. However, I entirely agree with the right hon. Lady.

I also enjoyed the right hon. Lady’s earlier contribution, in which she paid tribute to the Federation of Small Businesses. She also gave us an evocative historical tour of her constituency. She was right to say that small businesses are an important part of the history of our town centres, and we want them to be a part of their futures as well. That is what this debate and small business Saturday are all about.

My hon. Friend the Member for Feltham and Heston (Seema Malhotra) spoke about the extent to which small businesses can make an impression on the national, as well as the local, stage. She also mentioned the importance of the relationship between our public services and local authorities and our small businesses.

One thing that has come across in the debate is how widespread support is on this issue. My hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough spoke about some of the work he has done in his constituency. I did a little research before the debate to find out what happened last year, and I was amazed by the different contributions people told me they had made. My hon. Friend the Member for Bury South (Mr Lewis) wrote to local small businesses and to business groups such as the local chamber of commerce to encourage them to participate in the festivities. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West (Julie Hilling) spent the first small business Saturday on the high street in the Horwich area of her constituency interacting with people and promoting the small businesses there. My hon. Friend the Member for Wakefield (Mary Creagh) did her Christmas shopping at the Wood street Christmas market on small business Saturday, combining important family duties with promoting the high street in a very practical way.

My hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Wavertree (Luciana Berger) backed local festivals, including I Love Allerton Road and Loving Lodge Lane—there is a lot of love going on in Liverpool—to promote and support the small businesses that trade in those areas of her constituency. My hon. Friend the Member for Dudley North (Ian Austin) publicised the free parking on offer in his constituency, to support the 100,000 people in the wider local authority area who are employed by small businesses. Finally, I had the opportunity to visit 25 different small businesses right across Chesterfield and Staveley—I should stress that I am not being competitive—and I have photos of me at all of them on the wall of my constituency office.

I was also delighted to see that local authorities of all colours have been backing small business Saturday in their own way. Brent has a campaign called “Think Brent, Celebrate Local”. In Stockton, the local council has opened the Enterprise Arcade, with 13 new businesses testing out their retail ideas ahead of small business Saturday. Ashfield district council is one of many local authorities that will be supporting small business Saturday by offering free car parking. Waltham Forest is running its “Hidden Gems” campaign, which fits in with what I was talking about a moment ago. It encourages people to get off the beaten track slightly. The council has showcased a map giving independent retailers, cafés and bars an opportunity to promote themselves in their local community. Derby city council is hosting an event that will showcase a wide variety of support for small businesses and provide networking opportunities.

Community campaigners up and down the country got in touch to talk about what they were doing. My hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough reflected on what was happening in Stockton and Louise Baldock’s contribution. In Harlow, Suzy Stride worked to promote small business Saturday by visiting a local “mumtrepeneurs” group promoting the message about female business owners that we have just reflected on. Mari Williams led a small business Saturday in Whitchurch, working with the local community and trader association, and more than 50 businesses took part. Lynette Kelly in Leamington set up a business consultation event at the Lamats hardware store in Regent place on her patch. Andrew Pakes in Milton Keynes worked with the local council to provide high street information packs. Catherine Atkinson ran a “Shop Local” campaign in Ilkeston and Long Eaton. Right across the country, people from across the business community and the political scene, as well as community campaigners, worked together to see what they could do on that one day to promote small businesses. That provides a really powerful recognition of the importance of small businesses and small business Saturday.

The hon. Member for City of Chester spoke about wanting to be positive, and that is absolutely right. We need to say what we in this place can positively do, and we need to think about what the small business community might ask of us in relation to small business Saturday. However, we should also make sure that supporting small businesses is something we do not just for Christmas, but every day of the year.

There are a number of things a future Labour Government should aim to do. The first, which we have had a lot of focus on in the debate, relates to business rates. Labour has a specific proposal to reduce business rates in its first year in government. That would be paid for by not taking forward the final 1% of the planned corporation tax cut and, instead, ploughing all that money into supporting the 1.5 million small firms with a rateable value under £50,000. That would be a really significant step, which would reduce business rates in the first year and freeze them in the second year. That is not a discount approach, and there would not be an underlying rate that is going up all the time, with a discount being offered, as we are seeing currently; there would actually be a real cut and then a freeze. We also have a proposal to freeze energy bills. Energy is one of the highest costs that small businesses pay, and our proposal would save the average small business £1,800.

The banking system was mentioned. Small businesses consistently say that limited access to finance is the biggest barrier to their growth; 89% of UK small businesses are locked into the five big banks for banking facilities, and we are committed to a more competitive banking system. Hon. Members reflected on Nick Tott’s suggestion in 2011 of a British business bank. We are delighted that the Government’s British business bank is morphing more into what we originally suggested, but we think that we can go much further with that—in addition to a generation of new local banks.

A primary child care guarantee would give all parents of primary schoolchildren guaranteed access to child care through their school, from 8 am to 6 pm—we have heard about the need to offer more free child care to nursery age children. We recognise that that would be incredibly important to small businesses.

We are concerned that the privatisation of Royal Mail threatens the universal service obligation. We will campaign to ensure that, under a Labour Government, it will remain.

Late payments mean that small businesses do not get money they are entitled to; 2,500 businesses a year go bust because they have not been paid the money they are owed. The proposals that we have made in debates on the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to put the onus on customers to pay on time, rather than on small businesses to report them, will be taken forward in the Labour party manifesto. Those proposals have won support from the small business community, including from the Federation of Small Businesses and the Forum of Private Business. Working with councils and the high street, a future Government will be able to make a positive offer on various aspects of skills, which will make a real difference.

I want to repeat my congratulations to the hon. Member for City of Chester and all those who spoke in the debate, and I have a few questions for the Minister. First, we have heard about what action people are taking to support small businesses, and to support and promote small business Saturday. The fact that it is a bottom-up development is valuable, but a quarter of a mile from us in Victoria street there is a huge amount of resource, and it would be interesting to know what contribution the Government have made to supporting the day.

The autumn statement highlighted the fact that consumer debt is fast approaching a record level. Is the Minister concerned about that? Does he think it might affect future high street growth? He will know that the Office for Budget Responsibility predicted in relation to the autumn statement that consumer debt will be higher in the next two years than it was at its pre-recession peak. There is a sense that much high street growth is fuelled by consumer debt.

I am interested in what the Minister may say about balance, in the context of giving communities a say about the make-up of their high street. Often a lack of attention to planning commitment in a high street has led to action that is good in the short term but destroys the look of the town centre in the long term. We need to support town centres through transition periods. Does the Minister think the balance is right, at the moment, between the need for local authorities and communities to have a say about what happens in the high street, and the need for planning to provide opportunities for those with entrepreneurial or innovative development ideas? I have a sense that the Government see planning as a barrier to growth; what do they propose to do in support of getting the right balance in high streets between reflecting history and not preventing reasonable, sympathetic growth?

I look forward to the Minister’s responses, and I have enjoyed winding up an incredibly constructive debate.

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

Tuesday 5th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

My hon. Friend will find the sort of detail and the assurances he is looking for in a later part of my speech.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

The right hon. Lady is absolutely right about the importance of faith. I as a Christian have no worries about voting for this Bill. What greater example of the equalities agenda could there be than Jesus Christ himself?

[Maria Miller]

The hon. Gentleman makes a powerful point, which shows that views on this matter do not follow party lines or lines of membership of a particular religious institution, but are far more nuanced than that.

Specialist Disability Employment

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

Tuesday 10th July 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I am glad to commend my hon. Friend’s work and I am looking forward to visiting the project in his constituency. He highlights the importance of supporting young disabled people into employment. I was pleased in the past couple of weeks to announce that Access to Work will also be available in future to young people undertaking work experience.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

Workers at the Remploy factory in Chesterfield will be relieved to know that there is a glimmer of light—the site is one of those invited to make a bid. On that note, will bids be accepted from organisations that no longer have a policy of disabled people first? Will disabled people still be prioritised in bids from such organisations?

[Maria Miller]

In evaluating the bids that will be taken forward, our first priority is to ensure that the bids that protect most jobs for most disabled people are given priority.

Employment Support

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

Obviously, it is important for Members to take part in this debate. I can reassure my hon. Friend that as a result of the proposals that we have announced today, some 8,000 more disabled people will be helped into employment. This is not just about the £320 million that the Government have already announced that they have protected to support this important group of people; it is about an extra £15 million on top of that, and I think that our actions speak very loudly.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

I think that the 54 disabled people who are losing the jobs at Remploy in Chesterfield will see through the Minister’s warm words and rhetoric. The fact is that more disabled people than able-bodied people are unemployed generally: it is a desperately difficult jobs market out there anyway. The Minister has already dodged this question twice. Will she commit herself to coming back to the House in six months and telling us where those who have lost their jobs at Remploy have gone, so that we can establish whether her warm words mean anything to the 54 people in my constituency who are losing their jobs?

[Maria Miller]

I do not doubt the hon. Gentleman’s genuine concern for his constituents, but I do not think that I have dodged that question. I have made it clear that we will monitor the progress made by disabled people, and I am always happy to come to the House and talk about the progress that the Government are making.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Toby Perkins and Maria Miller

Monday 5th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[Maria Miller]

I entirely understand the importance of mobility and being able to get out and about for disabled people. It is our intention that Motability should continue to be linked to the new PIP scheme. I take my hon. Friend’s comments into account.

[Toby Perkins (Chesterfield) (Lab)]

Beverley Herbert in my constituency was one of six people recently employed on a work experience basis by a major pub chain. Within four weeks, four of the others had gone, and the two people who were there for eight weeks collecting glasses were given permanent jobs, but were sacked within two weeks. Does the Secretary of State agree that for the work experience programme to enjoy widespread confidence, safeguards are needed to ensure that it does not end up exploiting people and providing free labour?