Contributions
1,066 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Fourth sitting)The Opposition have significant concerns about the import of amendments 82, 76 and 79. We have made a number of references to some interactions with different elements of local…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Fourth sitting)That was a fairly shameless political pitch, but we should just reflect on the debates that took place across the Dispatch Boxes yesterday during Housing, Communities and Local…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Fourth sitting)I have two questions for the Minister. First, given that these budgets, and the precepts that the amendments relate to, will sit within that bit of the Local Government Finance…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Fourth sitting)I want to make sure that I can reconcile the Minister’s observations and the import of the amendments with her reply to me earlier, when she said that the requirement to balance…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Third sitting)I echo the Minister’s welcome, Sir John. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair. We will refer to a good deal of evidence on all parts of the Bill, but it is important to…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Third sitting)The Opposition have some sympathy with the amendment, but we spent time reflecting on its implications and appropriateness for the Bill. I suspect that, to a degree, the Minister…14 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Fourth sitting)Again, I have a question of clarification; can the Minister tell the Committee whether these powers apply to a transfer of functions, as opposed to the conferral of functions? We…14 Oct 2025HANSARDPrivate Rented Sector: People Granted AsylumDespite that answer, it is clear that things are getting worse. Our councils are battling with the cost of this Government’s border failures. The 22% rise in small boat arrivals,…13 Oct 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q 37 Welcome to our witnesses—all of you are known to most Members here. From your experience running devolved authorities, what are the potential benefits and challenges of the…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q A fairly straightforward question: what is your view on whether mayoral precepts should be limited? Should there be any constraints on their use to cover some of the debts…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q At what level, or by what mechanism, do you think the views of local businesses, particularly smaller businesses, should be captured and used to influence the decision making of…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q I would like to ask you some questions about the risks you outlined in broad terms, and how they play out in the context of the devolution and reorganisation envisaged in the…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q I have two questions that follow from that. On that last point, I know that CIPFA has argued that a much higher degree of consistency is needed in the way statutory balances are…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q What about the CIPFA guidance point? Can you address that? Bill Butler: There is a standard basis for it standardisation and simplification so that you can move between sets of…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q The previous panel addressed some of the complexities of the local government finance landscape, with the different accounts and so on. I am interested in your perspective as…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q I would like to ask you to enlarge on this subject. The point at which Professor Denham finished was a helpful starting place. I think we all share the desire to see that level…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q To pick up on the point about a democratic deficit, one of the things that has been much debated is that the Government have embarked on two major pieces of legislation: the…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Q I think we have established that the Department has not done an independent assessment of the financial impact of the reorganisation that has been described, so we do not know…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)That is the question. Miatta Fahnbulleh: I come back to, “What is the purpose of this?” We are not doing reorganisation for the fun of it—it is not fun. We are doing it because we…16 Sept 2025HANSARDEnglish Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill (Second sitting)Just to check—16 Sept 2025