Speeches by Rayner.

“The way I would answer this is that we know that there were pressures. It was not just the NICs pressures, but also the changes within the national minimum wage, for example, through the Low Pay Commission and the work that we did there. We know that there are pressures; that is the reason for the extra funding that th…”

“The Government announced an additional £515 million of support for local government, including the mayoral combined authorities and fire rescue authorities, specifically to manage the impact of the changes to the employer national insurance contributions that we announced at the Budget. I know this is a pressure and, a…”

“Yes, absolutely. I have made it really clear, from the moment I went into my Department, that we should have a can-do attitude. What local government is facing is significant. Since 2010, the money that is available to local government has gone down but demand has gone up. At the same time, they are being asked to do s…”

“I have said to local authorities that I want to work with them. I do not want to use the threat of 114 or anything like that. Regardless of what council it is, I want to work with them, to try to help. The first thing I said I wanted to stop is all these little pots of money, the “Dragon’s Den” approach of, “You can bi…”

“We are trying to do that, Lee. When we came in as the new Government in July, the immediate situation we found ourselves in was with a significant, £22 billion black hole. In my Department, we had spent our reserves fully on some very important issues, such as Homes for Ukraine, for example. These were some really…”

“Again, it is really hard to try to do an impact assessment on one element of the Budget, when there are a number of measures that would offset or have an impact on it as well. It would be difficult to get a real assessment, by just saying, “We will pick one thing out and see the effects of that,” without looking at how…”

“Again, there are a number of measures that we took in the Budget. It is not just the local housing allowance. There are a number of measures, including the work that we are doing on renters’ rights and other things that can have an impact. It is not just as simple as looking at what is happening over here. There are a …”

“We have discussions around Cabinet on a whole number of measures, as I outlined. For the work that we are doing on child poverty, for example, we have an inter-ministerial group. For the work that we have been doing on homelessness, again, we have an inter-ministerial group that looks across the Departments. We have be…”

“I do understand the question that you are asking and the issue around the local housing allowance. We have tried to take a number of measures to prevent homelessness and to ensure that we can deal with the root cause of the problem, including the supply, supporting families with the work that we are doing with the Empl…”

“There are a number of impacts on local government finance. Children and adult services are having a significant impact on local government finance. Temporary accommodation and homelessness are having a significant impact on local government finances. We have been doing quite a lot of work to try to address some of thos…”

“We want to bring forward the legislation within this year, but there are a number of things within that, as you say, such as insurance. There is the remediation plan. We put forward and published the remediation acceleration plan. We are looking at insurance at the moment and doing a consultation exercise, so that we c…”

“Chair, thank you. You are absolutely right. Leasehold has been a significant problem and it is a problem we inherited. There was work done on leasehold reform under the previous Government, but there were big gaps in that Bill that were quite complex. We brought forward, as part of His Majesty’s King’s Speech, a number…”

“Thank you, first of all, and happy new year. We have a full programme, as you have seen from July. After the general election, we have been motoring at full speed. That reflects the challenges we face, in particular around housing and local government. These are two key areas where the pressure has been on and I suspec…”

“Absolutely.”

“I know, but we are literally simplifying that whole process and putting more investment in. I acknowledge your point, if we look at where we are today and what we inherited, but I am also equally saying we have put rocket boosters up to make sure that we get there.”

“Lewis, first of all, I do not. I am not saying that councils are the problem. Planning can get stuck and bogged down, and that is the acknowledgement. That is just a fact. If you look at what is happening, that is what happens. That is why clarity to the system is important, as well as making sure that we hold develope…”

“I appreciate the challenge, but the reason why I have not put a target on it, other than that we will have the biggest wave of social and council homes of a generation, is because, first of all, every Government have failed to meet the target that they have set. Equally, as the Permanent Secretary just described in tha…”

“The minimum level is as I have said: the biggest wave of social and council housing for a generation. That is quite a big target. I do not want to fall below where we have been in the past; I want to way exceed that. The reason we have put the golden rules in, and the reason why we have put so much resource into making…”

“We put in a significant additional amount of funding. There is an increase of £233 million, to a total of nearly £1 billion of funding for homelessness and rough sleeping, which was announced at the Budget, and also a £10 million emergency support package to protect rough sleepers. We have had a particularly cold spell…”

“It is really challenging to set a timeline for it, in particular because of the challenges we face with the inheritance that we have at the moment and the projections of where homelessness is going. Therefore, one of the biggest things we need to do is deal with the supply. As I say, the section 21 no-fault evictions a…”