Speeches by Dixon.

“Bill payers in my constituency of Shipley are facing an 18% hike in their bills. By 2030, the increase could be as high as 35%. About 19% of those bills already goes towards servicing the debt of the holding company that owns Yorkshire Water. Is it not the case that our customers are paying the price for the failure of…”

“I represent a very beautiful part of the Yorkshire dales, in Wharfedale, and Yorkshire Water has been responsible for hundreds of thousands of hours of sewage spills into the rivers. It was fined £47 million by Ofwat for its poor performance in 2023, only for that to be repeated in 2024. Will the hon. Gentleman welcome…”

“Does the Minister share my constituents’ anger at the failure of the Tories to back up any of their promises about new hospitals? Will he reassure me that my constituents who are served by Airedale general hospital will finally get a new hospital to deal with the RAAC in an affordable, deliverable timetable, unlike the…”

“My hon. Friend makes excellent points about the older generation and their decision making on what to invest in. At the moment older people are often over-saving, particularly in cash ISAs or very low-risk products, because of the lack of funded social care. They are having to hold on to a lot of cash just in case they…”

“Does the hon. Gentleman agree that schemes such as the Great Northern Railway trail, which provides a secure, segregated green cycleway and walkway linking towns, villages and local schools, are where active travel investment should be prioritised? As the hon. Member for Didcot and Wantage (Olly Glover) mentioned, we m…”

“Constituents of mine value the role of the credit union, and the Bradford credit union in particular, for small savers on low incomes. Does the Minister see a role for credit unions alongside building societies in helping to encourage not only saving, but making early steps into investment, as we have discussed in this…”

“I recently met representatives of Morrisons, the fifth largest supermarket chain in the country, which is headquartered in Bradford. Since 2021, it has been owned by a private equity firm. Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to ensure that we retain family-owned British companies? When they are sold to private equit…”

“I think there needs to be consistency across Government Departments and across areas of spend, so there are appropriate levels of accountability and assessment to give reassurance nationally, while recognising that there is local accountability.”

“So that would obviously be the Department of Health and Social Care on social care, where we have reform coming. Specifically there, in terms of the gap for local authorities, we have had evidence from Mencap, Sense and the Homecare Association, all basically saying that they are almost not meeting their Care Act oblig…”

“On the point about data requests to other Government Departments, it is brilliant that the Government have given extra money for potholes—they are an issue that my constituents are concerned about—but is that basically because they have not had a grip on what the condition of roads has been? How are you going to contin…”

“But somebody has to push back on Ministers.”

“No, I am thinking in general about this idea of having an accountability framework, and having data that can give some assurance on what outcomes are being delivered for what spend.”

“And would the local audit office have a role in supporting that in future, in terms of transparency on what is being spent and on what outcomes are being delivered?”

“I would just point out the slight paradox in that response and the earlier response, when we were talking about adult social care and the market sustainability and improvement fund, where the view was, “No, we can’t tell them or ask them; it is entirely up to local government.” So we are scrutinising the spending on po…”

“Would you like to comment on the funding gap with the rising demand? Again, Bradford council is very typical, with 33% of its budget now going on adult social care; with all of the council tax that it raises, it cannot even cover the cost of children’s social care. Even these statutory services are dominating local aut…”

“Apologies for being late, Chair. My only interest is that I have worked professionally in adult social care in the past before coming to this place. The NAO Report identifies many different reasons why the councils find themselves in the position they are in, both financially and in service challenges; we have touched …”

“What you said definitely resonates with Bradford council, which is my local council. Over the decade leading up to 2024 it made some £350 million in savings. A point comes where there is no further to go in making savings, which is why it resorted to exceptional financial support. Even with that, it leaves a gap. Obvio…”

“Before we move on, I want to pick up where my colleague Clive Betts finished, looking at the adult social care sector in particular. In 2021, the NAO published a Report on the adult social care market in England. Even back then, with data going back to 2019, it found that a significant number of large providers were no…”

“Are there no ways in which you can give a guide as to what the intention was behind this exceptional funding and other things?”

“Can I press you a bit further? We heard from Professor Travers in the pre-panel that so much of the demand that local authorities are having to meet is effectively a result of national decisions and national policy setting. Whether that is in SEND, temporary accommodation for homelessness, adult social care or children…”