Speeches by Betts.

“I thank the Minister for his statement, and particularly for the intention to review and reform Prevent. May I ask him to look at the role of social media, as my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Tulip Siddiq) did earlier, but to do so in the context of the tragic killing of Harvey Willgoose at All Sai…”

“My hon. Friend has done an excellent job on behalf of local government with this settlement, in very difficult circumstances, and I think the sector recognises that. However, I have one caveat. In response to the questions about council tax, he said that there would not be unanimity, but I think there will be a great d…”

“May I follow up on two issues? First, following the comments made by the Chair of the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee, while devolution arrangements are being put in place, there is still pressure on councils to deliver existing services. Will the Secretary of State look at some additional short-term fu…”

“I do. I welcome arrangements being put in place for the police to give more protection to councillors in that space. Recognising the financial strains, particularly for younger councillors, does not take a lot of money. I ask the Minister to allow that to happen. I forgot at the beginning to declare my interest as vice…”

“I know that my hon. Friend is committed to increasing the provision of social housing. In the past few years, most social housing has been provided through section 106 agreements. According to the National Housing Federation, thousands of houses around the country are available but cannot be purchased under section 106…”

“14. If she will take steps to support social housing providers to fund houses made available under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.”

“That is not, strictly speaking, a point of order for the Chair, but it is relevant to the debate, so I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising it and putting it on the record.”

“I ask the Minister not to comment on the benefits of that.”

“I want to return to the issue of the recognition of an independent Palestinian state. As I understand it, the Government’s position is that Israel has no veto on the creation of a Palestinian state. The Minister just said in response to a previous question that recognition has to come through diplomatic efforts. Do tho…”

“In 2014-15, the then Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee did a report on CSE in Rotherham. That report drew heavily on the evidence from Alexis Jay’s first report, which was on the problems in Rotherham, the failings of the police, the failings of the council and the failings of Ofsted. What that surely…”

“I very much welcome today’s statement and the extra funding that has been announced. I commend the Minister for repeatedly reminding the Conservative party of 14 years of austerity, during which local government saw bigger cuts to its budgets than any other part of the public sector. Of course, the Lib Dems were a part…”

“Order. I am going to have to squeeze speeches down to no more than four minutes.”

“Order. Given the number of Back Benchers who wish to speak, you will probably have to keep to less than five minutes each. Also, at some point we may have to suspend the sitting for 45 minutes to vote, so please do not speak unless you are prepared to come back when the debate resumes.”

“Order. “You” and “your” refer to the Chair.”

“Probably much to his surprise, I am going to call Jim Shannon as the next speaker.”

“We now move on to the Front Benchers. The two Opposition spokespeople have no more than five minutes, and then the Minister will probably have about 10 minutes left.”

“Order. Interventions should be brief and to the point for hon. Members to respond to. They should not be another speech.”

“I declare my interest as a vice-president of the Local Government Association. I welcome the commitment to overall house building targets—we cannot hit a national target with clear local targets. I welcome in particular the commitment to social housing. Will the Minister confirm that that means social housing, not the …”

“My hon. Friend will know that I am passionately committed to local councils and local democracy, but does he understand the frustration that many of us feel when a planning authority democratically approves a local plan after consulting the community, but then, when an application is made to build homes, the same counc…”

“I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way once again. To go back to the issue of the product manufacturers, I am really pleased to hear what she says about Government contracts for the worst offenders, but will she consider giving guidance to local authorities and other public bodies, such as the NHS, to make sure th…”