Speeches by McMahon.

“By and large, on business rate retention, which is coupled with the revaluation in the growth sense, the revaluation needs to happen and was always intended to happen. It is just that the previous Government decided that it would not happen. Whatever the tax system, it should be based on the most up-to-date, reliable i…”

“The introduction of the two new multipliers is actually quite a significant change. To now have the lower multiplier for retail, hospitality and leisure will mean a cash saving for many of the foundational businesses that are important for our communities. The other thing it does is take away the cap on national multip…”

“From my perspective, “low cost” is not the way to frame it; I think “best value” is the way to frame it. If all we do is look at the underlying cost, we end up in a situation, like 10 years ago, where local authorities withdraw from the direct provision of residential care for children and go to the private sector beca…”

“It is not a piece of work that we are currently looking at. The English devolution White Paper is trying to do two things on devolution: to widen devolution to make sure that every part of England has a route to further devolution, and to deepen devolution to make sure that areas with existing mayors or combined author…”

“On the pro-growth element, there is the quantum—how much are businesses being asked to pay in business rates—as well as a rebalancing of the business rates system to ensure that we better account for the online and on-street spheres. When we speak to our constituents about the economy, most people think about the every…”

“In a way, not meeting it is not an option. If we don’t have a clear eye on what the new unitaries will be in a third of England, without knowing what the architecture of those councils is going to be, there is no way that we can have a local government finance settlement and a multi-year settlement that balances at the…”

“Quite a lot in that question pre-empts our position. First, we have not yet reached agreement with individual local authorities in the round, as in all those going through reorganisation in the counties where some of the councils might have quite excessive levels of debt. Nor have we agreed a final position with the Tr…”

“I think we should be honest and say that even with the current ringfencing—there are more than 300 ringfences applying to more than £12 billion of money given to local government—many councils have been forced to make the decision to move money from the ringfence to prop up services in people areas like children’s and …”

“I was on the phone to the leader of Birmingham this morning. We are in regular contact about the situation there. First of all, I must say that we really appreciate the efforts of frontline workers to clear over 30,000 tonnes of accumulated waste from the streets of Birmingham. A public health crisis was developing in …”

“From a sector point of view, we do not assess at the moment that there are structural vulnerabilities in the sector, but there will be historic liabilities that some councils have built up where, historically, men have been paid more for equivalent roles compared to female workers. Most councils dealt with that issue q…”

“In a way it is both, isn’t it? They are the delivery arm of government. They are on the ground in communities and they are marshalling frontline workers to deal with the social and economic challenges that the country faces. They are also, I think, the part of government that can unleash community potential, whether th…”

“First of all, I completely recognise all those pressures. They are pressures that we are alive to, first in terms of dealing with the underlying causes that are leading to those pressures, and secondly in supporting local government to bridge to what will be a more sustainable footing. There is no doubt that the impact…”

“That is down to the relationship between the local authorities and their auditors. It is also about rebuilding capacity in the audit market more generally so that those are mature and developed relationships. There will be examples almost certainly in the system where councils could take action that they have not taken…”

“The backlog is only a rear-view mirror, isn’t it? It only tells you what has happened. It does not tell you what is going to happen. EFS is about putting councils on a surer financial footing for the year ahead.”

“I am Jim McMahon, the Minister of State covering local government and English devolution.”

“I am grateful to the hon. Member for Romford (Andrew Rosindell) for securing this important debate and raising the question of Havering borough’s place in relation to devolution in Essex. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for championing his area and for the very clear passion that he has for the place he represents. On…”

“I have already covered the value that the MOD has provided, and of course, we work in partnership. The offer of support was made to the council, which received that offer gratefully. However, the MOD, whose logistical planners have been on the ground in Birmingham, has been clear that the council is at a point at which…”

“As things stand, a normal service has returned to most streets at most times. The accumulated waste that was building up—which was not acceptable at all—has been removed. Some 26,000 tonnes has been removed; in most places at most times, the collection of bins is taking place as normal, and over 100 trucks a day are le…”

“In a way, that question shows a misunderstanding of why Birmingham is in the situation it is in. It makes no more sense to say that Birmingham’s problems are because of its size and scale than it would to say, “Look at the debt liabilities built up by some of the smallest councils in the country, which have borrowed ma…”

“I am usually a bit suspicious when somebody starts their question with “This is a genuine question”, but that was actually a proper question. Members could learn from it. [Interruption.] Calm down. On the added value that the MOD was able to provide, every council has rotas for getting bins collected from a given place…”