Speeches by Powell.

“My hon. Friend is right. It is welcome that the Building Safety Regulator will be getting 100 new staff, and that Andy Roe has come in to chair it. I am sure the Minister can give more detail. We also need to see faster progress on remediating buildings in London. The new London remediation board, co-chaired by the Gre…”

“My hon. Friend is right. There is obviously no quick fix to this problem. It takes time to build new housing and ramp up the pipeline for it, but the current situation is not tenable. London boroughs compete against each other for increasingly expensive temporary accommodation with very low levels of quality. First and…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered London’s contribution to the national economy. It is an honour and a privilege to serve under your chairship, Mr Western, for this important debate on London’s contribution to the Government’s national growth mission. I am proud to be a London MP, and of the contribution th…”

“One thing you have announced since the spending review is some reforms to the Building Safety Regulator. I have been really worried that there is false-choice narrative developing about post-Grenfell safety requirements versus speed. Could you explain how you think those reforms will help avoid that?”

“Obviously, the temporary accommodation crisis is everywhere, but we know that in London, it means £4 million a day for local councils, and it affects one kid in every classroom. We all want fair funding, but we know that, under the proposals, money will be coming out of London councils. What assurance can you give us t…”

“A final question for me. Shared ownership is a component of the 4.8 million leasehold properties we have around the country. You can understand why those leaseholders who have been promised change for many decades keep a close eye on whether they feel the Government are on track to deliver their manifesto commitment. D…”

“Deputy Prime Minister, on council housing itself you have mentioned a few times that a lot of councils will say that they welcome the grant money, but that there are other things that they are looking for, such as more flexibility on the housing revenue account—looking at those 2012 changes—and being able to support th…”

“You can look back at the evidence, but we heard of examples that, on first sight, would not feel like value for taxpayer money if it were invested into the providers of those schemes. We are looking for reassurance that we will learn the lessons from the previous programme, because it is taxpayers’ money going to those…”

“Is that the long-term housing strategy?”

“In previous sittings of this Committee we have heard about the non-social part of the package—other types of affordable product. For example, last week we heard some shocking examples of older people’s shared ownership. What assessment are you doing of value for money on those different and widely varying shared owners…”

“Deputy Prime Minister, could we look at how the affordable homes programme will be spent? Given the 60% target for outputs in terms of social rent, will 60% of the programme be spent on social rent?”

“Joe Powell, Kensington and Bayswater.”

“The IFS found that Sure Start delivered benefits significantly greater than its cost, yet it was still slashed by the Tories, with well over 1,000 centres closing. It was one of the biggest acts of vandalism under austerity, stunting life chances for too many for a generation. Can the Secretary of State outline how she…”

“On your Older Persons Shared Ownership programme, you received £94 million from Homes England and the Affordable Homes Programme. In the case that the value drops, do the rents come down?”

“There is obviously a lot of detail we could get into. I know we have a broader session, but it feels to me like your business model is based on locking people into these service charges that they cannot escape and keeping ground rents—you have obviously challenged the Government in the past to retain ground rents for d…”

“I am MP for Kensington and Bayswater.”

“Do they increase in line with national increases in property values?”

“As you have offered to come back in writing, it would be good to share this data so we can have a proper analysis of, first, the numbers, because obviously the ones you shared are different from those that can be found in the Land Registry. Secondly, to understand exactly what the factors are in driving down the value …”

“It costs £9 for someone to come and pick up a remote control.”

“Paul, do you collect data on the resale value of your properties? If so, do you recognise the situation reported in the media in the last couple of months about the number of people who have lost their savings by buying into your property schemes?”