Does the Minister agree that money can be spent only once? Labours say it wants to invest £2.5 billion from the mansion tax in the NHS, but it has already promised that to deficit reduction and introducing a 10p tax rate. That is nonsense.
The Minister missed one thing from the list. A written parliamentary question revealed to me in 2010 that the Labour party spent £250 million paying private providers to do precisely nothing.
Watching that, I am reminded of that famous Stealers Wheel line: “Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right”. Eight months ago, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government assured people in Cornwall that the delay over resolving the EU funding programme would be settled. Eight months later, hundreds of millions of pounds of investment and hundreds of jobs are at risk....
It is, of course, worth having a debate about what the coalition has achieved over the past five years, but more crucially, I ask the Minister to consider two questions. First, will he issue stronger guidance to local authorities about the use of bed and breakfast accommodation for younger homeless people? Secondly, will he commit to having a review of the differentiation between priority...
Mr Robertson, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship in this important debate. I warmly welcome right hon. and hon. Members who have joined us here. May I ask if it is in order for me to also welcome to the debate people in the Public Gallery, some of whom are former homeless people?
Thank you, Mr Robertson. As we know, homelessness is a crisis. It is devastating, and it should not happen to anyone. We should all be clear that we are just a few steps away from finding ourselves with nowhere to go, whether through the loss of our jobs or our health, or relationship breakdown. Homelessness can be an isolating and frightening experience. Homeless people often feel that they...
I could not agree more, both about the inappropriateness of bed and breakfast accommodation for vulnerable young people—I will mention that later—and about the need to remove the two tiers in the system at the moment for those who are in priority need and those who are not. Experience in the rest of the United Kingdom shows that reform is possible. The mantra in this debate should be that...
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is his policy that specialised commissioning hubs will be able to deviate from national standards in their commissioning of specialised care.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to support patients with cirrhosis to access treatment for hepatitis C after the waiver for the implementation period of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance for the medicine sofosbuvir.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with NHS England on the fast track interim policy agreed by NHS England during the appraisal of sofosbuvir by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons small and medium-sized enterprises are exempted from the provisions of the draft B Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order 2015; and if she will bring forward a revised draft Order omitting that exemption.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new homes have been completed in St Austell and Newquay constituency in each of the last five years; and how many of those homes have been affordable housing.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what funds are currently managed by the Pool Re scheme; and if he will make a statement.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the anticipated dividend payment to the Government and the insurance industry from the assets managed in the Pool Re scheme in 2014-15 is; and if he will make a statement.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has for the division of dividends on the assets held by the Pool Re scheme; and if he will make a statement.
