Lyn Brown: Does my hon. Friend agree that we need to modernise the whole of the private rented sector and to find ways of incentivising landlords, particularly those who are on the cusp between being good and bad? Perhaps we could offer to take them into a different tax bracket, but only if they were prepared to be decent landlords in the private sector.
Lyn Brown: Housing is of such fundamental importance to my constituents that I am absolutely delighted to be speaking here today. I should like to make three main points. First, I want to welcome the Bill and to illustrate the desperate need for appropriate affordable housing in West Ham. Secondly, I want to outline how the buy-to-let market has caused difficulties for my constituents and to seek some...
Lyn Brown: It is not similar, in the main. However, I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her speech, because it put a human face on many of the difficulties that my constituents experience. In Newham, 30,000 people are on the housing waiting list. To give some perspective, that number is roughly equivalent to the population of Pontefract, which is of course represented by my right hon. Friend the...
Lyn Brown: I agree with my hon. Friend. I want more affordable housing in the public sector that owner-occupiers in Newham can afford to access. Without regulation of the private letting market, I fear that new build in the private sector will only exacerbate an already difficult situation, resulting in the continued accumulation of unaffordable homes. Such regulation is not completely unprecedented....
Lyn Brown: I accept that the hon. Gentleman has some difficulty with being called a nimby. In order for us not to call him that any longer, can he tell us how many homes his party intends to build?
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions his Department has had with the Lebanese Government on emergency aid and reconstruction relief to those displaced by fighting in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.
Lyn Brown: Before I outline some of the difficulties faced by my constituents because of pressure on the housing market in Newham, I want to welcome the commitment in the Queen's Speech to a housing and regeneration Bill, and in particular to increasing the amount of new social housing to be built. The key challenge will be to ensure that homes that have already been promised are provided. I want to...
Lyn Brown: Could the hon. Gentleman let me know whether he is going to debate immigration today? If he is, I am happy to stay and listen; if he is not, I have letters to sign.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 105W, on homelessness, when she expects to publish the research commissioned from Herriot Watt University to evaluate the range of homelessness prevention initiatives in case study local authorities.
Lyn Brown: I thank the Prime Minister for his statement. I had a consultation with members of the Muslim community in my constituency a few weeks ago and their messages were clear. First, they revile terrorism and all those who promote hate within our communities. They welcomed the perceived change of tone by the Government towards the Muslim communities over past months. I believe that there is much in...
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) if she will place in the Library copies of responses to the discussion paper on updating standards relating to overcrowded housing; (2) who has responded to the discussion paper on updating standards relating to overcrowded housing.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what responsibilities his Department has in relation to children seeking asylum; (2) what responsibilities the Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families holds in relation to asylum-seeking children.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which Minister in his Department is responsible for implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Lyn Brown: Is the hon. Gentleman as surprised as I am that we have yet to hear any condemnation from the Leader of the Opposition of the comments about Enoch Powell from the Conservative candidate for Halesowen?
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the (a) security and (b) human rights situation in Eastern Chad since the state of emergency declared on 16 October.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response he has made to the recent report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the deployment of the African Union-United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur; and if he will make a statement.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what humanitarian assistance his Department is providing to civilians affected by renewed conflict in the eastern provinces of Democratic Republic of Congo.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent representations his Department has made to the governments of (a) China, (b) Russia, (c) India and (d) France on their economic ties with the Burmese military government.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact of the withdrawal of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement from the Unity Government on the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Deal; and if he will make a statement.
Lyn Brown: I thank my right hon. Friend for being so generous in taking interventions. May I ask her to address the issue that my hon. Friend the Member for Stourbridge (Lynda Waltho) raised earlier, which was about Dudley council choosing to close libraries in areas of low book and computer ownership? Whatever the excuse for that, it means taking resources from those who are possibly less able to...