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Guy Opperman: In Prudhoe in my constituency eight out of the 10 houses that were purchased recently at the development by the hospital were bought under Help to Buy. Does the right hon. Gentleman now welcome the Help to Buy policy which has transformed the ability of people to bridge the difficulty he so correctly outlines?
Guy Opperman: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in the north-east, the Help to Buy scheme is absolutely transforming the housing market? In Humbles Wood in Prudhoe, a housing development in my area, 90% of new purchases have been through Help to Buy. That must be good news that the hon. Gentleman wants to welcome.
Guy Opperman: The media buying framework RM6003 was the only media buying framework available at that time.
Guy Opperman: ...pie example, should not the message from this debate, aside from all the points about the Elliott review and security, be that we should encourage cooking in our schools, and encourage people to buy the meat from the butcher and the potato from a grocer, so that they can create a wonderful cottage pie themselves, rather than buying it in Tesco or other supermarkets? That must be the message.
Guy Opperman: The Media Buying framework agreement (RM6003) started 7 November 2018 and ended 21 May 2022 and has now expired. The framework agreement was awarded to OMD Group Ltd (OmniGov) following a competitive tendering process in 2018. Customers used this framework agreement by putting in place a call off. Media Buying spend by the Department for Work and Pensions is included in spend data...
Guy Opperman: ...they face, need to shop around. If they do not, they will face the problem that the hon. Gentleman describes, which I and others in Hexham have come across. They will be deprived of the ability to buy fuel on an ongoing basis.
Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to ban multi-buy promotions for alcohol in England and Wales.
Guy Opperman: ...concern should particularly be for vulnerable residents caught out by sudden spring cold snaps. Does he agree that there is scope for a pilot project in Northumberland in which a consortium of oil-buying clubs, parish councils and credit unions could be funded to assist such residents?
Guy Opperman: Both in Northumberland and in Scotland people are setting up oil-buying clubs to deal with the problem of off-grid energy. Does the Minister agree that the best way to combat energy problems and price rises in off-grid circumstances is to copy this good measure and spread it out across the country?
Guy Opperman: Hexham hospital is outstanding but was built under a very expensive Tony Blair PFI. Does the Minister welcome the fact that Northumbria NHS trust is the first in the country to buy out the PFI and put it into public ownership, thereby putting millions more into front-line care?
Guy Opperman: ...on securing this debate. Does he accept that fuel bills may be rising, but there are things that individual constituents can do? In my area of Northumberland, for example, 13 groups have formed oil-buying clubs, which have seen reductions of between 10% and 20% in heating oil prices for thousands of people across the region.
Guy Opperman: ...debated this matter in the House last year. There are nearly 1,000 last man standing multi-employer schemes. Most respondents to the Green Paper on defined-benefit pensions felt that the current buy-out basis was a clear and fair way in which to calculate an employer debt.
Guy Opperman: ...that it is utterly important for the Government to provide better guidance on how our co-operatives and producers can come together to get a better contractual relationship with the people who are buying their milk?
Guy Opperman: ...planning authorities to talk to each other as the houses are being built. Superfast broadband should be built into new developments, rather than individual constituents having to apply for it after buying their houses.
Guy Opperman: ...former hospital sites at Stannington and Prudhoe, both of which lay idle for the entirety of the previous Government’s time in office. At Prudhoe, 80% of new purchases are made under the Help to Buy scheme and with help from this Government. Does the hon. Lady accept that that regional success is an example of the Government turning things around at local level?
Tessa Munt: ...trying to travel to Taunton from Street in Somerset can get caught out, because different bus companies run different services at different times of the day. That competition means that someone who buys a ticket, unwittingly thinking that they can use it for the return journey to the village from which they came, can find that that is not possible if the service is run by a different...
Guy Opperman: ...(Huw Irranca-Davies) to the fact that we all support the fundamentals of the report. More specifically, and more importantly, does the report not ram home the point that our constituents should be buying from their local butchers whenever possible, because they offer the greatest possibility of traceability in the food chain?
Guy Opperman: On that point, does my hon. Friend agree with me that the progress in, for example, Northumberland, where we have 13 oil-buying clubs, providing more than 1 million litres of oil and a 10% to 20% discount for off-grid customers, and the role of the Church and credit unions in assisting those who need finance for off-grid supplies are the sort of long-term solutions that we need to reduce...
Guy Opperman: Identifying those who live in fuel-poor households is of paramount importance, and Members of Parliament, the Church and credit unions have a role to play in that. We in Northumberland invented oil-buying clubs in this country, and we now have 13 of them, covering almost all the off-grid provision. We have produced a leaflet of which we are particularly proud, which explains how people can...
Guy Opperman: ...PFI and asks what the Government can do. I would venture to suggest that the previous Health Secretary’s decision to approve the county council’s assistance to the health trust so that it could buy out the PFI contract that was crippling Hexham hospital is exactly the right way forward. Under that approach, a PFI arrangement is bought out and a much better financial basis is put in...
