Monthly Report for October 2008
Below is a summary of my work in Parliament and in Southampton for the month of ???. Click here to read previous reports.
If you'd like to know more about any of the work I've been doing, or if you think there is another issue you think I should be acting on, you can always contact my office.
Work In Parliament
Private-rented housing review
The government’s independent review on Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMOs) was published this month. The report backs up many of the recommendations made by myself and other Labour MPs about the need to better regulate HMOs through planning regulations. The main recommendations of the report were:
- Consider a change in the Use Classes Order which would require a landlord to apply for planning permission when converting a family home into an HMO. This has already been done in Northern Ireland and was one of the main proposals in the Bill I put before Parliament on this issue last year (it was also, incidentally, denounced by a local Conservative Cabinet member as being ‘illiberal and tantamount to regulatory blackmail’).
- Capping the distribution and the dispersal of HMOs by using the local planning system to set up 'areas of restraint', (Nottingham has already established a threshold of 25% per neighbourhood).
- Universities and students unions to develop more proactive housing and community strategies, including community liaison officers, codes of conduct for students, neighbourhood helplines, and agents to help students avoid bad tenancy deals.
- Councils should target resources such as refuse collection, street cleaning etc at key times in the academic year (the Conservatives on the Council have of course doing the complete opposite of this by scrapping the additional rubbish clear-up targeted at student households at the end of summer term).
I will lobby for the conclusions of this review to be included in the government’s the government’s Community Empowerment, Housing and Economic Regeneration Bill, which should be in this year’s Queen’s Speech. Should these proposals be included, we could in the future see a much more balanced distribution of HMOs and family homes in Southampton, with less ghettoisation of students and other migrants into certain enclaves and more homes available to rent for families.
The Economy
Residents in Southampton are worried about the global economic situation, and it is up to us to show we have a clear plan to help both businesses and families through the economic downturn. In addition to the bank recapitalisation and internationally co-ordinated interest rate cuts that have already received wide coverage, it is also worth noting the other help available to ordinary families who are now feeling the pinch.
- Over 2000 households in Southampton Test have received Warm Front grants to reduce their energy bills, which results in an average increase in their income of £25 per week.
- There will be an additional increase in Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners this year, which will go to 15,770 households in Southampton Test and 18,050 households in Southampton Itchen:
- £50 for households with someone over 60 (meaning a payment this year of £250)
- and £100 extra for households with someone over 80 (meaning a payment of £400).
- From April this year, increases in the age-related tax allowances will take 600,000 pensioners in the UK out of tax all together.
- Changes in the taxation system meant that in September basic rate taxpayers saw a one-off increase in their monthly income of £60 and then an increase of £10 per month for the rest of the financial year.
- The Pension Credit standard minimum guarantee is increasing to £124 for a single person, and £189 for a couple, benefiting over 5000 pensioners in Southampton.
- Over 100,000 people in the south-east, two thirds of whom are women, will benefit from last month’s rise in the minimum wage to £5.73 per hour and £4.77 per hour for 18-21s.
- Over 1000 families are getting an average of £60 per week to help with childcare costs.
- Over 8000 working families are receiving a boost in their income through child tax credits, which benefits over 15000 children in Southampton.
Readers may also be concerned about recent reports about increasing unemployment in the UK and how this is reflected in Southampton. Labour market statistics from Nomis shows unemployment in Southampton has increased slightly since April from 2.2% to 2.4% in July. Later figures broken down on a local basis are not yet available.
Other business
Parliament returned on October 6th. Not a lot has happened, other than the near nationalisation of a number of banks and the copying of the Government’s measures across the world. However, in a statement to Parliament yesterday, the new Sec of State for Energy and Climate Change announced that he accepted all of the recommendations of the shadow climate change committee on targets for carbon dioxide reduction i.e. and 80% target will now be written into the Climate Change Bill, currently before Parliament. He also announced that there will be a feed-in tariff for small scale renewables introduced in to the Energy Bill, currently in the House of Lords. I was able to question him about his statement, and pressed him to ensure that Heat is included in such arrangements. I also took part in the debate on Energy Providers that followed.
I have also asked an oral question on General Permitted Development Orders and small scale microgeneration, and will be speaking in the Political Parties and Party funding debate next Monday.
In Southampton
Listening Panel on Energy and the Environment
There was strong interest and opinion reflected in my recent survey and Listening Panel on energy and the environment. The key results from my survey sent to residents as part of the invite to the Panel showed-
- A clear majority of respondents were in favour of a windfall levy on energy company profits
- Opinion was divided 50-50 on whether or not the government should allow new nuclear power stations to be built, with 20% of respondents still undecided.
- There was clear support for Council tax incentives to encourage recycling
- About half of respondents regularly used public transport; half did not.
- 48% opposed the idea of a congestion charge for Southampton; 36% supported the idea.
The full results of the Panel will be on my website next month.
Red Rose
Last weekend I ran a roving Red Rose surgery in Freemantle. I will be running another one in Freemantle on the 25th of October, and then another in Coxford on the 8th of November.
Other engagements
Also this month I visited Fawley refinery to view how their work experience placement schemes work; ran a Q&A session on democracy with pupils at Tanners Brook school; discussed manifestos with pupils from Mason Moor; attended the opening of the new Lord’s Hill Academy; visited the Ropewalk Centre to see their newly installed play equipment; met with young people working on the Fairbridge Learn 2 Earn project; spoke and answered questions at a Southampton Penioners Forum meeting on fuel poverty; introduced the Day of Palestine Forum; and submitted a written report to Southampton City Council’s inquiry panel into fuel poverty.