Speeches by McMahon.

“In all areas, there is more than adequate time to prepare final proposals. Councils in the devolution priority programme have until September, and all others—the majority—have until November. That is more than adequate time for councils to be able to marshal and get their plans together and make an assessment on that b…”

“I hear what the hon. Gentleman says. On the calls that we have with MPs when we update them on these issues, his tone is quite different. We need to separate the rhetoric from the reality. The reality is that for the first time we had £600 million in the recovery grant, which was about those councils suffering high dep…”

“We made available an additional £5 billion as part of the settlement, and £3.7 billion of that was for social care. We understand the pressures and we are directing money to address them, but we know that this issue will take more than one year to fix. We are on with the fair funding review—the third multi-year settlem…”

“I can absolutely assure the hon. Member that we are working through those issues, and we will consult the sector on them. Given all the variations that we will take into account, I hope Members accept that we have listened. We know that the funding formula is out of date and that for it to stand the test it must apply …”

“That is one of the reasons why the Surrey arrangement was accelerated. We recognised the lack of balance between the debt liability and the assets and incomes. We also recognised that the unitaries would have to be financially viable, and we are well on track to delivering that, in partnership with the local councils.”

“Quite frankly, it is a bit rich for any shadow Minister to critique the current system when the Conservatives deliberately designed it in their 14 years in government. The question is how we go about repairing it. One thing must absolutely be put right; the disjointed system in which different Government Departments wo…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Jeremy. Good morning to everybody in the Chamber. I thank the right hon. Member for Salisbury (John Glen) for securing the debate and the Second Church Estates Commissioner, my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova), for the significant work that …”

“What I can say is that the passion, enthusiasm and commitment shown by all Members here today in talking about the importance of these places of worship—not only the historical status they give to a place in terms of belonging and sense of pride, but how they act as a community anchor for the future—is absolutely appre…”

“I did my best to outline the range of different funding available to local churches and places of worship; this fund is just one of a number. On my hon. Friend’s particular point about the continuation of the fund, Members will appreciate that any matter of future funding is a matter for the spending review, and every …”

“My honest view is that many councils have been forced to increase council tax to the absolute maximum at every opportunity, in a way that, for some households, has proven a significant burden. In part, that has been driven by the previous Government, which actively took away revenue support grant from councils to be ab…”

“All the evidence says that the number of young people who need specialist educational support outside of mainstream provision is increasing all the time, and the cost of that provision is increasing, too. Where there is a coming-together is that I think most parents want their child to go to the local school, and for t…”

“I do not accept that it is the elephant in the room. If it is, we’re all at the circus, because everyone keeps talking about the elephant. It is more about the priorities of the Government. The priorities of the Government have got to be stabilising a system that is on the edge of collapse from the inheritance we had. …”

“I am working to a timeframe for rebuilding, within the Parliament, the foundations of a system that was on the edge of collapse. The work that we are doing on structural reforms to local government is a significant project. To change a third of England’s governance structures is not simple at the best of times, but to …”

“No. There is no current work programme to embark on a revaluation, any more than there is one for redrawing the council tax system. We get ideas and suggestions all the time: “Wouldn’t this make a good intervention?” I will be honest and say that with any system like this that is established but also very complex, what…”

“Some of the work is taking place now. At a more localised level, we are working with the Cabinet Office on the test, learn and grow pilots, which are about understanding where placed-based, hyper-local early intervention in public sector reform partnerships can deliver better outcomes at a reduced cost. That work is on…”

“I will let Nico talk about what the art of the possible might be. In the end, there will always be things that you could do—you have given some examples of the type of interventions that you could make—but there are no interventions on council tax that do not have consequences for somebody. It is a system that has to g…”

“For all the baseline datasets, whether in our Department, the Department for Education or the Department of Health and Social Care, we want to use the most up-to-date, reliable and robust data possible. That is the intention; obviously, we will come forward with the needs and resource assessment in the round. To reassu…”

“I think I recall those comments, which I assume were made in opposition, as supported by the evidence: in terms of the unequal nature of council tax, it is a fact that areas with lower tax bases have to charge more per band A and band B property than areas with more affluent properties in higher bands. That is a matter…”

“I am Jim McMahon, the Minister of State covering local government and English devolution.”

“There is a transition that is pretty explicit in the White Paper, which is about moving to strategic authorities that are basically the arm of growth, coupled with a reasserted local government that is the arm of public service reform and early intervention. If you think of growth and reform as two sides of the same co…”