Speeches by Cocking.

“Lewis Cocking, Conservative, Broxbourne.”

“Q4. The town of Cheshunt in my constituency has no banks or building societies, and we have been told that we are not eligible for a banking hub. Does the Deputy Prime Minister agree that every town that wants a banking hub should be eligible for one, so that my residents have access to their hard-earned cash?”

“Broxbourne has a local plan in place and so has East Herts. Both my local authorities do.”

“You keep talking about the fact that we have to release more land and get more land into the system, but I am yet to hear any measures that you are going to take against developers that already have permission that are not building.”

“If I could have one more follow-up, there are no plans from this Government to overrule local councils’ local plans, if they already have one in place, to make them build more homes over and above the current local plans that they have adopted?”

“Goff’s Oak, in my constituency of Broxbourne, has seen a lot of development. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that GP surgeries are delivered before hundreds of new homes are built?”

“You must have some convening power. We have a strong individual who is elected—”

“I am sorry. What do you mean by “gatekeeping”?”

“Some 16,600 pensioners in Broxbourne will lose their winter fuel payment. How is the Minister helping those who cannot do online applications for pension credit to make an application? Will she commit to continuing to write to all those who will lose their winter fuel payment until they sign up for pension credit?”

“I am Lewis Cocking, the Conservative Member for Broxbourne.”

“Just to follow up on that, how long on average would someone spend sleeping homeless before they get access to any help? I get that you might not know this.”

“When someone ends up homeless, how easy is it for them to access support? How long does it take them to get the support they need? I think it is fair to say that there is support out there, though probably not enough. What are the main barriers for the individual to access that?”

“I am a councillor on an upper-tier authority, Hertfordshire county council. We do not have responsibility for homelessness. Adam, you just said that you want to build more homes. What do you think about the Secretary of State’s view that the housing target in London is going to be reduced by 20%? We are going to build …”

“Adam and Paul, you have both mentioned the health service and trying to get them on board more. You represent big metropolitan areas, both with elected mayors. If they cannot get into the health service, how does the rest of local government do it? They are quite powerful and have lots of levers at their disposal. How …”

“Do you think London should build less?”

“8. What steps her Department is taking to increase the support available in jobcentres in Broxbourne constituency.”

“The Budget has made it even harder for small businesses in my Broxbourne constituency to create jobs. What can the Minister do to make sure that jobcentres connect with local businesses to help those who are looking for work to find sustainable employment?”

“Do all local authorities have a choice about out-of-area placements? If the centre of London chooses to move out to the outskirts of London, that pushes up the prices there, which then prices the outer London boroughs out. They then move out to the shires and so the people in the shires do not have a choice because the…”

“What about adult and children’s social care—”

“May I clarify something? You said that 75% of your budget is spent on temporary accommodation. Is that 75% of the whole council budget? That cannot be true.”