Speeches by Cocking.

“If you believe in democracy and local councillors are elected to make decisions on planning applications, do you foresee lots of planning applications being called in when they are recommended for refusal before they have even been heard at the local level by local councils?”

“Can I ask, then, whether you think call-ins will go up over the course of this Parliament, if it looks like you are not going to meet your 1.5 million homes target?”

“So you do not think call-ins will go up if it looks like—”

“And there have been no discussions within the Department to extend the premise of when call-ins can happen.”

“But have there been any discussions about amending those criteria since you have taken office?”

“So there have been no discussions thus far to change—”

“But you do think it is important for local councils to make decisions and have input, and for local residents to have a say on planning applications in their area.”

“But there are no plans by you or the Department to change any existing local plans that are already in place to make them build more houses until their local plans come to an end. I am talking about councils that already have a local plan.”

“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.”

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

“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?”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Christopher. I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the register of interests. I thank my right hon. Friend the Member for East Hampshire (Damian Hinds) for securing this important debate. While I agree with him that much more needs to be done to encourage appren…”

“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?”

“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?”

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

“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?”

“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 Lewis Cocking, the Conservative Member for Broxbourne.”