Rebecca Harris
MP for Castle Point · Conservative · United Kingdom
“An SME in my constituency once found someone sleeping rough on its premises and offered them a job. Does my hon. Friend agree that, when this Bill is enacted, it is very unlikely that a business will go to such lengths to give someone that kind of break in future?”
“About 20,000 pensioners in Castle Point are set to lose their winter fuel payment under this cruel and vindictive policy that the Labour Government have chosen to adopt.”
“My hon. Friend is spot on. It is the anxiety that it causes people. They do not know if they will live another 18 months or 25 years. People on fixed incomes, with no ability to raise that income, are very worried about spending money.”
“We have lots of low energy efficiency homes, including one of the biggest park home sites in the country, and I have many park home sites. Fortunately, we managed to find £2.5 million from the previous Government to retrofit some of them, but we still have a lot of people living in fuel-inefficient homes that are hard to retrofit.”
“I do not think that I need to worry; I think we know that will happen, because we know about their behaviour and their concerns about putting the heating on, and their lack of understanding of how much every heating bill will cost them.”
“I was not a fan of Gordon Brown, who once gave a derisory 75p increase to pensioners, but this policy was a huge success—credit to him. That is why my Government never changed it. For £300 for every pensioner, we give incredible peace of mind that they can put their heating on—”
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“At that first meeting in my office, I was struck by what a sensible and level-headed bunch of men they were. They were definitely not the kind of men, in my opinion, who would recklessly take any advice from or let themselves be conned by a flashy sales pitch that other people might have said sounded too good to be true. Put simply, they are men who had worked hard all their lives to provide for themselves and their families, and for what they hoped would be a decent standard of living in retirement. In political-speak, we would say they are people who have worked hard and done the right thing, and that is why we are all in unison in supporting them in their fight with Ford.”
“They have a great attachment to the brand and genuinely feel part of it. I think that makes the situation rather more heartbreaking for Visteon workers, who used to wear the familiar Ford logo with pride, but now feel compelled, after the treatment they have received, to campaign with a blue oval “Fraud” logo on their hats instead. When I first became aware of the closure of Visteon, I, like many others, may have initially mistaken it for yet another sign of the depressing state of the economy back in 2009. It was not until I met a substantial number of residents who had previously been Visteon employees that it became very apparent to me that its collapse and the subsequent pensions issue for former employees was down to something more sinister, some of the details of which have already been well covered.”
“I, too, congratulate my parliamentary neighbour, my hon. Friend the Member for South Basildon and East Thurrock (Stephen Metcalfe), on his outstanding work in chairing the all-party group on Visteon and on securing this important debate. It is very sad that, in the year the Ford family is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its first moving assembly line, we are having a debate about how poorly it has treated former proud members of its family and about how best we can support them and—I think we are all united in this—persuade Ford to recognise its moral obligation following its treatment of Visteon workers. Ford has a good reputation for looking after its staff, and those constituents of mine who still work for Ford speak very highly of the way they are treated by the company.”
“Is the hon. Gentleman aware of occasions such as I have come across, when the police have dismissed what seems to be obvious stalking—for example, a dispute over child maintenance or that kind of issue? It is difficult sometimes to recognise what is going on if one does not know the full back story and the victim is not able to explain the harassment.”
“For that to work in practice, we need a much wider understanding of the methods that stalkers use and the effects that the crime has. Many people do not realise quite how prevalent and damaging the crime is to the people who suffer from it, and from the sustained abuse, and how bad it is in society. By having this debate, I hope that we have contributed towards that understanding.”
“As we have heard, however, those apparently trivial incidents can have the cumulative effect of making people feel positively imprisoned in their own home and completely emotionally downtrodden. Part of the answer is to incorporate this subject into relationship education in our schools. We need people to understand both the potential victim and the potential perpetrator and to recognise that we are not talking about a normal relationship, an argument or someone getting their own back. It is controlling, dominating and threatening behaviour. If we get that message across to young people and the rest of society, we might be able to ensure that such patterns of behaviour are not set in course in the first instance. This new law—one year on—is fully capable of addressing the appalling and soul-destroying crime of stalking.”
“It is important that the public understand more about this, because we need to reach the victims and their families and supporters. They also need to recognise this behaviour for what it is—criminal behaviour. If they do not do so, they will not have the confidence to come forward. Confidence is often completely lacking as a direct consequence of the sustained, emotionally draining abuse that a victim is suffering. Victims need greater knowledge. They also need the confidence that their complaint will be taken seriously and not dismissed, as they often fear it will be. I have often heard of such complaints being dismissed as what appear to be a succession of relatively trivial incidents.”
“They need to know what to look for and listen for when victims have the courage to come forward and complain, not least because the perpetrators of this obsessive and controlling behaviour can often be very manipulative and very convincing individuals. It has also been pointed out that these stalkers can sometimes involve other individuals and agencies in their crimes. Those agencies can include social services, and I know of a case in which a benefits office was used, involving numerous false calls. MPs themselves can sometimes be drawn into this. Even the police can find themselves being used as unwitting proxies in a harassment campaign. We need a much wider understanding of these crimes throughout all agencies, not just the police, and among the wider public.”
“In my experience—mercifully not my personal experience, but my experience as a Member of Parliament—the new laws whose anniversary we are celebrating today were spot on. They absolutely address the experience of many of my constituents, but it is also clear from my experience as a Member of Parliament and from what we have heard today that they have not yet had time to bed down and work their way through the police and criminal justice system. If the legislation is to work, it is crucial for all those involved in the police and criminal justice system to understand exactly what this crime is.”
“We must get that message across, because it is in the national planning policy framework and it is good stuff, but out there on the ground it does not seem to be working. I plead with the Minister to ensure that he directs councils to use their powers of compulsory purchase and to find owners of sites that people would like to be developed, instead of what happens at the moment with the big boys turning up, driving round the area, seeing the half a dozen local fields that everyone loves and appreciates, putting in a planning application, and arguing time and again that that is more deliverable.”
“We would then have a much more popular local plan for residents, and we would not have the big household-name developers acquiring 600-unit sites where, if they got around to building houses on them, it would not be in the time frame we want, and would market them out of town and in London. Local estate agents would not get a look-in, and the houses would not go to local people. That is the problem with the current planning regime, and we desperately need the Department to tell councils that it expects them to plan positively. Planning positively under the national planning policy framework does not mean more green-belt sites with many houses on them. It means they should find out where they want houses, and make that happen.”
“For example, if we want to build houses, we are much more likely to get small local sites up and running. If we told the local scrap metal dealer, who has gone bust because we have changed the law and he cannot take cash, that he could build five or six starter homes on his land tomorrow, he would not do what the big unit developers do and wait until the time is right or build only one or two homes because he does not want to flood the market; he would sell straight away and houses would be built there. We should change what we are doing and target smaller and less popular sites that have local owners, who will use local builders and local estate agents.”
“I urge the Minister to put as much pressure as he can on councils when interpreting and putting together their plans. In the national planning policy framework and the recent guidance, which I greatly welcome, it is clear that our councils have the power to do something about small sites, which may be in multiple ownership with some planning constraints. They can knock heads together and encourage local people to suggest such sites. That would save us from losing the fields that we all love and appreciate. However, that is a big ask for a constrained planning department. Everyone is feeling the pinch at the moment, and the planning inspector is breathing down councils’ necks to get the local plan completed. It is a lot more work and takes a lot more time, but it can be done.”
“In the world of planning, however, what is deliverable is entirely down to argument. The big unit developers may see the four or five attractive green fields that are left in a borough, and argue that they could put their bulldozers on there tomorrow, that the development would be in single ownership and that that would be a good deal with a percentage going to the farmer. No one could argue otherwise—it is clearly developable tomorrow. What happened in practice over the last decade and during the previous Government’s regime is that land was banked and there was not enough work done or pressure put on the little brownfield sites in multiple ownership, which is what we should be doing now. Those are the sites our communities would prefer to be developed, not the fields that they see and appreciate.”
“It is not a target, but it must be established based on complicated methodology. Consultants in my area have come up with four or five different scenarios, all wildly different, about local housing need. It is supposed to be objective, but councillors will have to choose the figure that they believe is most likely to be accepted by the Planning Inspectorate. That does not strike me as wholly objective. We must put together a local plan that specifies deliverable land over a certain number of years and then developable land. There must be objective evidence of whether it really is deliverable, and I understand that. We cannot have local councils saying they want to build all their houses on what is currently a lake because that would be a good way to get around having building done.”
“Earlier speakers have said many of the things that I wanted to say, but possibly more elegantly. I thank the Minister for declining a developer’s appeal in my constituency. That was warmly received, but we are on notice that developers may keep pushing, and they will. I think all hon. Members here greatly welcomed the abolition of the previous housing regime and everything in the new national planning policy, including abolition of the regional spatial strategy housing targets. However, I see all around, particularly in my area, that it is pretty much business as usual for planning departments, for the Planning Inspectorate and certainly for developers. Some key aspects of the current regime seem very similar to the old regime and are being interpreted and treated similarly—for example, the requirement to find the local need.”
“We should not just do the headline-grabbing thing of attacking the payday lenders, the names of which we all know; we must also constantly push forward the alternatives to people who are in difficulties, so they can get control of their finances without handing over large amounts of cash in interest to companies that perhaps do not have their best interests at heart.”
“In my constituency there is an incredibly popular one that meets at the St Nicholas church on Canvey island, and I would recommend it to any of my constituents. People in Essex can contact the Essex Savers net credit union based in Chelmsford. People can also ask their employers for an advance on their wages, which may very well be met with a favourable response. When I was still running a small business, I would have been very receptive towards staff who wanted an advance. We must also constantly remind people that there is free Government debt advice. It is still the case that few people who use payday loan facilities and are therefore clearly in money difficulties are aware of the Money Advice Service—MA—debt advice or the fact that they can approach a citizens advice bureau.”
“There are even some cases highlighted to us by citizens advice bureaux of customers who have rung up their lender, painstakingly negotiated a repayment plan with it over a number of months, only for it to take the outstanding amount it is owed straight away, leaving them with no money to pay their mortgage and utilities and other household bills. Payday loan companies behaving as if they are priority lenders in this way causes a huge amount of distress in my constituency and around the country, and I welcome the proposal that they should be obliged to give three days’ notice and make it very clear that customers can cancel their arrangement. Alternatives such as the credit unions have been mentioned. Credit unions are doing fantastic work.”
“If they were to give typical cash costs, that would make pricing more transparent for potential borrowers, and it could also mean lenders start to compete on that basis in their advertising, which might bring down the cost of these loans and therefore have a further benefit for potential customers. I want to say a few words about the proposed restrictions to the continuous payment authority provision, which allows companies to take money from people’s bank accounts. Some payday loan companies have exploited that provision by simply taking money directly out of customers’ accounts on pay day even after those customers have done the right thing and have admitted to their payday lender that they are struggling and might need to reduce their payments.”
“These loans are often what might be termed distress purchases to cover the cost of a sudden event such as a school trip or a broken boiler, and people are therefore looking for ease of access, but when they listen to these companies’ marketing they could be forgiven for thinking that ease of access is the only factor they should consider when taking out one of these loans. I am sure Members will have heard many of the adverts—some may even have particularly irritating jingles rattling around in their heads now—and I have never heard an advert for one of these companies that says, “Our typical APR is just 5,000% per annum and a staggering 8% lower on average than that of our nearest competitors.” They simply do not market on those issues.”
“We have talked about marketing issues, and I particularly support the desire to give an indicative cash cost in advertising. I know that the current regulations require companies to give a typical APR in their adverts, which is of course important, especially if there is a possibility of roll-over. However, on the whole it is not relevant if somebody is taking out what they intend to be a short-term, one-month loan. The APR does not give people much indication of their ability to pay the loan back. It is very hard to judge that, and to judge other companies and what they are offering.”
“Terrified, my constituent began to repay the payday loans in favour of her mortgage, which obviously led to thousands of pounds of mortgage arrears and ultimately to her facing imminent eviction. She then got involved with the citizens advice bureau. I give enormous credit to citizens advice bureaux, and I am sure we are all extremely grateful for the fantastic work they do in our constituencies. They should be the first port of call for people in such difficulties, along with the Money Advice Service. The fact that someone was pushed to the point of losing their home over payday loans tells us just how pernicious and dangerous they are. I cannot think of a case that makes their irresponsible practices more apparent or better shows why the Bill’s provisions are incredibly important.”
“I wish to give one example, a lady in my constituency who took out three payday loans to help to pay the bills. She was subsequently made redundant, and her relationship broke down due to domestic violence. She was therefore unable to repay her loans, and of course she began to get phone calls from the loan companies—up to five times a day from each company—and letters harassing her to pay. On many occasions, she was wrongly given the impression that they were priority creditors. They put her under a lot of pressure. She tried many times to renegotiate her loans, but she felt immensely threatened. She then went into counselling for domestic abuse, and the lenders’ harassment made her feel more anxious and depressed.”
“In many ways, the cheap suit and the cheap comforting grin have been replaced by the cute advertising gimmicks that we heard about earlier. I support the Bill’s recommendations enormously. We have heard a lot about the Citizens Advice payday loans survey, which gave frightening statistics about what is clearly still going wrong in the industry. I think 77% of respondents said they were having trouble paying their loan, and about 65% had extended their loan without being clear how much it would cost them. That is extremely worrying. Only 8% said that they were given any information about the availability of free debt advice, which tells us an awful lot about the problem. I do not think any Member of Parliament has not had someone in their constituency who has suffered from payday companies getting them into deeper debt and roll-overs.”
“I will try to be as efficient as possible with time, as I am well aware of the preciousness of time on Fridays. I congratulate the hon. Member for Sheffield Central (Paul Blomfield) on introducing the Bill, which contains sensible measures. High-cost credit is a serious and growing problem, and the irresponsible actions of some of today’s payday lenders are beginning to resemble little more than traditional loan sharks knocking on the front door. However, the key difference that makes those firms so dangerous is that whereas not every vulnerable household in the country has a friendly neighbourhood loan shark knocking on their door, pretty much every household is likely to have a TV, radio or computer through which they are constantly bombarded with clever and manipulative advertising almost every time they switch on.”
“As I rattled through my speech, the point I was trying to convey was how those lending companies often ensure that they put themselves in the position of being the priority lender. They ensure that they get their money back and it is the children who go hungry or the mortgage that goes unpaid otherwise. That is the problem.”
“I congratulate the Minister on what he is offering to help bring empty properties back into use, but in Castle Point we also have a notable number of derelict smaller sites. What advice or support can the Government give to help councils bring forward these sites as well?”
“The Minister will be aware that Essex county council is currently consulting on proposals to close the Deanes school—most recently rated by Ofsted as “good” with elements of “outstanding”—in my constituency. Clearly, the loss of the school will greatly reduce choice for parents, so will the Minister meet me to discuss the options to try to resist the plans?”
“I thank the Secretary of State for his reply. I, like many hon. Members, am dedicated to promoting apprenticeships in my constituency, particularly in small and medium-sized businesses, but they are often very busy and hard to reach, so it is difficult to get across the message about what is available. Ironically, they are often the firms that would most benefit from an apprentice. Will the Secretary of State outline the specific measures available to promote apprenticeships and any support the Department can give hon. Members in doing so?”
“We are grateful for the improvements that we have already seen in south Essex, but the Minister is aware of the long-running campaign for a third road off Canvey Island, having visited the area himself. Local residents and local business leaders in particular think the case for a third access road is now more compelling than ever in terms of growth, because of the many business developments taking place along the Thames Gateway. Will the Minister or the Secretary of State meet me and others to discuss the business case for a third road?”
“My hon. Friend is making a very good point in citing evidence from opinion polls, but do we not all know on an anecdotal basis that the European Court of Human Rights, and human rights in general, have, tragically, become a watchword for abuses of the system? Indeed, they have effectively become a joke, and that is very damaging to the whole concept of human rights.”
“Does my hon. Friend agree that the British public saw no mischief being created in British culture prior to our entering into the convention and that it is only since our entry that they have seen a slew of wealthy barristers getting much wealthier by doing a lot of things that seem to subvert our traditional culture? There was no apparent reason to introduce this convention in the first place, and that is a great cause of concern and confusion for the public.”
“We have heard a superb debate on the moral and philosophical merits of human rights. We seem to have lost our way slightly on looking at the real problem we are facing in this country, which is a disconnect between what our judges are decreeing in our law courts as a result of the Human Rights Act and what the public understand to be common sense. The Bill addresses that issue, and we may have slightly veered away from looking at it directly.”
“Does my right hon. Friend welcome today’s news that university applications for UK universities are up 3.5% this year and at their highest level ever for disadvantaged students?”
“On that point, does my hon. Friend agree that it is quite often the local voluntary community groups such as the Mickey Payne Memorial Foundation, which was set up by my constituent Caroline Dearson, that are leading the way in spreading best practice, support networks and awareness within their communities?”
“Sometimes the problem for carers arises when they reach the point at which they admit that they can no longer look after their loved one who has dementia, because it can be difficult to choose the right kind of care home or environment. The gap at such a point might need to be filled by the voluntary sector or Admiral nurses, as the Minister was describing, to help people to ensure that they are putting their loved one into a suitable and dementia-friendly environment.”
“The very least we could do is allow the police to do their job, and when they recognise that individuals are clearly unfit to drive for whatever reason—drug-driving or medical impairment—we should allow them to act.”
“One such case was brought to me by one of my constituents, whose niece, Natalie Wade, died on the way to buy her wedding dress, mown down by a driver who categorically knew he was unable to see appropriately to drive but continued to do so. He refused to recognise his obligation to report that to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which is what we require medically unfit drivers to do. Hon. Members might also be aware of the case of a lady called Cassie McCord, who was killed by a driver with impaired eyesight who had been stopped three days earlier by the police. The police were unable to prevent him from driving, he continued to do so and she died when he ran her over only three days later. We do not stop such people driving but we need to avoid these preventable deaths.”
“Drugged and drunk drivers have made a decision to incapacitate themselves, whereas those driving while unfit for medical reasons might not have done. The effect on our roads is the same, however, as that driver is incapacitated while driving a vehicle that can kill. The police should have the power to take a licence away or prevent someone they believe to be unfit to drive from doing so until it can be established otherwise. We know that 1,100 casualties and 50 deaths are caused every year by drug-driving, but I cannot quote the number of casualties on our roads caused by people driving while they are medically unfit—for example, because their eyesight is impaired—because we do not record the figures. In my short time as a Member of this House, however, several tragic cases have been brought to my attention.”
“In both cases it is an offence to drive, but the law is not effective in preventing the problem. Arguing for the drug-driving offence in another place, Lord Henley recognised that although being unfit through drugs is an offence, it is not prosecuted often enough because of the difficulty the police have in trying to prove that the driver is sufficiently impaired. That has hampered the police in taking drug-impaired drivers off our roads and the new provision will give the police a proportionate power to do so and punish them appropriately for endangering the public. I do not consider those who drive while unfit for medical reasons in the same category as drug-abusing drivers; nor do I believe that they should necessarily be punished as severely as they might be under the Bill.”
“I want to support some of the many excellent provisions in the Bill, and in particular the inclusion of drug-driving as an offence on which the police can act at the roadside in a proportionate and simple manner. There have been many such cases of which I have been made aware and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon Central (Gavin Barwell) on having campaigned on the issue with great success. I am disappointed that the Government have not taken the opportunity to go slightly further and consider road traffic offences more generally, including the laws on those who drive while medically unfit. Of course, the problems caused by drug-drivers and those who drive while medically unfit are incredibly similar from a public safety point of view.”
“Someone who is apprehended by the police because their driving is impaired by alcohol can have their vehicle taken from them at the roadside, and the new provisions will go a long way towards ensuring that that happens more often with drug-driving and that we can prosecute drug-drivers more readily and more easily. If a person fails a roadside sight test, however, such as that which one needs for a driving licence, it is impossible for the police to take their keys and require them to have an eye test. Perhaps we could extend the scope of the Bill—I hope in Committee that we can take the provision one step further and consider those who are medically unfit to drive, for whatever reason.”
“Does my right hon. Friend agree that often what statutory consultees such as the utility companies and the Highways Agency assure people is sustainable for the local infrastructure does not tie up with the reality of people’s everyday existence on the ground?”
“Does my hon. Friend agree that this is the crux of the matter—that the employees were persuaded that their pensions would be secure not by some strange private equity financiers or some faceless spivs, but by their long-term employers, their trusted and respected employers, Ford? Does he agree that the moral responsibility for this therefore remains with Ford?”
“Does my hon. Friend agree that the degree to which the affected pensioners, with absolute unanimity, blame Ford for the situation is quite astonishing? I have not had one constituent say that they are disappointed with the management of Visteon. As they stand outside the Ford dealership on Saturday mornings, they unanimously hold Ford responsible.”
“I believe that Jackie’s work gives an invaluable insight into how we can break down the barriers that prevent offenders from becoming safe and productive members of their community, once they have repaid their debt to society. I will explain Jackie’s project and her findings later, but first I want to analyse the extent of the special learning needs among our national inmate population. The sad truth is that no one is at all sure how many people in our prisons actually suffer from dyslexia or other learning difficulties. In most cases, the information accompanying people into prison is unlikely to show whether learning difficulties or learning disabilities have been identified.”
“It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to raise this important issue. I am doing so because of a whirlwind or, as some might say, a force of nature, who entered one of my constituency surgeries earlier this year—my constituent, Jackie Hewitt-Main. She came to tell me about a project she had undertaken in Chelmsford prison, “Dyslexia Behind Bars”. During that project, she assessed more than 2,000 offenders for special educational needs, and attempted to work with them to help them understand their learning difficulties and to succeed where the education system had so far failed them. The effect on the re-offending rates of the inmates who took part is truly astounding, and I want to bring that to the full attention of the House and the Government.”
“There is good reason why that information should be collated nationally. I am aware that the Government are moving to a system of payment by results, under which market mechanisms might pick up such issues and ensure that we address them properly.”
“Similarly, the Government cannot properly analyse any causal link between the lack of basic literacy and offender behaviour, or assess how far educational failure or the failure to pick up dyslexia in schools leads to offender behaviour in later life.”