Sarah Owen
MP for Luton North · Labour · United Kingdom
“In Marsh Farm, local residents will direct £20 million over the next decade through our Pride in Place neighbourhood board, led by our fantastic new chair Jackie Neufville. I visit businesses every week, and do a small business Saturday shout-out every weekend.”
“That is not the sum of everything happening in Luton North—and I could go on for 30 minutes, rather than three—but I want to put those achievements on record. We are a strong, united, diverse part of the world, and long may that continue.”
“I have awarded amazing students at Putteridge High alongside their committed head, David Graham, and I have said goodbye to the truly brilliant Sandra Clarke, who retires from Woodlands High this week. The love, care and community you feel when you walk into that school are amazing.”
“As this debate is always oversubscribed—a fitting tribute to Sir David that I am sure he would have been proud of—I am going to keep my remarks short. I love Luton. It is my home, and my favourite part of my job is working with our wonderful, diverse, welcoming community.”
“They say that good things come to those who wait. After years of campaigning for new noise limits on fireworks by a number of organisations, from veterans’ charities to animal charities, and even by Deputy Speakers, we should all thank the Government for hearing all our constituents—especially those in Luton North who are kept awake night…”
“Before I start, I thank the Minister not only for his statement but for his robust response to the Opposition Front Bench, whose response was appalling. The E1 settlement plan deliberately cuts the west bank in two.”
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“The hon. Lady is making an excellent speech. I wholeheartedly support some of the work that she has outlined around partnerships. Does she not agree that, fundamentally, this goes to the heart of how we see education: education is not a charity but a fundamental basic right?”
“Thank you, Mr Speaker, and happy new year. Conservative failure to tackle regional inequality is just one in a long list of let-downs. Thirteen years of Tory rule, and parts of the UK have plunged further and further into poverty. Local authorities spent over £27 million applying for levelling-up bids, only for many to lose out—places such as Barnsley and Knowsley, which have been denied multiple bids with little transparency, leaving many colleagues in the dark and resorting to questioning Ministers about local bids, with no answers at all. Will the Minister please clarify the lack of transparency and the financial costs of these bids to cash-strapped councils, particularly during the cost of living crisis?”
“When will all children have a safe bed to sleep in? I look forward to hearing the Minister’s solution to the problem, as it is one we all want to see solved. I hope that not too many families in the UK will face cruel, cramped Christmases this year. Christmas is supposed to be a time of hope. I genuinely hope that this Dickensian Conservative-induced nightmare, with child poverty at the levels we are seeing, finally comes to an end before another generation is harmed.”
“We aim to eradicate poverty in our town by 2040 and build a child-friendly town. I am proud of that aim, as everybody within my local government should be. It is bold, ambitious and inspirational, and it is everything local government should be, but we have to contend with a Government in power imposing 12 years of austerity on this country. Local communities have to take matters into their own hands for the sake of their people, but they are fighting a constant battle of inflation, cuts and rising demand. Local authorities have already lost 60p for every £1 of Government funding since 2010, but I know they will fight tooth and nail to support their residents in need, especially children. When will our Government finally take responsibility for the children they should be protecting and caring for?”
“If a parent cannot afford to give their child space to sleep, it is unlikely they are managing to comfortably pay their bills, feed them well and provide for them as any parent would wish to do. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North said, this level of poverty leaves families teetering on the edge and still at the mercy and prey of legal loan sharks. Children’s charity Barnardo’s set up an emergency fund in October to provide urgent support to children, young people and families dealing with the cost of living crisis. Although originally envisaged to help with food costs and energy bills, Barnardo’s has already seen a concerning demand for beds and bedding. In my constituency of Luton, our Labour council released a 2040 report with a vision for where our town would be in two decades’ time. The vision is not a shy one.”
“With section 21 eviction notices still not banned three years after their election on a manifesto that promised to deliver that, the Government are only pushing more families into homelessness and more children into bed poverty. When will we see the ban on section 21 no-fault evictions? Do we have to wait for a Labour Government to finally get rid of them? The topic of the debate leaves us all asking why, in a country as wealthy as ours, we are grappling with something as basic as children not having the space to sleep. As with food poverty and fuel poverty, bed poverty is just part of the wider scope of deprivation in our allegedly world-leading country.”
“Last Christmas, 1,300 families with children were living in unsuitable B&B accommodation over Christmas, already a rise of 3% on the year before. Given the added recession, will the Minister tell me how many more families with children will be in temporary accommodation for Christmas 2022? Is his Department investigating how many of them are living in unsuitable, overcrowded conditions, perhaps also grappling with dangerous levels of mould, damp and cold? The gap between housing benefits and standard private rents is also increasing. New research by Crisis found that fewer than one in 12 homes advertised on Zoopla were affordable for renters receiving housing benefit, compared with one in eight just five months ago.”
“I invite all Members, Mr Paisley, to picture a scene: a family Christmas, with sparse food on the table, if there is indeed even a table, mum and dad worried about paying the rent, grandparents shivering in the cold and dark, kids sharing single beds, sleeping on the sofa or even on the floor or in a bath tub. That sounds Dickensian, but is in fact the prospect for too many of our constituents as they face hard times this Christmas. In 2020, Crisis estimated that 30% of families on the lowest income could not afford a bed for their child. Will the Minister provide an updated assessment of the figure as it stands now, after a prolonged pandemic, energy price rises, rocketing inflation and a catastrophic recession? The housing crisis is nothing new, but its impacts are reaching new heights.”
“As we have heard, there has been a constant mantra—and almost a guilting of parents—that work is the best route out of poverty, but we know that millions of people go to work, do the right thing and work all the hours that they can yet are still paid below poverty wages. That is an absolute disgrace. My hon. Friend is right to thank the charities and social workers who are the backstop for families, but it should not be that way. I cannot believe that in 2022, in the sixth richest country in the world, we are talking about children going without beds.”
“Salient points have been made by hon. Members throughout the debate. My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North talked about the scale of child poverty in this country, with 3.9 million children in poverty in 2022. That should shame any Government, of any colour, into action. Bed poverty has a horrific impact on a child’s education and wellbeing that ensures that the cycle of poverty and deprivation continues. We need to break that cycle for good. My hon. Friend the Member for Halifax (Holly Lynch) pointed out the growing levels of child poverty—we are seeing not a decline, but growing levels of child poverty. In places such as Halifax, 30% of children are growing up below the poverty line. The cost of living crisis plus the pandemic and years of austerity have created a perfect storm that allows child poverty to continue.”
“Friend the Member for Batley and Spen (Kim Leadbeater), where at least 163 children do not have a bed of their own. She highlighted the horrific impact that that has on their education and emotional wellbeing. Sleep is as important to a healthy lifestyle as limiting fast food and running around the park, but too often we can forget that as we get older. Bed poverty is a hidden level of poverty, and not something that parents, families or children are willing to share; it is hidden away from sight. As any parent will know, children’s sleep is crucial for our sanity too. Behaviour, along with physical and mental health, is drastically impacted by the amount and quality of sleep people get. Studies in China in 2021 found that the quality and length of sleep directly correlated with levels of depression and anxiety later in adolescence.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Paisley. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne North (Catherine McKinnell) on her work on the Petitions Committee and on introducing the debate so effectively, passionately, knowledgably and sensitively. In common with others, I thank Zarach as well as Crisis and Barnardo’s for their supportive work. We may be few in number in the Chamber today, but I know we speak for many colleagues in expressing our distress over any child going without the space and comfort to sleep. As we have heard, children need sleep and a safe space to grow and learn. That is essential for neurological development, absorbing what is taught at school and building up a memory store for adulthood, a point put well by my hon.”
“The hon. Member makes an excellent point about TikTok, but it also applies to YouTube. The platforms’ addictive nature has to do with the content. A platform does not just show a person a video of a cat, because that will not keep them hooked for half an hour. It has to show them a cat doing something extraordinary, and then a cat doing something even more extraordinary. That is why vulnerable people, especially children, get sucked into a dark hole. They click to see not just the same video but something more exciting, and then something even more exciting. That is the addictive nature of this.”
“I thank the Minister for giving way so early on. He mentioned an “appreciable number”. Will he clarify what that is? Is it one, 10, 100 or 1,000?”
“The hon. Member is making fantastic, salient points. The damage with private messaging is around phishing, as well as seeing a really harmful message and not being able to unsee it. Would she agree that it is about protecting the victim, not putting the onus on the victim to disengage from such conversations?”
“Member’s comments highlighted perfectly the real reason we are all here in a freezing cold Bill Committee, rehashing work that has already been solved. The Bill was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was better than what we have today. The real reason we are here is the fight within the Conservative party.”
“I take the point from our earlier discussion about who determines what crosses the legal threshold, but why do we have to wait until somebody is physically hurt before the Government act? That is really regrettable. So, too, is the fact that this is such a huge U-turn in policy, with 15% of the Bill coming back to Committee. As we have heard, that is unprecedented, and yet, on the most pivotal point, we were unable to hear expert advice, particularly from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Barnardo’s and the Antisemitism Policy Trust. I was struggling to understand why we would not hear expert advice on such a drastic change to an important piece of legislation—until I heard the hon. Member for Don Valley talk about offence. This is not about offence; it is about harm. The hon.”
“That then tips into other conspiracy theories that have really harmful, damaging consequences. I saw that personally. My hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North eloquently put forward some really powerful examples of what she has been subjected to. With covid, some of the anti-vaccinators and anti-mask-wearers who targeted me quickly slipped into Sinophobia and racism. I was sent videos of people eating live animals, and being blamed for a global pandemic. The people who have been targeted do not stay in one lane. The idea that adults are not vulnerable, and susceptible, to such targeting and do not need protection from it is frankly for the birds. We see that particularly with extremism, misogyny and the incel culture.”
“We saw that with the pandemic and vaccine misinformation. We saw it with the harm done to children by the anti-vaccine movement’s myths about vaccines, children and babies. It causes greater harm than just having a conversation online. People do not stay in one lane. Once people start being sucked into conspiracy myths, much as we discussed earlier around the algorithms that are used to keep people online, it has to keep ramping up. Social media and tech companies do that very well. They know how to do it. That is why I might start looking for something to do with ramen recipes and all of a sudden I am on to a cat that has decided to make noodles. It always ramps up. That is the fun end of it, but on the serious end somebody will start to have doubts about certain public health messages the Government are sending out.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dame Angela—I wish it was a toastier room. Let me add to the points that the shadow Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Pontypridd, made so powerfully about vulnerable people. There is no cliff edge when such a person becomes 18. What thought have the Minister and the Department given to vulnerable young adults with learning disabilities or spectrum disorders? Frankly, the idea that, as soon as a person turns 18, they are magically no longer vulnerable is for the birds—particularly when it comes to eating disorders, suicide and self-harm. Adults do not live in isolation, and they do not just live online. We have a duty of care to people. The perfect example is disinformation, particularly when it comes to its harmful impact on public health.”
“They see horrific abuses of power and extreme pornography and, as we heard from the hon. Member for Aberdeen North, take their cues from that. What happens online does not stay online.”
“In that case, I must have been mistaken in thinking that the hon. Member—who has probably said quite a lot of things, which is why his voice is as hoarse as it is—was criticising the former Minister for measures that were agreed in previous Committee sittings. For me, the current proposals are a really disappointing, retrograde step. They will not protect the most vulnerable people in our communities, including offline—this harm is not just online, but stretches out across all our communities. What happens online does not take place, and stay, in an isolated space; people are influenced by it and take their cues from it. They do not just take their cues from what is said in Parliament; they see misogynists online and think that they can treat people like that.”
“I thank the shadow Minister for that intervention. She is absolutely right. We have had a discussion about terms of reference and terms of service. Not only do most people not actually fully read them or understand them, but they are subject to change. The moment Elon Musk took over Twitter, everything changed. Not only have we got Donald Trump back, but Elon Musk also gave the keys to a mainstream social media platform to Kanye West. We have seen what happened then. That is the situation the Government will now not shut the door on. That is regrettable. For all the reasons we have heard today, it is really damaging. It is really disappointing that we are not taking the opportunity to lead in this area.”
“Would that not also apply to vaccine efficacy? If we are talking about everything being up for debate and nothing being a hard fact, we are entering slightly strange worlds where we undo a huge amount of progress, in particular on health.”
“The fact that we are here again to discuss what one Secretary of State wanted to put into law, and which another is now seeking to remove before the law has even been introduced, suggests that my hon. Friend’s point about protection and making sure that there are adequate measures within which the Secretary of State must operate is absolutely valid.”
“On that point, which we discussed earlier—my hon. Friend the Member for Warrington North discussed it—I am struggling to understand what is an acceptable level of harm, and what is the acceptable number of people to be harmed, before a platform has to act.”
“Such technological advances can take place at a very rapid pace. The transparency aspect is important, because people should have a right to know what they are using and whether it is safe. We as policy makers should have a right to know clearly whether the legislation that we have introduced, or the legislation that we want to amend or update, is effective. If we look at any other approach that we take to protect the health and safety of the people in our country—the people we all represent in our constituencies —we always say that prevention is better than cure. At the moment, without transparency and without researchers being able to update the information we need to see, we will constantly be playing catch-up with digital tech.”
“I want to add to the brilliant points made by my hon. Friend the shadow Minister, in particular on the continually changing nature of market forces, which the Minister himself referenced. We want innovation. We want the tech companies to innovate—preferably ones in the UK—but we do not want to be playing catch-up as we are now, making legislation retrospectively to right wrongs that have taken place because our legislative process has been too slow to deal with the technological changes and the changes in social media, in apps, and with how we access data and communicate with one another online. The bare minimum is a biannual report. Within six months, if a new piece of technology comes up, it does not simply stay with one app or platform; that technology will be leapfrogged by others.”
“However, the Government clearly have work to do to catch up with the needs of small and medium-sized businesses, and to match what Labour’s fair taxation strategy offers those businesses, so that we can regenerate our high streets.”
“The LGA has highlighted the need for councils to be compensated for the cost of staff time, and for potential new technologies, involved in the revaluation of rates and in bringing in the transitional scheme. It is welcome that the Government have already announced that administrative costs for local authorities will be covered, as with previous schemes, under the new burdens doctrine. However, the insufficient time to input these changes will still cause problems that council staff do not need. For their peace of mind, will the Minister confirm that no further reliefs will be announced ahead of the new financial year starting on 1 April 2023? We will not vote against the legislation.”
“In July, the Local Government Association responded to a Government consultation by saying that “any transitional arrangements for 2023, whether part of the formal scheme or supplementary, should be announced no later than autumn 2022 when the draft list and provisional multiplier are announced.” It is not contentious to say that 12 December is beyond what we conventionally consider to be autumn. Councils will not have adequate time to consider and communicate the changes before they become law. Were the time and effort required for local authority staff to adopt the new process factored into the timetable for the legislation? It is not just the billing authorities that need to prepare for the new non-domestic rates. Such financial and administrative overhauls can be costly for many of the individuals and groups paying the new rates.”
“It would be funded by increasing the digital services tax for online business grants. That is just a taster of what could have been. I would be grateful for the Minister’s assessment of the financial health of SMEs compared with, for example, global tech companies, and would like to know why increases in the digital services tax have not made his priority list. The burden of business rates is disproportion-ately heavy on small businesses. Our hard-working high-street entrepreneurs are being driven into the ground, while the profits of major corporations soar. This legislation, being at an early stage, will not arrive soon enough to allow businesses and local authorities to plan sufficiently for the year ahead.”
“To give the sector the stability and reassurance that it needs, and that I am sure we all want to see, we will bring in an annual revaluation of business rates, rather than holding ad hoc revaluations as the Government do, and as is outlined in the regulations. Under our model, the heavy burden of taxes will move from small and medium-sized enterprises and high-street businesses to online giants, which have, for far too long, got away with contributing far too little to our economy. When Labour gets into government, it will deliver the transformation that businesses deserve, but we need an urgent increase now in the threshold for small business rates relief from £15,000 to at least £25,000. That discount for small and medium-sized enterprises would be a vital boost at this vulnerable moment.”
“Our high streets are already struggling as a result of the pandemic, and from the decade of under-investment before that. As a result of climbing energy bills, the cost of goods rising with inflation, and stagnant wages driving consumer caution, businesses are desperate for a dramatic package of support. Tinkering with business rates, which is what this legislation does, is not what they want or need. Labour has a plan to back business by bringing business rates in line with the needs of the modern economy. We are committed to cutting rates immediately for small firms, and they should be given any discount they are owed as a result of the revaluation at the nearest opportunity.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Murray. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this legislation, which will touch businesses in all our constituencies. Unfortunately, however, the Opposition would not vote with the Government in a Division, because we do not believe that the regulations go far enough. I will put on the record some points about the difficulties facing businesses and the local authorities attempting to support them. On Saturday 3 December, we all celebrated Small Business Saturday, which is an opportunity to focus on independent traders who are making a big impact with little resource. All year round, however, my colleagues and I hear about the struggles of small businesses in our communities.”
“The hon. Member talks about trust. Trust is incredibly important, so can he tell me why anybody should trust the Conservative party when it comes to voter fraud, given that its last leadership election—not the coronation that we have just had, but the leadership election—was delayed because of security fears and possible breaches of ballot paper processes?”
“He said: “So far practices are, overall, seeking to keep staff.” That is good news, but he added: “In our post-Brexit environment, qualified, talented architectural staff are hard to recruit and retain.” It is reassuring that RIBA has been working with the Architects Registration Board and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to ensure that these changes work for the sector. I am sure that workforce supply and development would be key to that, but I would be grateful if, in the absence of any impact assessment, the Minister provided an estimate of the numbers of architects that are covered by existing EU law and the transitional regulations. Are those numbers likely to matched or bettered by future mutual recognition agreements with other countries? If so, does the Department have any projected figures?”
“As the economy shrinks, and given that the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Prime Minister have reportedly ditched mandatory housing targets, our concern is that the sector is, at best, getting mixed messages and, at worst, has little to no confidence. The Royal Institute of British Architects, or RIBA, reports that a third of architectural practices are expecting their workload to drop. The institute’s future trends survey shows that architects’ confidence continues to fall in all regions. The most pessimistic outlook is in the capital, where practices expect their schedule of work to slow down and 40% expect their workload to shrink. RIBA’s head of economic research and analysis, Adrian Malleson, explained that there is no expectation of job losses.”
“It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mr Robertson. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this specific but important change for mutual recognition agreements with counterpart regulators in other countries, while removing any remaining provisions that continued temporary alignment with the EU’s mutual recognition of professional qualifications directive, and which were laid as transitionary measures following the EU referendum result. All these years later—indeed, three Prime Ministers later—and it seems that Brexit is not quite done yet. On the face of it, these changes are needed and we are not planning to oppose these measures, but the Opposition wonder whether there are some missed opportunities and contradictions with this change and other Government policies on this sector.”
“With the new negotiations taking place, I hope that we seize every opportunity to do better and, crucially, to attract the best and brightest to this important profession. I thank Committee members for their time and I look forward to answers to the questions we have put to the Minister.”
“Bespoke Careers found that 47% of British architects surveyed planned to leave their job. That is up from 36% before the pandemic. The dissatisfaction was most pronounced in the US, where 61% planned to quit. Reasons cited included pay cuts, mental health and not being able to take all available annual leave. Concerns about job satisfaction and the retention of architects are not just a problem in the UK; they are also an issue in at least two of the countries with which we are seeking MRAs. Is the Minister or his Department working with international counterparts and international professional bodies on retention, as well as attracting future architects to the profession?”
“Considering Grenfell and the constant striving to do better, will the Government use the international MRA negotiations or future tests to build on our existing high standards, rather than just maintain them? We understand and welcome the fact that the ARB is in the early stages of negotiations with Australia and New Zealand, the US and the EU, but negotiations can often take longer than is expected or hoped. Can the Minister tell us the likely timeframe for the completion of the negotiations? Architects are predicting a slowdown in their workload and there is also a shortage of architects, with even more indicating that, sadly, they want to leave the profession altogether. In a survey conducted by Bespoke Careers last year, nearly 1,000 architects were interviewed from the UK, the US and Australia.”
“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention, but I am speaking about the specifics of architects and the numbers of architects. I will come on to the international picture for architects. Perhaps that will clarify why the picture is not necessarily a gloomy one, but one where we need to be prepared for the impacts and fallout of any changes we make. The ARB has said that any new agreement will maintain high standards and safety, which is welcome. New applicants coming to the register via these mutual recognition agreements will have to undertake a test to measure their understanding of the UK-specific context of practising architecture.”
“I can hear that the Minister is getting to the end of his comments. Has he missed my question about the likely timeframe for the completion of negotiations with Australia, New Zealand and the US?”
“My hon. Friend is making a powerful speech and she has spoken with incredible experience and heart on this subject throughout the last few years. Does she agree it is particularly galling that we are seeing the former Health Secretary write a book, the “Pandemic Diaries”, yet we are not able to scrutinise the facts and evidence of the decisions that were taken not just about the public’s money but about public safety?”
“My hon. Friend is making excellent points. That is the human impact of the lack of regulation and enforcement on rogue providers that are making millions out of very vulnerable people. Their impact is felt not only by the individuals who are being harmed, but by entire communities. Does she agree that although we do not want regulation for regulation’s sake, we need not just regulation but enforcement for those who are getting away with this scot-free right now? We do not just need legislation; we need the ability to enforce and act.”
“My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head. The pilot work that the hon. Member for Harrow East just spoke about is fantastic. We will take whatever we can from that and learn, but the point is that the councils and authorities that did that work had to have extra resources to use their existing powers. This is not just about legislating and enabling local authorities to have more powers; it is also about them having the funds and resources to use those powers.”
“Further to that point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I totally respect and fully take on board the advice from Mr Speaker’s office for conduct in this Chamber, but outside this place thousands of people are struggling to pay their mortgage or to afford one home, let alone 17, and they may have found that not declarable, but relevant. I would be grateful for your advice— [ Interruption. ] I would be grateful for your advice— [Interruption.]”
“I would be grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker, for your advice on how Members like me should respond when the hon. Member for Sedgefield (Paul Howell) tells me to “shut up” in this Chamber, where I speak for my constituents. Now he is attempting to shut me up online as well. What message does this send to women who want to be in politics when they see men like that? [ Interruption. ]”
“I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend, who is making an excellent speech. Does she agree that the point about a modern station and the need to thrive applies also to Leagrave station in the north of the town? It is in desperate need of lifts. The Access for All funding bid has the backing of Bedfordshire Rail Access Network, Network Rail, Thameslink GTR, the council, myself and thousands of our constituents. I sincerely hope that all those who signed my Leagrave petition and those who make the 1.8 million journeys a year from that station finally get the station that they deserve.”