Lincoln Conservative Association

Karl M^cCartney: We must help first time buyers get on to the housing ladder

Karl M^cCartney, Lincoln’s Member of Parliament, has welcomed moves from the Government that will make it easier for first time buyers to get on to the housing ladder.

This week a debate took place in Westminster Hall in the House of Commons which discussed the vital role that the Government can play in supporting first time buyers.

Mr M^cCartney said, “I think that everyone should have the chance to own their own home and it is important the Government does all it can to encourage first time buyers into the property market.  Schemes like NewBuy, which the Government announced this week, will provide real support for first time buyers in our City by reducing the amount needed for that all important first deposit.  After over a decade of Labour, where house prices rose and house building plummeted, I’m glad that the Government is providing real help for those that aspire to own their own home.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

-NOTES -

·         Buyers can afford the mortgage repayments but not the deposit. An estimated one million people, including 380,000 aspiring first time buyers, can afford mortgage repayments but are currently excluded from the housing market because they do not have a large enough deposit (DCLG Press Release, 12 March 2012). 

·         NewBuy Guarantee to support potential home-buyers. We are providing guarantees for mortgages of up to 95 per cent loan-to-value for new build properties in England. The Guarantee means that instead of a typical buyer requiring a £40,000 deposit for £200,000 property, they will now only need £10,000. The Government and housebuilders will help provide security for the loan, so if the house is then sold for less than the outstanding mortgage total the lender will be able to recover its loss. The scheme, which has attracted strong support from many of the country’s biggest house-builders and mortgage lenders, will offer help for up to 100,000 buyers who would otherwise be frozen out of the market (DCLG Press Release, 12 March 2012). 

·         Lowest number of first-time buyers since 1970s under Labour. The number of first-time buyers across the UK fell from 501,500 in 1997 to 185,000 in 2009 (Hansard, 11 November 2009, Col. 526WA; Halifax Press Release, 3 January 2010). This was its lowest rate since such records began in 1974 (Council of Mortgage Lenders Press Release, Survey of Mortgage Lenders, March 2003, Table 2).

·         Housebuilding plummeted under Labour. Housebuilding in England under Labour fell to its lowest levels since 1946, with just 113,670 completions in 2009-10 (DCLG, House Building: December Quarter 2010, February 2011; DCLG, Live Tables: Table 244, House building, November 2010). This became the lowest peacetime rate of housebuilding across England and Wales since 1923-24 (just 86,000 homes were built in England and Wales, and 137,000 were built in 1924-25) (Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, Historical Statistics of Housing in Britain, 2005, p.45).

·         Labour against the aspiration of home ownership. John Healey (then Housing Minister) declared: ‘Home ownership had been dropping since 2005 and I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing’ (Speech to the Fabian Society, 9 December 2009; The Independent, ‘It’s time to give up the dream of home ownership, says minister’, 11 December 2009). As Shadow Local Government Secretary, Caroline Flint labelled home ownership ‘the English disease’ (John Gray blog, Caroline Flint MP a tough love sort of girl, 12 June 2011).

·         Labour’s broken promises on home ownership. Labour promised in their 2005 manifesto that: ‘By the end of our third term we aim for it [home ownership] to have risen by another million to two million’ (Labour Party, Britain forward not back, 2005, p.78). Yet total home ownership across England fell from 14,791,000 owner occupiers in 2005 to 14,525,000 in 2009-10 (DCLG, English Housing Survey Headline Report 2009-10, February 2010).

·         Fewer affordable homes under Labour. There was a net reduction of 200,000 affordable homes under Labour, with the total number of dwellings falling from 1997 to 2010 (House of Lords Hansard, 10 November 2010, Col. 84WA).

The Member of Parliament for Lincoln, Karl M^cCartney, has welcomed a Westminster Hall debate praising the Government’s Work Experience scheme.

Tabled by Nuneaton MP Marcus Jones, the debate focused on the dramatic increase in apprenticeships and the implementation of the Youth Contract seen under this Government.

Under the Youth Contract there will be 250,000 extra work experience places over the next three years, thus taking the yearly total to 100,000.

The Department of Work and Pensions reports that 50 per cent of all participants on work experience schemes move off benefits within three months.

After the debate, Mr M^cCartney said, “This is an important subject and I am pleased my colleague Marcus Jones secured the debate.  I fully support the Government’s Work Experience scheme, which is helping young people onto the ladder of work and giving them valuable experience of the workplace. 

“There are over 50,000 young people claiming Jobseekers Allowance who have never held a formal job before.  If we can get people into the work environment – even if it is for a relatively short period – their attractiveness to an employer is increased immeasurably.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk or go to http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/work-experience-guide.pdf

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• Marcus Jones secured a Westminster Hall debate on Work Experience on 13 March 2012. A transcript of the debate will be available on Hansard.

What this Government is doing to help young people into work:

·         Improved Work Experience rules. The Government has changed the Work Experience rules so that young people can do up to two months work and keep their benefits. Under previous rules it was for only two weeks. 34,200 people have taken part in the Government’s work experience scheme.

·         An additional £1 billion Youth Contract, including: 

o   Cash payments to encourage employers to recruit young people. As part of the Youth contract there will be 160,000 job subsidies available worth up to £2,275 each for businesses who take on an 18 to 24 year-old from the Work Programme. This is more than enough to cover an employer’s National Insurance contributions for a year and exceeds the recommendations by the CBI in their recent report on youth employment.  

o   More work experience places. As part of the Youth contract there will be an extra 250,000 Work Experience places over the next three years, taking the total to at least 100,000 a year.  This will come with an offer of a Work Experience place for every 18 to 24 year-old who wants one, before they enter the Work Programme. 

o   Around 50 per cent come off benefits within three months of work experience. DWP analysis has found that 49 per cent of participants were no longer claiming benefits after 13 weeks on the work experience scheme (DWP, Early Analysis of Work Experience participant outcomes, November 2011, link).

 o   More work experience places. As part of the Youth contract there will be an extra 250,000 Work Experience places over the next three years, taking the total to at least 100,000 a year.  This will come with an offer of a Work Experience place for every 18 to 24 year-old who wants one, before they enter the Work Programme. 

o   Cash incentives to take on apprentices. As part of the Youth Contract we will provide at least 20,000 extra incentive payments worth £1,500 each for employers to take on young people as apprentices, taking the total number of payments available to 40,000 next year. 

o   Extra support through Jobcentre Plus in the form of weekly, rather than fortnightly, signing-on meetings, more time to talk to an adviser and a National Careers Service interview. 

o   Half of those who take part in the work experience scheme come off benefits very quickly afterwards. Half the young people who do choose to do work experience come off benefits very quickly afterwards, many staying with the company that offered work experience (Guardian, 20 February 2012, link)

Please find below a statement from City Member of Parliament, Karl M^cCartney regarding  Scout Community Week in Lincoln:

“The well-known “Bob a Job” Week of old is to relaunch as Scout Community Week this year after a seventeen year break and scouts in Lincoln will be taking part.

“Scout Community Week is taking place from 14-20 May this year across the UK and I am proud to support it, particularly as scout groups in the Lincoln area are heavily involved. Scout Community Week will see Scouts from across the UK taking part in an array of tasks and projects to make a positive impact on the lives of local people. The Scout Association want your help in bringing these benefits to our community.

“The Scout Association wants your suggestions for projects you think Scouts in our area could do to make a difference. This could be creating a garden for a hospital or care home, litter picking in a local park or making useful individual items such bird boxes or bike racks.

“To submit your ideas please email community.week@scouts.org.uk or visit www.scouts.org.uk/scoutcommunityweek for further information on this great initiative.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

City Member of Parliament, Karl M^cCartney MP, has backed new Home Office rules which mean unskilled immigrants will no longer have an automatic right to settle in the UK.

Until now someone who had lived in the UK for five years was virtually guaranteed to be allowed to settle here permanently.

Those who have settled here in the past have tended to be lower-earners than those who have not. Now in order to settle workers must be paid at least £35,000.

Mr M^cCartney said, “In 1997 fewer than 10,000 migrant workers and their dependants were granted the right to settle permanently in the UK, but after thirteen years of the previous Labour Government this rose to 84,000. Conservatives are now getting a grip and ensuring that only the brightest and best are allowed to remain here permanently. At a time of high unemployment, we owe it to workers in the City of Lincoln to ensure that our migration system does not cause a reliance on migrant labour.”

Immigration Minister, Damian Green MP said, “Settlement in the UK is a privilege. We are sweeping aside the idea that everyone who comes here to work can settle and instead reserving this important right only for the brightest and best.  Our reforms of the immigration system will ensure we are more selective not only about those who are allowed to come here but also those who are allowed to stay permanently.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Notes:

• Those classed as ‘Tier 2’ general and sportspeople will be subject to a minimum settlement pay threshold of £35,000 p.a. or the appropriate rate for their occupation as set out in the UK Border Agency Codes of Practice, whichever is higher.

• Those in specified PhD level occupations and in shortage occupations will be exempt from the minimum pay threshold, but must be paid the appropriate rate for their job.

• To provide flexibility where there are skills shortages in the domestic labour market, we will waive the £35,000 threshold for migrants who are being sponsored to do jobs which are on the Shortage Occupation List, or have appeared on the Shortage Occupation List at a time while the migrant has been sponsored to do that job.

• We will apply the new rules to those entering the UK from April 2012

Karl M^cCartney, Member of Parliament for the City of Lincoln, has welcomed the launch of the second year of National Citizen Service.

National Citizen Service is a scheme for 16-year-olds first proposed by David Cameron in 2005 and now introduced by the Coalition Government. It brings together 16-year-olds from different backgrounds in the summer after they have taken their GCSEs to work together and give something back to their communities. After three weeks of team-building and outdoors activities, participants spend 30 hours helping improve their communities.

There will be 30,000 places available on National Citizen Service this summer, including 456 in Lincolnshire. By 2014 there will be 90,000 places available and it is the Government’s ambition that there will ultimately be places available for all 16-year-olds.

Mr M^cCartney said, “The National Citizen Service is a fantastic idea and a great thing for young people to do.

“It is all about giving young people the chance to come together from different backgrounds, have new experiences, learn new skills, understand how to work as a team, and give something back to the community. It’s also great news for the rest of us, as all young people taking part spend 30 hours making their community a better place.

“I am very pleased that there are 456 places on National Citizen Service for young people in our County and I hope that eventually all children in Lincoln will be able to benefit.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

On 2 March 2012, the Cabinet Office launched the second year of National Citizen Service (Cabinet Office Press Release, 2 March 2012, link).

After a successful first year, National Citizen Service has been expanded so that up to 30,000 young people can take part. The scheme is available to people from all backgrounds and brings together those who might otherwise not have met. It gives 16-year-olds a positive shared experience while increasing their self-esteem, confidence and sense of the valuable role they can play in their communities.

Early findings from last year’s programme suggest it was a success.  In a survey carried out by The Challenge Network – the largest provider of National Citizen Service – 96 per cent of their 2011 participants said they felt more confident and 86 per cent said they felt more responsible for making a difference in their local community.

Local figures

The Government have released figures setting out how many places will be available on National Citizen Service in each local authority this year. NCS places will be available in 95 per cent of English local authorities.

The Government’s victory in passing the Welfare Reform Bill, ensuring that no family can receive more in benefits than the average working family earns, has been welcomed by Karl M^cCartney, Member of Parliament for the City of Lincoln.

Under the reforms, the benefit payments that a household on ‘out of work benefits’ receives will be capped at  £26,000 per year so that work always pays. Under Labour, households were able to receive up to £104,000 per year in Housing Benefit alone.

Labour have opposed this fair cap on benefits, voting to maintain a ‘something for nothing’ culture whereby some families who don’t work receive thousands of pounds more in welfare handouts than the average working family earns.

Commenting, Prime Minister David Cameron said, “Today marks an historic step in the biggest welfare revolution in over 60 years. This Government has taken bold action to make work pay, while protecting the vulnerable.  Past governments have talked about reform, while watching the benefits bill sky rocket and generations languish on the dole and dependency. This Government is delivering it. Our new law will mark the end of the culture that said a life on benefits was an acceptable alternative to work.”

Mr M^cCartney commented, “In the City of Lincoln the average person would have to pay tax for 34 years to pay for one household to receive £104,000 in benefits a year, which could happen if Labour had their way.  Why should hard working people in my Constituency have to pay taxes that allows those on benefits who are not willing to work to receive more than them?  That is not fair and I am pleased that my Government have taken positive steps to ensure we live in a fairer and responsible society.

“This benefit cap shows that Conservatives are the party of fairness, standing up for hard working taxpayers. By voting against it, Labour have once again shown they are the party of something for nothing, willing to try and defend the indefensible.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk 

Notes 

·         We are implementing an overall benefit cap to incentivise work. The cap, linked to weekly average earnings, will limit the amount a household can receive in benefits to £26,000 a year. On introduction, we estimate that the cap will be set at £500 per week for couple and single parent households – this is the same as £35,000 a year before tax; £26,000 after. We estimate that the cap for single adult households will be £350 per week.

·         The cap is set at a fair amount. The Benefit Cap is set at £26,000 per year, this is the equivalent of a household earning £35,000 before tax. This is more than enough in benefits for households affected to find alternative accommodation if they find that they are over the cap.

·         The most vulnerable are already exempt from the cap. All households where someone is receiving DLA, Attendance Allowance, PIP, or Constant Attendance Allowance will be exempt from the cap. War widows and widowers are also exempt. 

·         The cap provides an incentive to work by exempting households where someone gets Working Tax Credit. If anyone in a household is entitled to Working Tax Credit the household will be exempt from the benefit cap. 

·         Measures are in place to protect families during transition. Throughout the year, the Government will work intensively with families who may be affected by the cap before its introduction to help them move into work or to change their circumstances so that they are not affected. The Government is looking at ways of easing the transition for families and providing assistance in hard cases.

·         Under Labour, households could receive up to £104,000 per year in Housing Benefit alone. In June 2010 the maximum local housing allowance rate rose to £2,000 a week which would be equivalent to receiving £104,000 a year in housing benefit assuming the individual remains in receipt of the same level of benefit for 52 continuous weeks: ‘In June 2010 the maximum local housing allowance rate rose to £2,000 a week which would be equivalent to receiving £104,000 a year in housing benefit assuming the individual remains in receipt of the same level of benefit for 52 continuous weeks. Information on housing benefit awards in June will be available in September 2010’ (Hansard, 6 September 2010, Col. 80WA).

·         Someone on average earnings in the UK would have to work for 28 years to pay enough tax to cover the overall benefits of that family.

o   Average UK earnings are £26,036. According to the ONS, median earnings for someone in full-time employment are £26,036 (ONS, ASHE, 23 November 2011, link).

o   Someone on average earnings pays £3,712 in income tax. Based on a personal allowance of £7,475 and a tax rate of 20 per cent, someone earning £26,036 would pay £3,712 in income tax (HMRC, link).

o   So it would take 28 years for someone on average earnings to pay enough tax to cover a the benefit bill of what some families got under Labour.  £104,000/£3,712 = 28 years.

·         Ed Miliband talked tough on welfare and fiscal responsibility…

o   ‘I do think there need to be big changes in welfare and I think the most important thing is that we restore greater sense of responsibility to the, to the system… it means anybody who can work should work’ (BBC Radio 4, Today, 10 January 2012).

o   ‘Spending more on one thing means finding the money from somewhere else’ (London Citizens’ speech, 10 January 2012)

·         …But Labour MPs voted to oppose the £26,000 benefit cap. Labour MPs voted against the Government’s plans to cap benefits at £26,000. They voted against overturning a Lords’ amendment which would have effectively wrecked the cap (Hansard, 1 February 2012, Col. 902, link).

The figures viewed by Constituency can be seen here Constituency Figures

Big Local, the Big Lottery Fund’s significant England-wide community programme, will see Birchwood, in Karl M^cCartney’s Lincoln constituency, receive an investment of approximately £1million over at least the next ten years.

A launch event for the investment in London will take place on 29 February 2012 at 4pm – 6pm, at Astley Cooper Tenants Hall, Wessex House, 375 Old Kent Road, London SE1 5JQ which is in an area previously announced as benefiting from Big Local. The event will showcase three existing Big Local areas and their progress and include the announcement of Big Local’s investment decisions for the next wave of Big Local areas.

Birchwood is one of 50 areas that have been identified in the second wave of Big Local areas. The first 50 areas were announced in July 2010, and are now making good progress.

Big Local aims to help people in overlooked communities meet their needs.  The investment will fit with the strategies and policies of others both locally and nationally; Big Local aim to share intelligence, learning and insight with the government, and other funders and stakeholders, to ensure that their approaches complement each other.  They have selected areas with high levels of deprivation, which may have been overlooked for funding in the past, particularly funding from the Big Lottery Fund. Big Local have also aimed to select communities from across the region, both in urban and rural areas. 

Funding and support to the Birchwood area will be delivered by Local Trust, a new organisation managing the £200 million endowment given by the Big Lottery Fund and delivering Big Local. Local Trusts have been established by the Community Development Foundation working in partnership with Capacity Global, CCLA, Institute for Voluntary Action Research, the National Association for Neighbourhood Management, Renaisi and UnLtd.

At the launch event Local Trust will illustrate how they support residents by helping them develop the skills and confidence to identify what matters most to them, and to take action to change things for the better. Local Trust will also set out their plan to work closely with residents in each of the 50 Big Local areas to decide how best to use the funding.

Big Local is a groundbreaking long-term programme to achieve lasting change in 150 small areas across England. It puts people locally in the driving seat, and encourages them to work together to form a shared vision of their local area, to make decisions about how to use the funding to make their area a even better place to live. Areas can use the funds to provide a mixture of grants, social investments and support. Using social investment means that some of the money can be reused in the area again and again.

Big Local understand that areas with low social capital need to build steadily in order to make much needed progress. Big Local allows each area at least 10 years to spend their £1 million investment. This approach extends to the innovative investment model that has been developed to maximise funding and impact. Local areas will use a combination of grants and social investments (loans, micro-finance, etc) to transform their community for the better.

City Member of Parliament, Karl M^cCartney, said, “This investment in Birchwood in Lincoln – some £1million over the next ten years – is truly magnificent.  The money will greatly enhance the hard work of our local ward councillors, Cllrs John Metcalfe, Jane Clark and Eddie Strengiel, to help ensure that the Birchwood area is an even better place to live, now and in the future.”

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For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk

Please find below a statement from Lincoln’s Member of Parliament, Karl M^cCartney, regarding the news that G4S and Lincolnshire Police are to join forces in a historic partnership:

“With the Lincolnshire Police Authority, Lincolnshire Police have been leading our Country in a process that has now identified a successful private sector business partner, G4S, to work with them over the next decade to help transform policing in Britain.  I believe this model will be the standard for the Country, and Lincoln and Lincolnshire will benefit greatly from this forward position.  There may well be fewer police officers in future, but everything Lincolnshire Police are doing is designed to ensure that the front line service they provide does not suffer, and that every penny from taxpayers is spent wisely.”

Please find below City Member of Parliament, Karl M^cCartney’s statement on the recently announced news that a new £100,000 research laboratory specialising in the study of blood disorders and bowel cancer is set to open at Pilgrim Hospital:

“I am happy to welcome the new £100,000 research Laboratory at Pilgrim Hospital recently announced by United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. However, I am intrigued why this particular location was chosen when, not so long ago, the Trust closed the microbiology Laboratory at Lincoln County Hospital, so creating various issues for patients, and their doctors and consultants, and those also undergoing operations as well as the experienced and skilled staff who worked at the facility.

“United Lincolnshire were only too keen to move the work of the microbiology Laboratory in Lincoln to Scunthorpe and elsewhere away from their County Hospital and now, a short time later, they have found £100,000 for a new research Laboratory in Boston.

“Whilst I am pleased overall that this new research facility and service at Pilgrim Hospital in Boston is at least in Lincolnshire, I wish that the Trust had been more forward looking and had spent the money on building  an additional or new research laboratory alongside Lincoln’s former microbiology laboratory, perhaps with the prospect of working with the University of Lincoln in the future to fully utilise the facilities and offer a better service to patients both in Lincoln and across Lincolnshire.”

For further information, please contact Karl M^cCartney MP at karl.mccartney.mp@parliament.uk