Agenda item

To receive any questions from the public which have been submitted under Council Procedure Rules 7.11 and 7.12. The session will last no more than 15 minutes with a maximum of 2 minutes allowed for each question and answer. Questions can be asked of the Leader and Cabinet Members.

The following two questions from the public had been received.

(i)         The following question to Councillor Kelly Middleton, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Healthier Communities was submitted by Mr Mark Webster:

"Despite the perceived U-turn on disability welfare plans, there is still widespread condemnation from many councils, public bodies, and 86 charities, will Council commit to opposing the disability welfare cuts and advocate for their reversal to protect our local services, budgets and our vulnerable residents?”

In response, Councillor Kelly Middleton, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Healthier Communities said that as part of the Welfare Reform Bill (Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill)  the Government had, during the passage of the Bill, listened and reviewed the impact on people receiving various benefits in order to ensure the balance of need and ensure an equitable system to support people with varying needs to live as independently as possible.

She said that the specific impact on people in Telford would depend on how these national proposals were implemented locally and how they interacted with existing local services and support systems.  It was, she said, important for individuals in Telford to stay informed about these changes and to participate in any consultations or opportunities to make their voices heard. She said the Council would be reviewing its own discretionary welfare support and hardship policies and working with local voluntary sector partners to ensure people were supported if there was a change to their benefits”.

Councillor Middleton shared the following information from the Government’s website:

New welfare legislation to ensure there were robust protections in place to support the most vulnerable and severely disabled.

Nearly 4 million households to benefit from uprating of Universal Credit standard rate, the largest, permanent real-terms increase to basic out of work support since 1980, according to the IFS.

More than 200,000 people with most severe, lifelong conditions to be protected from future reassessment for Universal Credit entitlement.

13-week period of financial support for those affected by PIP changes as part of upcoming welfare reforms.

Came alongside £1 billion employment support package that would unlock opportunity and grow the economy as part of the Plan for Change.

The Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would provide 13-weeks of additional financial security to existing claimants affected by changes to the PIP daily living component, including those who lost their eligibility to Carers Allowance and the carer’s element of Universal Credit.

The 13-week additional protection would give people who would be affected by the changes time to adapt, access new, tailored employment support, and plan for their future once they were reassessed and their entitlement ended.

This transitional cover was one of the most generous ever and more than three times the length of protection provided for the transition from DLA to PIP.

This Government inherited a broken social security system, with costs spiralling at an unsustainable rate and millions of people trapped out of work. The case for change was stark:

Since the pandemic, the number of PIP awards had more than doubled – up from 13,000 a month to 34,000 a month. That was around 1,000 people signing on to PIP every day – that was roughly the size of Leicester signing up every year.

The surge had been largely driven by a substantial increase in the number of people who reported anxiety and depression as their main condition. Before the pandemic (in 2019), 2,500 people a month were awarded PIP for these conditions, this had more than tripled to 8,200 a month in 2023.

Almost 1 million young people – 1 in 8 - were not in education, employment or training.

1-in-10 people of working age were now claiming a sickness or disability benefit. Without reform, the number of working age people on disability benefits was set to more than double this decade to 4.3 million.

Spending on working age disability and incapacity benefits was up £20 billion since the pandemic and was set to increase by almost that much again by the end of this Parliament, to a staggering £70 billion a year.

In conclusion, Councillor Middleton said that was why, through the introduction of this Bill; the Government was fixing the broken social security system so it supported those who could work to do so, while protecting those who could not - putting welfare spending on a more sustainable path to unlock growth as part of its Plan for Change.

(ii)          The following question to Councillor Richard Overton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement was submitted by Mr Piers Ashdown:

Incremental unauthorised development, planning creep, is plaguing rural communities. Creep is difficult to enforce against and pre-empts formal planning decisions. Employed as a deliberate “get around”, it is draining of resources and undermines the integrity of the Local Plan. What is being done to proactively get control of this?

In response, Councillor Richard Overton, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Highways, Housing and Enforcement said that the Council took its responsibilities regarding planning enforcement extremely seriously.

Each year, he said, the Council received between 700 and 800 complaints, all of which were thoroughly investigated.  He said that these cases ranged from developments carried out without planning permission to breaches of conditions attached to approved permissions, as well as other responsibilities of the Local Planning Authority.

Councillor Overton said that, while the Council’s officers worked diligently, it was not possible for them to monitor every site at all times and, therefore, they relied upon the support of elected members and the public to report suspected breaches of planning control.

In conclusion, Councillor Overton said that every report the Council received was carefully assessed and, where appropriate, investigated in line with the Council’s enforcement policies.