Lucy Powell

I thank the hon. Member for those points. First, I welcome her as one of the new Members of this House. We work alongside each other on the House of Commons Commission and many other boards of this place—too many to mention. She certainly has taken to this place incredibly well, and she is making a mark with what she is doing. The hon. Lady is right. She is describing the absolutely woeful and scandalous legacy that we inherited in local government funding, children’s services, education and other vital local services that people rely on. We are beginning the work to turn that around. She was right to point out the record settlement for local government announced in the Budget and set out by the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution this week, with an increase of 3.5% on average for local authorities. She will also be aware that we announced an extra £1 billion for special educational needs. The hon. Lady is right that we also need to change how we are doing things. That is why the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which will make much-needed change to our children’s services, was presented this week. It is only when we work at a place-based level that we can really get the early intervention and support we need to drive down demand and increase outcomes for some of our most vulnerable children. I hope that she will welcome our plans going forward.