Written Statements

Monday 28th November 2016 Written Statements

Monday 28 November 2016

First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund

Monday 28th November 2016 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Karen Bradley)]

I am today publishing the list of successful bidders to the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund.

Cathedrals are powerful symbols of Britain’s shared history and are important not only for their architecture, history and religious learning but also as a place for local communities to come together. This fund is helping to ensure that they are in a good state of repair and preserved for future generations.

Decisions on funding allocations are taken by an expert panel, which considers the grant applications against the published criteria for the scheme and decides which cathedrals should receive funding. The panel is chaired by Sir Paul Ruddock and includes senior figures from English Heritage, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Church of England and the Catholic Church, as well as church architects, architectural historians and grant giving experts.

I am pleased to confirm that the panel has decided to allocate funding of almost £5.5 million to 24 cathedrals. These are as follows:

Roads Funding

Monday 28th November 2016 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Transport (Chris Grayling)]

Following the autumn statement on 23 November, I am today setting out further details of road investment.

This new funding of £1.3 billion over this Parliament will help support infrastructure projects on roads, with £1.1 billion for the local road network and £220 million to relieve congestion on the strategic road network.

For the majority of the £1.1 billion there are three goals, and those seeking funding for improvements must fulfil at least one of those goals:

To ease congestion and provide upgrades on important national, regional or local routes;

To unlock economic and job creation opportunities; or

To enable the delivery of vital new housing developments to meet the needs of a generation of would-be home owners.

This is an essential part of ensuring we have a country which works for everyone.

To ensure that work can start quickly to help continue improvements to the country’s roads, £70 million of funding from the Pothole Action Fund will be allocated by formula to local highway authorities in 2017-18. This funding is on top of the £6 billion the Government are already allocating to councils in England up to 2021 to help improve the condition of the local road network.

I am also announcing funding for further development of business cases for six schemes from the large local major projects fund in addition to the six announced in the autumn statement, as well as approval to start construction of the Lincoln Eastern bypass.

The six schemes included in the autumn statement were:

Suffolk Energy Gateway new road;

A1079/A164 Jocks Lodge Junction;

Shrewsbury North West Relief Road;

Tees Valley East-West connections;

Sheffield Mass Transit Scheme;

Warrington Waterfront Western link.



A further six schemes will receive funding to develop business cases:

Sheffield City Region Innovation Corridor;

Manchester Metrolink airport extension to Terminal 2;

Melton Mowbray Eastern Distributor Road;

New Tees Crossing;

A500 Dualling (Cheshire);

South Coventry Link Road.

This means that development and feasibility work can proceed to the next stage. It does not mean every scheme is certain to go ahead and it remains a competitive process. However, many of these will be among the next set of projects that we build in this country.

Following the confirmation of the National Roads Fund, we are publishing reports on five strategic studies into major improvements on our national road network. On the back of these, the Government are committing to taking forward major improvements at three points on the national network:

Upgrading the A66 to dual carriageway, creating the first new all-dual trans-Pennine link since 1971;

Improving the M60 around Manchester—the second busiest road in the country;

Building a new Oxford-Cambridge expressway, to link up three of England’s fastest growing cities.

Two further studies, into further upgrading of the A1 in the east of England and building a trans-Pennine tunnel, are also reporting. Further economic analysis is to follow, with particular reference to emerging housing plans, before taking decisions on next steps. A sixth study, on the M25 South West Quadrant, will report in 2017.

In addition to bringing forward major projects, we have also announced a £220 million package of smaller improvements, which will be quick to deliver and will tackle congestion in the here-and-now. This includes improvements to the A69, further enhancing trans-Pennine connectivity.

I am also announcing approval for the £95 million Lincoln Eastern bypass with a contribution from the Department for Transport of £50 million. This scheme will reduce congestion in the city centre and encourage planned housing growth in the area. Construction will start in the New Year.

In order to ensure that our road network is safer for all road users, £175 million of the additional funding for local roads will be used to upgrade some of England’s most dangerous roads, where the risk of fatal and serious collisions is highest. The Road Safety Foundation’s analysis of the safety performance of the country’s major road network highlights where investment should be targeted. Therefore, my Department will be inviting proposals from local authorities responsible for the 50 highest risk roads.

This demonstrates that the Government are serious about investing in the infrastructure the country needs to drive economic growth both locally and nationally and to ensure that all road users have a well maintained and safe network which is fit for the future.

Further information will be placed in the House Library setting out more detail and the breakdown of funding that the Department for Transport is allocating to local highway authorities for 2017-18.

It can also be viewed online at: www.parliament.uk.

[HCWS286]

Social Security Benefit and Pension Up-rating 2017-18

Monday 28th November 2016 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Welfare Delivery (Caroline Nokes)]

Today I am announcing the proposed social security benefit and pension rates for 2017-18.1 have attached the table of rates to this statement and I will place a copy of the proposed benefit and pension rates 2017-18 in the House Library. The annual up-rating of benefits will take place for state pensions and most other benefits in the first full week of the tax year. In 2017, this will be the week beginning 10 April. A corresponding provision will be made in Northern Ireland.

The annual up-rating process takes into account a variety of measures:

The basic and new state pension will be increased by the Government’s ‘triple lock’ manifesto commitment, meaning that they will be up-rated in line with the highest of prices, earnings or 2.5%.

The pension credit standard minimum guarantee will be up-rated in line with the annual rise in earnings, as reflected in average weekly earnings (AWE).

Benefits linked to the additional costs of disability, and for carers, are increased by the annual rise in prices, as reflected in the consumer price index (CPI). A number of other elements—including non-dependant deductions (NDDs)—will also be up-rated in line with prices. The majority of working-age benefits have been frozen at their 2015-16 levels for four years under the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

The list of proposed benefit and pension rates also includes a change to the carer’s allowance earnings rule, which will be increased for 2017-18 from £110 to £116 a week.

[HCWS287]