Covid-19: Levelling-up Agenda
Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
I reassure the noble Baroness that funds from the £400 million brownfield fund announced in the Budget will unlock up to 24,000 high-quality homes across the country, with 90% allocated immediately to seven mayoral combined authorities to allow them to begin delivering projects that will benefit local areas.
Baroness Verma (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that, post Covid, there will be cities like mine—Leicester—that will be looking for investors to come and invest, given the loss of jobs? Does she agree that digital platforms are the key to getting most of our young people skilled? Will she encourage businesses, particularly disruptors from the digital platforms, to come and look at cities like Leicester to skill up and invest in young people and others?
Baroness Penn (Con)
I absolutely agree with my noble friend, and one of the things that the Government are doing to support digital skills is setting up a limited series of digital boot camp trailblazers to support local regions and employers to fill in-demand vacancies. We will look to roll out a national programme next year that will learn the lessons from this.
Areas with Additional Public Health Restrictions: Economic Support
Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, my understanding is that there is ongoing communication with local leaders in all the areas affected by local lockdowns. I am sure we can always do better, and we will continue to strive to do so. The noble Baroness is absolutely right that the economy in different parts of the country is incredibly different, so we will work with local leaders to try to reflect that in our response. We have provided some national measures to support jobs, but there will also need to be a local response in areas that have the severest restrictions.
Baroness Verma (Con)
My Lords, will my noble friend look at cities such as my own, Leicester, where we have been in a second lockdown since June and where sole traders and small businesses have really struggled to access the packages that the Government have generously put forward? They have just failed to be able to get the money and are really struggling. We have been in lockdown for a very long time in Leicester, and those businesses will go out of business if there is no support, so will my noble friend be willing to have a meeting with some of those small businesses and sole traders, just to see if there are things that they have missed out on?
Baroness Penn (Con)
My Lords, I will take that request back to the Treasury. I would be happy to meet local leaders, but it may be that someone else might be slightly more appropriate. There may be small businesses and sole traders that feel they might not qualify for the support, many of which actually would qualify for bounce-back loans. A further piece of reassurance that can be given to them is the change in repayment terms for those loans, bringing down the monthly repayments, should they wish to take advantage of that. I also emphasise to those local businesses that local councils in areas such as Leicester have been given funding to provide support for local businesses that might not meet one set of criteria or another but still rightly expect some kind of support from the Government. I urge them to engage with councils and ask how they can access that additional funding provided by the Government.
Net Zero Review
Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn (Con)
There are ongoing discussions with all the devolved Administrations on the issue of climate change, and I shall be happy to write to the noble Baroness with further details of those discussions.
Baroness Verma (Con)
My Lords, I refer noble Lords to my interests in the register, and I congratulate the Government on putting the green economy at the forefront of the work that we are doing. However, will my noble friend bear in mind the fact that industrial cities such as Leicester will need a lot of work to be able to produce the net-zero targets, especially as there are ever-diminishing green spaces in the city?
Baroness Penn (Con)
One of the things that the Net Zero Review is looking at is the role of technology and innovation that might help cities that could struggle to meet the net-zero target to make further progress towards it.
G20: Debt Cancellation
Debate between Baroness Verma and Baroness Penn
Baroness Penn
As I said in my response to the noble Lord, Lord Livermore, we will continue to work with the G20 and look at the extension of the debt service suspension initiative. One of the things that makes that initiative so ground-breaking is that it is the first time that China has signed up to a multilateral agreement of this nature, and as it is the largest lender to some of these countries, that will have a big impact for them.
Baroness Verma (Con) [V]
My Lords, will my noble friend ensure that funding through DfID and FCO is directed at supporting economic recovery through an economic recovery plan, whereby British businesses are supported in investing and generating employment?
Baroness Penn
We will absolutely ensure that our commitment to 0.7% of GNI supports economic recovery in the countries most affected by this pandemic and also draw on the expertise and skills of British businesses and investors across the world to support jobs.