Baroness Wilcox of Newport

The Department has funded a pilot version of the system led by Manchester City Council since 2021, which now covers nine authorities and around 1% of the national cashless parking market. The pilot has been successful.

The Department has funded a pilot version of the system led by Manchester City Council since 2021, which now covers nine authorities and around 1% of the national cashless parking market. The pilot has been successful.

The last Parliament saw the biggest increase in economic inactivity in nearly 40 years. The employment rate remains 1.4%pts lower than before the pandemic. Only one in six people escape low pay over the course of a decade.

The UK is the only G7 country not to have a higher employment rate than pre-COVID. We are reforming employment support, bringing together Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service. The new jobs and careers service will transform our ability to support more people into work and help those on low pay to increase their earnings, which will in turn be vital to supporting our wider economic growth mission.

We will set out our plans in more detail through the forthcoming White Paper to Get Britain Working.

A recent economic assessment undertaken by Oxford Economics, commissioned by Western Gateway on behalf of HMG, forecasts that the West of England and South Wales economies have the potential to grow by 1.4% a year between 2024 and 2029, slightly ahead of the UK excluding London, and if fully recognised, also ahead of other comparable growth areas such as the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and the Scottish Central Belt.

HMG is also currently undertaking the consultation phase of our new industrial strategy delivering a 10-year plan for growth across the UK and would encourage all regions to participate to be part of a modern and ambitious economic vision for the country.

HMG has already announced the Council of Nations and Regions, which will support cross-border collaboration by bringing together the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with the heads of the devolved governments and the mayors of combined authorities, combined country authorities and the Mayor of London, to consider shared opportunities and lessons on best practice across the UK.