Bim Afolami

The Government recognises the importance of transport for rural areas and is committed to improving access to services that provide vital connectivity.

To support local bus services in England outside London, £200 million of Bus Services Operator’s Grant (BSOG) has been paid by the Department directly to operators so far during the pandemic. £43 million of BSOG is committed directly to local transport authorities (LTAs) so that they can subsidise socially necessary bus services, of which Hertfordshire County Council received £1,211,630 in the 2020-21 funding period.

On top of this, to improve current bus services, or restore lost services where needed, the Government has paid an extra £30 million to LTAs in 2020/21. Hertfordshire County Council met the funding requirements and received an allocation of £401,174.

Additionally, in March 2021 we awarded funding to 17 pilot projects through the £20 million Rural Mobility Fund scheme to trial innovative, demand-responsive solutions to transport challenges that rural and suburban areas often face.

The Government takes all necessary steps to protect everyone on our roads through road safety laws. We expect all motorists, including those driving HGVs or travelling for work, to respect and comply with those laws. The Police take all necessary steps to enforce the law, ensuring the safety of all road users and residents in local areas.

Local highway authorities have a range of powers to manage their local networks, including powers to make Traffic Regulation Orders which can impose width and height restrictions and set rules around which types of vehicles can use which roads.

The government is supportive of the need to protect communities from the adverse effects of aircraft noise. However, noise from general transport, including aircraft, is not included as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as we believe it is not practical for local authorities to enforce these rules. Aviation noise is better managed through specific government policies tailored to individual noise sources, and we believe there are sufficient mechanisms in place to protect communities from the effects of aircraft noise.

The safety of passengers and staff has been a priority for the Department throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Government has published Safer Travel guidance which sets out steps operators can take to identify risks arising from coronavirus. From 19 July most restrictions have been lifted, including the requirement for social distancing on trains. Within the context of that guidance, it is for train operators to decide how best to manage their services and rolling stock.

The Government does not provide any specific advice or support to local authorities with regard to this issue. It is for local authorities to determine their own local measures and exemptions as part of their local plan submitted to the Government.

We are also supporting the development of cleaner alternatives that affected businesses can switch to by doubling the funding provided for the energy innovation programme, accelerating the design and production of clean energy technologies.

We are providing an additional £79 million in 2021/22 for children and young people’s mental health services to allow around 22,500 more children and young people to access community health services, 2,000 more to access eating disorder services, and a faster increase in the coverage of mental health support teams in schools and colleges.

We are also providing £13 million to ensure young people aged 18 to 25 years old are supported with tailored mental health support, helping bridge the gap between children’s and adult services.

These investments are in addition to the commitments of the NHS Long Term Plan, through which mental health services will receive an extra £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24, allowing 345,000 more children and young people access to National Health Service-funded mental health services.

NHS England and NHS Improvement refreshed guidance on visiting restrictions for maternity services on 15 April 2021, asking all National Health Service providers to urgently complete any further action needed to ensure partners can accompany women to antenatal appointments. All maternity units should be allowing partners and support people to attend all scans and appointments.

All maternity units are allowing at least one birth partner who has no symptoms of coronavirus present with them during any type of labour and birth except some urgent emergency births or where a general anaesthetic is used.

Evaluation of the latest national campaign on abdominal cancer symptoms which ran between November 2020 and January 2021 is currently underway.

The UK helped found the GPE and we have been its largest donor, having contributed $1.6 billion since 2002. Since its creation, the GPE has contributed to the largest expansion of primary and lower secondary schooling in history.

Global education will be a key focus of the UK’s G7 Presidency and we call on all donors to step up with ambitious pledges to help the GPE secure its target of up to $5 billion. No decision has been taken yet on the UK’s next contribution to GPE, and details will follow in due course.

The UK is committed to tackling climate change, which is why we bid to host COP26 in Glasgow in partnership with Italy. Through diplomatic effort, in both bilateral and multilateral fora, and working with governments, businesses, and civil societies, we are calling for all countries to bring forward long-term climate strategies and are leading the world's response to tackle climate change. As the first country to legislate to end our contribution to global warming, the UK is leading by example as a global force for good. We have also committed to doubling the UK's International Climate Finance funding to at least £11.6 billion between 2021/22 and 2025/26. Humanity faces the twin threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. These are two sides of the same coin; it is impossible to solve one without fixing the other. The conventions on biological diversity (COP15) and climate (COP26) provide excellent opportunities to take effective action on climate change and biodiversity loss and deliver a step change on both of these global crises.

We will support the adoption of ambitious and practical targets on nature at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity Summit (COP15) in China next year, strengthened by coherent implementation mechanisms that will deliver a new global biodiversity framework that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge. Nature is also a top priority for our upcoming Presidency of COP26 next year and we are pushing for tangible and ambitious commitments from partner governments to champion nature and nature-based solutions. Given this, and the multi-faceted benefits of nature-based solutions, we are working with the Chinese Government, who are hosting COP15, to press for mutually reinforcing outcomes at the two Conferences. In addition, we will continue leading global ambition on conserving endangered species, following our hosting of the international Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference in 2018.

Decisions concerning the pricing and availability of loans, including application requirements, remain commercial decisions for lenders and the Government does not seek to intervene. For individuals applying for new credit, it remains important that lenders are able to carry out proper checks to ensure that they are not lending in an unaffordable way, especially if, for example, a borrower’s income had not yet returned to the level it was at pre Covid-19. Where an individual has been refused a mortgage with one provider we would also urge them to shop around, recognising lenders do not all take the same approach to assessing affordability.

To?give?the?devolved administrations?the?upfront?certainty to plan and deliver their coronavirus response, the UK Government have guaranteed they will receive at least £14bn in additional funding this year on top of their Spring Budget?funding.

The Barnett consequentials associated with the funding the UK Government allocated to English local authorities in June 2020 will contribute towards this guarantee.

As part of the Government’s support for businesses during COVID-19, businesses were given the option to defer their VAT payments between 20 March and 30 June in order to manage their cash flow through the initial stages of the pandemic. Approximately 500,000 businesses deferred £30 billion in VAT. Approximately £16 billion of VAT was received into the Exchequer covering the deferral period, as some businesses continued to pay VAT as normal.

The recent legislative change gives HMRC second preferential creditor status for certain taxes. This change is designed to ensure that when a business enters insolvency, more of the taxes paid in good faith by its employees and customers, but held temporarily by the business, go to fund public services as intended, rather than be distributed to other creditors.

This change is not expected to have a significant impact on financial institutions, the lending market or wider economy. This measure is forecast to raise up to £220 million a year. To put this into perspective, bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses alone in 2019 was £57 billion.

This reform will have no direct impact on VAT deferral as it only applies to businesses that become insolvent. Like HMRC’s Time to Pay scheme, the VAT deferral supports businesses with their cashflow pressures, making them less likely to be insolvent.

The recent legislative change gives HMRC second preferential creditor status for certain taxes. This change is designed to ensure that when a business enters insolvency, more of the taxes paid in good faith by its employees and customers, but held temporarily by the business, go to fund public services as intended, rather than be distributed to other creditors.

This change is not expected to have a significant impact on financial institutions, the lending market or wider economy. This measure is forecast to raise up to £220 million a year. To put this into perspective, bank lending to small and medium-sized businesses alone in 2019 was £57 billion.

This reform will have no direct impact on VAT deferral as it only applies to businesses that become insolvent. Like HMRC’s Time to Pay scheme, the VAT deferral supports businesses with their cashflow pressures, making them less likely to be insolvent.

This Government is fully committed to supporting the businesses and communities that make our town centres successful as the nation responds to the impacts of the Covid-19 outbreak. Our package of support for businesses through this period totals over £352 billion including business grants, the coronavirus loan schemes and Job Retention Scheme, as well as deferral of income tax payments. This builds on major investment and action from Government to level up opportunity and prosperity across all areas of the country, including through the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, the £220 million UK-wide Community Renewal Fund and the £3.6 billion Towns Fund

Our ambition is to ensure that town centres continue to flourish now and in the future. Therefore, on 15 July, Government published the Build Back Better High Streets Strategy. The Strategy sets out Government's long-term plan to support the evolution and regeneration of all high streets across every part of the UK into thriving places to work, visit and live. The plan sets out how we intend to support places to achieve this vision, focussing on five key priorities: breathing new life into empty buildings; supporting high street businesses; improving the public realm; creating safe and clean spaces; and celebrating pride in local communities

We know the pandemic has significantly impacted the hospitality and retail sectors. We have therefore launched the first-ever hospitality strategy to support the reopening, recovery and resilience of England's pubs, restaurants, cafes and nightclubs. It is a forward-looking strategy for a sector that contributes significantly to the economy and plays a leading role in high streets and city centres across the country. The retail sector remains a key part of the high street. Physical retail will remain an important route to consumers, we continue to work with the sector on its long-term strategic needs to ensure businesses are profitable, resilient, innovative, and support local economies in socially and environmentally responsible ways.

Currently, the Building Regulations require that new homes are built to a standard of 125 litres of water used per person per day, or 110 litres per person per day if required by the local authority

In 2019 DEFRA launched a consultation and call for evidence on further measures to reduce personal water use. The consultation sought views on labelling water-using products, building regulations for water efficiency, metering and behaviour change.

In July of this year, Government published its summary of responses to the consultation, and a Written Ministerial Statement, which set out a number of measures that Government is taking to support water efficiency in homes.

The summary of responses to the consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/water-conservation-measures-to-reduce-personal-water-use

The Written Ministerial Statement can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2021-07-01/hcws140

In this year's Settlement, the Government made available an increase in Core Spending Power in England from £49 billion in 2020-21 to up to £51.3 billion in 2021-22, a 4.6% increase in cash terms. This recognises the resources councils need to meet their pressures and maintain current service levels.

This saw Luton Borough Councils Core Spending Power increase from £154.7 million in 20/21 to £161.78 million in 21/22, a 4.5% increase.

The Government also allocated more than £12 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic, with more than £6 billion of this un-ringfenced, recognising that councils are best placed to deal with local issues.

Luton Borough Council received £19.4 million in additional Covid funding in 20/21 and saw this figure increase to £26.3 million in 21/22.

We have recently published figures for emergency funding for local government in 2020-21 and additional support in 2021-22 online and can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-emergency-funding-for-local-government.

To further support Luton Borough Council, the Secretary of State agreed to provide additional financial support, on an exceptional basis. This support takes the form of a flexibility to use capital resources to fund the revenue budget, equating to additional support of up to £35 million in 2020/21.

The Secretary of State is also minded to give permission for the flexibility to be applied to a total not exceeding £14 million in 2021/22, subject to the outcome of an external assurance review.

The legislation requiring landlords to provide six months’ notice to their tenants in most circumstances, apart from the most egregious cases, will be in force from 29 August 2020 until 31 March 2021. Notices served on and before 28 August are not affected by these changes.

If a landlord serves a second notice of the same type under these new requirements, both notices will stand, but it is good practice to withdraw an earlier notice if a second notice is issued.

The Government has committed to improving the assets of community value scheme which was introduced through the Localism Act 2011. As part of this, we will assess the overall the effectiveness of the regulations for local authorities, asset owners and voluntary and community groups to ensure that any legislation the Government introduces will meet our objective of supporting communities to protect those assets that are under threat.

Levels of compliance with social distancing by criminal and civil courts are high. HMCTS are following PHE guidance to ensure that our courts and tribunals support proper social distancing measures for everyone who uses and works in them.

Working with the judiciary, we have agreed how to prioritise the most urgent cases. For example, in crime we are prioritising cases in custody, in family we are dealing with cases to protect vulnerable children such as Emergency Protection Orders, Interim Care Orders and Issue Resolution Hearings in care proceedings.

With the judiciary, we have also moved to hear many more cases remotely by telephone or video wherever possible and appropriate – so that people are able to stay at home.

Jury trials are currently paused for a short time to put appropriate arrangements in place to maintain social distancing for jurors.

I also want to thank the judiciary for their continued work in courts and tribunals to keep the wheels of justice turning and keeping the public safe during these unprecedented times.

We believe that that children who offend should have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and move ahead positively with their lives while ensuring ensure the public are adequately protected.

The criminal records disclosure regime is designed to help employers make informed recruitment decisions through the disclosure of appropriate and relevant information, particularly for roles involving children and vulnerable adults.

We have noted the Supreme Court judgment in P and others and my department is working closely with the Home Office to reform the existing regime.