Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has provided recent support to the Gaelic Athletic Association for (a) the redevelopment of Pairc na hEireann and (b) its other activities.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The majority of support for grassroots sport is delivered through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England. Since 2019 Sport England has provided over £17,000 of funding to support Gaelic football.
The redevelopment of Páirc na hÉireann was funded by Highways England, recognising that nearby roadworks impacted one of the site’s pitches.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with National Highways on the (a) M42 junction improvement scheme and (b) related works on the Gaelic Athletic Association facilities at Pairc na hEireann.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways remain committed to delivering the improvements at the M42 Junction 6 and expect this scheme to be opened for traffic early in Roads Period 3 (2025-2030), following delivery challenges which revised the original open for traffic date.
National Highways have also been working in co-ordination with Warwickshire Gaelic Athletic Association to provide a number of new facilities. The new all-weather pitch and the new natural pitch are now ready for use and National Highways are on track to complete the remaining works by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the M42 Junction improvement scheme on the Gaelic Athletic Association facilities at Pairc na hEireann.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
National Highways remain committed to delivering the improvements at the M42 Junction 6 and expect this scheme to be opened for traffic early in Roads Period 3 (2025-2030), following delivery challenges which revised the original open for traffic date.
National Highways have also been working in co-ordination with Warwickshire Gaelic Athletic Association to provide a number of new facilities. The new all-weather pitch and the new natural pitch are now ready for use and National Highways are on track to complete the remaining works by Spring 2024.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of section 42 enquiries made by local authorities in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside and (c) St Helens.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the number of section 42 enquiries commenced by each local authority is published annually by NHS Digital via the Safeguarding Adults Collection (SAC). This data has been published since 2014.
To determine the number of section 42 enquiries made by local authorities in the North West, Merseyside, and St Helens for any year since 2014, this data can be found in the SAC via the NHS England website. This is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/safeguarding-adults
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people are on zero hour contracts in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Individuals on zero-hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce – around 3.6% for the period April – June 2023, according to the ONS. The share of the workforce in the North West on a zero-hours contract is 3.5%. For this small group, a zero-hours contract may be the type of contract which works best for them. Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market, for both employers where there is not a constant demand for staff and for individuals who may need to balance work around other commitments such as childcare and study.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are on the organ donation waiting list in St Helens North constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of 30 October 2023, the number of people on the waiting list in St Helens North is nine.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to support local authorities with housing vulnerable homeless families in (a) St Helens and (b) the North West.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
We are providing over £1 billion through the Homelessness Prevention Grant over three years, including a £109 million top-up this year. This funding can be used to offer financial support for people to find a new home or to work with landlords to prevent evictions, or to provide temporary accommodation where needed. St Helens Borough Council received £474,880 for 2023/24 and has been allocated £375,204 for 2024/25. The North West received £28,066,133 for 2023/24 and has been allocated £21,479,278 for 2024/25. The full list of allocations for local authorities in England is available here.
In addition, in his Autumn Statement the Chancellor announced Government is increasing the Local Housing Allowance to the 30th percentile of market rents from April. This will mean 1.6 million low-income households will be around £800 a year better off on average in 2024-25 and will make it more affordable for families on benefits to rent properties in the private rented sector. Autumn Statement also announced additional UK-wide funding of £120 million to help councils address Ukraine and homelessness pressures in 2024/25. We will announce local authority level allocations of this new funding in due course.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health ambulances are in service in (a) St Helens North constituency and (b) the North West.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England advises that the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) currently has two mental health vehicles in operation, with one of these in the Cheshire and Merseyside area.
As part of our £150 million capital investment in mental health pathways, NWAS expects seven Mental Health Response Vehicles (MHRVs) to be in operation in two phases. Five MHRVs are expected to be delivered early in 2024, and a further two MHRVs are expected in April 2024. Three of the MHRVs are expected to be deployed in Cheshire and Merseyside.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of reintroducing funding to clean up contaminated brownfield land.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local Authorities have a statutory responsibility under Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to inspect their areas from ‘time to time’ to identify and require the remediation of any land.
The Government recognises that in particularly severe or complex cases Landfill Tax can act as a prohibitive financial barrier to the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated land. My Department held a Call for Evidence on this issue and published a Government response in March this year. As a result of this evidence, we are currently developing a grant scheme to fund costs of Landfill Tax to public bodies in England, where such costs are acting as a determinative barrier to the remediation and redevelopment of contaminated land.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) hotel rooms and (b) similar accommodation are occupied by asylum seekers in St Helens.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Data on the number of supported asylum seekers residing in St Helens (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)