Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local planning authorities do not have an adopted local development framework in place.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Localism Act helped abolish the Labour Government’s top-down Regional Strategies and strengthened the role of Local Plans (complemented by neighbourhood planning) in determining where new development should and should not go. Our locally-led planning system now asks councils to have up-to-date plans in place, for elected councillors to take decisions, sometimes challenging, in consultation with local residents.
We have provided support for all local authorities in plan-making, both directly and in conjunction with the Planning Inspectorate and Planning Advisory Service. This includes engagement from expert officials to support authorities in resolving challenging issues and preparing effectively for examination, and by providing direct support on technical matters via the Planning Advisory Service.
The National Planning Policy Framework strongly encourages all areas to get Local Plans in place quickly as the best way of determining what development is appropriate and where; councils with a Local Plan are in a strong position to stop unwanted speculative development.
Plan production has increased significantly since 2010: 79% of local authorities have now published a Local Plan, and 59% have an adopted Local Plan. In addition, there are high numbers of Plans at examination. A breakdown by local authority can be found online at:
www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/planningsystem/localplans
To place this in context, six years after the Labour Government's 2004 Planning Act, by May 2010, only one in six local planning authorities had an adopted Core Strategy, reflecting how the torturous regional planning process slowed down development and stymied local plan-making and local decision-making.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local planning authorities do not have an adopted local development framework in place.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Localism Act helped abolish the Labour Government’s top-down Regional Strategies and strengthened the role of Local Plans (complemented by neighbourhood planning) in determining where new development should and should not go. Our locally-led planning system now asks councils to have up-to-date plans in place, for elected councillors to take decisions, sometimes challenging, in consultation with local residents.
We have provided support for all local authorities in plan-making, both directly and in conjunction with the Planning Inspectorate and Planning Advisory Service. This includes engagement from expert officials to support authorities in resolving challenging issues and preparing effectively for examination, and by providing direct support on technical matters via the Planning Advisory Service.
The National Planning Policy Framework strongly encourages all areas to get Local Plans in place quickly as the best way of determining what development is appropriate and where; councils with a Local Plan are in a strong position to stop unwanted speculative development.
Plan production has increased significantly since 2010: 79% of local authorities have now published a Local Plan, and 59% have an adopted Local Plan. In addition, there are high numbers of Plans at examination. A breakdown by local authority can be found online at:
www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/planningsystem/localplans
To place this in context, six years after the Labour Government's 2004 Planning Act, by May 2010, only one in six local planning authorities had an adopted Core Strategy, reflecting how the torturous regional planning process slowed down development and stymied local plan-making and local decision-making.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many developments on designated urban green space have been approved under the National Planning Policy Framework, for which a local planning authority has not to set aside a five year supply of housing.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This information is not centrally held.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which projects have received how much funding under the Textile Growth Programme to date.
Answered by Greg Clark
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills does not hold the data in the format requested.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the key objectives are of the Textile Growth Programme.
Answered by Greg Clark
The key objectives of the Textile Growth Programme are to:
· Stimulate private sector enterprise by investing in workforce skills, design and innovation capacity and modern plant and machinery in small and medium sized enterprises.
· Strengthen local supply chains, support reshoring of textile manufacturing and promote sustainable growth.
· Create or safeguard over 1,000 private sector jobs at all skill levels in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to increase textile manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Companies in the textiles manufacturing sector can access help and advice to grow their business through ‘GREAT” www.greatbusiness.gov.uk or www.gov.uk : eligible businesses can gain support in areas such as starting, running, funding, staffing and expanding a business.
BIS has provided targeted support to the textiles sector in a number of ways. Firstly, £12.8 million has been made available from the Regional Growth Fund to support the Textiles Growth Programme, which is focused on creating and safeguarding 1,020 jobs in textiles by supporting capital projects, skills training and research and development in the North of England.
Growth Deals will allow Local Enterprise Partnerships with a textiles manufacturing presence in their regions to prioritise the financial support available (£2bn a year for 6 years from 2015/16 to 2020/2) for proposals that target this sector.
The Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) provides grants and loans to successful projects demonstrating real ambition to create globally competitive supply chains. £3.9m of AMSCI funding has been awarded to C & J Antich Ltd to pioneer a technique for weaving Aluminium Dioxide thread into 3D shapes to form the basis for the production of ‘reinforced aluminium’.
Additional funding of £100 million for AMSCI 2014 was announced in April. The new round is open to applications from all organisations operating as part of a manufacturing supply chain including textile manufacturers.
The Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) offers expert advice and grant support to eligible manufacturing companies throughout England. MAS delivers a range of support to manufacturing companies; including those in the textiles sector; ranging from company specific diagnostics, workforce up skilling and grant funding for specific projects to achieve the company’s growth ambitions. Since January 2012 MAS have supported 334 companies in the textiles and leather sector to deliver 417 company specific projects, a further 109 projects are due for completion this financial year. 1521 business diagnostics have been undertaken with companies in the textiles and leather sector.
As part of the Sector Mentoring Fund, Manchester Economic Solutions Ltd was awarded £77,500 in January to deliver Mentor Tex, which is a textile sector mentoring programme concentrated in key textiles regions such as Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Yorkshire. The scheme has attracted interest from a wide range of textiles businesses, with 32 mentees and 13 mentors already signed up and other in the pipeline. To date 12 mentoring relationships are already in place and we expect to meet project targets by the end of the summer.
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) can also help the domestic supply chain for textiles exploit opportunities for exporting into new markets overseas. We are also helping raise skills levels through an unprecedented focus on vocational training, including Higher Level Apprenticeships which will provide for higher level skills and beyond into postgraduate level and professional qualifications.
Finally, the textiles sector, particularly technical textiles, continues to have access to opportunities for technology transfer and the exchange of knowledge provided by the Knowledge Transfer Network.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps his Department is taking to boost textile manufacturing in the UK.
Answered by Priti Patel
This Government is committed to strong and sustainable growth that is balanced across the economy. Manufacturing, including textile manufacturing, is a vital part of this. Textile manufacturing has received direct support from the Government; including awarding £12.8m of grant funding to the Textiles Growth Programme through the Regional Growth Fund, which is being used to support capital investment, training, and research and development in the textile industry.
Textile manufacturing, and indeed all manufacturing, in the UK is also being supported by various measures announced in the most recent Budget. This includes increasing the Annual Investment Allowance to £500,000 until 31 December 2015, raising the rate of the R&D tax credit payable to loss making SMEs to 14.5%, and the package of measures to reduce manufacturers’ energy bills and improve UK competitiveness.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what support the Government will provide to promote National Voter Registration Day in 2015.
Answered by Greg Clark
Government welcomes initiatives that promote democratic engagement and increase electoral registration such as National Voter Registration Day.
The Government works with many organisations to encourage people to register to vote.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of independent sector treatment centres.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Department has not carried out a recent formal assessment of the effectiveness and value for money of independent sector treatment centres (ISTCs). Since 1 April 2013 remaining ISTC contracts have been transferred to NHS England. There are six remaining contracts, two of which expire on 31 March 2015 and a further two expiring 31 October 2015. While NHS England continues to make monthly payments to ISTC providers under the remaining contracts and maintains on-going monthly reporting of value paid to providers, day to day management of the contracts is carried out by local commissioners who have responsibility for budgets and driving value from the contracts.
As three of the contracts have guaranteed minimum amounts paid to providers the payment to providers can be greater than the sum of the contract price, multiplied by activity, for each type of activity delivered. Reporting for the latest month of activity analysed, May 2014, shows a 99% value being achieved in that month with the shortfall arising from two contracts covering elective care activity in the South West and Manchester.
Asked by: David Ward (Liberal Democrat - Bradford East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of drivers who accumulated over 12 points on their licence were disqualified in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
An analysis of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)'s records carried out on 3 July 2014 showed that 93% of drivers who had accumulated 12 or more penalty points were disqualified. Figures for the proportion of drivers who had accumulated 12 or more points and were also disqualified are not available for previous years.