Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the reasons why the level of unemployment in Wolverhampton North East constituency is more than twice the national average; and what steps his Department is taking to lower the rate of unemployment in Wolverhampton North East constituency.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The unemployment rate in Wolverhampton North East is less than half it was in 2010. At 7.1%, it is down from 12.1% a year ago and 16.4% in 2010. There are 5,100 more people in work in Wolverhampton North East than in 2010.
Jobcentre staff are doing an effective job helping people into work and 90% of Jobseekers end their claim within a year. We are proud of this record but not complacent. That is why we are currently introducing targeted support for young people, people with disabilities and the long-term unemployed.
Reforming the welfare system is key to helping people into work. Under the last Labour Government, some benefit claimants lost £1 for every £1 they earned meaning it didn’t pay to work and people were left trapped on benefits. Under the new system, people benefit from every extra hour worked, so work really pays and people have the opportunity to become more financially secure and develop skills to access greater opportunities.
Only by securing a strong economy can we create the jobs people need to be financially secure. That’s why we’ve kept public spending under control while acting to boost productivity over the long-term by increasing the National Productivity Investment Fund by £8 billion. As part of locally specific support for the West Midlands, we are providing up to £4.7m for a trial in the region to help boost the prospects of disadvantaged individuals getting jobs and progress the careers of those on low incomes.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans his Department has to increase Government funding for adult social care.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
At Spring Budget 2017 we gave councils an additional £2 billion to fund adult social care. As a result, local government will be able to increase spending on social care in real terms this year and in each of the next two years of the Parliament.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) Wolverhampton North East constituency qualified for (i) working tax credits and (ii) child tax credits in each financial year from 2009-10.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The number of families in receipt of child and working tax credit in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) Wolverhampton North East constituency is published by HMRC and is available on the GOV website
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/personal-tax-credits-statistics. The results have been reproduced in the table below.
| Families in receipt of tax credits from 2009-10 to 2015-16 (in 000’s) | ||||||
| 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 |
Working tax credit |
| ||||||
Wolverhampton | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
Wolverhampton North East constituency | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 |
Child tax credit |
| ||||||
Wolverhampton | 18.5 | 18.6 | 17.0 | 12.7 | 12.7 | 12.9 | 13.2 |
Wolverhampton North East constituency | 6.8 | 7.2 | 6.5 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 |
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has carried out an impact assessment on the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the West Midlands regional economy.
Answered by David Gauke
The government has provided a guarantee for all European Structural and Investment Fund projects signed before the UK’s departure from the European Union. Officials are beginning the longer-term work of considering how best to support our regions following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
The government will publish a Midlands Engine Strategy shortly. This will set out plans to address productivity barriers across the region. The Midlands will also benefit from £392 million of Local Growth Fund allocations.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings he has had with (a) business, (b) local government and (c) trade union representatives (i) in and (ii) from the West Midlands to discuss the effect of the UK leaving the EU on the regional economy.
Answered by David Gauke
Treasury Ministers meet with a wide variety of organisations as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis. The government will publish a Midlands Engine Strategy shortly. This will set out plans to address productivity barriers across the region. The Midlands will also benefit from £392 million of Local Growth Fund allocations. The government has provided a guarantee for all European Structural and Investment Fund projects signed before the UK’s departure from the European Union. Officials are beginning the longer-term work of considering how best to support our regions following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 8.44 of the White Paper, entitled The United Kingdom's exit from and new partnership with the European Union, Cm9417, published in February 2017, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of customs declarations in the UK were submitted electronically in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In 2014, 66,585,140 declarations were submitted, of which 99% were submitted electronically.
In 2015, 77,493,171 declarations were submitted, of which 99% were submitted electronically.
In 2016, 55,234,357 declarations were submitted, of which 99% were submitted electronically.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 8.44 of the White Paper, entitled The United Kingdom's exit from and new partnership with the European Union, Cm9417, published in February 2017, what the average time taken was for customs declarations submitted (a) electronically and (b) non-electronically in the UK to be cleared in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The average time taken to process electronic customs declarations is defined in the contract with the service supplier. This states that 95% should be processed in 5 seconds and 99.9% in 20 seconds. These targets have been achieved for each of the last three years.
Non-electronic customs declarations are input by HM Revenue and Customs to the electronic system. Once these customs declarations are on the electronic system, the above clearance times are achieved.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the potential effect of leaving the EU Customs Union on UK GDP.
Answered by David Gauke
The relationship we build with the EU will be bespoke to the UK. There are of course a number of different models for EU trade relations from which we can learn. We understand the advantages and disadvantages of those models, and are analysing closely the impact which adopting them would have on the UK economy and UK trade. However, the UK and its economy are utterly unique so the deal we secure will be unique too.
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs that have been created by foreign direct investment from other EU countries in each region and constituent part of the UK in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Gauke
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) have reported on the number of jobs associated with foreign direct investment projects in UK regions in the ‘Foreign Direct Investment projects by UK Region (2010/11 to 2014/15)’ report. This can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-direct-investment-projects-by-ukti-regions-201011-to-201415/foreign-direct-investment-projects-by-uk-region-201011-to-201415
Asked by: Emma Reynolds (Labour - Wolverhampton North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits for the UK economy of the completion of a EU single market in services.
Answered by David Gauke
The Treasury will publish a comprehensive analysis of our membership of a reformed EU and the alternatives, including the long-term economic costs and benefits of EU membership and the risks associated with an exit before 23 June.