Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much consequential funding the Scottish Government receives for Home Building Funds and the Land and Infrastructure Funds, broken down by spending type.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Barnett formula applies to all increases or decreases to Departmental Expenditure Limits (DEL). Whenever UK Government departmental budgets change, the Barnett formula is applied in the usual way, as set out in the Statement of Funding Policy.
It is for the devolved governments to allocate their Barnett-based funding as they see fit, and they are accountable to the devolved legislatures for those decisions.
The published Block Grant Transparency document provides a detailed breakdown of how the block grants are calculated. The most recent report was published in July 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/block-grant-transparency-july-2023
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with the British Business Bank on eligibility of the Enable Build programme; and whether its origination criteria that a substantial majority of the portfolio must relate to developments in England applies to the (a) lenders or (b) home builders portfolio.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The ENABLE Build scheme is open to banks and non-bank lenders for the purpose of lending to small and medium-sized housebuilders across the United Kingdom, including those based in Scotland.
ENABLE Build is a ‘portfolio product’ where a guarantee is provided to a lender that covers a portfolio of eligible loans to SME borrowers.
The origination criteria under the scheme stipulates that at least 80% of the lender’s guaranteed portfolio should relate to developments in England.
This does not apply to the borrower’s portfolio, meaning that home builders based in Scotland can benefit from the scheme even if their operations and development are entirely Scotland-based.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the origination criteria of the British Business Bank’s Enable Build scheme permits lending to all small and medium sized home builders whose operations and development are entirely in and related to Scotland.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The ENABLE Build scheme is open to banks and non-bank lenders for the purpose of lending to small and medium-sized housebuilders across the United Kingdom, including those based in Scotland.
ENABLE Build is a ‘portfolio product’ where a guarantee is provided to a lender that covers a portfolio of eligible loans to SME borrowers.
The origination criteria under the scheme stipulates that at least 80% of the lender’s guaranteed portfolio should relate to developments in England.
This does not apply to the borrower’s portfolio, meaning that home builders based in Scotland can benefit from the scheme even if their operations and development are entirely Scotland-based.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of improving paternity leave provisions on health disparities in lower-income families.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to supporting working families and is already delivering on this commitment. The Employment Rights Bill will make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights, increasing flexibility for families and helping them to better balance work and family responsibilities.
The government has also committed to a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will assess the effectiveness of the current system across a range of metrics, ensuring it offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of trends in the level of uptake of Shared Parental Leave.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to supporting working families and is already delivering on this commitment. The Employment Rights Bill will make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights, increasing flexibility for families and helping them to better balance work and family responsibilities.
The government has also committed to a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will assess the effectiveness of the current system across a range of metrics, ensuring it offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the potential impact of extending the statutory minimum paternity leave on (a) early childhood development and (b) reliance on formal childcare in a child's first year.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to supporting working families and is already delivering on this commitment. The Employment Rights Bill will make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights, increasing flexibility for families and helping them to better balance work and family responsibilities.
The government has also committed to a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will assess the effectiveness of the current system across a range of metrics, ensuring it offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the potential lessons learned from the parental leave policies of other countries in the OECD.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to supporting working families and is already delivering on this commitment. The Employment Rights Bill will make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights, increasing flexibility for families and helping them to better balance work and family responsibilities.
The government has also committed to a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will assess the effectiveness of the current system across a range of metrics, ensuring it offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the statutory minimum level of paternity leave on the economy.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is committed to supporting working families and is already delivering on this commitment. The Employment Rights Bill will make Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave ‘day one’ rights, increasing flexibility for families and helping them to better balance work and family responsibilities.
The government has also committed to a review of the whole parental leave system. This review will assess the effectiveness of the current system across a range of metrics, ensuring it offers the best possible support to working families. Work is already underway on planning for its delivery.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of taking steps to use the energy efficiency SME supply chain to deliver the Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan will upgrade millions of homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing insulation to rolling out solar and heat pumps. The Plan will set out proposals to facilitate growth of a robust and competent supply chain to support home upgrades, including investing in training and skills and supporting SMEs to work in the sector.
Asked by: Gregor Poynton (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has had discussions with the Scottish Government on (a) facilitating and (b) improving delivery of the Warm Homes Plan across Scotland.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan will upgrade millions of homes across the country by making them cleaner and cheaper to run, from installing new insulation to rolling out solar and heat pumps.
We will partner with combined authorities and local and devolved governments to roll out this plan. As such, the department will continue to engage with Scotland and other devolved governments.