Oral Answers to Questions

Jake Berry Excerpts

Monday 10th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)]

13. What progress he has made on plans for the UK shared prosperity fund.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Jake Berry)]

Leaving the European Union offers great opportunity to the country, including coming up with a shared prosperity fund that aligns our national priorities. Good progress is being made, and we intend to consult on the design of the UK shared prosperity fund shortly.

[Steve Double]

I am sure the whole House will agree that Cornwall is unique in many ways—we have our own heritage and culture, including our own language—but we also face a number of unique economic challenges, particularly from our geography as a peninsula and after decades of under-investment. Will the Minister confirm that the shared prosperity fund will continue to support the Cornish economy, so that we can all continue to say, “Kernow bys vyken!”?

[Jake Berry]

If I may respond in Cornish, I take the opportunity to wish my hon. Friend and all his constituents Nadelik lowen. With only 109 shopping days to Brexit, I can reassure my hon. Friend that the UK shared prosperity fund will be simplified and targeted, and will tackle the challenges of our whole country, including those facing Cornwall.

[Jim McMahon (Oldham West and Royton) (Lab/Co-op)]

This weekend, the mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, resigned from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. He says he no longer sees the benefit, given that it was set up by a Government who just do not want to listen to it. At the same time, the Institute for Public Policy Research North paints a stark picture, where the north gets £2,500 less per head in investment on transport than London. The northern powerhouse Minister literally has one job to do. What’s going on?

[Jake Berry]

As Harry Enfield and his chums would say about anyone from Liverpool, including me: “Calm down, calm down.” I can confirm today that we have announced £38.4 million for Liverpool. I completely refute the IPPR figures. They exclude 60% of spending across regional boundaries. They do not apportion spending where the benefit is felt. If the hon. Gentleman wants to give some advice to his chums in the left-wing IPPR think-tank, he might say that next time they produce such figures they should print them on softer paper.

[Andrew Rosindell (Romford) (Con)]

14. What steps his Department is taking to support people directly affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.

--- Later in debate ---

[Jack Brereton (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Con)]

T4. I was very pleased to welcome the high streets Minister to Stoke-on-Trent South recently. Would he agree that towns such as Longton and Fenton in my constituency are exactly the sorts of places that should benefit from the future high streets fund?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Jake Berry)]

It was a pleasure to join my hon. Friend shopping on his local high streets. The Government’s future high streets fund will help high streets to thrive, adapt and change. We will publish the prospectus shortly, and I would encourage Longton and Fenton, as well as the other towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent, to express their interest in the fund.

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

T6. The Government’s recently announced leasehold consultation is the 53rd announcement on this topic since 2010, and among those previous announcements was a consultation on these exact same issues just 16 months ago. Can the Secretary of State confirm when leaseholders will finally see action, rather than just warm words?

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fabricant (Lichfield) (Con)]

Lichfield, Tamworth and Burton Councils are members of two local enterprise partnerships—the Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP and the Staffordshire LEP. Why is my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State trying to abandon localism and force them to join just the Staffordshire LEP?

[Jake Berry]

Our LEP review is about putting our LEPs on a permanent footing as we leave the European Union. Abolishing overlaps is about creating accountability for all LEPs and is part of a wider suite of reforms ensuring that LEP boards reflect the diverse communities they represent by asking them to have at least 50% of their boards made up of local businesswomen.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

T9. The UN rapporteur on racism looked at the impact of Brexit, and highlighted “the growth in the acceptability of explicit racial, ethnic and religious intolerance.” What are the Government doing to tackle that, and does the Secretary of State agree that recent comments from the Prime Minister have been deeply unhelpful in this regard?