Kate Hollern

BIDs are a proven and effective vehicle for leveraging private investment and have a significant role to play in high street regeneration: in 2019, 259 BIDs across England raised over £106.7 million through levy payments to invest back into their respective towns and cities. Their role will be even more important in the recovery phase from the current crisis.

During 2020, the Government paid £5.8m of support funding to 260 BIDs in England to assist with their core running costs. The funding was delivered through non-ringfenced section 31 grants to Local Authorities, who distributed this to the BID bodies in their area.

The Government included provisions within the Coronavirus Act 2020 that enables BIDs to delay any renewal ballots due to take place before 31 December 2020, until 31 March 2021. This is to allow businesses to focus on recovery from the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic before deciding whether to participate in future BID arrangements. While this extension will come to an end on 31 March 2021, we have heard many positive examples of BIDs who have undertaken successful renewal ballots. We also know that many are also seeing the BID levy continuing to be paid by members.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the UK remains a great place to do business. Our ambitious Industrial Strategy is comprised of a range of policies designed to build an economy fit for the future, fostering a competitive environment where businesses have the confidence to invest and thrive. This includes building long term strategic partnerships with businesses through Sector Deals and committing £37bn through the National Productivity Investment Fund by 2023/24.

We are ensuring that innovative businesses have access to the finance they need. Through the British Business Bank, we are already supporting finance to over 78,000 SMEs. We are facilitating £20bn investment in high potential businesses, including establishing the £2.5bn British Patient Capital programme to co-invest with the private sector into venture and growth fund commitments.

The latest sub-regional fuel poverty statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-sub-regional-statistics

Fuel poverty figures by region can be found in Table 6 of the fuel poverty detailed tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2018

Economic regulators are statutorily independent. It is for regulators to decide how to regulate the companies in the sectors for which they are responsible, in line with their duties. The Government is fully committed to a model of private ownership with strong independent economic regulation.

This Government is committed to tackling fuel poverty. The latest statistics on fuel poverty in England show the average fuel poverty gap – the amount needed on average to lift households out of fuel poverty – decreased to £326 in 2016, down from £341 in 2015.

The best long-term solution is to improve energy efficiency to bring the cost of heating homes down. That is why we have just consulted on focussing the whole of the £640m per year Energy Company Obligation on low income and vulnerable households from later this year.

We are also introducing a price cap to stop unreasonable price rises for those 11 million households on standard variable and default tariffs and under the Warm Home Discount Scheme, over 2 million low income and vulnerable households are provided with a £140 rebate off their energy bill each winter.

The best long-term solution to fuel poverty is to improve energy efficiency to bring the cost of heating homes down. That is what we are doing through the Energy Company Obligation where we have consulted on focussing the whole of the scheme on low income and vulnerable households from later this year. We are also introducing a price cap to stop unreasonable price rises for those 11 million households on standard variable and default tariffs. Under the Warm Home Discount Scheme, over 2 million low income and vulnerable households are provided with a £140 rebate off their energy bill each winter.

Single parents and households in private rented accommodation will benefit from all of these measures. For those in the latter category, new Private Rental Sector Regulations came into force as planned on the 1st April 2018. They mean that all private landlords need to ensure that their properties reach at least a minimum Energy Performance Certificate rating of E before granting a tenancy to new or existing tenants. We also want to use new powers under the Digital Economy Act to help us focus support more accurately towards low income and vulnerable households living in fuel poverty.

Fuel poverty figures by region can be found in Table 6 of the fuel poverty detailed tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-detailed-tables-2018

The number of households living in fuel poverty in Blackburn in 2016 is estimated to be 6,400 (15.4 per cent).

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-regional-fuel-poverty-data-2018, Table 5

Since the referendum, the Department has engaged with over 2500 businesses and representative organisations across sectors, both here and in Europe, to deepen our understanding of the key business priorities and opportunities after our withdrawal. This dialogue has included hearing businesses views on supply chain preparedness and on the importance of issues such as the need for an Implementation Period.

The agreement on the Implementation Period gives businesses, particularly SMEs, the clarity and confidence that market access and common regulatory rules will remain in place until the end of 2020, meaning businesses will be able to trade on the same terms as now and that businesses will have the time to respond to one set of changes.

We are committed to getting the best possible deal for the United Kingdom - a deal that works for all parts of the UK, including the North West. We do not want or expect a no deal outcome. However, a responsible government should prepare for all potential outcomes, including the unlikely scenario in which no mutually satisfactory agreement can be reached.

The Government is undertaking a wide range of continuing analysis and preparatory work, across a range of scenarios, looking at the implications of UK withdrawal from the EU.

Ministers have a specific responsibility, which Parliament has endorsed, not to release information that would reveal our negotiating position and so the Government will not provide an ongoing commentary on internal analytical work.

The Government has confirmed that when we bring forward the vote on the final deal, we will ensure that Parliament is presented with the appropriate analysis to make an informed decision.

The UK is a strong supporter of Airbus and its UK suppliers and we engage frequently and constructively on their UK investment and activity. Alongside industry we will invest almost £4 billion in aerospace research and technology by 2026 to ensure the UK remains a world leader in civil aerospace.

We are working closely with Airbus and other UK based companies to understand their concerns ahead of leaving the EU. We have been clear that we are determined to secure a deal with the EU that meets the sector’s needs. This includes our ambition to seek continued participation in EASA, maintaining barrier free trade, avoiding disruption to supply chains, and allowing employees to work across sites within Europe.

We are working with UK industry to create the right conditions for competitive, world leading manufacturing businesses to flourish and grow across the UK. We are supporting all UK manufacturers by cutting business taxes, slashing red tape and investing in new scientific infrastructure on a record scale. Through our Industrial Strategy, we will make sure that we are using all the tools we have to stimulate growth in places such as the North West. That means using our record investments in infrastructure to unlock growth in every part of the country; using the major new investment in research to support innovative manufacturing businesses across the country; and encouraging inward investment into the parts of the country where we need to get growth going faster.

Over the past few years, we have invested over £1.5 billion through the Local Growth Fund, in the North West for projects to boost local economies and the Regional Growth Fund that supports eligible projects and programmes raising private sector investment to create economic growth and lasting employment, has since its launch in 2010, resulted in over 46,000 jobs being contracted, of which 21,426 are in manufacturing.

The Northern Powerhouse is about boosting growth across the North by building on its economic assets and addressing barriers to productivity including the creation of new job opportunities to ensure an economy that works for everyone. They are 7 million people in employment in the Northern Powerhouse and the North West accounts for almost half of that. Proof that the steps we are taking to support job creation schemes in the North West are working.

Small businesses are playing their part in this through access to national support through GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline and we have invested in the creation of a network of 38 Growth Hubs (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area), providing businesses across England with access to tailored local advice and support to help them grow. Lancashire’s business growth hub (Boost) which covers Blackburn and Darwen has worked with over 3,000 local SMEs and created over 1,300 new jobs in its first three years.

In February this year, we launched the £400 million Northern Powerhouse Fund for small businesses across the North, ensuring they access to finance they need to start-up and grow. This fund has now made 39 investments/loans into businesses in the North West totalling £7.11m (over half of that invested across the Northern Powerhouse) which are forecasted to create 409 jobs.

The Regional Growth Fund (RGF) supports eligible projects and programmes raising private sector investment to create economic growth and lasting employment. Since its launch in 2010 it has invested £2.6 billion to help local businesses grow and take on more staff across England. In the North West, 46,676 jobs have already been contracted of which 249 are in Blackburn with Darwen.

Over the past few years, we have invested over £1.5 billion through the Local Growth Fund in the North West for projects to boost local economies and Growth Deal 1 and 2 allocations aim to create over 35,000 jobs across the North West. The Lancashire Local Enterprise Partnership, which covers Blackburn with Darwen have now received over £320m as part of their Local Growth Funding to give businesses the support and opportunities they need to achieve their potential which aims to see up to 11,000 jobs created across Lancashire

Projects such as the Blackburn – Bolton Rail Corridor, Blackburn Town Centre improvements, Café Northcote at the Cathedral Quarter, Making Rooms Fab Lab and the Pennines Gateway initiative are just some of the locally-chosen projects in Blackburn and Darwen that are set to benefit over the next few years helping unlock new growth potential, create jobs and establish a network of centres focused on innovation and industrial excellence in key growth sectors for the whole of Lancashire.

We are working hard to support businesses and entrepreneurs across the UK to ensure they can access finance and wider support to grow and the right conditions are in place for companies to invest for the long-term.

Small businesses across the North West can access national support through GOV.UK and the Business Support Helpline. Government has also supported and invested in the creation of a network of 38 Growth Hubs (one in each Local Enterprise Partnership area), providing businesses across England with tailored advice and support. For businesses in Lancashire (including those based in Blackburn, Darwen and Rossendale) this support is provided by Lancashire Business BOOST Growth Hub which acts as the first port of call for businesses seeking advice and support locally. Since its launch in November 2013, Boost has engaged and supported 3943 businesses and helped 312 individuals to start up a new business.

Since November 2014, the British Business Bank has facilitated over £11.8 million of investment/lending to 279 businesses within Blackburn and Darwen. This includes 208 Start-up Loans at a value of £1.4 million.

The British Business Bank also launched the new Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) on 22 February 2017. The NPIF works with ten Local Enterprise Partnerships, combined authorities and Growth Hubs, as well as local accountants, fund managers and banks, to provide a mixture of debt and equity capital to northern-based SMEs at all stages of their development. NPIF provides funding to fund managers who in turn offer microfinance (£25,000 - £100,000), business loans (£100,000 - £750,000) and equity finance (up to £2m).

Nationally, high needs funding has risen by £1 billion since 2013-14, to just under £6 billion in 2018-19, and will rise to over £6 billion in 2019-20. The additional £1.3 billion announced last year for schools and high needs is above and beyond what was promised at the 2015 spending review, and means that local authorities received an additional £140 million in high needs funding in 2018-19. Allocations for each local authority this year can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2018-to-2019.

Each local authority will attract a 1% increase in underlying funding per head of the population aged 2-18 years old in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18, following the increase of 0.5% they attracted last year. Underfunded authorities will continue to see higher increases – of up to 6% per head of of the population aged 2-18 years old, compared to 2017-18.

We are listening to the concerns that some have expressed about the pressures on high needs budgets. We are monitoring the impact of our national funding formula for high needs on local authority spending decisions, and are keeping the overall amount of funding for high needs under review.

The public sector pay cap is no longer in place and the Department has adopted a more flexible approach to public sector pay. The Remit letter from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) said that the STRB should utilise this flexibility to target the next pay award to promote recruitment and retention.

Research suggests that pay is not the main driver of teachers leaving, and teachers do not tend to leave for better paid jobs.

The fundamental changes to teachers’ pay that have been introduced over the last four years following the STRB’s recommendations have given greater autonomy to schools to decide how to reward their staff. This increased flexibility helps schools to attract and retain the best teachers and to target any school-level recruitment and retention problems they may have, including addressing teacher shortages in specific subjects.

I refer the hon. Member for Blackburn to the answer I gave on 3 July 2018 to Question 157180 which included links to the available attainment data, split by region, for Key Stage 2, 4 and 16-18 study: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-06-25/157180/.

The Government wants to create a country where everyone has the best start in life, no matter what their background is or where they live. Projects are being funded to raise pupils’ outcomes from an early age, train strong school leaders and support schools as well as improving outcomes for children in parts of the country that have faced long-term challenges.

The Department’s £72 million Opportunity Areas programme is investing in 12 areas of the country facing challenges, including five areas in the north of England. These areas will also benefit from a share of £22 million through a new Essential Life Skills programme, to help young people develop life skills in resilience, wellbeing and employability.

This builds on progress made since 2010, with 1.9 million more children in England now in good or outstanding schools, record numbers of young people in education or training - including one million apprenticeships in the north of England - and more disadvantaged pupils now going to university.

The Northern Powerhouse programme includes £3.4 billion of investment in projects to boost the local economy, £12 million to spread good teaching practice in English and improve early literacy, and schemes that help families to support their child’s education at home.

The Department for Education has not made a comparative assessment. The social mobility action plan, ‘Unlocking Talent, Fulfilling Potential’, sets a clear direction for all those who have a part to play, including those responsible for children’s centres. Our focus now is on delivering this, including through a £10 million investment to build the evidence base for what works, and the £8.5 million local government programme, working with the Local Government Association. Through this programme of local authority peer support and challenge we will work with sector leaders to identify best practice in closing the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, including through children’s centres.

The Department for Education produces statistics for England only.

The Department publishes pupil attainment in a number of headline measures for each region of England; these figures can be compared to the national average for all pupils.

Headline measures for Key Stage 2 for each region in England are published at the following link for the academic years 2009/10 – 2016/17: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-key-stage-2[1].

Due to change in methodology and headline measures, figures are only comparable between 2009/10 – 2014/15 and 2015/16 – 2016/17.

Headline measures for Key Stage 4 for each region in England are published at the following link for the academic years 2009/10 – 2016/17: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-gcses-key-stage-4[2]. Due to changes in methodology and headline measures, these figures are not comparable year on year after 2013/14. Changes include the introduction of Wolf reform and early entry policy in 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively and the implementation of a new accountability system in 2016 to include Attainment 8 and Progress 8 as headline measures, replacing the 5 A*-C including English and mathematics measure[3].

Headline measures for 16-18 study for each region in England are published for the academic years 2009/10 – 2016/17 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-attainment-at-19-years[4]. Due to changes in methodology and headline measures, figures are only comparable between 2009/10 – 2014/15 and 2015/16 – 2016/17.

[1] For each year, select the ‘revised’ publication and then open the ‘Local authority and regional tables’. For 2015/16 – 2016/17 the headline measures are the percentage of pupils reaching the expected standard and can be found in tables L1, L2 and L3. For 2009/10 – 2014/15 the headline measures are the percentage achieving level 4 or above and can be found in tables 12-16 (2013/14 – 2014/15); tables 12-15 (2012/13); tables 13-15 (2011/12); table 11 (2010/11); table 18 (2009/10 – in the ‘national and local authority tables’).

[2] For 2009/10 – 2014/15 select the ‘revised’ publication for 2014/15 and open the ‘main local authority tables’ and then table LA2 which presents a time series of the headline measure. For 2015/16 - 2016/17 the headline measure was changed to Progress 8 and achievement of the English Baccalaureate which can be found in revised publication for each year, in the LA tables, in table LA1.

[3]https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/493295/SFR01_2016_QualityandMethodology.pdf. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/584167/SFR03_2017_QualityandMethodology.pdf.

[4] For each year, select the ‘revised’ publication and then open the ‘Local authority tables’. For 2015/16 - 2016/17 the headline attainment measures are the average point score (APS) per entry and APS per entry expressed as a grade for each qualification type. These can be found in table ‘9a all’ (2016/17); table 9a (2015/16); table 12c (2014/15); table 12a (2012/13 - 2013/14); table 9a (2011/12); table 10 (2010/11); table 9 (2009/10).

Ensuring that all schools are academies by 2022 gives schools and local authorities six years notice to plan and make the right decisions for their pupils and communities.

This is a fully funded policy with over £500 million available this Parliament to build capacity, in support of a high-quality, fully academised school system.