Lucy Allan

My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has committed to completing a major review of business rates by the end of 2015.

Autumn Statement 2014 announced a £1bn package of measures to reduce the burden of business rates, focussed on small businesses and retailers, including:

· extending the doubling of the Small Business Rate Relief until April 2016;

· continuing the 2% cap on the inflation-linked increase in the business rates multiplier until April 2016; and

· increasing the retail discount for shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants until April 2016

The records held by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) provide information on the number of defendants whose prosecution was completed, where the case has been flagged as child abuse, and where the principal offence at finalisation is categorised as a sexual offence.

The CPS definition of child abuse covers any case where the victim was under 18 years of age at the time of the offence and allegations or crimes perpetrated by both adults and under 18s.

The CPS is a national service delivered at a local level by 14 Regional Areas. While prosecution outcomes are not collated for individual constituencies, records are held showing outcomes by individual Police Force Areas. West Mercia Police Force Area is responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire.

Since April 2010 the number of defendants prosecuted, by outcome, in the West Mercia Police Force Area and England, for cases flagged as child abuse and whose principal offence was identified as a sexual offence, is as follows:

It is not possible to disaggregate figures to show separately the volume and outcome of proceedings for individual offences within the Sexual Offences Category. A single defendant may be charged with more than one offence.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

While Post Office Ltd is publicly owned, it operates as an independent, commercial business. Unless otherwise specified in the Articles of Association, spending including spend on legal costs is treated as an operational matter for the Post Office. It funded all litigation costs related to the Group Litigation Order.

The Principal Accounting Officer has been sighted with quarterly updates relating to Post Office Ltd’s (POL) change spend (including litigation) costs since 2018/19. Additionally, the Principal Accounting Officer is also sighted on POL’s annual budgets which includes forecasted legal costs.

Concerns about the Horizon system were raised with the Department publicly, including in Parliament, and these are a matter of public record. BEIS relied on the Post Office’s management to investigate issues with the Horizon system and was assured that the system was robust and that the issues raised by the postmasters were being handled appropriately. The Department was aware upon the handing down of the Common Issues Judgement by Justice Fraser in March 2019 that there were serious issues with the Horizon IT System. This was confirmed in the Horizon Issues Judgement in December 2019.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry, led by Sir Wyn Williams, will establish a clear account of the implementation and failings of Horizon over its lifecycle and the Department is fully cooperating with the Inquiry as are both the Post Office and Fujitsu.

The Takeover Code is administered by the Takeover Panel, an independent organisation. The Code was strengthened earlier this year to give companies more time to respond to a bid and to require bidding companies to provide more information on their intention earlier in the takeover process.

The Office for National Statistics’ Business Demography survey details the change in number of UK businesses.

When looking at business start-ups we look at business births. The Office of National Statistics defines business births as new business registrations.

The following table gives the number of business births in the Telford Constituency, Telford and Wrekin Borough, Shropshire and the West Midlands from 2010 to 2016.

According to Thinkbroadband, in Telford constituency over 96.8% of premises now have access to superfast broadband (http://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/telford,E14000989), up from 81% in 2010.

Approximately 41,028 premises in Telford constituency can now access superfast broadband. As confirmed in our announcement in December 2017 we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that, by 2020, everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit per second broadband.

The Government has provided over £2.1m for the delivery of superfast broadband in Telford and Wrekin. According to Thinkbroadband, 97.3% of premises in the Telford and Wrekin local authority area can access superfast broadband, up from 77% in 2012.

As confirmed in our announcement in December 2017 we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that, by 2020, everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit per second broadband.

The apprenticeship levy underpins our reforms to raise apprenticeship quality and supports employers to make long-term, sustainable investments in the skills that they need. Income from the levy is used to fund apprenticeships in all employers (both those who pay the levy and those who do not pay the levy).

In response to employers, we have already introduced the flexibility for levy-payers to transfer up to 25% of their funds, enabling them to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs. In January, we extended the use of transfers to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18 year olds and eligible 19 to 24 year olds in employers with fewer than 50 employees.

We have listened to the concerns of businesses about the apprenticeship levy. We are committed to improving the apprenticeship programme to ensure that it continues to deliver the skilled workforce that employers need.

We will set out further detail on this in due course.

The apprenticeship levy underpins our reforms to raise apprenticeship quality and supports employers to make long-term, sustainable investments in the skills that they need. Income from the levy is used to fund apprenticeships in all employers (both those who pay the levy and those who do not pay the levy).

In response to employers, we have already introduced the flexibility for levy-payers to transfer up to 25% of their funds, enabling them to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chains or to meet local skills needs. In January, we extended the use of transfers to cover the full cost of training for 16 to 18 year olds and eligible 19 to 24 year olds in employers with fewer than 50 employees.

We have listened to the concerns of businesses about the apprenticeship levy. We are committed to improving the apprenticeship programme to ensure that it continues to deliver the skilled workforce that employers need.

We will set out further detail on this in due course.

We monitor the number of children entering the care system on an ongoing basis and information showing the change in the number of children entering the care system for the period since 2010 is provided in the table attached.

Further breakdowns of children who started to be looked after can be found in Table C1 of the statistical first release 'Children Looked After in England including Adoption: 2016 to 2017' at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.

We set out our vision for delivering excellent children’s social care in ‘Putting Children First’. This outlines our reform programme which seeks to: improve the quality of social work practice; create systems and environments where great social work can flourish; promote learning and multi-agency working where all involved in supporting children and families can work together; and support children who both enter and leave the care system. The reforms are designed to ensure that all vulnerable children and families receive the highest-quality care and support. We have invested over £200 million through the Innovation Programme to test and develop better practice, including testing approaches to help vulnerable children to remain safely at home.

The government has created a £10 million Degree Apprenticeship Development Fund to support the development and take up of degree apprenticeships across England. Harper Adams University is the closest university to Telford to receive money from this fund - followed by Staffordshire University, University of Keele, Birmingham City University and Aston University.

Degree level apprenticeships have grown year on year with over 6,600 starts since their introduction, including over 4,000 starts this academic year (2017/18) with over 100 higher education institutions registered to deliver apprenticeships, including several in the West Midlands. In Telford constituency there were 1,300 apprenticeship starts across all levels. Of these, 90 were higher level apprenticeships, which includes degree-level starts. The National Apprenticeship Service and UCAS have created a degree apprenticeship vacancy listing to highlight opportunities available across all areas of the country - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-and-degree-apprenticeship-vacancies.

Figures on the number of public sector apprenticeships are not available. Public sector bodies in scope of the public sector apprenticeships target are required annually to publish and send to the Department their progress towards the target. The first reports (covering the period 2017/18) will be due by 30 September 2018.

The official harmonised measure used by the UK to report recycling figures is Waste from Households recycling. This data is reported under the Waste Framework Directive and published annually in our ‘UK Statistics on Waste’ publication. Figures from 2010-2016 are available in Table 1. Figures for 2015 and 2016 include a methodological change to now include metal recovered from incinerator bottom ash (IBA).

Table 1. UK Waste from Households recycling, 2010-16

We do not gather data on recycling rates at the constituency level. Instead, we have data for recycled household waste structured around local authorities. This is published annually in our ‘Statistics on waste managed by local authorities in England’. The household waste recycling data for individual local authorities is very similar but not exactly the same as the waste from households recycling measure. It is slightly broader than the ‘Waste from Households’ measure, because it also includes waste from street bins, street sweepings, parks and grounds and some difference in what is included as recycling as IBA metal is not included. This data is reported on a financial-year basis, and local authority data is available in Table 2 for ‘Telford and Wrekin Council’ and ‘Shropshire’ for 2010-11 to 2016-17.

Table 2. Household waste recycling at local authority level, 2010-11 to 2016-17

Economic recovery has been slow. Delays setting up the National Reconstruction Authority and unrest in the border area with India, which has closed most border crossings for over 6 weeks, make economic recovery challenging. We are pressing the government to prioritise the post-disaster response.

The Department does not hold the information requested broken down by constituency level.

HMRC estimates that around 1,660 registered businesses are exporters of goods in the Marches growth hub area, including Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and Herefordshire. DIT support is available to these businesses and is delivered through our West Midlands team of International Trade Advisers and overseas Posts. (Source: HMRC 2015 Growth Hub Data on Exporters of Goods)

New more detailed estimates for the number of registered businesses exporting in Shropshire and, Telford and Wrekin will be released by HMRC 28 March 2018.

Capacity to and from Telford will be increased through the introduction of a second off-peak service on the Wolverhampton corridor from 2018.

The West Midlands franchise, which began in December 2017, will also increase capacity through the introduction of a Sunday service between Birmingham and Shrewsbury from December 2018, and a second train per hour introduced in May 2021 will further increase capacity.

No infrastructure enhancements is needed to deliver this increase in capacity.

The Department for Transport has not met with trade union officials to discuss strike action on Virgin Trains West Coast services in respect of services in December 2017 and January 2018. This dispute is between the unions and the train operator, however the Government has been doing all it can to ensure passenger disruption is minimised.

The traffic lights at junctions 4, 5 and 6 on the M54 do not affect the flow of traffic on the M54 itself and are not the responsibility of Highways England. The surrounding roads at all three of these junctions are managed and maintained by Telford and Wrekin Council. They will be best placed to advise on the effects these lights have on traffic flows on the surrounding roads.

Provision of traffic lights is the responsibility of the local traffic authority, in this case Telford and Wrekin Council. It is for them to decide if lights are required at junctions on their network, taking into account local circumstances such as accident records, traffic flows and road layout. The Department does not intervene in local matters such as this.

The Department recommends local authorities regularly review sites to ensure the use of signal control is still appropriate, revising timings as needed and removing signals where possible.

Local authorities in England spend over £315m a year supporting socially necessary bus services. In addition, the Department for Transport provides around £40m of Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) funding directly to authorities to help deliver bus services. This central funding has been ring-fenced until 2016-17.

The Government is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and the Department for Work and Pensions has a range of measures designed to support people who flee violent households. Easements in benefit conditionality give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives. Job-seeking and work-preparation requirements can be suspended for up to 13 weeks. There is special provision in Housing Benefit for when someone is temporarily absent from their home through fear of domestic violence and abuse. If the person intends to return to their former home, they can receive Housing Benefit for both a former permanent home and temporary accommodation. There is similar provision in respect of the housing cost element of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit provides an exemption for 18 to 21 year old claimants to be entitled to help with housing if they are a victim of domestic violence and abuse. There is provision for Universal Credit claimants to request separate benefit payments from their partner. There is also an exemption made in Universal Credit to support a third or subsequent child who is born on or after 6 April 2017 as a result of a non-consensual sexual act.

Housing support for exempt accommodation such as a refuge is excluded from the calculation of the benefit cap for victims of domestic violence and abuse. The removal of the spare room subsidy will not apply to those victims of domestic violence who are staying in exempt accommodation.

The department provides funding for Discretionary Housing Payments which are available from local authorities. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reform, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence.

Customers who have reported domestic violence are exempt from paying the £20 application fee to use the child maintenance service.

A person that came to the UK on a family visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, who needs to leave home through fear of domestic violence and abuse, can apply for a Home Office Destitute Domestic Violence concession. This will allow someone to claim benefits for up to 3 months while UK Visas and Immigration consider their application to settle in the UK.

Jobcentre Plus work coaches signpost and refer domestic violence victims to organisations that can provide further support.

Information on our support to victims of domestic violence was published on gov.uk on 5 January 2018 at the following link

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp

This is a matter for the independent Pensions Regulator which was established by Parliament to provide regulatory oversight of work-based pension schemes, including defined benefit schemes.

It has operational independence and therefore it would not be appropriate for Ministers to become involved in the Regulator’s casework.

With 1.7 million households on the social housing waiting list in England alone, 250,000 households living in overcrowded conditions, and around 820,000 spare bedrooms being paid for within the social sector it was important that something be done to address this and the housing benefit bill that was spiralling out of control.

The removal of spare room subsidy was introduced in April 2013 for these reasons as well as to strengthen work incentives; encourage both mobility within the social sector and the better use of available social housing by social landlords. More importantly, this measure was required to bring about parity of treatment between private and social rented sectors tenants because it is only fair that housing benefit claimants living in the social sector should make the same considerations as private sector tenants about the affordability of their rent rather than relying upon the taxpayer to meet the costs of housing that may be too large for their needs.

Providing blanket exemptions to the policy were not considered to be the most effective or affordable approach to targeting resources for those who are vulnerable. Nor was it considered right that the taxpayer should provide bedrooms in separate households for the same child where parents are separated especially as this could act as a disincentive to work.

To mitigate the impact for those facing difficult situations money was added to the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme. For instance this financial year £60 million has been added specifically for this measure. This however forms only part of the overall funding of £125 million for 2015/16, and since April 2013, £470 million has been provided in DHP funding. This is a proportionate approach which is effective and provides local authorities, who administer Housing Benefit, with the right level of flexibility to ensure that those who are vulnerable receive the help they need, an approach that has also been upheld by the Courts.

The Government is fully committed to the prevention of abuse and the Department for Work and Pensions has a range of measures designed to support people who flee violent households. Easements in benefit conditionality give claimants the space and time needed to stabilise their lives. Job-seeking and work-preparation requirements can be suspended for up to 13 weeks. There is special provision in Housing Benefit for when someone is temporarily absent from their home through fear of domestic violence and abuse. If the person intends to return to their former home, they can receive Housing Benefit for both a former permanent home and temporary accommodation. There is similar provision in respect of the housing cost element of Universal Credit.

Universal Credit provides an exemption for 18 to 21 year old claimants to be entitled to help with housing if they are a victim of domestic violence and abuse. There is provision for Universal Credit claimants to request separate benefit payments from their partner. There is also an exemption made in Universal Credit to support a third or subsequent child who is born on or after 6 April 2017 as a result of a non-consensual sexual act.

Housing support for exempt accommodation such as a refuge is excluded from the calculation of the benefit cap for victims of domestic violence and abuse. The removal of the spare room subsidy will not apply to those victims of domestic violence who are staying in exempt accommodation.

The department provides funding for Discretionary Housing Payments which are available from local authorities. These are aimed at a number of groups likely to be affected by welfare reform, including individuals or families fleeing domestic violence.

Customers who have reported domestic violence are exempt from paying the £20 application fee to use the child maintenance service.

A person that came to the UK on a family visa as a spouse, civil partner or unmarried partner, who needs to leave home through fear of domestic violence and abuse, can apply for a Home Office Destitute Domestic Violence concession. This will allow someone to claim benefits for up to 3 months while UK Visas and Immigration consider their application to settle in the UK.

Jobcentre Plus work coaches signpost and refer domestic violence victims to organisations that can provide further support.

Information on our support to victims of domestic violence was published on gov.uk on 5 January 2018 at the following link

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-violence-and-abuse-help-from-dwp

The Department regularly reviews and assesses the effectiveness of COVID-19 guidance for care homes. From 31 January 2022, there is no limit on the number of visitors each resident can have and no additional requirements for normal visits outside of the home. All residents should be allowed to nominate an essential care giver, who can continue to visit during an outbreak.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) monitors providers where concerns have been raised about visiting arrangements. The CQC has continued inspecting, raising safeguarding alerts where applicable and following up with residents, families, the provider, local authorities and UK Health Security Agency health protection teams.

National Health Service patients are benefitting from an unprecedented partnership with private hospitals as we battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked with the independent sector to secure all appropriate inpatient capacity and other resource across England.

It is currently not possible to estimate the cost to the public purse on how much has been paid to private hospitals to be on standby for use by the NHS for patients with COVID-19 since March 2020.

The information is not held in the format requested.