Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an estimate of the number of US tourists who will visit the UK in 2020 as part of the Mayflower celebrations in September 2020.
Answered by Michael Ellis
DCMS has provided £750,000 of funding for the Mayflower celebrations through VisitEngland. This funding was used to:
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to put in place a strategy to attract tourists to the UK during the Mayflower celebrations in 2020.
Answered by Michael Ellis
VisitBritain estimates that the UK will receive approximately 4m visitors from the United States in 2020 - we cannot identify if they will be here specifically for the Mayflower commemorations. Disney Cruises, with whom VisitBritain have a partnership, will also stop at Plymouth on the way from Southampton, Hampshire to Boston, Massachusetts. This is estimated to draw an additional 13,500 visitors for the event.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his Department's policy is on the mutual recognition approach to airport staff screening as discussed at the Transatlantic Aviation Security Industry Roundtable in 2018.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The Transatlantic Aviation Security Industry Roundtable was convened to further strengthen dialogue between the US and UK on enhancing aviation security and alongside other issues discussed measures to mitigate the Insider threat and staff screening
The UK has consistently advocated, in the International Civil Aviation Organization and in other forums, a global approach to tackling insider threat at airports based on 100% screening of staff, randomness and unpredictability as part of that screening, and background checks of staff working in secure areas or with access to sensitive security information.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to advocate a unilateral approach to airport staff screening at the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2019 as opposed to the mutual recognition approach discussed at the Transatlantic Aviation Security Industry Roundtable in 2018.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK Government has consistently advocated, in the International Civil Aviation Organization and in other forums, a global approach to tackling insider threat at airports based on 100% screening of staff, randomness and unpredictability as part of that screening, and background checks of staff working in secure areas or with access to sensitive security information.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to increase inward investment to the commercial satellite communications and space industry.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Inward investment is a key pillar in the strategy to grow the UK’s share of the global space economy to £40 billion by 2030. Officials from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) work with overseas commercial satellite operators using specialists through an existing network of inward investment teams in overseas posts, UKTI’s regional Investment Services Team, and local partners to support those wishing to come to the UK. They also work closely with officials in the UK Space Agency who provide advice on licensing and operating a spacecraft from the UK and access to competitive R&D funding either through national programmes, EU programmes or through our membership of the European Space Agency (ESA). The UK Space Agency and UKTI also support overseas satellite operators in their dealings with Ofcom, who are responsible for the allocation of the radio spectrum in the UK - a vital resource for new satellite business ventures. The Government will continue to work with companies to provide practical and tailored support to support their inward investment plans.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provision the Government has in place to provide extra funding for clinical commissioning groups to deal with increasing local pressures on social care resulting from limits on local authority resources and NHS trusts being placed on special measures.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Better Care Fund gives flexibility to local areas to determine how best to invest a joint budget. Local authorities are required to agree with their local health partners how funding is best used within social care in order to best serve local people and reduce pressures on the health service.
The total value of the Better Care Fund in 2015/16 is £5.3 billion, which includes monies provided by local authorities and health partners in 151 local areas.
From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available additional social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to help pressures on local health care services resulting from an increasing population of elderly people.
Answered by Alistair Burt
We know there are challenges ahead across the health and care sectors, but the principle with which we will approach the decisions ahead will be to prioritise and maximise funding for frontline services. The Government believes that the answer to these challenges lies in changing the way services are delivered and keeping people well and independent for longer, not in altering the fundamental principles that underpin the National Health Service.
As a result of the Spending Review, NHS funding will be £10 billion higher in real terms by 2020-21 than 2014-15. And the NHS will not have to wait until the end of the parliament for much of this investment. We will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more next year, over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six year period. This shows that the Government has listened and responded to what the NHS has said about the level of investment it needs to deliver the Five Year Forward View.
The Five Year Forward View – the NHS’s own plan – takes account of rising demand from demographic change and sets out new models of care that can meet the changing needs of patients, including better meeting the needs of the frail elderly, and maximising the opportunities presented by new technologies and treatments. The aim of the new care models programme is to secure the future of the NHS for all of us to continue receiving high quality care, when and where we need it.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to encourage recruitment of cadets.
Answered by Julian Brazier
We are determined that many more young people benefit from the Cadets experience. Hence we have committed an extra £50 million to increase the number of Cadet Units in schools across the UK to 500 by 2020.
More widely, the Community Cadet Forces continue to recruit new Cadets. Over 3,000 Community Cadet Force Units provide exceptional opportunities for over 131,000 young people to develop key life skills.
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) efficiency of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and (b) potential merits of providing emergency payments to councils who face budgeting difficulties due to the time taken by the VOA to re-assess business rates.
Answered by David Gauke
Asked by: Mark Garnier (Conservative - Wyre Forest)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he plans to take to help local councils with pooled funding tackle unpredicted revenue shortfalls due to the revaluation of the business rates levied on GP surgeries.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The business rates retention scheme in England is providing real incentives for councils to support enterprise and economic growth. In 2015/16, 362 authorities expect to retain an extra £544 million in business rates above baseline funding. Under the scheme, local authorities or pools of local authorities are protected against significant declines in business rates income, such as from rating appeals on GP surgeries, through a safety net that guarantees income at 92.5% of baseline funding.