Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to increase sustainable employment opportunities in coastal communities.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is working in partnership with places to develop Local Industrial Strategies by Spring 2020 to ensure that all places, including coastal communities, can contribute to and benefit from growth and sustainable job creation through employment and skills policies.
Local Growth Deals are also providing coastal Local Enterprise Partnerships with funding to promote economic growth and job creation in their coastal communities.
Under the Coastal Communities Fund we have invested over £218 million in 354 projects across the UK since 2012. This is helping to create or safeguard over 18,000 UK jobs and generate £363 million in new visitor spend. We are undertaking an evaluation of the projects funded to date to review their effectiveness in delivering sustainable economic growth and jobs to inform any future funding rounds.
The Town Deal for Greater Grimsby, announced in July 2018, is helping to drive economic growth and employment creation in the area. This includes investment in the regeneration of Grimsby town centre and Cleethorpes, infrastructure to unlock strategic employment sites, and investment in training facilities to improve specialist skills and employment opportunities.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure the coastal communities fund creates sustainable employment opportunities in coastal towns.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government is working in partnership with places to develop Local Industrial Strategies by Spring 2020 to ensure that all places, including coastal communities, can contribute to and benefit from growth and sustainable job creation through employment and skills policies.
Local Growth Deals are also providing coastal Local Enterprise Partnerships with funding to promote economic growth and job creation in their coastal communities.
Under the Coastal Communities Fund we have invested over £218 million in 354 projects across the UK since 2012. This is helping to create or safeguard over 18,000 UK jobs and generate £363 million in new visitor spend. We are undertaking an evaluation of the projects funded to date to review their effectiveness in delivering sustainable economic growth and jobs to inform any future funding rounds.
The Town Deal for Greater Grimsby, announced in July 2018, is helping to drive economic growth and employment creation in the area. This includes investment in the regeneration of Grimsby town centre and Cleethorpes, infrastructure to unlock strategic employment sites, and investment in training facilities to improve specialist skills and employment opportunities.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people affected by the potential closure of the Novartis plant in North East Lincolnshire.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
DWP offer a Rapid Response Service (RRS). This is a redundancy service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with the prospect of redundancy. It is coordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Each Jobcentre Plus district deploy resources according to the situation and the requirements of the workforce. This service is available to be deployed in Grimsby and surrounding area should Novartis require support from Jobcentre Plus. The RRS is delivered in partnership with a range of national and local partners, including National Careers Service and local service providers.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the trends in the level of unemployment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits in Great Grimsby has fallen by 45% in the last six years and stands at 3,406 as at February 2019.
Across the local authority of North East Lincolnshire, and the unemployment rate for North East Lincolnshire has fallen from 11.5% in 2010 to 6.4% in 2018.
The rate of unemployment across the UK is at its lowest since 1974.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of unemployment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Since 2010, the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Labour Force Survey data shows that the level and rate of unemployment has fallen in every region and country of the UK.
This Government is committed to providing targeted support for people so that everyone, no matter what their start in life, is given the very best chance of getting into work.
Jobcentre Plus is geared-up to offer advice to those claiming welfare benefits. Through Jobcentre Plus, individuals can get advice on finding a job; help with retraining or skills advice, CV and job applications; and access to thousands of new vacancies we record every day. They can also access a range of tailored opportunities to improve their likelihood of entering or re-entering the labour market, including demand-led training for higher skilled jobs in specific sectors.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of universal credit in assisting claimants into sustainable employment in Great Grimsby constituency.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey shows that 9 months into a Universal Credit claim, 40% of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, as opposed to only 23% at the start of their claim. People on Universal Credit spend around 50% more time looking for a job than they did under JSA and 86% of people on Universal Credit were actively looking to increase their hours, compared to just 38% of people on JSA. This is because they can take on more hours without losing their benefit. We cannot break this information down to constituency level.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that claimants of universal credit in North East Lincolnshire remain in sustainable employment when they find work.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Universal Credit Full Service Claimant Survey, published in June 2018, shows that 9 months into a Universal Credit claim, 40% of claimants are working for an employer in a paid role, as opposed to only 23% at the start of their claim. Universal Credit provides more help with childcare costs, a dedicated Work Coach and scraps the 16-hour ‘cliff edge’, removing barriers to work and progressing in work. The support provided by Work Coaches need not stop when the claimant finds a job, unlike the legacy benefit system. Claimants can access support from a Work Coach to help them progress their earnings and to ensure they remain in sustainable employment.
In her speech on 9 May 2019, the Secretary of State announced work which will develop support for Jobcentre Plus staff to enable them to have conversations with employers about the range of things that employers can consider to support employees to progress.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 April 2019 to Question 242182 on MOD Boscombe Down, when the (a) review of future requirement is expected to be completed and (b) outcome of the March 2019 new competitive process will be published.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As stated previously the strategic review was initiated in February 2019 and it is anticipated to be completed by July 2019. At this point the new competition will be issued with an anticipated completion of March 2020.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on the Joint Forces Command review into the Boscombe Down Airfield emergency cover tender.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
A strategic review of the requirement was initiated in February 2019, which is still being undertaken.
The original competed contract has been terminated and the future requirement is being reviewed; I envisage a new competition will be initiated and completed by March 2019.
Asked by: Melanie Onn (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Boscombe Down Airfield emergency cover tender is a classified as matter of national defence.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The tender for the provision of emergency ambulance cover at Ministry of Defence Boscombe Down is not classified as a matter of national defence.