Oral Answers to Questions

Neil O'Brien Excerpts

Monday 7th March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Ian Paisley (North Antrim) (DUP)]

2. What recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the potential opportunities for Northern Ireland of the levelling-up agenda.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Neil O’Brien)]

The Secretary of State met the then First Minister of Northern Ireland when the levelling-up White Paper was published to discuss the many opportunities for Northern Ireland as part of that agenda, and I met Conor Murphy, the Minister of Finance, last Thursday to discuss the delivery of the UK shared prosperity fund in Northern Ireland. I look forward to working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on this in the coming months.

[Ian Paisley]

I thank the Minister for meeting me last week to discuss these important opportunities for regions such as Northern Ireland. The levelling-up White Paper identified hydrogen bus development as a key economic boost. So far, five strategic schemes have been put in place for zero-emission buses across the UK, and all five are very welcome but they are battery electric. Will the next five schemes be driven by hydrogen? Can the Minister ensure that there is joined-up thinking on this across the Departments?

[Neil O’Brien]

The hon. Gentleman is right to identify an important opportunity for Northern Ireland through the hydrogen agenda. As part of all the things we are doing on levelling up, including the third increase in research and development spending outside the greater south-east, the strengthening places agenda, or the many things we are doing with higher and further education in Northern Ireland, there are many opportunities to advance the important agenda that he has prioritised.

[Alun Cairns (Vale of Glamorgan) (Con)]

Until recently, European aid was the main means of regenerating communities in some of the devolved nations, but that European aid was restricted to certain parts of the nations. Now, the levelling-up fund and the shared prosperity fund will give us the opportunity to regenerate other parts of the UK, particularly those areas that did not qualify for European aid. When the next window opens for the levelling-up fund, will the Minister pay particular attention to communities such as Barry, which now qualify for the levelling-up fund but did not previously qualify for European aid?

[Neil O’Brien]

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right; the next round of levelling-up funding will be opening shortly. He is also right to draw attention to the fact that outside the European Union we have a lot more flexibility about how we spend, and we can use that to pick up some of those exciting opportunities in other places.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

3. What steps he is taking to reduce financial pressures on local authority budgets.

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[Geraint Davies (Swansea West) (Lab/Co-op)]

11. What assessment he has made of the potential effect on levelling up in Wales of rail enhancement investments.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Neil O'Brien)]

Investment in rail is a very important part of the levelling-up agenda. As well as the £2 billion for Network Rail in Wales over this control period, more than £340 million has been provided for enhancements in Welsh rail from 2019 to 2024. What is more, the UK Government are investing £30 million in the Global Centre of Rail Excellence, supporting about 120 jobs in Wales.

[Geraint Davies]

It takes three hours to get from London to Swansea; it takes three hours to get from London to Edinburgh. The reason is that only 1.5% of UK rail enhancement funding goes to Wales, even though it has 5% of the population and 11% of the railway lines. Will the Minister—with the support of the Secretary of State—urge the Treasury to provide funding as a share of HS2 to Wales on the same basis as it provides it to Scotland, given that HS2 is north-south, which would give us an extra £4.6 billion to level up and connect the Union?

[Neil O'Brien]

The 1% figure that the hon. Gentleman quotes is from a Welsh Government report, which looks only at a very small part of rail investment and does not give a correct picture of the wider investment in Wales that I described. HS2 will of course provide huge benefits to the people of north Wales, who will be connected much more rapidly to the rest of the country.

[Luke Pollard (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Lab/Co-op)]

13. What assessment he has made of trends in the level of second homes in Devon and Cornwall between 2010 and 2022.

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[Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)]

T5. Does the Minister share my and my constituents’ deep frustration that, despite this Conservative Government making up to £20 million available to my constituents through the levelling-up fund, Labour-run Bradford Council did not even bother to submit a levelling-up application? When will it have the next opportunity to do that?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Neil O’Brien)]

Some £20 million is potentially available to Keighley and Ilkley through the levelling-up fund. Bradford is in a top priority category, and I really hope that it will bid so that we can build on the tens of millions of investment already being put into Keighley through the towns fund.

[Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)]

T2. Communities across Scotland and the UK stand ready to help those displaced by Putin’s war on democracy in Ukraine. Every local authority in Scotland participated in the Syrian refugee resettlement scheme and I am sure they would want to do so again, but they cannot at the moment because of the shambolic response by the UK Government. The Secretary of State’s Department is meant to be doing whatever is needed to make sure that sponsors can be quickly matched with Ukrainians in need, so when does he expect significant numbers of Ukrainians to arrive under the humanitarian sponsorship pathway, and will he join me in urging the Home Secretary to remove the unforgivable blockage—

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[Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)]

T6. Can I ask one of the Ministers to outline the benefits the levelling-up White Paper will bring to West Sussex, particularly to coastal communities and constituencies such as mine, where economic disadvantage and deprivation are happening—whether north or south, east or west?

[Neil O’Brien]

My hon. Friend is completely correct. Some £19.4 million was allocated to projects in Bognor Regis and Littlehampton through round 1 of the levelling-up fund, in addition to the £21.1 million allocated to Crawley. I look forward to working with people in West Sussex to do more through round 2 of the levelling-up fund as well as the UK shared prosperity fund.

[Rebecca Long Bailey (Salford and Eccles) (Lab)]

T7. The Government announced the renters reform Bill in the 2019 Queen’s Speech, and they announced it again in the 2021 Queen’s Speech. My constituents desperately need this Bill to abolish no-fault section 21 evictions, introduce a national landlord database, apply the decent homes standard and much more, so will the Secretary of State confirm when he is finally going to get on with introducing this Bill?