Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide funding for the A12 widening scheme.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

On 30 July 2024, the Secretary of State announced that she was commissioning a review of the Department’s capital spend portfolio.

This review is ongoing and will support the development of our long-term strategy for transport, developing a modern and integrated network with people at its heart, ensuring that transport infrastructure can be delivered efficiently and on time.

The A12 Chelmsford to A120 widening scheme is being considered as part of the capital review alongside other future road projects.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding she has allocated to Essex County Council for highways in each of the next five years.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This Government takes the condition of local roads very seriously and is committed to maintaining and renewing the local road network. Within the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor announced that for the 2025/26 financial year there would be a £500 million increase for local highways maintenance funding in England, an increase of nearly 50% compared to the current financial year. Funding allocations for specific local highway authorities for 2025/26, including Essex County Council, will be confirmed in due course.

Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities beyond 2025/26 will be a matter for the forthcoming Spending Review.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Autumn Budget 2024, published on 30 October 2024, HC 295, what estimate he has made of the amount of funding that will be allocated to NHS services in Essex in each of the next five years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The recent Budget set out the overall funding for the Department for 2024/25 and 2025/26. In terms of the next five years, the funding that will be allocated to the three integrated care boards covering Essex will be set out alongside planning guidance for 2025/26 at the earliest opportunity. Funding beyond 2025/26 will be determined as part of Phase 2 of the Spending Review, which will be announced in Spring 2025.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum seekers who will be accommodated at Wethersfield in (a) 2024 and (b) each of the next five years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain. We have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing which will save an estimated £7 billion for the taxpayer over the next ten years, and are delivering a major uplift in returns to remove people with no right to be in the UK. Over the long term this will reduce our reliance on hotels and costs of accommodation.

Occupancy at the Wethersfield site is currently capped at 580 as part of the Special Development Order. This means that during current operation of the site, the population will not exceed 580.

Once the relevant Special Development Order conditions have been discharged, regular occupancy will be capped at 800.

The number of residents on the site at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors, including individuals having moved to onward dispersed accommodation while their claims are being considered.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to continue to use the Wethersfield site to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain. We have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing which will save an estimated £7 billion for the taxpayer over the next ten years, and are delivering a major uplift in returns to remove people with no right to be in the UK. Over the long term this will reduce our reliance on hotels and costs of accommodation.

Occupancy at the Wethersfield site is currently capped at 580 as part of the Special Development Order. This means that during current operation of the site, the population will not exceed 580.

Once the relevant Special Development Order conditions have been discharged, regular occupancy will be capped at 800.

The number of residents on the site at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors, including individuals having moved to onward dispersed accommodation while their claims are being considered.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of operating the Wethersfield site for asylum accommodation in each of the next five years.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cost information is prospective and commercially sensitive, and as such is not available to be released.

The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). It does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates asylum accommodation costs by type or location.

Asylum seekers who are resident in accommodation where meals are provided, such as Wethersfield, are in receipt of 8.86 per week. Further details about support asylum seekers may be entitled to can be found at Asylum support: What you'll get - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) average and (b) total cost of financial support provided to asylum seekers at the Wethersfield site was in the last 12 months.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

Cost information is prospective and commercially sensitive, and as such is not available to be released.

The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab). It does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates asylum accommodation costs by type or location.

Asylum seekers who are resident in accommodation where meals are provided, such as Wethersfield, are in receipt of 8.86 per week. Further details about support asylum seekers may be entitled to can be found at Asylum support: What you'll get - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of small boat arrivals there will be by the end of (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office does not make estimates of this kind.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.40 of the Autumn Budget 2024, HC 295, published on 30 October 2024, whether she has made an estimate of (a) the number of (i) businesses and (ii) employers in (A) Witham constituency and (B) Essex that will be affected by the proposed increase in the rate of employer National Insurance Contributions (NIC) and (b) the amount of employer NIC revenue that will raised from those areas in each of the next five years as a result.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Estimates of the number of businesses nor revenue raised from businesses in Witham and Essex from changes to Employer NICs announced at Autumn Budget 2024 are not available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding he plans to allocate to public health grants for local authorities in each of the next five years.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We will confirm 2025/26 public health grant allocations later this year, and will confirm future years’ allocations following the upcoming Spending Review in Spring 2025.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she will provide local authorities with (a) their allocation of the Household Support Fund for 2025-26 and (b) guidance for the use of that fund.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, the Chancellor announced that the Government will provide £1 billion, including Barnett impact, to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF) in England and maintain Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) in England and Wales in 2025-2026.

The Household Support Fund scheme guidance and individual Local Authority funding allocations for the forthcoming extension will be announced as soon as possible ahead of the scheme beginning on 1 April 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide funding to improve step-free access at railway stations.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities. Since its launch in 2006, the Access for All programme has delivered step free access at more than 250 stations across Great Britain.

Since April 2024, Access for All projects have entered into passenger service at nine stations, with a further 25 stations scheduled to enter into passenger service by April 2025.

Found: • During the Bill’s Second Reading debate, the R t Hon Chris Murray MP and Rt Hon Priti Patel