Rachel Taylor

This Government remains committed to helping small businesses thrive and will be publishing our Small Business Strategy next year. This will set out our vision for all small businesses, from boosting scale-ups to growing the co-operative economy. Support is also available via the Business Support Service, Gov.uk and the network of local Growth Hubs across England.

ONS does not provide business demography data at the parliamentary constituency level. Therefore, the most relevant data is from two lower tier local authorities, North Warwickshire, and Nuneaton and Bedworth.

Within North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, according to data from ONS, there were 4,855 registered business births and 4,665 registered businesses which ceased to trade between 2017 and 2022. There was an overall gain of 190 businesses within this five-year period. (Source: ONS Business demography)

So far in the 2023/24 academic year from August to April there have been 1,310 apprenticeship participants in North Warwickshire and Bedworth constituency, 910 in North Warwickshire local authority district and 1,890 in Nuneaton and Bedworth local authority district. In the 2022/23 full academic year there were 1,470,990 and 2,110 participants respectively.

Note:

(1) Figures for 2023/24 are provisional and cover the first three quarters (August 2023 to April 2024). All other years are final, full-year figures.

(2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10.

(3) Participation is the count of learners that participated at any point during the year. Learners undertaking more than one course will appear only once in the grand total.

(4) Figures are based on learner home postcode.

These figures are published in the Apprenticeships statistics publication, which can accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for North Warwickshire and Bedworth, to the answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 7255.

The Secretary of State is committed to mitigating the environmental effects of the construction of HS2 and binding Environmental Minimum Requirements (EMRs) are in place that HS2 Ltd and its contractors must follow to limit the impacts of noise, dust and traffic impacts as far as reasonably practicable. The EMRs include a code of construction practice, which sets out a range of control measures, which shall be applied throughout the construction period to ensure effective planning and management is in place to minimise the potential impacts of construction upon communities, businesses and the natural and historic environment.

A copy of the code of construction practice is available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80104d40f0b62305b88f3b/Code_of_Construction_Practice.pdf

HS2 Ltd also provides a responsive community engagement operation which ensures that residents have quick and simple routes to raise concerns if they feel that the effects of construction are not being managed as they should be, including a 24-hour helpdesk, and quick turnaround times for addressing complaints and queries. The HS2 Construction Commissioner can also intervene if construction issues are not being properly resolved through the HS2 complaints process.

The Government does not hold this information. However, the consumer group Which? finds that the North Warwickshire and Bedworth constituency has lost 71.4% of its branch network since 2015 and has four bank branches remaining.

The Government understands the impact of bank branch closures on communities and the importance of face-to-face banking. This is why the Government is working closely with industry to roll out 350 banking hubs across the UK. The UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament. These hubs will provide small businesses and individuals who need face-to-face support with critical cash and in-person banking services. Over 80 banking hubs are already open and Cash Access UK, who oversee banking hub rollout, expect 100 hubs to be open by Christmas.

The downward trend in domestic-abuse related prosecutions across England and Wales, including in Warwickshire and Bedworth, since the year ending March 2017 is deeply concerning. I am committed to working with all justice partners, including the police and the CPS, to improve this and, in doing so, provide justice to more victims and hold more offenders to account.

The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) within a decade. In our first four months in Government, we have committed to fast-track rape cases through the criminal justice system and ban the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes. Further, we have announced that we will introduce domestic abuse experts in 999 control rooms from early next year and launch a pilot of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders this November to provide more protection for victims. These are just some of the first steps we are taking to tackle VAWG and improve the justice system response to domestic abuse across England and Wales.