Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels in the West Midlands.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support whilst their application for asylum is being considered.
This Government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims being processed.
The Home Secretary took immediate action by restarting asylum processing and scrapping the unworkable Rwanda policy. This will save an estimated £4 billion for the taxpayer over the next two years. We 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.
We remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers as part of this programme to reduce overall asylum costs.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) educational spaces for children and (b) youth centres have closed in North Warwickshire and Bedworth constituency since 2010.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Information on mainstream primary and secondary school places is published annually in the School Capacity publication, which is accessible here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity. Time series data are not published at constituency level, which is difficult to track over time due to changing boundaries and school-reorganisations. School capacity data is published at school level and can be combined with information from ‘Get information about schools’ to identify the number of places based on the current parliamentary constituency.
The latest data at local authority level shows that between 2009/10 and 2022/23, the number of school places in Warwickshire increased by 14,143. This data is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/33b1bea3-efe4-4b37-f914-08dd0adc50ad. This represents an increase of 7,634 primary and 6,509 secondary places.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) do not collect individualised data on youth centre closure. As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area.
In September 2023, DCMS published updated statutory guidance to support local authorities’ understanding of the existing duty and how to deliver it. The statutory duty, and therefore local authorities’ responsibilities, have not changed.
Alongside this, DCMS funds a peer review programme for local authorities to learn from each other about the best approaches to youth service provision.
In 2025/26, the department will also be launching the Local Youth Transformation pilot, which will support local authorities to build back capacity in the youth space and improve local youth offers.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure adequate funding for (a) innovation and (b) development in technology in Warwickshire.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UKRI invested £43 million in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire in 2021-22.
This included core funding for the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG), which is a centre of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. WMG is a world-leading industrial research and education group that works with companies to boost the UK’s manufacturing performance and sustainability.
Innovate UK’s Launchpad programme is also allocating up to £7.5 million for the immersive and creative industries cluster centred on Coventry and Warwickshire. This is supporting thirteen projects, eleven of which are with small and medium sized business, to progress their ideas toward commercialisation and contribute to local economic growth.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with (a) banks and (b) building societies on steps to help keep high-street branches of banks and building societies open.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Treasury Ministers regularly meet representatives from the banking and building society sectors to discuss a wide range of issues.
The Government understands the importance of face-to-face banking to communities and high streets and is committed to championing sufficient access for all as a priority. This is why the Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, which will provide individuals and businesses up and down the country with critical cash and banking services. Following a meeting with the Economic Secretary in September, the UK banking sector has committed to deliver these hubs by the end of this parliament.
The Government also recognises the value that building societies bring to their members in local communities across the country, and that they have a 28% share of the UK’s branch network.
While branch closures are commercial decisions for banks and building societies, FCA guidance expects firms to carefully consider the impact of planned branch closures on their customers’ everyday banking and cash access needs and put in place alternatives where reasonable. This seeks to ensure that branch closures are implemented in a way that treats customers fairly. Where firms fall short of expectations, the FCA may ask for closures to be paused or other options to be put in place.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle serious organised freight crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Freight crime can have significant impacts on businesses and drivers.
We are working with the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, which has established a network of vehicle crime specialists, involving every police force in England and Wales, to help share information about emerging trends in vehicle crime and better tackle regional issues.
We are also continuing to work closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime.