Rehman Chishti

This year the Church of England surveyed its 16,000 parish churches about their involvement in social action and local community projects. Of the 13,000 churches that responded the survey revealed that 80% were involved in providing services for the benefit of their local communities, either standalone or in partnership with others. These 33,000 projects included debt counselling, lunch clubs, language classes, food banks, children’s clubs, community cafes, holiday and breakfast clubs and night shelters.

There are many good examples of work in the Rochester Diocese, 11 of the 12 Church of England churches within the Gillingham deanery (which covers the Gillingham and Rainham constituency) are involved in providing on average at least 4 different projects to support the wider local community.

The areas in which the churches in Gillingham deanery are engaging is as follows:

• 10 churches provide or support a Foodbank
• 8 churches operate a parent/carer and toddler group
• 7 churches operate a night shelter or other homeless provision
• 6 churches provide pastoral provision for wider community through operating street pastors groups, counselling/support, tackling loneliness projects
• 5 churches operate Youth projects (for the wider community)
• 4 churches provide a Lunch club or drop in service.

The Education Office of the Church of England is in regular dialogue with the Department for Education and is a member of the ‘Faith Providers’ group, which meets frequently with the Department to discuss a range of issues connected with schools of a religious character. One of the issues that the Office has raised in those discussions is the concern that Religious Education is not included within the EBacc.

The Education Office has also submitted written and oral evidence to the Commission on Religious Education and, following the publication of its interim report, has discussed its findings with the Commissioners. The Education Office is part of a programme run by the Theos Think Tank, bringing together leading players in RE with officials from the Department for Education and also the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government to discuss a range of issues including RE.

Late payment remains an important issue for small businesses in the UK. The Government is taking significant steps to assist small businesses to recover late payment debts.

Through the Enterprise Bill, currently before Parliament, we will legislate to establish a Small Business Commissioner to help small business resolve disputes with large companies, tackling, in particular, late payment. The Commissioner will act as a disincentive to unfavourable payment practices, and build the confidence and capabilities of small businesses to help them to assert themselves in contractual disputes and negotiate more effectively with larger businesses.

This is part of a package of measures to tackle late payment. We have also legislated for new transparency measures in the public and private sectors. This will allow full public scrutiny of payment performance.

We have also strengthened the Prompt Payment Code to ensure it is a recognised and demonstrated beacon of best practice, and we recently consulted on proposals to give representative bodies wider powers to challenge grossly unfair payment practices.

Tackling late payment is about creating a responsible payment culture where larger companies recognise the benefit of having a sustainable and robust supply chain, and smaller businesses feel able to challenge poor behaviour. Once implemented, the Government is confident that these measures will lead to significant changes in the UK’s payment culture.

Start Up Loans records indicate that, as of the 31st December 2014, the proportion of loans facilitated by the Start Up Loans Company to people of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi ethnic origin, of the total drawn down by Black and minority ethnic people is as follows:

Pakistani – 4.8%

Indian – 4.2%

Bangladeshi – 2.2%

1,040 (out of the total loan book) did not wish to provide their ethnicity.

As of 31st December 2014, 6,351 start-up loans with a value of £34.8 million have been drawn down by black and minority ethnic people. This equates to 25% of the total lent under the programme.

The Attorney General’s review of the disclosure system, published last month, sets out practical recommendations and a clear plan of action which will hold the leaders of the criminal justice system to account for delivering in their respective areas.

I am encouraged that the leaders of the police and prosecution now fully understand the need for change. Together we will make sure that public confidence in the disclosure system is restored.

Tackling hate crime is a priority for the CPS and it has taken a number of steps to improve the effectiveness of prosecutions.

The CPS Hate Crime Annual Report shows that the proportion of cases where the CPS was successful in achieving uplifted sentences for hate crime perpetrators increased dramatically last year. The proportion rose from 33.8% in 2015/16, to 52.2% in 2016/17 – reaching 58.2% in the final quarter.

The CPS has delivered mandatory face to face disability hate crime training and racially and religiously aggravated hate crime training, and is in the process of delivering homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate crime training. In August 2017, the CPS published revised legal guidance for prosecutors on all strands of hate crime. The revised legal guidance and training support prosecutors to more effectively deal with hate crime cases.

The number of sentences considered by the Solicitor General and I has more than doubled since 2010 – from 342 to 837 requests in 2016. Last year we took 190 of these cases to the Court of Appeal for consideration. The Court of Appeal agreed to increase the sentences of 141 offenders.

Our world leading National Cyber Security Strategy, supported by £1.9 billion of transformational investment, sets out measures to defend our people, businesses, and assets; deter our adversaries; and develop the skills and capabilities we need.

Our experts in the National Cyber Security Centre provide a wide range of guidance and support to help public and private sector organisations improve their resilience to cyber attacks.

We are committed to improving public services through better use of technology. We are making it easier to assure your identity online through GOV.UK Verify, which went live in May 2016 and has so far verified more than 900,000 users.

We are piloting two programmes with Local Authorities on using GOV.UK Verify to make it easier for users to apply for parking permits and concessionary travel discounts.

Additionally, the cross-Government payment platform, GOV.UK Pay, took its first payments in October 2016.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Social action, including volunteering, is changing lives. This Government – through the Centre for Social Action – is proud to be supporting projects that put social action into practice.

Cabinet Office and Nesta recently hosted the ‘People Helping People’ conference to promote the important opportunities social action presents.

The Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) is currently being delivered through 29 accredited lenders, including several non-banks and alternative lenders. If an eligible business is unable to access the scheme because their bank is not a participant, or their bank is unable to process their application or turns it down, businesses are encouraged to apply for finance with another of the lenders. These accredited lenders are all listed on the British Business Bank’s website[1].

If the application is still unsuccessful, there are other forms of finance available to eligible firms and these can be identified from a number of sources, including the Government’s online finance finder on GOV.UK.

Businesses of all sizes across England, are also encouraged to contact the nearest local government-backed Growth Hub for free impartial advice on accessing the right finance. Expert advisers will be able to discuss alternative sources of support, business planning and building resilience.

The Government’s Business Support Helpline (FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098) also provides free, impartial support and advice to businesses.

Businesses based in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will be able to access similar support through the Devolved Administrations.

[1] https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/ourpartners/coronavirus-business-interruption-loan-schemes/bounce-back-loans/current-accredited-lenders-and-partners/

When looking at business start-ups we look at business births, this is because there is no direct measure of the number of business start-ups in the UK.

The Business Demography Publication by the Office for National Statistics details the number of business births in the UK with data available from 2012.

Business births are defined as businesses newly registered for at least one of VAT and PAYE.

The following table gives the number of business births in Medway, Kent and England from 2012 to 2017:

The Government has invited all Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in England to develop Local Industrial Strategies. We aim to agree these with all places by early 2020. For Kent, the South East LEP will set out an ambitious long-term vision for the area to increase its productivity, build on its established strengths, and create new opportunities for people and businesses in emerging sectors and industries.

The government know that regions across the UK have different skills needs, so will build on local strengths to deliver opportunities for people wherever they live. One way we will achieve this is through Skills Advisory Panels which bring together local employers and skills providers to pool knowledge on skills and labour market needs and work together to understand and address key local challenges. These Panels will be led by the Local Enterprise Partnership, and will influence Local Industrial Strategy development.

In Kent, and the wider South East LEP area, the government is working in partnership with local business and civic leaders to grow skills and opportunities for workers across the area by:

- Delivering an increase of 198,900 jobs since 2010 and 31,080 apprenticeship starts last year.

- Investing £590 million of Growth Deal funding to the South East LEP since 2014. delivering 78,000 jobs, 29,000 homes and attracting a further £960 million extra investment into the South East, including £22 million spent on 29 skills projects.

- Investing £6.5 million for the Kent and Medway EDGE Hub. .

- Backing the Innovation Park Medway, within the Kent Enterprise Zone with £4.4 million funding to help attract high quality technology, engineering and manufacturing companies to the area.

Supporting the Local Enterprise Partnership’s Kent and Medway Growth Hub to help small and medium sized enterprises in the areas access the support they need to grow and thrive.

Government is clear that we want all types of retail to thrive now and in the future, and to support the sector as it responds to change. This is why we established the industry led Retail Sector Council to bring Government and industry together to help the sector address key sector issues and define its future strategy.

The council is due to meet next in February. The Council is prioritising its work to address the key challenges facing the sector and will initially focus on; costs to business, skills and lifelong learning, employment protection, consumer protection, the circular economy and the Industrial Strategy. The priority areas were selected by the industry and each workstream will be led by a senior industry figure.

Furthermore, at Autumn Budget, Government launched the £675m Future High Streets Fund, which will help local leaders to transform their town centres and make them fit for the future. The prospectus for the Fund was published in December and invites high streets and town centres to come forward with Expressions of Interest by March 22^nd 2019.

Local leaders will be further supported by the High Streets Task Force, which will be established in 2019 and will provide hands-on support to local areas to develop data-driven innovative strategies and connect local areas to relevant experts.

In addition, from April 2019, the Government is cutting the business rates bills of eligible small retailers by one third for two years, worth almost £900m in reduced bills.

a) Two renewable electricity generation sites in Medway receive government support through the Renewables Obligation; Shakespeare Farm Landfill, and Malmaynes Solar.

b) The government is not aware of any such sites in the Gillingham and Rainham constituency.

The RHI scheme currently supports 47 renewable heating systems in Medway, this includes Gillingham and Rainham.

Additionally, there are 103,123 Feed-In Tariff accredited sites in the South East region.

The Discover England Fund is a £40m fund aimed at increasing the tourism offer in England, creating innovate, bookable experiences for targeted international markets. The “Culture Coasting, Garden and Gourmet” and the “US Connections” projects are examples of projects in the Kent and Medway area.

Kent is also used in VisitBritain’s marketing campaigns, including their #MyMicroGap domestic campaign. In addition to this, suppliers in the Medway area are provided on the VisitBritain trade website for bookings.

The Government has entered into formal negotiations on the proposed Tourism Sector Deal. The proposed Sector Deal aims to improve productivity in the tourism sector. Any businesses with an interest is invited to contact Steve Ridgway of VisitBritain who is representing the Tourism Industry in our discussions.

The government’s sport strategy “Sporting Future” highlighted the importance of focusing on groups that are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, including women and girls.

Sport England, government’s arm’s length body for community sport, funds the Football Association (FA) to encourage participation in the women’s game, both in developing talented women and girls as well as supporting participation at the grassroots. For 2017-2021 Sport England awarded The FA £14.6m. This investment includes funding for programmes like ‘Grow the Game’ aimed at supporting new women’s and disability teams.

The FA has partnered with Sport England’s “This Girl Can” campaign, to encourage more women and girls to get involved with the sport across the country. In Kent, Sport England funding has helped Kent FA start the Player Development Centre which has seen many girls receive extra coaching opportunities.

Government supports the FA’s bid to host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 finals in England which will hopefully inspire the next generation of young female players.

The government’s sport strategy “Sporting Future” highlighted the importance of focusing on groups that are less likely to take part in sport and physical activity, including women and girls.

Sport England, government’s arm’s length body for community sport, funds the Football Association (FA) to encourage participation in the women’s game, both in developing talented women and girls as well as supporting participation at the grassroots. For 2017-2021 Sport England awarded The FA £14.6m. This investment includes funding for programmes like ‘Grow the Game’ aimed at supporting new women’s and disability teams.

The FA has partnered with Sport England’s “This Girl Can” campaign, to encourage more women and girls to get involved with the sport across the country. In Kent, Sport England funding has helped Kent FA start the Player Development Centre which has seen many girls receive extra coaching opportunities.

Government supports the FA’s bid to host the UEFA Women’s Euro 2021 finals in England which will hopefully inspire the next generation of young female players.

Making sure that good quality and affordable sports facilities are available and accessible to people from all backgrounds and ability levels is a central element of the government Sport Strategy 'Sporting Future'. In the Medway area we have invested over £1m of exchequer and lottery funding through Sport England, into 46 projects since 2010 and since 2011 more than £540,000 in 22 projects in Gillingham and Rainham.

The number of applications and awards made in (i) Gillingham and Rainham, (ii) Medway and (iii) the UK over each of the last five financial years were as follows:

Gillingham and Rainham

Medway

UK-wide

Big Lottery Fund assigns applications and awards by primary project location - where the project is delivered from, rather than beneficiary location or where their beneficiaries live. As such, it is likely that people living in (i) Gillingham and Rainham and (ii) Medway have also benefited from awards assigned to other locations over the past five financial years.

The department is considering arrangements for the primary physical education and sport premium for the 2022/23 academic year and future academic years. We will confirm our position in due course.

The government can confirm that funding for the School Games Organisers will be available for the full 2022/23 financial year. The government is considering arrangements for the School Games Organiser network beyond that point and will confirm its position as soon as possible.

This information is currently not available.

The latest figures on children looked after in England and on children missing from care or placed in out of area placements relates to the year ending 31 March 2019 are published in the statistical release, ‘Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.

Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.

This information is currently not available.

The latest figures on children looked after in England and on children missing from care or placed in out of area placements relates to the year ending 31 March 2019 are published in the statistical release, ‘Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.

Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.

This information is currently not available.

The latest figures on children looked after in England and on children missing from care or placed in out of area placements relates to the year ending 31 March 2019 are published in the statistical release, ‘Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.

Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.

This information is currently not available.

The latest figures on children looked after in England and on children missing from care or placed in out of area placements relates to the year ending 31 March 2019 are published in the statistical release, ‘Children Looked after in England including adoptions 2018-19’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2018-to-2019.

Figures for the reporting year ending 31 March 2020 will be published later this year.