Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of removing free to use cash machines from the rating list on access to banking and money; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The government has reduced the burden of business rates for all ratepayers, including free to use cash machines, in 2014-15 and 2015-16. However, the rating list does not distinguish free to use cash machines and no assessment has been made of removing them.
The availability of free cash machines across the country is at an all-time high, with 97% of all cash withdrawals made by UK cardholders in the UK charging no costs to customers.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the implications of the Valuation Office Agency's decision to remove cash machines in post offices from the rating list on other retail businesses that host cash machines.
Answered by David Gauke
No such assessment has been made.
Decisions on when sites should be assessed for business rates are made independently of Ministers by the Valuation Office Agency and are considered on a case by case basis, taking account of the particular circumstances of each occupation, in line with rating legislation.
The government has reduced the burden of business rates for all ratepayers, including retailers, in 2014-15 and 2015-16. It has also increased the business rates retail discount for retail properties with a rateable value of £50,000 or below from £1000 to £1500 from April 2015.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many businesses in the West Midlands have received support from UK Trade and Investment in each of the last five years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The figures below detail the number of businesses which have had interactions with UKTI West Midlands in the last 5 financial years.
Financial Year | West Midlands based Businesses Assisted* |
2010/11 | 2333 |
2011/12 | 2212 |
2012/13 | 2784 |
2013/14 | 2993 |
2014/15 | 2799 (to Dec 2014) |
*The figures provided are the total number of unique businesses that benefited from a Service Delivery. Service Delivery is participation in either the Passport To Export or Gateway to Global Growth programme, or a ‘Significant Assist’ – which is the provision of in-depth advice and support from an International Trade Advisor.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many post offices were closed in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire (i) between 1997 and 2010 and (ii) between 2010 and 2015.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Government understands the important role that post offices play in communities across the country and since 2010 has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect a network of at least 11,500 branches that continues to meet strict access criteria that see, for example, 95% of the urban population living within one mile of a post office outlet.
This Government has also committed that there will be no programme of Post Office closures. There are currently around 11,700 post office branches in the UK, with the Post Office network at its most stable for over two decades.
The information requested is the operational responsibility of Post Office Limited and I understand from the company that it does not hold information in the format requested. For your reference I include historic information on the number of open Post Office branches at national level and by the West Midlands Government Office region in the tables below:
Number of open post offices in the UK
Year | Number of open Post Office branches |
End of March 1997 | 19251 |
End of March 2010 | 11905 |
End of Sept 2014 | 11631 |
Number of open post offices in West Midlands Government Office region (historic figures are only available from the year 2000)
Year | Number of open Post Office branches |
End of March 2000 | 1479 |
End of March 2010 | 930 |
End of Sept 2014 | 904 |
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many post offices have been refurbished as a result of the Government's £2 billion investment in the Post Office Network since 2010 in (a) Worcester, (b) Worcestershire and (c) England.
Answered by Jo Swinson
The Government understands the important role that post offices play in communities across the country and since 2010 has committed nearly £2 billion to maintain, modernise and protect the network. This is an historic commitment, and is designed to ensure that the Post Office has a vibrant, successful and financially sustainable long-term future where is it less reliant on an annual taxpayer funded subsidy.
The Post Office is undertaking the largest modernisation programme in its history and network transformation is seeing subpostmasters receiving public investment to improve their branches; delivering benefits to customers including longer opening hours, more convenient access and improved branch environments. To date over 3,500 branches have converted to the new Main and Local models and nearly 290 of the Post Office’s directly owned Crown post offices have benefitted from investment.
The following table sets out the numbers of post offices that have received investment in the areas requested:
Number of post offices that have received investment | |
Worcester | 8 |
Worcestershire | 32 |
West Midlands Government Office Region | 302 |
England | 3173 |
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of post offices on financial inclusion and the social value of maintaining the network.
Answered by Jo Swinson
Post offices play an important role in communities across the UK, acting as a community hub and making sure people have access to important services.
The role of post offices in ensuring financial inclusion is becoming increasingly important. Post office operates 2,500 free-to-use ATMs across the UK and approximately 95% current accounts are accessible across post office counters in over 11500 branches across the UK. Post office is also increasing the range of financial services it offers to customers directly.
I believe post offices have a key role to play in ensuring financial inclusion and their contribution in this area enhances the social value of the post office network itself. That is why Government has provided nearly £2 billion since 2010 to maintain, modernise and protect the network.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses in Worcester that have received (a) small business rate relief and (b) the High Street Discount on business rates.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices in 2015-16 to £1.4 billion. Autumn Statement 2014 help includes:
These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:
Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.
The attached table shows the number of properties in 2014-15 within the Worcester City Council boundary that have benefitted from business rates measures in the previous Autumn Statement, including those that have received small business rates relief and the high street discount on business rates.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much was paid in business rates in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Details of the amount of non-domestic rates that were collected in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last 5 years are shown in the table below. The data are the amount that was collected in the year, irrespective of the year to which it relates before the deduction of any allowances for the cost of collection or losses in collection.
The data for Worcestershire is made up from the data for Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Wychavon, Wyre Forest and Worcester.
Worcester £million | Worcestershire £million | |
2009-10 | 35.0 | 163.8 |
2010-11 | 35.7 | 165.8 |
2011-12 | 37.6 | 176.0 |
2012-13 | 39.2 | 179.5 |
2013-14 | 40.1 | 182.3 |
Data were collected on auditor certified national non-domestic rates (NNDR3) outturn forms completed annually by all billing authorities in England.
These figures will reflect changes to the overall size and valuation of hereditaments, new buildings and the change in the multiplier, as well as changes to different types of rate relief.
These data are available on the gov.uk website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/national-non-domestic-rates-local-authority-level-data
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on (a) the level of reported property crime including burglaries for each of the last five years in Worcester and (b) the proportion of such crimes that have been solved.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Data supplied by police forces and held by the Home Office relate to the number of property crimes recorded by (rather than reported to) the police. Figures for each of the last 5 years for South Worcestershire Community Safety
Partnership (CSP) are given in the table. The whole of the Worcester constituency is contained within this CSP.
The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the outcomes of crimes at CSP level. This information is only held at police force area level.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what capital grants for buildings repairs and maintenance her Department has given to (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools and (c) colleges in Worcester in each of the last four years.
Answered by David Laws
Capital maintenance funding for maintained schools is calculated at local authority level, and provided directly to the authority. Schools also receive a small amount of devolved capital funding directly to allow them to pay for minor maintenance and repair works. It is for the local authority to decide on the priorities for their funding, according to local need and the Department for Education does not hold data on how local authority allocations are prioritised.
Allocations to Worcestershire since 2011 have been as follows:
Worcestershire | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | Total |
Devolved Formula Capital | £2,062,422 | £1,684,786 | £1,516,962 | £1,410,980 | £6,675,150 |
Maintenance | £11,392,278 | £8,793,810 | £7,096,726 | £6,617,555 | £33,900,369 |
Funding for academies is provided separately via the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund (ACMF), a bidding process to which academies apply for specific works. 4 schools in Worcester have received funding under ACMF since 2011:
School Name | Phase | 11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 |
Bishop Perowne CofE College | Secondary | £0 | £158,050 | £311,400 | £0 |
Christopher Whitehead Language College | Secondary | £0 | £150,297 | £0 | £396,922 |
Nunnery Wood High School | Secondary | £0 | £2,941,440 | £0 | £0 |
Warndon Primary School | Primary | £0 | £0 | £0 | £328,858 |
A further £11,252,093 has been provided to academies across Worcestershire more widely over the same period. All academies also receive the small devolved allocation, the same as maintained schools.
The following grants have been made to Sixth Form Colleges in Worcester over the same period. Worcester Sixth Form College received funding through a devolved allocation similar to those given to maintained schools and academies, and via the Building Condition Improvement Fund, a bidding process similar to the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund. New College Worcester received a small amount of capital funding support as an independent special provider:
11-12 | 12-13 | 13-14 | 14-15 | |
Worcester Sixth Form College | £1,069,034 | £1,005,972 | £1,540,387 | £186,065 |
New College Worcester | £0 | £6,465 | £169 | £4,236 |