Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has paid to the Inter Faith Network in accordance with Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006 in each of the last 10 years; and how much his Department plans to pay in 2023-24.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Funding provided to the Inter Faith Network by the department in each of the last ten years in accordance with Section 70 of the Charities Act 2006 can be found in the table below. There are currently no plans for the department to fund the organisation in 2023/24.
2013/14 | £220,000 |
2014/15 | £229,790 |
2015/16 | £220,000 |
2016/17 | £305,235 |
2017/18 | £382,300 |
2018/19 | £385,000 |
2019/20 | £385,000 |
2020/21 | £220,924 |
2021/22 | £350,000 |
2022/23 | £250,000 |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 3.119 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the proposal to withdraw central support for local enterprise partnerships from April 2024 on the delivery of local industrial strategies.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Business and Trade are currently consulting on the proposal to end core funding of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Consultation questionnaires were sent to all LEP chairs, combined authority mayors, local authority leaders and key stakeholder representatives. The consultation period will end on 19 May 2023 and the Government will set out a response due course.
As part of the exercise, virtual roundtable discussions have also taken place with umbrella organisations and LEPs on a range of topics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 3.119 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, whether his Department has carried out an impact assessment of the potential impact of the proposal to withdraw central support for local enterprise partnerships from April 2024.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Business and Trade are currently consulting on the proposal to end core funding of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Consultation questionnaires were sent to all LEP chairs, combined authority mayors, local authority leaders and key stakeholder representatives. The consultation period will end on 19 May 2023 and the Government will set out a response due course.
As part of the exercise, virtual roundtable discussions have also taken place with umbrella organisations and LEPs on a range of topics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 3.119 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, whether his Department consulted stakeholders prior to the Budget on the proposal to withdraw central support for local enterprise partnerships from April 2024.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Business and Trade are currently consulting on the proposal to end core funding of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Consultation questionnaires were sent to all LEP chairs, combined authority mayors, local authority leaders and key stakeholder representatives. The consultation period will end on 19 May 2023 and the Government will set out a response due course.
As part of the exercise, virtual roundtable discussions have also taken place with umbrella organisations and LEPs on a range of topics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to paragraph 3.119 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC 1183, whether his Department has begun its consultation on the proposal to withdraw central support for local enterprise partnerships from April 2024.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department for Business and Trade are currently consulting on the proposal to end core funding of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
Consultation questionnaires were sent to all LEP chairs, combined authority mayors, local authority leaders and key stakeholder representatives. The consultation period will end on 19 May 2023 and the Government will set out a response due course.
As part of the exercise, virtual roundtable discussions have also taken place with umbrella organisations and LEPs on a range of topics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the proportion of invoices his Department paid to small and medium-sized enterprises within five days in (a) the 2021-2022 financial year and (b) each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
All government departments publish payment performance quarterly showing the percentage of invoices paid in 5 days, the percentage of invoices paid in 30 days, and net debt interest liability. This is available on GOV.UK here.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department plans to announce another round of funding of the English for Integration Fund.
Answered by Lee Rowley
As announced at Budget, the government is providing £11.5 million to offer intensive English language courses and employment support to up to 10,000 individuals.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the impact of inflation on local authority budgets for (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24; and if he will make an estimate of what the impact of inflation on 2023-24 budgets equates to as a proportion of local authority core spending power as set out in the provisional local government finance settlement for 2023-24 in the Written Statement of 19 December 2022, HCWS 469.
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 902313 on the 21 November 2022.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report: The Future of Public Parks, published in September 2017, CM 9503, how many meetings of (a) the cross-departmental group on public parks and (b) the sectoral group comprising of key partners across all levels of the park sector have been held since September 2017; and when those meetings took place.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government recognises that parks and green spaces are vital to communities and the people they serve, which is why the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) announced in August 2021 as part of the Levelling Up agenda will help to increase accessibility to quality green space across the UK, and level up areas which are most deprived of green space and provide communities with a place to come together.
The Park Action Group met on 2 January 2018, 23 May 2018, 5 February 2019 and 4 June 2019. The Park Action Group delivered a number of workstreams that remained active until the outbreak of COVID-19. The group’s achievements includes an analysis of available funding for public parks. The experts who delivered it directly advised the Government on the design of the new Levelling Up Parks Fund. We have several forums which allow us to engage across departments on issues related to parks and green spaces and with stakeholders. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
As with all departmental business, the Secretary of State maintains overall responsibility for the work of the department, and I support the Secretary of State on policy matters relating to parks and green spaces.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the challenges are facing the parks sector.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
The Government recognises that parks and green spaces are vital to communities and the people they serve, which is why the £9 million Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF) announced in August 2021 as part of the Levelling Up agenda will help to increase accessibility to quality green space across the UK, and level up areas which are most deprived of green space and provide communities with a place to come together.
The Park Action Group met on 2 January 2018, 23 May 2018, 5 February 2019 and 4 June 2019. The Park Action Group delivered a number of workstreams that remained active until the outbreak of COVID-19. The group’s achievements includes an analysis of available funding for public parks. The experts who delivered it directly advised the Government on the design of the new Levelling Up Parks Fund. We have several forums which allow us to engage across departments on issues related to parks and green spaces and with stakeholders. In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of internal meetings are not normally disclosed.
As with all departmental business, the Secretary of State maintains overall responsibility for the work of the department, and I support the Secretary of State on policy matters relating to parks and green spaces.