Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what fiscal steps she is taking to help reduce the number of empty retail units on high streets in rural areas.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is determined to combat the blight of vacancy on high streets. On 2nd December, new High Street Rental Auction powers came into force enabling local authorities to tackle persistent vacancy, implementation is supported by over £1 million of funding.
Retail businesses across the country will also benefit from reforms to the business rates system including an extension to the retail, hospitality and leisure rate relief for one year, at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and the freezing of the small business multiplier for 2025/26.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support older workers in rural settings.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is reforming jobcentres to better match people with the right jobs and provide employment, skills, and career-focused support to individuals, including those in rural and coastal areas.
A new national jobs and careers service will be introduced to help more people find work, as detailed in the Labour Market White Paper published on 26 November. The new service will cover Great Britain but will be flexible, operating differently in different areas to reflect local systems and needs – including rural areas and reflecting devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales.
DWP currently offers tailored employment support through Jobcentres including a review of health, finances and skills for eligible over 50s on Universal Credit, with an online offer available to all. Our 50plus Champions, provide support through Jobcentres, to drive localised activity. In rural communities this includes adapting delivery of tailored employment programs, and Midlife MOT sessions, to ensure attendees in rural communities, can access information on local employability training courses and job opportunities.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with local authorities to develop integrated transport systems in rural areas.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are committed to empowering local leaders to design and operate transport systems that better serve local needs. The Integrated National Transport Strategy will establish a people-first approach to transport across all areas and set the vision for better integration. The Department is already supporting rural connectivity through the Rural Transport Accelerator, and the Buses Bill which will place power over local bus services back in the hands of local leaders across England.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to maximise the use of developer's contributions to improve community infrastructure in rural areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is also committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure new developments provide necessary affordable homes and infrastructure, including in rural areas. Further details will be set out in due course.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework published on 12 December also supports the increased provision and modernisation of various types of public infrastructure, including in rural areas.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve access to further education facilities for young people in rural areas.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to driving economic growth and supporting opportunity for all. To help achieve these missions, we announced £300 million in the 2025/26 financial year for further education (FE) at the Autumn Budget 2024. We will set out how the additional funding will be distributed in due course.
The department has a number of schemes available to support young people in accessing FE facilities.
The Residential Bursary Fund (RBF) provides financial help towards the costs of accommodation for students attending a number of designated institutions delivering specialist provision. These specialist colleges mainly offer support for study programmes in the land-based sector, for example agriculture and horticulture.
The Residential Support Scheme (RSS) provides financial help for students aged 16 to 18 with the costs of living away from home to participate in a study programme where the substantial level 2 or level 3 qualification within their study programme is not available within daily travelling distance.
The department recognises that the cost and availability of transport can be difficult for some students in rural areas.
The 16-19 Bursary Fund helps young people who couldn’t otherwise afford the costs of education to participate. In the 2024/25 academic year, over £166 million of bursary funding has been allocated to institutions to help disadvantaged 16 to 19 year olds with costs such as travel. The allocation to institutions is based, among other factors, on whether students live in rural areas and how far they travel to learn.
It is the responsibility of local authorities to put in place transport arrangements to help young people aged 16 to 18 to access education or training, using funds they have available locally. All local authorities have to prioritise their spending carefully. Local authorities in rural areas face unique challenges, but in these difficult economic times authorities in other types of areas face challenges too.
The actual transport provided by local authorities varies, but sometimes involves giving 16 to 18 year olds access to school transport or bus travel for payment of a flat fee. Unlike for school travel, provision does not need to be free.
Many young people in rural areas have access to a discount or concession on local bus or train travel, either from their local authority or local transport providers. The government also supports local bus travel, including in rural areas, through the Bus Service Operators Grant.
The government publishes guidance for local authorities on their post-16 transport duty. Guidance makes it clear that local authorities need to look at the transport needs of those who live in particularly rural areas where the transport infrastructure can be limited.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent steps he has taken to help improve broadband connectivity in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to the rollout of fast, reliable broadband to all parts of the UK. The latest data from the independent website Thinkbroadband.com shows that over 85% of UK premises can now access a gigabit-capable connection.
To improve coverage further, we currently have over 30 Project Gigabit contracts in place to bring fast, reliable broadband to over 1 million more homes and businesses. In the last few months, the first premises have been connected as part of Project Gigabit contracts in areas including Norfolk, West Yorkshire and South Wiltshire, and the build has now started in earnest in other parts of the country too.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of detached youth work in rural communities.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and the vital role that youth workers play in delivering those services and building trusted relationships.
This government has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers, including detached youth workers. As part of the Strategy, we will be engaging closely with young people and the youth sector from across the country over the coming months to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing.
The Strategy will be published next year.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to support (a) start ups and (b) SMEs in rural areas.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All businesses can access support through their local Growth Hubs, providing advice and support, shaping the offer around unique needs, whether town or country.
The Secretary of State recently announced the Business Growth Service ensuring businesses across the UK get support and advice from government.
Rural areas offer significant potential for growth and are central to our economy. DBT works with other departments such as Defra, helping people living and working in rural areas to realise the full potential of rural businesses and communities placing them at the heart of our policymaking.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help support farmers to receive higher prices for their produce.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Farmers should always receive a fair price for their products and the Government is committed to tackling unfairness in the supply chain wherever it exists. Using the 'Fair Dealings' powers in the Agriculture Act 2020 we can introduce regulations, applying to businesses who purchase agricultural products from farmers, which increase transparency and protect farmers from unfair practices.
More broadly, the Government will focus on enabling a more resilient and sustainable farming sector, supporting profitability for farmers. In the Budget announced in October, the Government committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years, including more money than ever for sustainable food production.
Furthermore, our new deal for farmers includes using the Government’s own purchasing power to back British produce and seeking a new veterinary agreement with the European Union to cut red tape at our borders.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of extending the UK Shared Prosperity Fund on (a) small business, (b) farmers and (c) community infrastructure.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Autumn Budget announced that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), for which the previous government made no plans beyond March 2025, will be extended for 2025-26 at a reduced level of £900 million. This transitional arrangement will allow places to continue investing in local growth in advance of wider funding reform. It will ensure stability and flexibility for areas to deliver the most important local projects, which can include help for small businesses and community projects where relevant.
We are committed to evaluating the impacts of the UKSPF. The UKSPF evaluation strategy is published online and sets out the approach to evaluation at programme, intervention and place level. The department is committed to publishing evaluation findings on an ongoing basis as they are available.
The Rural England Prosperity Fund is delivered alongside UKSPF to help rural communities and businesses, including farm businesses. Its evaluation is also now underway.