Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of explicitly including universities as potential recipients of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Levelling Up Fund will invest in local infrastructure that has a visible impact on people and their communities and will support economic recovery.
The Fund will be jointly managed by the Treasury, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Transport. It will invest in a broad range of high value local projects, including bypasses and other local road schemes, bus lanes, rail station upgrades, regenerating eyesores, upgrading town centres and community infrastructure, and local arts and culture.
We will publish a prospectus for the Fund soon.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage reading during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Many people have sought comfort in reading during this pandemic period. Before libraries physically closed their doors last March, public libraries allowed people to take out many books, suspended late fines and then moved swiftly to digital and online services, investing in ebooks and audio. During March 2020 new registrations to access libraries econtent increased by over 600%.
Through national regulations Government has enabled public libraries to continue to offer an “order and collect” provision, as well as home lending services for vulnerable users. We are also pleased to support The Reading Agency’s new campaign: Read, Talk, Share - which will combat loneliness and promote wellbeing through bibliotherapy, working closely with local libraries to reach struggling communities.
In addition we have worked with the Department for Education to remind parents and children that libraries continue to provide free access to reading material, both physically and digitally, through library membership.
Beyond libraries, the Government has supported the publishing industry during the pandemic, to help ensure readers can continue to enjoy the benefits that come with a thriving UK publishing sector. This support has included introducing a zero rate of VAT to e-publications, which was brought forward to 1 May 2020, which ensures e-publications are entitled to the same VAT treatment as their physical counterparts.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has has made of the potential merits of establishing a Government-backed scheme to support consumers and wedding business in the absence of available insurance cover.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government recognises the essential role of the insurance industry in providing the cover businesses need to operate. We are working closely with the insurers, the trade bodies and regulators to understand what more the industry can do to help individuals and businesses in their time of need, and how the insurance market delivers the support firms need as the economy reopens.
Over the course of the pandemic the Government has worked closely with the weddings sector to understand the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses and has responded with a substantial package of business support, which we keep under regular review.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of the recipients of the Cultural Recovery Fund are located in West Yorkshire; and what proportion of that fund has been spent in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Last year the government announced the unprecedented £1.57 billion support package for the culture sector, of which over £1 billion has now been allocated to over 3,000 arts and culture organisations across the country. This Culture Recovery Fund is supporting the arts and culture sector to survive the pandemic and continue operating.
According to the latest figures, 4% of CRF recipients are located in West Yorkshire and just under 5% of the Culture Recovery Fund has been spent in West Yorkshire.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support World Book Day 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has spoken with World Book Day about plans for the 2021 event, and we are exploring potential opportunities to highlight the importance and benefits of reading for pleasure on the day. The event is an opportunity for young people to celebrate what they most enjoy about reading, and we know that reading for pleasure brings a range of benefits, including: reading attainment and writing ability, text comprehension and grammar, breadth of vocabulary, positive reading attitudes, and pleasure in reading in later life. Further information on reading for pleasure can be found here: https://literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/reading-pleasure-research-overview/.
Research also suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than factors such as their parents’ level of education. Further information on this can be found at: https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Readingforpleasurestoppress.pdf. The Department supports reading for pleasure in a number of ways, including through the National Curriculum and the English Hubs programme.
The National Curriculum emphasises the importance of children listening to, discussing and – as their fluency increases – reading for themselves a wide range of stories, poems, plays and information books. The English Hubs programme is a £26.3 million programme dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, particularly for disadvantaged children. Since its launch in 2018 we have invested a further £17 million in this school-to-school improvement programme, which focuses on systematic synthetic phonics, early language and reading for pleasure. The programme has provided appropriate and targeted support to several thousands of schools across England and, in this academic year (2020/21), the programme is providing intensive support to over 850 partner schools.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the effect of cabotage rules on the number of UK based music concert haulage vehicles.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Department for Transport’s assessment is that the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement will allow for the vast majority of haulage operations that were being undertaken by UK hauliers before the end of the transition period. The agreement does introduce some limits, and UK hauliers will only be allowed to undertake two movements within the EU before returning to the UK. These rules will apply to specialist hauliers, such as hauliers who carry equipment for musicians and other performers.
Alternative arrangements for specialist hauliers were discussed in detail as part of negotiations, including specific proposals for liberalised access, but the EU was unable to agree more flexible arrangements.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households in the (a) Batley and Spen and (b) West Yorkshire are in receipt of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit.
Answered by Will Quince
The latest available statistics on the number of households with Universal Credit in payment, by parliamentary constituency and other geographical breakdowns, is published and can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started.html
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the financial support required by the wedding industry to support its re-opening when it is safe to do so during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce to understand the impact of COVID-19 on businesses and jobs in the sector.
Over the course of the pandemic, the Government has provided an unprecedented package of financial support to businesses, including those in the wedding sector, which we keep under regular review.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the wedding sector and its supply chain on sector re-opening timelines during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
I meet regularly with the industry-led Weddings Taskforce to understand the impact of COVID-19 on wedding businesses and jobs in the sector.
As my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister has said, we intend to publish our plan for taking the country out of lockdown in the last week of February.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to continue the contract with Edenred as the provider of Free School Meals vouchers.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The national voucher scheme with Edenred re-opened on Monday 18 January 2021. Schools have begun ordering and families have already begun redeeming supermarket vouchers.
During the period of national lockdown, schools should continue to provide meal options for all pupils who are in school. Meals should be available free of charge to all infant pupils and pupils who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals who are in school.
Schools should also continue to provide free school meal support to pupils who are eligible for benefits related free school meals and who are learning from home. Extra funding will be provided to support schools to provide food parcels or meals to eligible children.
Schools are free to decide the best approach for their free school meal pupils. They can provide lunch parcels, locally arranged vouchers, or they can use the national voucher scheme. Further details are set out in the guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance/covid-19-free-school-meals-guidance-for-schools.