Trudy Harrison

We are working closely with the tourism industry on the proposed Sector Deal for tourism. One of the proposals put forward by the industry is the creation of Tourism Action Zones in order to take a targeted and focused approach to tackle issues, such as improving productivity and extending the tourism season. We are looking at this proposal and considering it as part of our work.

The Government’s policy is to ensure world-class broadband and mobile connectivity across the UK. We are currently implementing a number of policies to achieve this in rural areas.

£1.8 billion of public money is being invested to support vital improvements in superfast broadband coverage across the UK, including in rural areas. In December 2017, we met our target to extend superfast coverage to 95% of UK premises, and we expect to reach at least 97% by 2020.

DCMS has also put in place legislation to create a new Universal Service Obligation (USO) giving every household and business the right to request a broadband connection of at least 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) by 2020, to ensure access to decent connectivity. Ofcom are now responsible for implementing the USO. Further details, including how to apply are expected to be announced in the summer. In addition, the Better Broadband Scheme provides voucher funding to UK premises that do not have access to affordable broadband service delivering at least 2Mbps.

DEFRA has allocated £75 million of grant funding from the Rural Development Programme for England, targeted at helping to connect businesses with superfast broadband in hard to reach rural areas.

Looking forward, we want to provide world class digital connectivity that is gigabit-capable, reliable, long-lasting and widely available across the UK. We have set ambitious targets - for 15 million premises to be connected to full fibre by 2025, with nationwide coverage by 2033. In the Future Telecoms Infrastructure Review, we set out our long term national strategy to meet these targets, and to ensure that rural and remote areas are not left behind. Critical to delivering this ambition, is the “outside-in” approach set out in the review, which seeks to ensure that the harder to reach, mostly rural areas which are not viable for commercial investment - are addressed at the same pace as the rest of the country.

According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations Report, 89% of UK homes and small and medium-sized businesses are now able to receive superfast download speeds of 30 Megabits or higher, and all homes and businesses can now access broadband speeds of 2 Megabits per second. This is fast enough for everyone to gain access to every government service available online.

ThinkBroadband’s latest figures indicate that superfast coverage of 30 Megabits or higher is currently available to 94.7% of premises across the North West.

We are determined to ensure even better digital connectivity in the UK, and we announced a package of measures worth £1.1 billion at Autumn Statement 2016. This includes The Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme, which will support local bodies in stimulating the market for fibre connectivity in their areas. The six local test projects were announced on 3rd September.

The Super Connected Cities Programme, which closed in 2016, offered vouchers to SMEs to help with connectivity. Interest in connection voucher scheme was very high in the North West which resulted in over over 5590 connections being made in the region.

New industry-designed standards are driving up quality, such as the project management apprenticeship developed by employers. We have increased off-the-job training and introduced rigorous end-point assessments so apprentices are occupationally competent. We’ve also strengthened the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers giving employers confidence apprentices will receive high-quality training.

It is not possible to distinguish between (a) technical or (b) non-technical apprenticeships as there is no definition of technical apprenticeship in the Individualised Learner Return. We can provide a breakdown of apprenticeship starts by apprenticeship sector area and age, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650226/201617_Oct_Apps_Level_SSA_And_Framework_Data_Tool_FINAL.xlsx.

Overall, there have been over 1.1 million apprenticeship starts since May 2015 and the Government is committed to achieving three million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020.

We have introduced the Apprenticeship Levy to encourage sustained employer-investment in high quality apprenticeships of all kinds. This will provide £2.45 billion for apprenticeships in England by 2020. Our apprenticeship reforms are the largest changes to apprenticeships the Government has ever made. These changes are investing in the future of millions of people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

Employers are currently designing new apprenticeships across a broad range of sectors. The Government has also established the employer-led Institute for Apprenticeships to support this and will extend the remit of the Institute to cover college-based technical education from 2018. This will ensure there is a clear route into skilled and technical occupations across a range of sectors, through both apprenticeships and T Levels.

It is not possible to distinguish between (a) technical or (b) non-technical apprenticeships as there is no definition of technical apprenticeship in the Individualised Learner Return. We can provide a breakdown of apprenticeship starts by apprenticeship sector area and age, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/650226/201617_Oct_Apps_Level_SSA_And_Framework_Data_Tool_FINAL.xlsx.

Overall, there have been over 1.1 million apprenticeship starts since May 2015 and the Government is committed to achieving three million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020.

We have introduced the Apprenticeship Levy to encourage sustained employer-investment in high quality apprenticeships of all kinds. This will provide £2.45 billion for apprenticeships in England by 2020. Our apprenticeship reforms are the largest changes to apprenticeships the Government has ever made. These changes are investing in the future of millions of people of all ages and from all backgrounds.

Employers are currently designing new apprenticeships across a broad range of sectors. The Government has also established the employer-led Institute for Apprenticeships to support this and will extend the remit of the Institute to cover college-based technical education from 2018. This will ensure there is a clear route into skilled and technical occupations across a range of sectors, through both apprenticeships and T Levels.

There have been 71,290 apprenticeship starts recorded to date (August 2016 to April 2017) in the North West in the 2016 to 2017 academic year.

Earlier years’ data for starts by region can be found in the apprenticeships FE data library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586183/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xlsx

Data for apprenticeship participation by region is also available in the apprenticeships FE data library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624357/apprenticeships-participation-by-region-and-sector-subject-area.xlsx

More detailed geographical data on apprenticeship starts and achievements are available in the apprenticeships FE data library tools:

Starts: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624428/apprenticeships-geography-data-tool-starts-v1.xlsm

Achievements: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624585/apprenticeships-geography-data-tool-achievements-v1.xlsm

As part of our preparations to leave the EU, we have carried out a rigorous programme of analytical work that has assessed the impact of various EU withdrawal scenarios on the UK farming sector.

Part of that programme has included modelling work co-funded between the four UK agricultural departments. In August 2017 FAPRI-UK published this analysis in the report “Impacts of Alternative post-brexit trade agreements on UK agriculture: sector analyses using the FAPRI-UK model”. It considers the impact of different trading scenarios on many farming commodity sectors. The full report is available on Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute website –

https://www.afbini.gov.uk/sites/afbini.gov.uk/files/publications/FAPRI-UK%20Brexit%20Report%20-%20FINAL%20Clean.pdf

In addition, the Evidence and Analysis Paper, which accompanied the publication of the Agriculture Bill, provides analysis of the various ways farmers are likely to be affected by the movement from the area-based payments of the Common Agricultural Policy to being rewarded for the public goods they produce under Environmental Land Management (ELM). Further information can be found here –

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-future-for-food-farming-and-the-environment-policy-statement-2018

This analysis only applies to England, as agricultural policy in the UK is devolved, and it is for each administration to decide its approach and what measures it should adopt according to its evaluation of the situation which pertains to its area. For details relating to the rest of the UK, please contact the relevant devolved administration.

This is devolved matter and the below information relates to England only.

The Government is committed to protecting and expanding red squirrel populations and tackling the threats that grey squirrels pose to them. The Forestry Commission works with Natural England and other conservation organisations and projects to help protect red squirrel enclaves and to allow the populations to expand.

The Forestry Commission also undertakes a number of actions to protect red squirrels from the impact of grey squirrels as outlined in the grey squirrel action plan for England. These actions include Countryside Stewardship funding for landowners who choose to help protect red squirrels within designated reserves.

Defra, in partnership with the United Kingdom Squirrel Accord, has also provided funding for work by the Animal and Plant Health Agency for the development of a fertility control method for grey squirrels. This research continues to show promise as one potentially effective and humane method to control grey squirrel numbers in the longer term.

The inclusion in Marine Conservation Zones of highly mobile species, such as seabirds, is considered where it can be demonstrated that it would help meet the conservation objectives for that species. Numbers of razorbill at this site have shown a significant decline in recent years and their inclusion is therefore warranted. Numbers of common guillemot, by contrast, have more than doubled at this site over the same period and it was therefore decided that there was insufficient justification to include them as a feature in this Marine Conservation Zone. We look forward to receiving views on our proposals through the consultation, which will inform our final decisions.

The Environment Agency has strategic oversight of all sources of flooding and coastal erosion, including reservoir flooding. The Environment Agency also has a regulatory role in managing flood risk with reservoirs and works to make sure reservoir owners effectively manage their own flood risk.

Where appropriate, reducing the risk of flooding downstream from reservoirs is integrated within flood risk management schemes. The Environment Agency does not collect separate financial information for measures to reduce this specific flood risk.

The Government is committed to reducing flood risk and has made the following capital investment to flood and coastal erosion risk management in Cumbria in each of the last five years:

On 13 September, the Government issued a strategic policy statement to Ofwat. This set out clear priorities for Ofwat to secure the water industry’s long-term resilience to flooding, drought, and other risks, and to protect vulnerable customers. The policy statement makes clear that we expect Ofwat to challenge companies to assess the resilience of their systems and infrastructure against flooding and take proportionate steps to improve resilience where required.