Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure that the Plymouth Freeport project contributes to creating a favourable environment for small businesses to access finance opportunities.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Freeports offer significant advantages to SMEs, including reduced taxes, simplified customs, improved infrastructure, and most notably, the fostering of business clustering environments. Plymouth and South Devon Freeport is focussed on developing incubator units at the new innovation centre which will provide an ideal environment to encourage SMEs. With Freeports now operational, they will continue engagement with SME bodies, ensuring they are well-informed and supported to capitalise fully on these collaborative environments and other advantages Freeports offer.
On 20 November we were delighted to announce that Plymouth City Council were provisionally allocated £19,946,417 in Round 3 of the Levelling Up Fund which we hope will accelerate Plymouth's waterfront regeneration.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023, what are the equivalent estimates for the (a) number of jobs created and (b) amount of capital expenditure generated as a result of investment by UK resident entities over the period covered by that publication.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023 confirms verified foreign investment into Freeports. The Department for Business and Trade can only provide verification for foreign direct investment into the UK, not domestic investment, so we are unable to provide equivalent estimates.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Inward investment in to freeports: December 2021 to November 2023, published on 24 November 2023, if she will detail which freeports the (a) 1,421 jobs and (b) £1,278 million of capital expenditure were attributed to in that publication.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The investments making up the totals published on 24 November 2023 are spread across the 12 Freeports but details of individual investments are commercially sensitive. This means that publishing the specific location associated with these investments risks identifying such commercially sensitive information. The limitation prevents the Department for Business and Trade to publish further detail about the investments.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the potential impact of tax reliefs in (a) freeports and (b) investment zones on tax revenues in each financial year between 2023-24 and 2028-29.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for Budget Responsibility has published estimates for the potential impact of the Freeport tax reliefs in England, Scotland and Wales in economic and fiscal outlook publications at previous fiscal events as below:
- English Freeports: CP 545 – Office for Budget Responsibility – Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2021 (obr.uk) (page 205)
- Scottish Freeports: Economic and fiscal outlook - March 2023 (obr.uk) (Page 160)
- Welsh Freeports : Fiscal_supplementary_tables_receipts_and_other_November_2023.xlsx (live.com)
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent steps his Department has taken to help support economic growth in coastal communities.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is committed to promoting economic growth in all parts of the country including coastal communities.
We have supported coastal communities to level up through dedicated funding under the Coastal Communities Fund, the Coastal Revival Fund and additional funding under the Welcome Back Fund, while the Levelling Up Fund has provided around £1 billion to projects in coastal areas and over £400 million from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund is going to lead local authorities within or serving coastal areas in England, alongside major investment in the other nations of the UK.
But it is not just about funds. 11 out of 12 Freeports and 7 out of 20 Levelling Up Partnerships are in coastal areas, demonstrating our deep commitment to unlocking the economic potential of coastal communities.
In Southport we are investing £37.5 million through the Town Fund, which will be used to deliver the brand new 1200 seat ‘Marine Lake Events Centre’ with state of the art technical facilities, significant improvements to cycle and walking paths, upgraded road infrastructure, new public spaces and an business incubator for the Towns emerging creative/digital/tech sectors.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has issued guidance on responsibility for (a) upgrading and (b) enhancing port infrastructure in freeports.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Decisions regarding port infrastructure enhancement primarily lie with port operators, who will determine what is needed on a commercial and operational basis In terms of guidance, the Department for Transport publishes three core documents to support the ports sector: the Port Marine Safety Code, last updated in 2016 (with an update due in early 2024), the Guide to Good Practice on Port Marine Operations, last updated in 2018 (with an update due in mid-2024), and the Ports Good Governance Guide, last published in 2018. None of these documents are statutory. It should also be noted that port policy is devolved.
Freeports benefit from a comprehensive package of government funding and incentives, which can be strategically used in those areas, to upgrade local infrastructure, to foster economic growth and competitiveness, including for port operators involved in a Freeport. Decisions on how or what to upgrade in terms of individual Freeports, will be taken by the Freeport and relevant partners.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations of the effectiveness of enterprise zones in each region.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Department has learnt valuable lessons from the delivery of the Enterprise Zones program that have informed the development of more recent zonal policies such as Freeports and Investment Zones. The government is committed to robust monitoring and evaluation of Freeports and Investment Zones to ensure their success and will report on their impact annually.
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps the Government is taking to maximise the opportunity of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government fully supports the Crown Estate's Leasing Round 5, which will make available seabed areas capable of supporting up to 4.5 gigawatts of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea. The Crown Estate will set out next steps on the Round later this year.
The Department is currently assessing applications for the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme, worth up to £160 million, which will support investment in port infrastructure to deliver the Government's floating offshore wind ambitions.
The UK and Welsh Governments have also jointly announced two freeports in Wales, each backed by UK Government funding of £26 million.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they still intend to pursue the creation of Freeports in Northern Ireland; and whether doing so would cause any conflict with the Windsor Framework.
Answered by Lord Evans of Rainow - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Excellent progress has been made with Freeport delivery - all English Freeports are open for business and seven out of eight have final government approval. We have also announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland as well as two new Freeports in Wales. The location of each Freeport can be found on the Freeports page on GOV.UK.
The lack of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive has seriously limited the scope and nature of engagement in Northern Ireland on Freeports and on Investment Zones. Officials from the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service continue to work closely together. However, on this and on so many other areas where action is needed to grow the economy in Northern Ireland, we need rapid restoration of the Executive to allow projects like this to go ahead and to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Windsor Framework.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government which locations in Great Britain have been selected as Freeports.
Answered by Lord Evans of Rainow - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Excellent progress has been made with Freeport delivery - all English Freeports are open for business and seven out of eight have final government approval. We have also announced two new Green Freeports in Scotland as well as two new Freeports in Wales. The location of each Freeport can be found on the Freeports page on GOV.UK.
The lack of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive has seriously limited the scope and nature of engagement in Northern Ireland on Freeports and on Investment Zones. Officials from the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service continue to work closely together. However, on this and on so many other areas where action is needed to grow the economy in Northern Ireland, we need rapid restoration of the Executive to allow projects like this to go ahead and to benefit from the opportunities provided by the Windsor Framework.