Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on what dates Ministers and officials have met representatives of the open-access rail operators Hull Trains and Grand Central to discuss support for the sector since the outbreak of covid-19; and what the outcomes have been of each discussion.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Department for Transport officials have maintained an extensive and regular dialogue with the management teams of Hull Trains and Grand Central, as well as their parent companies First Group and Arriva Trains, throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. For example In my capacity as Rail Minister, I met with representatives of First Group and with MPs from Yorkshire and the Humber on 1 July to discuss Hull Trains. The outcomes of those discussions included highlighting the significant, general support measures Government has made available across the economy.
Unlike franchised passenger services, Open Access Operators run services without a contractual relationship with Government and there is no obligation on the Secretary of State under Section 30 of the Railways Act to run those services. Open access operators were therefore not offered Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs). However, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Open Access Operators have drawn upon business support measures such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Government also provided support for more bespoke measures, such as applications for extensions to track access contracts and deferrals of payments to the British Transport Police. We will continue to engage closely with Open Access Operators as they respond to the current situation, including highlighting the support available through the recently announced Job Support Scheme.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to maintain (a) dialogue with open-access rail operators, (b) support for those operators and (c) protection of the jobs and conditions for staff employed by those operators as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Department for Transport officials have maintained an extensive and regular dialogue with the management teams of Hull Trains and Grand Central, as well as their parent companies First Group and Arriva Trains, throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. For example In my capacity as Rail Minister, I met with representatives of First Group and with MPs from Yorkshire and the Humber on 1 July to discuss Hull Trains. The outcomes of those discussions included highlighting the significant, general support measures Government has made available across the economy.
Unlike franchised passenger services, Open Access Operators run services without a contractual relationship with Government and there is no obligation on the Secretary of State under Section 30 of the Railways Act to run those services. Open access operators were therefore not offered Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (ERMAs). However, during the COVID-19 outbreak, Open Access Operators have drawn upon business support measures such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Government also provided support for more bespoke measures, such as applications for extensions to track access contracts and deferrals of payments to the British Transport Police. We will continue to engage closely with Open Access Operators as they respond to the current situation, including highlighting the support available through the recently announced Job Support Scheme.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many businesses have taken loans through the Bounce Back Loan scheme in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK; and what proportion of the loaned money has gone to each (i) nation and (ii) region.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 16th August the British Business Bank published updated Bounce Back Loan data which states 1,174,854 companies have been approved for £35.47bn.
In regional data published on 7th August: of the total amount of £35.47bn, 22% is to companies headquartered in the South (South East and South West), 21% in the North (North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber), 10% in the East of England, 14% in the Midlands (East Midlands and West Midlands) and 12% in the Devolved Nations (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). London accounts for the remaining just over 20% of companies.
More information on the business interruption loan schemes can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/hm-treasury-coronavirus-covid-19-business-loan-scheme-statistics.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications have been received for the coronavirus future fund from companies in (a) Hounslow, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) each region of England.
Answered by Paul Scully
On 18th August 2020 the British Business Bank published updated Future Fund data which gives a regional breakdown of 590 companies that have been approved for £588.3 million.
In England, a total of 562 loans have been approved at a value of £573.1m since the scheme was launched 20 May. In the North West, 29 loans have been approved, worth £27.6m, and in Yorkshire and the Humber 19 loans have been approved, worth £14.6m. In the North East 21 loans have been approved at a value of £19.5m, and in the West Midlands 17 loans have been approved at a value of £15.6m. In the East Midlands, 4 loans have been approved at a value of £2.1m and in the East of England 43 loans have been approved at a value of £45m. Furthermore, in the South West 21 loans have been approved at a value of £12.9m and in the South East 76 loans have been approved, worth £89.5m.
This data is only available at regional level and not constituency level; therefore, figures for Hounslow are unavailable. However, in London 332 loans have been approved at a value of £346.3m. In Scotland, 11 loans have been approved at a value of £4.1m and in Wales, 12 loans have been approved, at a value of £6.1m.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Reproductive Value R rating is for (a) Yorkshire (b) North Yorkshire and (c) York.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not publish estimates of R for geographies smaller than regional level. These are less reliable and it is more appropriate to identify local hotspots through, for example, monitoring numbers of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths. The Joint Biosecurity Centre and Public Health England continue to closely monitor this local activity closely. The latest R number including by NHS England regions is published at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-r-number-in-the-uk
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Government's strategy for a green economic recovery is incorporated into plans for the economic recovery of (a) Yorkshire and (b) North Lincolnshire after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Coronavirus is the biggest threat this country has faced in decades. We recognise that every region and community will be feeling the impacts of this crisis; that is why the Government has announced unprecedented support for business and workers around the country. Alongside the focus on supporting the economy, the Government continues to take its environmental responsibilities very seriously.
We want local areas to capitalise on their strengths as we move to restart the economy and make progress to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Supporting sustainable industry in the northern industrial clusters will help us achieve these goals.
At Spring Budget, the Government announced at least £800 million for to support at least 2 Carbon Capture and Storage adoption within industrial clusters, of which the Humber and Teesside are candidates.
This will accompany £95 million to fund shovel-ready projects across the East Midlands and £123.1 million for projects across Yorkshire and Humber to help provide a boost to the local economy and create jobs.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many urgent dental centres are operating in North Yorkshire and Humber; and which NHS clusters have not yet identified a potential urgent dental centre.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is working to support and protect all our frontline National Health Service health and care staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, including dentists.
NHS dentistry was reorganised in late March along with other NHS primary care services to minimise face to face care to contain the spread of COVID-19 during the peak of the pandemic. Dentists were asked to suspend all routine treatment and instead to offer urgent advice and, where required, prescriptions for antibiotics by telephone. Urgent treatment was made available through urgent dental centres (UDCs) set up in each NHS region.
As of 25 May there are currently over 550 UDCs open across England. Patients are triaged into UDCs by their own dentistry or through NHS 111. The urgent dental centres are expected to provide, where urgently needed, the full range of dental treatment normally available on the NHS.
NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that NHS dentistry outside urgent care centres will begin to restart from 8 June with the aim of increasing levels of service as fast as is compatible with maximising safety. A copy of the letter that was published can be found on the NHS England website.
The latest COVID-19 guidance for dental practices can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/dental-practice
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people who are receiving less than the minimum wage while on furlough due to the covid-19 outbreak in (a) Leeds, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Applications for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) opened on Monday 20 April. By midnight 17 May 2020, 986,000 employers had submitted claims to HMRC representing 8m furloughed employments and £11.1bn.
This is a new scheme and HMRC are currently working through the analysis they will be able to provide based on the data available. HMRC will make the timescales for publication and the types of data available in due course.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the value of Small Business rate relief that businesses in (a) Leeds, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK have been unable to access as a result of being ineligible to apply for that funding as a result of paying business rates as part of their rent or through serviced office costs.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government has made £12.3 billion available to businesses under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. The schemes have been tied to the business rates system to provide a framework for local authorities to make payments to businesses as quickly as possible as these businesses are likely to face particularly high fixed costs, such as fixed rents.
As of 3 May, over 697,000 businesses in England have received grants under the two schemes, totalling £8.6bn. We do not hold data on the value of Small Business rate relief of businesses that are not eligible for this grant funding. We have, however, published a full breakdown of grant funding allocated to and distributed by each local authority here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-localauthority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.
On 1 May, the Business Secretary announced a further up to £617 million available to local authorities to support small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funding, such as businesses in shared offices and regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment. For more details, please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-up-to-local-business-grant-funds-scheme.
Asked by: Richard Burgon (Labour - Leeds East)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the number of businesses in (a) Leeds, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK that are ineligible for the Small Business rate relief as a result of paying business rates as part of their rent or through serviced office costs.
Answered by Paul Scully
Government has made £12.3 billion available to businesses under the Small Business Grants Fund and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grants Fund. The schemes have been tied to the business rates system to provide a framework for local authorities to make payments to businesses as quickly as possible as these businesses are likely to face particularly high fixed costs, such as fixed rents.
As of 3 May, over 697,000 businesses in England have received grants under the two schemes, totalling £8.6bn. We do not hold data on the number of businesses that are not eligible for this grant funding. We have, however, published a full breakdown of grant funding allocated to and distributed by each local authority here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-localauthority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses.
On 1 May, the Business Secretary announced a further up to £617 million available to local authorities to support small businesses previously outside the scope of the business grant funding, such as businesses in shared offices and regular market traders who do not have their own business rates assessment. For more details, please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/top-up-to-local-business-grant-funds-scheme.