Asked by: David Drew (Labour (Co-op) - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the names are of each Local Enterprise Partnership; and which partnerships have appointed a board member with responsibility for rural issues.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The 38 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEPs) areas are Black Country; Buckinghamshire Thames Valley; Cambridge and Peterborough; Cheshire & Warrington; Coast to Capital LEP; Cornwall & Isles of Scilly; Coventry and Warwickshire; Cumbria; Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire (D2N2); Dorset LEP; Enterprise M3; Gloucestershire (GFirst) LEP; Greater Birmingham and Solihull; Greater Lincolnshire; Greater Manchester; Heart of the South West; Hertfordshire; Humber LEP; Lancashire LEP; Leeds City Region; Leicester & Leicestershire; Liverpool City Region LEP; London; New Anglia LEP; North East LEP; Oxfordshire LEP; Sheffield City Region LEP; Solent LEP; South East LEP; South East Midlands LEP; Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP; Swindon and Wiltshire LEP; Tees Valley LEP; Thames Valley Berkshire; The Marches; West of England LEP; Worcestershire LEP and York and North Yorkshire LEP.
The following 12 LEPs have appointed a board member with an explicit responsibility for rural issues: Cheshire & Warrington; Cornwall & Isles of Scilly; Dorset LEP; Enterprise M3; Heart of the South West; New Anglia LEP; North East LEP; South East LEP; South East Midlands LEP; Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP; Swindon and Wiltshire LEP; and York and North Yorkshire LEP.
Other Local Enterprise Partnerships manage rural issues in a variety of ways, for example in Gloucestershire (GFirst) there is a member of the LEP agri-food & rural business sector group on the board, by the appointment of an agri-food champion (The Marches), through engagement at SME boards (Coventry and Warwickshire) and by drawing on the expertise of rural organisations (Worcestershire).
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to help businesses to create more highly skilled jobs in the East Midlands.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Industrial Strategy is our long-term plan to boost productivity by backing businesses to create high-quality, well paid jobs throughout the United Kingdom, with investment in skills, industries and infrastructure. The Government is supporting businesses in the East Midlands through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, which brings together world-class UK research with business investment to develop the technologies that will transform existing industries and create entirely new ones. We have to date allocated £6m of ISCF grant funding to projects in the East Midlands and already support a wider range of projects in the East Midlands. For example, we support a robotics project based with the University of Nottingham, in partnership with businesses based at the National Space Centre in Leicester, which is dedicated to investigating the potential of manufacturing in space; which could enable the in-orbit manufacture of replacement parts and tools.
Also, since its launch in 2012, the Start-Up Loans programme, part of the British Business Bank, has delivered more than 59,000 loans, totalling over £450m. 65 Start-Up Loans have been provided to the Mansfield constituency with a total value of £488,200.
Another example of our help to local businesses to create more highly skilled jobs in East Midlands, is through the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). They are developing Local Industrial Strategies setting out how they will support the growth in their local economies.Through the Midlands Engine Strategy, we are investing in skills, industries, and infrastructure to boost productivity and create highly skilled jobs. One such instrument is the Midlands Engine Investment Fund, which provides over £250 million to support small businesses to grow. Examples of investments made by LEPs across the East Midlands that are designed to support businesses to create more highly skilled jobs include:
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Growth Hubs in supporting women in the East Midlands who want to (a) start and (b) grow a business.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provides free and impartial advice to anyone wishing to start and a grow a business. At March 2018, Local Enterprise Partnerships in the East Midlands reported that since launch their Growth Hubs have supported over 36,500 businesses; of which 3,835 received intensive support. Furthermore, East Midlands Growth Hubs have helped over 2,000 entrepreneurs start their own business since launch.
Across the UK, there are now 1.1 million women-led small and medium-sized businesses and I want to see that number grow. Access to finance is key area that can support that aim and I am pleased to report that the government-supported Start-Up Loans Company has provided loans worth nearly £436 million to those wishing to start a business, of which nearly 40% have been given to female entrepreneurs at March 2018.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training in the East Midlands.
Answered by Anne Milton
Almost 90% young people in England, and the East Midlands, are now in education, employment or training, but there is more to do.
The proportion of young people not in education, employment or training in the East Midlands has fallen from 12.4% in Q4 of 2010 to 11.1% in Q4 in 2017.
In the East Midlands, the government is providing support to improve skills through Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs). For example, over £30 million of Local Growth Funding has been provided through the Derby and Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire LEP, to create a new Nottingham College campus and to extend the Vision West Nottinghamshire College in Mansfield. These projects should create places for 2,000 additional learners.
Through the work of The Careers & Enterprise Company’s Enterprise Adviser Network, we are linking young people in schools and colleges with employers so that they are more aware of the possibilities available to them. All schools in England will be offered an Enterprise Adviser (a senior business volunteer) by 2020.
Across the East Midlands we are also funding various careers and enterprise activities. In the Derby ‘Opportunity Area’, The Careers & Enterprise Company will make sure that those between 11 and 18 years old benefit from four encounters with the world of work. Some of the organisations that are being funded in Derby include the Engineering Development Trust, Future First and Young Enterprise.
Asked by: Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding the European Social Fund has contributed to adult education projects in each region in the last year.
Answered by Anne Milton
The European Social Fund is allocated to the Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs).
The Education and Skills Funding Agency offers LEPs the service of procuring and managing European Social Fund contracts which deliver education and training on behalf of the LEPs.
The table below aggregates the LEP area expenditure into regions. A more detailed breakdown by LEP area is in the attached spreadsheet.
Region | ESF Paid to Providers in Academic Year | Total ESF Contracted with Providers Apr-16 to July-18 |
East Midlands | £7.27 | £50.39 |
East of England | £3.40 | £18.85 |
London | £28.86 | £82.19 |
North East | £10.83 | £46.86 |
North West | £13.75 | £84.37 |
South East | £4.78 | £32.07 |
South West | £5.72 | £39.45 |
West Midlands | £5.86 | £45.70 |
Yorkshire and The Humber | £5.53 | £42.10 |
Grand Total | £86.01 | £441.97 |
Figures rounded to the nearest £10,000.
The Big Lottery Fund and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are also organisations with which LEPs can agree to deliver other projects eligible for European Social Fund. Additionally, Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service delivers European Social Fund projects. Other organisations may make direct bids to deliver European Social Fund to the European Social Fund Managing Authority (which is part of the DWP).
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the timetable is for the announcement of individual allocations for each Local Enterprise Partnership under the third round of growth deals.
Answered by Andrew Percy
Regional awards of £1.8 billion Growth Deal funding were announced at Autumn Statement. £556 million will go to the North of England, £392 million to Local Enterprise Partnerships in the Midlands, £151 million to the East of England, £492 million to London and the South East, and £191 million to the South West. A final announcement of individual awards to Local Enterprise Partnerships will be made by government in the coming weeks. This funding of local infrastructure will improve transport connections, unlock house building, boost skills, and enhance digital connectivity.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.4 of the Autumn Statement 2016, how much of the funding for Local Enterprise Partnerships will be allocated to (a) the North West, (b) the North East, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber, (d) the East Midlands, (e) the West Midlands, (f) the South East and (g) London.
Answered by David Gauke
The Autumn Statement announced that the government will award £1.8 billion to Local Enterprise Partnerships across England. £556 million of this will go to the North of England, £392 million to LEPs in the Midlands, £151 million to the East of England, £492 million to London and the South East, and £191 million to the South West. Awards to individual LEPs will be announced by DCLG in the coming months.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the amount of funding the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership will receive under the Growth Deal announced in paragraph 3.49 of the Autumn Statement 2016.
Answered by David Gauke
The Autumn Statement announced that the government will award £1.8 billion to Local Enterprise Partnerships across England. LEPs in the Midlands will receive a total of £392 million. A further £556 million will go to the North of England, £151 million to the East of England, £492 million to London and the South East, and £191 million to the South West. Awards to individual LEPs will be announced in the coming months.
Asked by: David Mackintosh (Conservative - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for its policies of the finding of the 2016 Lloyds Business Digital Index report, published in October 2016, that (a) 35 per cent of small businesses in the East Midlands have no basic digital skills and (b) 69 per cent of small businesses still need to invest in cyber security.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government is working closely with industry (Including SMEs), education and training bodies and charity organisations to understand and reduce our current skills gaps. We have committed, through the Digital Economy Bill, to introduce legislation which will mean publicly-funded basic digital skills training being offered by providers will be free of charge to adults who need it. We also supported a number of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and Growth Hubs to provide advice at local level for businesses and deliver a network of local support to help businesses develop the skills they need to do more online. The Government also funds Tech City UK which provides an online tool (Digital Business Academy) providing digital business skills training.
The Government is also fully aware of the need for all businesses - including small businesses - to improve their cyber security, which is why ensuring the cyber security of the economy and society is a key feature of the recently published National Cyber Security Strategy. The strategy sets out how an investment of £1.9 billion and the opening of the National Cyber Security Centre will help make the UK one of the safest place to live and do business online. The Government offers a range of free cyber security guidance, training and support for small businesses on www.gov.uk, including the Cyber Essentials scheme to protect against the most common cyber attacks.
Asked by: Lord Greaves (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the total allocation of infrastructure investment in each of the regional growth deals to each region in England, and what is the estimated population of each region.
Answered by Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
The government has made over £7 billion of Local Growth funding available to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) across England to create the infrastructure they need and invest in their other priorities to unlock growth. Opportunities to boost productivity are best identified by those with detailed local knowledge, and this funding is spent by LEPs in line with regional priorities.
The award of Growth Deal investment in each Local Enterprise Partnerships region has been published on the gov.uk website and is available in pdf form https://www.gov.uk/government/news/growth-deals-gain-momentum-firing-up-local-economies>. Estimated regional populations provided by the Office for National Statistics are below.
Estimated Regional Population
Name | Estimated Population mid-2015 |
North East | 2,624,621 |
North West | 7,173,835 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 5,390,576 |
East Midlands | 4,677,038 |
West Midlands | 5,751,000 |
East | 6,076,451 |
London | 8,673,713 |
South East | 8,947,913 |
South West | 5,471,180 |
Source: Office for National Statistics: 2015 mid-year population estimates published in June 2016