Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) list the spending programmes his Department devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies and (b) specify the value for each programme for every year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The table below sets out funding DLUHC core department devolved in 2021-22. Future years funding will be published in the usual way. The Local Government Finance Settlement can be found using this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2021-to-2022.
Programme Name | Value 2021-22 (£m) |
AFFORDABLE HOMES PROGRAMME | 215.0 |
BETTER CARE FUND PROGRAMME SUPPORT | 0.3 |
BICHESTER | 4.6 |
BRENT CROSS | 29.1 |
BROWNFIELD HOUSING FUND | 157.8 |
BROWNFIELD LAND RELEASE FUND | 64.4 |
BUILDING SAFETY REMEDIATION | 393.0 |
CHANGING FUTURES | 16.0 |
CHANGING PLACES | 0.3 |
COASTAL COMMUNITIES FUND | 0.1 |
COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS | 22.5 |
COMMUNITY HOUSING FUND | 6.0 |
COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP FUND - COF | 1.4 |
COVID-19 CLINICALLY & EXTREMELY VULNERABLE | 61.3 |
CUSTOM BUILD LAND DUTY | 0.1 |
DATA IMPROVEMENT SHARE OUTCOME FUND | 4.1 |
DIGITAL PLANNING REFORM | 1.9 |
DISABLED FACILITIES GRANTS (N) | 573.0 |
DOMESTIC ABUSE | 1.8 |
EAST BANK | 51.6 |
EBBSFLEET DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION | 19.0 |
ENGLISH LANGUAGE | 5.2 |
ESTATE REGEN FUND | 14.2 |
FAITH, RACE AND HATE GRANT SCHEME | 0.4 |
FLOOD RECOVERY FRAMEWORK SCHEMES | 3.7 |
FREEPORTS | 3.7 |
FUTURE HIGH STREET FUND | 257.5 |
GETTING BUILDING FUND | 449.9 |
GRT EDUCATION PROGRAMME | 1.0 |
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PROGRAMME | 1.0 |
HOME OF 2030 | 0.4 |
HOMELESSNESS | 378.8 |
HONG KONG BRITISH NATIONAL OVERSEAS (HKBNOS) WELCOME PROGRAMME | 6.5 |
HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE FUND (CORE) | 37.9 |
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES | 17.7 |
INTERFAITH NETWORK FOR THE UK | 0.3 |
LEP CORE FUNDING | 19.1 |
LESSONS FROM AUSCHWITZ UNIVERSITIES | 0.1 |
LEVELLING UP FUND | 103.2 |
LOCAL DIGITAL COLLABORATION | 12.4 |
LOCAL GROWTH INVESTMENT FUNDS | 347.5 |
LOCAL LAND CHARGES | 0.1 |
LOCAL RESILIENCE FORUMS (LRFS) | 8.1 |
MAYORAL CAPACITY FUND | 9.0 |
MIDLANDS ENGINE | 2.5 |
MODERN PLANNING SOFTWARE | 6.8 |
NCTT | 0.3 |
NEAR NEIGHBOURS | 1.0 |
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING | 7.9 |
NEW DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS | 2.1 |
NEW HOMES BONUS | 622.3 |
NORTHERN POWERHOUSE | 0.5 |
OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE ARC | 1.0 |
OXFORDSHIRE HOUSING | 40.0 |
PARTNERSHIPS FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE | 0.7 |
PFI HOUSING | 138.7 |
PLANNING ADVISORY SERVICE (PAS) | 0.7 |
PLANNING DELIVERY FUND | 5.3 |
PLANNING REFORM | 2.8 |
REDCAR AND CLEVELAND BOROUGH COUNCIL | 3.7 |
REGIONAL CONTROL CENTRES | 4.2 |
REMEMBERING SREBRENICA | 0.3 |
REOPENING HIGH STREETS SAFELY | 26.8 |
RIGHT TO BUY RECEIPTS | 12.3 |
ROUGH SLEEPING | 325.4 |
ROUGH SLEEPING COVID RESPONSE | 40.3 |
SCHOOLS LINKING | 0.2 |
SECRETARIAT FOR THE INDEPENDENT ANTISEMITISM ADVISER | 0.1 |
SHIELDING SUPPORT | 40.8 |
SSI STEELWORKS | 25.7 |
STDC - TEESWORKS WORKS | 11.1 |
STRENGTHENING FAITH INSTITUTIONS | 0.5 |
STRONGER TOWNS CAPACITY FUNDING | 162.4 |
SUPPORTED HOUSING OVERSIGHT PILOTS | 2.4 |
SUPPORTING FAMILIES | 163.7 |
TENANT FEES ACT 2019 | 0.8 |
THAMES ESTUARY | 1.5 |
TOWNS FUND | 0.5 |
TRANSPORT FOR EBBSFLEET | 1.7 |
UK COMMUNITY RENEWAL FUND | 122.5 |
VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR FUNDING FOR ROUGH SLEEPING AND HOMELESSNESS | 2.7 |
VOLUNTARY RIGHT TO BUY | 1.4 |
WAKING WATCH | 0.4 |
WESTERN GATEWAY CORE FUNDING | 1.0 |
WINDRUSH | 0.7 |
WOMENS AID | 0.3 |
YOUTH HOMELESSNESS | 0.6 |
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will (a) list the spending programmes her Department devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies and (b) specify the value for each programme for every year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
While the Department for International Trade (DIT) work with delivery partners to provide support to the English regions in the forms of grants, the funding for such grants are not devolved, except for the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine Key Account Management (KAM) programmes. The amounts allocated for the 21/22 financial year are £1m and £0.5m respectively.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to include the Birmingham Airport Connectivity scheme in the upcoming Integrated Rail Plan.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department will soon publish its Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) which will look at how best to deliver major rail investments in the North and Midlands, so that the benefits of these investments are delivered to passengers and communities more quickly. The Birmingham Airport Connectivity project is part of the Midlands Engine Rail proposals and it will be appropriate to consider the case for this scheme when the Integrated Rail Plan concludes.
Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many meetings (a) he has and (b) other Ministers of his Department have attended with international trade advisers in the (i) Northern Powerhouse, (ii) Midlands Engine, (iii) South and (iv) London regions; and which Ministers were in attendance at each of those meetings.
Answered by Graham Stuart
According to Department for International Trade records, the Secretary of State did not attend any meetings with international trade advisers since February 2020.
Other ministers have attended twenty-seven meetings with international trade advisers since February 2020. Ten meetings took place in the Northern Powerhouse region, one in the Midlands Engine, fifteen in the South, and one in London.
Minister Stuart attended six meetings in the Northern Powerhouse, eleven in the South, one in the Midlands Engine, and one in London.
Minister Jayawardena attended four meetings in the Northern Powerhouse, and four meetings in the South.
Asked by: Karin Smyth (Labour - Bristol South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-purposing the eastern arm of the East Coast Main Line, such as for direct travel from Bristol to east of the Pennines, after the opening of HS2.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands is considering how best to deliver schemes such as HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Engine Rail in the North and Midlands.
In addition, under its current franchise agreement, CrossCountry, which operates InterCity services between south-west England, Bristol, the north of England and Scotland, is required to develop proposals for timetable and capacity improvements to deliver for expected future passenger demand over the next few years.
Asked by: Baroness Burt of Solihull (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect a decision will be made on the Birmingham Airport Connectivity scheme, as part of the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline process.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) for the North and Midlands is considering how best to deliver schemes such as HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and Midlands Engine Rail in the North and Midlands.
Birmingham Airport Connectivity project is part of the Midlands Engine Rail proposals and it will be appropriate to consider the case for this scheme when the Integrated Rail Plan concludes. We intend to publish the IRP this Spring.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals for the construction of high-speed railway from the West Midlands to Sheffield and Leeds.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Plans for legislation covering the Eastern Leg of HS2 Phase 2b will be confirmed following the publication of the Integrated Rail Plan. The Government is committed to ensuring the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East realise the benefits of high-speed services. The Integrated Rail Plan will set out the best way of doing so, looking at how best to deliver and design HS2 alongside other major schemes, such as Northern Powerhouse Rail and those within Midlands Engine Rail.
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve rail connections in (a) Stoke-on-Trent and (b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Department is working to improve rail connections across the network including at Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire through both the HS2 and Midlands Connect schemes. Plans are being developed for the Midlands Engine between the Department for Transport and Midlands Connect, which include proposals to increase the frequency of trains between Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe.
Avanti West Coast currently run an hourly service calling at Stoke-on-Trent between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly.
West Midlands Trains also run an hourly service between Birmingham New Street and Crewe, calling at Stafford, Stone and Stoke – on – Trent. From December 2020 the timetable will be uplifted so this service includes calls at Penkridge, meaning an extra hourly service at this station in addition to the calls made by the existing Birmingham New Street – Liverpool Lime Street service.
HS2 services are expected to serve Stoke-on-Trent once the railway is operational. No final decisions have been made on the exact HS2 train service, however, and the Department has appointed West Coast Partnership Development to analyse passenger demand on the route and present options for train service patterns that best allow this demand to be met with the available infrastructure. The Secretary of State will decide on the preferred option, once it has been subject to wider consultation, nearer to the time that HS2 opens.
In January 2020 the Secretary of State announced the £500 million Restoring Your Railway fund to deliver our manifesto commitment and start reopening lines and stations, reconnecting smaller communities. Meir station was successful in the first round of the Ideas Fund and is currently on track to progress to the next stage of the Restoring Your Railway process.
Asked by: Pauline Latham (Conservative - Mid Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he will take to collaborate with regionally-focused private equity firms to help encourage local businesses to expand as the economy reopens and covid-19 lockdown restrictions are eased.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is already collaborating through regionally-focused private equity firms which are benefiting from funding from the government-backed British Business Bank (BBB) programmes such as the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, Midlands Engine Investment Fund and Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund. As of June 2020, the BBB’s dedicated regional funds support more than £240m worth of finance.
In order to support its regional activities further, BBB launched the £100m Regional Angels programme in 2018 – which is designed to help reduce regional imbalances in access to early stage equity finance for smaller businesses across all regions; and the UK Network – which engages with business finance stakeholders in each of the English regions and Devolved Nations, to increase small businesses’ awareness and understanding of the finance options best suited to their needs. The Future Fund is also open to companies from all regions and from all backgrounds.
We are considering a range of options that look at enhancing both new and existing levers to increase the supply of equity finance, particularly in regions, as part of the 2020 Comprehensive Spending Review discussions in order to support local businesses to expand as the economy reopens.
Asked by: Dan Poulter (Conservative - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, pursuant to Answer of 1 September 2020 to Question 78611, if he will make an assessment of the strategic importance of upgrading the A14 in Suffolk to (a) enhance the route for transport between the port of Felixstowe and the areas incorporating the Midlands Engine and Northern Powerhouse schemes and (b) contribute to the delivery of the UK's (i) economic and (ii) trade strategies after the end of the transition period.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for International Trade does not currently have any plans to undertake any such assessment.