Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to announce any further successful bids to the latest competition round of the Local Majors Fund in addition to those announced in the Autumn Statement 2016 transport projects policy paper.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Secretary of State has today announced the remaining successful bids from the current round of the Large Local Majors Fund. The full list of successful schemes, including those announced in the Autumn Statement is as follows:-
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs that will be created in (a) Cheshire and (b) the North West as a result of High Speed 2.
Answered by Andrew Jones
High Speed 2 Limited estimate that HS2 will support up to 100,000 jobs around HS2 stations. The western leg of Phase 2b is estimated to support 30,000 to 43,600 of these jobs. The government has not made an estimate of jobs created in Cheshire. Other organisations have produced their own estimates and ambitions for jobs supported by HS2. For example, the Northern Gateway Development Zone in Cheshire and Staffordshire have plans to help create 120,000 new jobs by 2040. They are currently preparing an HS2 Growth Strategy on how HS2 will contribute to supporting this number of new jobs in the area.
High Speed 2 Limited also estimate that around 25,000 private sector employment opportunities are expected to be generated in the process of building the HS2 railway, with a further 3,000 jobs to operate it once finished.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to address the root causes of the migrant situation in the Mediterranean.
Answered by David Lidington
The government believes that the root causes of migration must be addressed, and not just the symptoms. A comprehensive solution is needed that will reduce the pull and push factors causing people to leave their countries of origin. We must also address the transit routes being used, as well as disrupting the criminal elements who are smuggling and trafficking humans. We are working closely with EU and international partners to find such a solution.
Because it is the gateway to western Mediterranean irregular migration, the government is also working with other countries to bring about a functioning government in Libya.
The government has provided substantial development and humanitarian assistance to help refugees from the civil war in Syria. The Unted Kingdom has now committed more than £1 billion of aid to help people displaced by the conflict there, both within Syria and in neighbouring countries, and to encourage stability. This makes the UK the EU’s largest donor, and second largest donor (after the USA) overall.
United Kingdom support has helped to provide more than 20 million food rations, 2.5 million medical consultations, and given 1.6 million people access to clean water . The UK is providing education to a quarter of a million children in the area.
Additionally, the Prime Minister announced on 7 September that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees from the region over the course of this parliament.
An EU/Africa Summit in Valletta in November offers the opportunity to develop a robust and comprehensive set of proposals to deal with the upstream cause of irregular migration. We are fully engaged in the preparations.
The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), The Secretary of State for International Development, my right hon. Friend the member for Putney (Ms Greening) and I have all discussed preparations for Valetta with other European governments and the European Commission.