Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it remains her Department's policy to support the Holocaust Educational Trust's Lessons from Auschwitz Project.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department continues to believe that young people should be taught about the Holocaust and the lessons it teaches us today. We are committed to promoting, supporting and funding Holocaust Education.
Since the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz project begun in 1999, it has taken more than 31,000 students and teachers to visit the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The Government announced in April last year that we had renewed our grant for the project for a further three years.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
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 has taken to support business growth in the north of England.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Business growth in the North of England is a priority for this Government. There are now over 167,000 more businesses in the North than in 2010, an increase of over 15%.
As part of our Northern Powerhouse Strategy we are supporting investment funds totalling over £500m for SMEs, four further science and innovation audits, and 11 Growth Hubs in the North.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has a timetable for the electrification of the Chester to Manchester line.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Chester and Manchester are linked by two rail lines: via Warrington Quay (electrified east of Warrington) and via Stockport (electrified north of Stockport). The Government intends next year to set out its priorities for investment in train services and infrastructure in the next Control Period from 2019. This will be informed by advice from the rail industry, Transport for the North and other stakeholders.
The Government is committed to ensuring that every part of Britain benefits from our investment in the railways. Improvements in rail services can be delivered by new trains, electrification or other infrastructure improvements. The Government keeps under close review what options will ensure the maximum value to taxpayers, passengers and freight users.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will assess the main consequences of disparities between the UK Chief Medical Officer's low risk alcohol guidelines and comparative international guidelines.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines are linked to UK–specific consumption and harm data.
The aim of the guidelines is to ensure the UK public have the most up to date information to help them understand the risks alcohol may pose to their health and to make decisions about their consumption in the light of those risks.
It should be noted that comparisons between countries can be misleading because there are large variations in how different countries define ‘low risk’ drinking, and even how they define a standard drink.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has set a timetable for the electrification of the Mid-Cheshire railway line.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government intends next year to set out its priorities for investment in train services and infrastructure in the next Control Period from 2019. This will be informed by advice from the rail industry, Transport for the North and other stakeholders.
The Government is committed to ensuring that every part of Britain benefits from our investment in the railways. Improvements in rail services can be delivered by new trains, electrification or other infrastructure improvements. The Government keeps under close review what options will ensure the maximum value to taxpayers, passengers and freight users.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an estimate of the number of pubs that will benefit from the extension of rural rates relief.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
As of 31 December 2014, 4,690 businesses were in receipt of mandatory rural rate relief. The Department does not hold data on how many of these businesses are pubs, so it is not possible to estimate the number of pubs that will benefit from the extension of rural rate relief. As announced at Autumn Statement we are doubling the level of rural rate relief. Eligible pubs and petrol stations with a rateable value of £12,500 or below will benefit from 100% relief.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce the difference in attainment for children under five between the North West and the national average.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support to fulfil their potential. A child’s experience in the early years has a major impact on their future outcomes and social mobility. On 20 October, the department published the early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP) results for the 2015 to 2016 academic year, at national and local authority level. At a national level, 69.3% of children achieved a good level of development, which is an increase of 3 percentage points on 2015 (compared to 66.7% in the North West, which also represents an increase of 3 percentage points on the North West’s 2015 data). The latest EYFSP results are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/early-years-foundation-stage-profile-results-2015-to-2016
High quality early education is key to future outcomes, particularly for disadvantaged children. That is why we are working hard to ensure parents and children - wherever they live in England - have access to high quality early years education places through the funded 15 hour entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds and the universal 15 hours entitlement for all three- and four-year-olds. At present, 84% of all two-year-olds (compared with 84% in the North West) and 86% of all three- and four-years-olds (compared to 88% in the North West) take up their entitlement in a good or outstanding setting.
From September 2017, working parents who meet the eligibility criteria will also have access to an additional 15 hours of funded early education. Our proposed early years funding formula includes an additional needs factor - to better target funding towards local authorities with a higher relative proportion of children with additional needs - and an area cost adjustment to reflect local operating costs. This will help to ensure that all children can access quality early education in their area.
The government is taking further steps to understand the regional attainment gap. In May 2016, the department commissioned a feasibility study to investigate the regional gap in early years at age 5, including recommendations to undertake a further study through longitudinal analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study (MSC) to assess variation in attainment and evaluate the potential drivers of a regional gap.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effect on pubs of a rise in the small business rate relief threshold.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
From 1 April 2017 we are permanently doubling the level of small business rate relief. Eligible properties with a rateable value of £12,000 and below will benefit from 100% relief. This means that 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all. Eligible businesses with a property with a rateable value between £12,000 and £15,000 will be subject to tapered relief. From 1 April, around 17,000 pubs may be eligible for small business rate relief, depending on the rateable value of other property used by the business, with around 13,000 potentially eligible for 100% relief, compared to around 4,000 now.
Asked by: Lord Evans of Rainow (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with local authorities to encourage coordination between local transport plans and High Speed 2.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Working with the Department for Communities and Local Government, my Department has regular discussions with Local Authorities to support the development of their local growth strategies. These strategies set out their plans to catalyse the growth and regeneration benefits of HS2 in their area and can include details on how the benefits of HS2 will be aligned with the local transport plan ambitions.
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.