Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to reduce litter in St Helens.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for keeping their public land clear of litter and refuse. The role of Government is to enable and support local action.
Our Litter Strategy for England sets out how we are, among other things, supporting local councils. Progress reports are available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england-progress-reports.
Our new Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan sets out how we are going further by supporting councils to take tougher action against those who litter. This includes significantly raising the upper limit on fixed penalty notices from £150 to £500, and introducing measures to help councils and others carry out more enforcement activity.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will bring forward plans to provide immediate financial support to help families in St Helens meet childcare costs.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In the Spring Budget 2023, my right hon. Friend, Chancellor of the Exchequer announced transformative reforms to childcare.
By 2027/28, the government expects to be spending in excess of £8 billion every year on free hours and early education, helping families with pre-school children with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England. Full details are accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-unveils-a-budget-for-growth.
Our reforms include:
This is a massive expansion in the offer and will take some time to implement and rollout. We want to ensure that taxpayers’ money is used efficiently, and that the new offer is delivered in the best way.
The department is working closely with the sector on the implementation of these reforms, to identify what needs to be in place to support this significant expansion in childcare provision. We will set out further details in due course.
The department’s Childcare Choices communications campaign aims to ensure parents, including families in St Helens, know about the government-funded support they are eligible for. The government has doubled the entitlement for working parents of three and four-year-olds to 30 hours and introduced 15 free hours a week for disadvantaged two-year-olds. In addition, working parents on Universal Credit may be eligible for help with up to 85% of their childcare costs every month. More information is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
Details on the full range of support available to parents can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people died from alcoholism in (a) St Helens and (b) the North West in each year since 2018.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentlemen Parliamentary Question of 25th April is attached.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if the Government will commit to support freeports for the life of the development, rather than for a specific time period, including at Parkside.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Details of the Government’s free ports programme are published on gov.uk and include a generous package of tax reliefs until 2026 for eligible businesses on Freeport tax sites like Parkside. We are also backing Freeports over a 25-year period through local retention of all business rates growth above an agreed baseline.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of (a) how many prepayment energy meters there are in (i) St Helens and (ii) Merseyside and (b) what proportion of those are in households.
Answered by Graham Stuart
BEIS produced a one-off publication in March 2019 of annual prepayment meter electricity statistics for Great Britain by country, English regions and local authority. These statistics cover electricity prepayment meters which have a domestic meter profile in 2017.
Data on regional variation of payment method (prepayment, direct debit or credit) for domestic standard electricity customers, domestic economy 7 electricity customers and domestic gas customers is published in Quarterly Energy Prices table 2.4.2, table 2.4.3 and table 2.5.2.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens 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 in St Helens have received the Government energy subsidy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Energy Bill Relief Scheme (EBRS) provides a discount on the wholesale element of gas and electricity bills to ensure that all eligible small businesses that receive their energy from licensed suppliers, are protected from high energy costs over the winter period. The EBRS discount is applied directly to the energy bills of eligible businesses by their energy providers. Therefore the Government does not currently have a breakdown of support received by location.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women in (a) St Helens and (b) Merseyside are claiming a state pension.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In the quarter ending May 2022 the State Pension caseload for women in the St. Helen’s Local Authority was 19,161.
In the quarter ending May 2022 the State Pension caseload for women in Merseyside was 140,772.
The table below shows the State Pension caseload for women in the Local Authorities of Merseyside in the quarter ending May 2022.
Local Authorities of Merseyside | Number of Females |
Knowsley | 13,576 |
Liverpool | 37,976 |
Sefton | 33,531 |
St. Helens | 19,161 |
Wirral | 36,528 |
Total Merseyside | 140,772 |
Source: DWP benefits statistics: November 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether National Highways will be provided with additional funding to help (a) enable and (b) prioritise infrastructure to help facilitate freeports.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
National Highways has been allocated £24 billion to operate, maintain, renew and enhance Englands strategic road network between 2020-2025 as part of RIS2. As part of this funding allocation, National Highways facilitates and supports a range of government policies, including freeports. Consideration of freeport connectivity will also form part of the development of RIS3, beyond 2025.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many social care beds the Government funds in (a) St Helens and (b) Merseyside.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held by the Department.
Asked by: Conor McGinn (Independent - St Helens North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in St Helens have been diagnosed with cervical cancer in the last 12 months.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS), part of NHS Digital, collects data on all cancers diagnosed in England.
There were 9 diagnoses of cervical cancer in St Helens in 2020, the most recent complete diagnosis year available for analysis, and 71 diagnoses in the Merseyside region.