Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the combat readiness of the armed forces.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Our Armed Forces are always ready to protect and defend the UK and we continue to meet all operational commitments, including participating in every single NATO mission.
The Defence Command Paper 23 sets out our plan to deliver a credible warfighting force, generated and employed to protect the nation and help it prosper now and in the years to come. This plan will deliver the biggest transformation and strengthening of our national defence since the Cold War.
To support this, defence spending will increase to £87 billion a year by the end of the decade. As part of this, we're investing £10 billion in munitions production to ensure we have rapid production capacity and stockpiles of next generation munitions.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to preserve psammosere environments in (a) Southport constituency and (b) across the UK.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The sand dune habitats of the Sefton Coast benefit from a range of legal protections - as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Ramsar site and National Nature Reserves (NNRs).
Natural England (NE) works proactively with landowners, land managers, developers, and the public to ensure these important habitats are protected. The Sefton Coast Partnership has a key role in bringing stakeholders together to ensure dune habitats are conserved. The Sefton Coast was a location in the Dynamic Dunescapes project which actively restored dune habitats by removing scrub, helping dune re-mobilisation, and utilising livestock grazing to manage vegetation.
In England, we have set four legally binding targets for biodiversity, to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030; to reverse species decline by 2042; to reduce the risk of species extinction; and to restore or create more than 500,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat, which will include psammoseres. These targets, alongside other targets on water and air quality for example, will drive action to create and restore habitats, reduce pressures on nature, and recover species.
A recently published paper, Environment Act Habitat Target – Definitions and Descriptions, developed jointly by Defra and Natural England, provides detail for those involved in on-the-ground activities to restore or create wildlife-rich habitats. It includes the list of wildlife-rich habitats, of which several are coastal, for example, littoral sand and muddy sand, coastal vegetated shingle and coastal sand dunes.
Natural flood management is a key part of our solution to tackling flood and coastal erosion risks. We will double the number of government funded projects which include nature-based solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk. Actions such as dune restoration not only help to reduce flood risk, but also provide other environmental benefits to wider areas. In February we awarded £25 million of funding to 40 schemes around England for improving flood resilience through a new natural flood management programme.
The Environment Agency’s Restoring Meadow, Marsh and Reef (ReMeMaRe) initiative is working to restore our estuarine and coastal habitats, including saltmarsh, to benefit people and nature. The initiative involves Defra arms-length bodies, and a partnership network of environmental non-governmental organisations. It has a mission to restore 15% of the current extent of our key estuarine and coastal habitats (such as saltmarsh, seagrass, native oyster reefs) by 2043.
Natural England is also undertaking climate change risk and vulnerability assessments across the SSSI network and developing site adaptive plans to identify climate vulnerable habitats, including sand dunes, and guide management to improve their resilience.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has taken to support (a) small and (b) independent theatres.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government is committed to supporting the arts and cultural sector, including theatres. This is primarily through the Arts Council England whose funding for National Portfolio Organisations has increased to £444.6 million per annum, funding a record 985 organisations, including 214 new organisations outside of London.
Arts Council England invests in nearly 200 theatres or theatre companies that produce, commission, and present theatre, in addition to arts centres, festivals and outdoor theatre companies. These range from large theatres in cities - Liverpool Theatres, Manchester Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres - to smaller theatres and theatre companies often with a particular specialism, such as theatre for children, theatre with a disability focus, theatre companies that co-create with different communities or theatre companies that are designed to tour. Overall investment in theatre has increased through the current round of the Arts Council’s National Portfolio programme – both in terms of the number of organisations supported, and the volume of funding which is now more than £110 million per annum.
A number of theatres are also regularly supported through the Arts Council’s open access National Lottery Project Grants programme which has a budget of £116.8 million a year. This is a rolling programme and is open to artists and companies across the country.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help support small and local businesses within the defence industry.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The MOD recognises the vital contribution that Small and local businesses make within the defence industry. UK MOD is continuously working to address issues that limit access for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to defence opportunities, both directly with the department and through prime suppliers’ supply-chains. MOD’s SME Action Plan outlines the actions and commitments we have made to support SMEs seeking to work in defence. Increasing the diversity of the defence supply-chain helps us to identify and exploit innovation and improves the resilience of the defence industry overall.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the Integrated Defence Review in 2024.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Integrated Review Refresh published in March 2023 updated the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy which anticipated some but not all the global turbulence of the previous two years including Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The refreshed Integrated Review published in March 2023 set out our new approach through an updated strategic framework delivered through four pillars. The department continues to work to implement and deliver its ambition. A decision to refresh the Integrated Review is for the Prime Minister and currently no such decision has been made.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent steps her Department has taken to support (a) companies and (b) individuals in the development of fusion technology.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has announced its plan to launch the Spherical Tokomak for Energy Production (STEP) procurement process on 22nd May. This multi-stage competition, which offers the chance to bid for up to hundreds of millions of pounds in the initial contract period until 2029, will seek to find industry partners in engineering and construction, to form a world-leading public-private alliance led by UK Industrial Fusion Solutions Ltd (UKIFS). Meanwhile, UK Research and Innovation invest in research grants for fusion, doctoral training and support fusion companies through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's prosperity partnership.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support those commuting by car between towns and cities in the North West.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Plan for Drivers, published last year, shows that the government is on the side of drivers, including measures to promote smoother journeys and cracking down on inconsiderate driving. We are also investing significantly in the strategic and local road network, including £8.5m allocated to roads across the North West from the third round of the Safer Roads Fund in March 2024, and £1.3bn investment through the Road Investment Strategy in enhancing, renewing and maintaining the Strategic Road Network in the North West in the period 2020 - 2023. In addition, the Network North announcement included an additional £3.3bn long term road surfacing fund for the North for the period 2023-2033. This is in addition to the local transport funding already allocated at the last Spending Review and to what local authorities were already expecting in the future.
Another significant step we have taken to support commuting by cars is, no increase in the main fuel duty rate since January 2011. Furthermore, recognising fuel price volatility, we cut five pence off fuel duty in March 2022. This was extended for another year in March 2023. This cut, along with the fuel duty freeze, saved the average car driver around £100 in 2023/24.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve road (a) maintenance and (b) conditions in the North West.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 4 October 2023 the Prime Minister announced an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period from 2023/24 to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.
As part of this, local highway authorities in the North West of England will receive in total a minimum funding uplift of £1.269 billion between 2023-24 and 2033-34. This includes an additional £19 million in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years to allow local highway authorities across the North West to make an immediate start on improving road conditions. Funding allocations for individual local highway authorities are published on gov.uk.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent fiscal steps his Department has taken to help support small and local businesses in the (a) seasonal tourism and (b) service industries.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to supporting small and local businesses in the hospitality, tourism, and services sectors, which provide a significant contribution to the UK economy and society.
At the Autumn Statement 2023, the Government announced an extension to the 75% business rate relief for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties for 2024-25, a tax cut worth £2.4 billion.
Spring Budget 2024 goes further to support SMEs by increasing the VAT registration threshold from £85,000 to £90,000 which means the UK now has the joint highest VAT registration threshold in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out.
Our Small Business Rates Relief means one-third of business properties in England already pay no Business Rates. We provide other tax reliefs benefiting SMEs such as the Annual Investment Allowance and Employment Allowance, and support investment in SMEs through British Business Bank programmes.
Furthermore, over this Spending Review period – the Government has allocated over £100m to the British Tourist Authority to support VisitBritain and VisitEngland with marketing activity to promote Britain as a destination.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to expand support available through Jobcentres in Southport constituency.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The local Jobcentre team are collaborating with a range of partners to support people into work and help employers fill vacancies. In addition to hosting job fairs, delivering Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), and hosting employer Group Information Sessions, Southport Jobcentre is working with Sefton Council, local colleges, care & childcare providers, manufacturing, retail, education, agriculture, and hospitality companies, to provide an employment and skills offer to help meet the recruitment needs of local employers.
Southport Jobcentre has been working closely with employers such as Sainsbury’s and McDonald’s to hosts SWAP’s for Southport residents to have direct access to live vacancies. The Jobcentre has also collaborated with Southport College to hosts job fairs to bring together national and local employers for job opportunities as well as providers to support customers with breaking down barriers to work. Additionally, the Jobcentre looks forward to supporting Southport’s future regeneration and exciting projects which includes the Southport Enterprise Arcade, the Garrick Theatre development and the Marine Lake Events Centre.
Disability Employment Advisers (DEA’s) offer advice and expertise on how to help disabled people and people with health conditions into work, alongside close working with Merseycare, The Peer Mentoring Service, Life Rooms, and Sefton Council. Southport Jobcentre colleagues also attend local events to highlight the support available, including Access to Work, Disability Confident and the Working Health Pioneer programme.