Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that smart motorways maintain the same safety standards as conventional motorways.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Secretary of State has committed £500 million to deliver smart motorway safety improvements across the strategic road network (SRN), delivered by Highways England through an 18-point Action Plan published in March 2020. The Action Plan includes the faster rollout of a radar-based, stopped vehicle detection (SVD) system across the all lane running motorway network, and a national and targeted communications campaigns to further increase awareness and understanding.
The Secretary of State has asked for a one-year on report from Highways England setting out progress in delivering the 18-point Action Plan and identifying actions that can be delivered early. He has asked for the report by 12 March 2021 so any accelerated works can be rapidly put in place.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending (a) business rates relief and (b) the temporary VAT reduction for businesses in the hospitality industry; and what his Department's long-term strategy is on support for people who work in that sector.
Answered by Jesse Norman
This year, due to the direct adverse effects of COVID-19, the Government has provided an unprecedented business rates holiday for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties worth over £10 billion. The Government has also frozen the business rates multiplier for all businesses for 2021-22.
The temporary VAT reduced rate came into effect on 15 July 2020 and was initially scheduled to end on 12 January 2021. The Government extended the reduced rate of VAT (5 per cent) until 31 March 2021.
The Budget will set out the next phase of the Government’s plans to tackle the virus, protect jobs and support business.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a Government backed scheme to support wedding businesses in the absence of available insurance cover during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Paul Scully
We have provided an unprecedented package of financial support since March 2020 to businesses, including those in the weddings sector, which is kept under regular review.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide flexibility to allow local authorities to redistribute grant funding underspent in one area of business support to other business support schemes.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government has put forward an unprecedented package of support for businesses in recognition of the disruption caused by Covid-19. This support includes extensive grant funding for businesses that have been required by law to close as a result of, or have been severely impacted by, localised and national restrictions.
Local Authorities should pay businesses in line with the eligibility criteria and restriction period to which the funding is allocated to ensure local economies are supported during restrictions. Any unspent funding allocated to Local Authorities under a mandatory grants scheme cannot be redistributed to other business support schemes and will be recovered after a reconciliation process. It is not expected that discretionary schemes, such as the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG), will have any unallocated funding, as we would expect Local Authorities to apportion this funding to businesses. We are working closely with Local Authorities to ensure funding gets out the door to businesses as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what further support he plans to make available to the health and social care workforce during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are maintaining high levels of support for staff, including ensuring they have access to the personal protective equipment and testing they need. Furthermore, all eligible frontline workers have now been offered the vaccine. We continue to expand the workforce, having committed to increasing the National Health Service nursing workforce by 50,000 by the end of this Parliament and promoting social care careers through a national media campaign. We have also put in place a package of mental health support for all staff.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the provision of non-covid-19 healthcare treatment during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We have provided £63 billion of extra funding to the National Health Service in 2020-21 and £20.3 billion in 2021-22 to help manage ongoing COVID-19 pressures alongside non-COVID-19 activity levels. We are providing an additional £3 billion next year on top of the long-term settlement, to support recovery from COVID-19.
The Spending Review allocated £1 billion to help tackle the elective backlog and support hospitals to cut long waits for treatment by carrying up to one million extra checks, scans and additional operations or procedures. We have also provided funding for enhanced Infection Prevention and Control measures, including £450 million to expand and upgrade accident and emergency departments to reduce overcrowding and improve infection control so we can continue to treat all patients safely.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions his Department has had with other Departments on supporting small businesses to bid for Government contracts to assist with their post-covid recovery.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Further to my answer to questions on 11 February, this Government is doing more than ever to support small businesses to bid for Government contracts and all departments are actively supporting this agenda. Each department has a dedicated SME Champion who works with Commercial teams to promote SME engagement and departments have published SME plans which show how they plan to work with SMEs.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the CPS in prosecuting fraud cases.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The Crown Prosecution Service (‘CPS’) continues to work with the police and other investigators to prosecute criminal cases involving fraud.
In 2019-20, the CPS prosecuted over 10,000 defendants where Fraud and Forgery was the principal offence.
The CPS has a dedicated, Specialist Fraud Division to ensure they devote the right skills and resources to prosecuting complex and serious fraud and economic crime. Their work ranges from prosecution of bankers and investment scams to prosecuting those who seek to defraud the taxpayer of millions of pounds.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of reducing beer duty to help support pubs and breweries who face financial hardship as a result of covid-19 lockdown restrictions; and what further support he plans to make available to the hospitality industry to ensure its future viability.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government understands that this is a very challenging time for pubs and breweries. For that reason, the Government froze beer duty at the 2020 Budget. At the upcoming budget, the Government will outline the next stages of its plan to support businesses and families across the UK.
Asked by: Darren Henry (Conservative - Broxtowe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure there is an adequate number of NHS dentist appointments available throughout the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Dental practices closed in March 2020. Since June, a steady increase in dental activity has been made possible following updated Infection Prevention and Control guidance issued by Public Health England. Contractual arrangements for quarter four have been introduced by NHS England and NHS Improvement requiring dental practices to deliver 45% of contracted units of dental activity from 1 January to 31 March 2021 to be deemed to have delivered the full contractual volume. This is expected to increase available National Health Service dental care for patients.
The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement and the Chief Dental Officer for England to increase levels of service, as fast as is safely possible. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS 111 for assistance. Over 600 urgent dental care centres remain open to help patients access care.