Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the £63 million of local welfare assistance to be used by local authorities announced by the Prime Minister on 10 June 2020, how much of the £63 million (a) is new money and (b) has previously been announced and on what dates.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
All of the £63 million is additional funding, sitting alongside the £6.5 billion of extra support the Government is providing through the benefits system to ensure the most vulnerable in our society are protected throughout this crisis.
We are currently finalising the amounts to be allocated to different local authorities.
The funding is not ring-fenced for children on free school meals. The Government has recently announced a further £120 million of funding to continue free school meals for children during the school holidays.
This funding is a one-off boost to local authorities in recognition that some people in our communities are facing sudden and severe financial difficulties.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the £63 million of local welfare assistance to be used by local authorities announced by the Prime Minister on 10 June 2020, what amount has been allocated to Hull City Council.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
All of the £63 million is additional funding, sitting alongside the £6.5 billion of extra support the Government is providing through the benefits system to ensure the most vulnerable in our society are protected throughout this crisis.
We are currently finalising the amounts to be allocated to different local authorities.
The funding is not ring-fenced for children on free school meals. The Government has recently announced a further £120 million of funding to continue free school meals for children during the school holidays.
This funding is a one-off boost to local authorities in recognition that some people in our communities are facing sudden and severe financial difficulties.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the £63 million of local welfare assistance to be used by local authorities announced by the Prime Minister on 10 June 2020, whether this funding is ring-fenced for children on free school meals during the school holidays.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
All of the £63 million is additional funding, sitting alongside the £6.5 billion of extra support the Government is providing through the benefits system to ensure the most vulnerable in our society are protected throughout this crisis.
We are currently finalising the amounts to be allocated to different local authorities.
The funding is not ring-fenced for children on free school meals. The Government has recently announced a further £120 million of funding to continue free school meals for children during the school holidays.
This funding is a one-off boost to local authorities in recognition that some people in our communities are facing sudden and severe financial difficulties.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the £63 million of local welfare assistance to be used by local authorities announced at Prime Minister’s Questions on 10 June 2020, whether he plans to make the same level of additional funding in each of the next five years.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
All of the £63 million is additional funding, sitting alongside the £6.5 billion of extra support the Government is providing through the benefits system to ensure the most vulnerable in our society are protected throughout this crisis.
We are currently finalising the amounts to be allocated to different local authorities.
The funding is not ring-fenced for children on free school meals. The Government has recently announced a further £120 million of funding to continue free school meals for children during the school holidays.
This funding is a one-off boost to local authorities in recognition that some people in our communities are facing sudden and severe financial difficulties.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull 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 his Department is taking to protect people on universal credit who live in flood risk areas and who may be unable to afford flood insurance premiums.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Flood Re, launched in 2016, is a joint initiative between Government and industry designed to improve the availability and affordability of flood insurance for households at high risk of flooding.
Flood Re allows insurance companies to pass on the flood risk element of household insurance policies to them for a below market rate set premium. Premiums charged by Flood Re to insurers are based on the Council Tax band of the property. This means that people on universal credit who live in flood risk areas will benefit from Flood Re. From May 2019, 99% of households with prior flood claims can now receive quotes from 5 or more insurers due to Flood Re. Four out of five householders with a prior flood claim saw price reductions of over 50%.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull 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 he is taking to protect people living in rented accommodation in flood-risk areas who cannot afford flood insurance premiums.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Flood Re, launched in 2016, is a joint initiative between Government and industry designed to improve the availability and affordability of flood insurance for households at high risk of flooding. Flood Re allows insurance companies to pass on the flood risk element of household insurance policies to them for a below market-rate set premium.
For renters, insurers can ask Flood Re to cover the flood risk part of a contents insurance policy, as long as the property meets certain criteria, including: being used for private; residential purposes; having a domestic Council Tax band A to H; being a single residential unit or building comprising two or three units; being insured on an individual basis; and being built before 01/01/2009.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of netting hedgerows on nesting birds.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Although the Government has not undertaken this specific assessment, we closely monitor trends in bird populations. These trends have long been considered to provide a good indication of the broad state of our wildlife.
In November last year, the Government published Wild Bird Populations in England, 1970 to 2017. Overall, this showed that the combined all-species index has changed little compared with around 45 years ago. However, there was much variation in numbers between species, with some species increasing and some species decreasing.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull 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 he is taking to protect and conserve hedgerows.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green, Catherine West, on 15 April 2019 to PQ 242911.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to include stronger regulation on the netting of hedgerows.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
There are no plans to review regulations governing the netting of bird nesting places, as it is enforcement that is required rather than new regulations.
Asked by: Diana Johnson (Labour - Kingston upon Hull North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to tackle coastal erosion and flooding.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Local Authorities have direct responsibility to produce shoreline management plans covering the entire coast of England. These plans provide a long term, sustainable policy framework for local authorities, to manage the risk of coastal change over the next 100 years.
Government is working closely with coastal authorities on a review of shoreline management plans to ensure they are up to date and using the best evidence. Schemes within the current capital investment programme to 2021 benefit from £1.2 billion of investment in coastal erosion and sea flooding projects which will better protect over 170,000 properties.