Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to encourage executive agencies to buy (a) ceramic tableware and (b) other products from UK manufacturers to support domestic industries during the covid-19 outbreak .
Answered by Chloe Smith
Further to the comments on the ceramics industry by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made in the House on 19 May 2020, the Government has taken unprecedented action to support businesses, including the ceramics sector, during the outbreak of COVID-19 by introducing a range of initiatives from the opportunity to defer VAT and/or income tax for 3 months to the Job Retention Scheme and access to government-backed financing.
Government departments and executive agencies spend a significant sum on public procurement, and we are aware of the vital role this will play in kick-starting the economy once the pandemic has passed. Contracting Authorities are already required to consider the social and environmental impacts of procurements and we intend to deliver a package of ambitious measures, including launching a new social value model, to support the recovery effort to ensure that Government’s huge purchasing power is used to support communities and the local economy. The model can form a key part of the government’s overall plan for recovery as it enables commercial teams to select policy outcomes to:
Tackle regional inequality with new jobs and skills, including retraining the unemployed in clean growth sectors, and helping disadvantaged communities recover.
Promote economic growth and prosperity by supporting SMEs and start-ups to lead or be part of government supply chains.
Support physical and mental health and ensure those in disadvantaged groups have equal opportunity to become part of a diverse, resilient workforce.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the deprivation index on the methodology used to calculate funding for clinical commissioning groups; and how the deprivation rating of each area is determined.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). This process is independent of government and NHS England takes advice on the underlying formula from the independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. CCG allocations take account of health inequalities and unmet need. The approach was updated in 2019/20 and further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/note-on-ccg-allocations-2019-20-2023-24.pdf
NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for the design of tariff, including the Market Forces Factor. The approach and underlying data were updated in 2019/20. These changes have been introduced on a five-year glide path to ensure stability for the sector. Further information can be found in the guide available at the following link:
https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/475/Guide_to_the_market_forces_factor.pdf
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the market forces factors for NHS funding are determined; and what assessment he has made of the effect of market forces factors on the funding allocated to each clinical commissioning group.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
NHS England is responsible for funding allocations to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). This process is independent of government and NHS England takes advice on the underlying formula from the independent Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation. CCG allocations take account of health inequalities and unmet need. The approach was updated in 2019/20 and further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/note-on-ccg-allocations-2019-20-2023-24.pdf
NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for the design of tariff, including the Market Forces Factor. The approach and underlying data were updated in 2019/20. These changes have been introduced on a five-year glide path to ensure stability for the sector. Further information can be found in the guide available at the following link:
https://improvement.nhs.uk/documents/475/Guide_to_the_market_forces_factor.pdf
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the PFI interest rate is that is charged to the University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust on the construction of the Royal Stoke University Hospital, what the comparable rate is for HM Treasury-funded projects; and what additional funding is provided to that NHS Trust for mitigating any difference.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
As each Private Finance Initiative (PFI) company raises its finance in different ways and from different sources, the most relevant and easily comparable way of describing the cost of PFI finance is the pre-tax nominal project internal rate of return. This rate for the Royal Stoke University Hospital PFI project was 5.70% in June 2007 based on the Government’s standard inflation rate assumption.
At the time the Royal Stoke University Hospital PFI was signed in June 2007, the interest rate for loans for capital investment, which was based on the relevant National Loan Fund rates, was 5.65%.
Where public dividend capital is made available for capital investment, under current rules Trusts are required to pay a 3.5% dividend on its net assets.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent steps she has taken to support businesses in Stoke-on-Trent.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Growth Hub has received more than £1m over five years and in the previous financial year supported over 5000 local businesses, including ceramics companies.
Furthermore, £98m of Local Growth Funding is supporting projects across Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire such as the Heat Academy at Stoke-on-Trent College to help businesses access the skills they need to compete and grow.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the cost to the public purse of reversing the roll-out of universal credit and returning to the previous system.
Answered by Will Quince
Universal Credit (UC) is a £2bn infrastructure project. This will deliver £8bn worth of economic growth. A whole new benefit system is likely to require a similar level of investment as UC.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What steps the Government is taking to strengthen the Union.
Answered by David Lidington
We have delivered policies that benefit all four nations of the UK, including committing over £2.4 billion to thirteen city and growth deals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and spending around £19 billion a year of our defence budget with UK industry, supporting 115,000 jobs across the UK.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding the Government has allocated from the public purse to help increase the viability of new housing development on brownfield sites in areas with lower market values.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Bringing brownfield land back into use is a priority, which is why every local authority is now required to publish and maintain a register of brownfield land, containing up-to-date information on brownfield suitable for housing in the area.
While it is for local authorities to plan and bring forward suitable land, our funding programmes, delivered through Homes England, are also supporting brownfield land being brought forward. As at the end of March 2019, £909 million of the Home Building Fund Long Term Fund (74 per cent of total spend) had been spent on contracted schemes which will lead to 70,062 housing units (61 per cent of unlocked units) being developed on brownfield land. Other funds will also help to bring forward new housing on brownfield sites, such as our £450 million Accelerated Construction programme and our £5.5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund.
Whilst this funding is available to all areas of the country, all applications undergo an assessment of their value for money for the taxpayer.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the regulations governing rail fares and ticketing were last reviewed.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Coalition Government conducted a review of fares and ticketing and its Rail Fares and Ticketing: Next Steps document was published in October 2013. In 2016, the Department, Rail Delivery Group, Which?, and Transport Focus worked together to identify actions to improve fares and ticketing for passengers, culminating in the publication of the Action Plan for information on Rail Fares and Ticketing. This resulted in more than 200,000 instances of confusing language and abbreviations being removed from tickets.
Asked by: Jack Brereton (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to review the regulations governing rail fares and ticketing.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Williams Review is considering how to enable a railway that is able to offer good value fares for passengers, while keeping costs down for taxpayers. The Rail Delivery Group recently published its Easier Fares for All proposals which are a welcome contribution to the Review. The Department is committed to work with the industry to consider how to refresh and update regulations to reflect changing travel patterns, and to understand how their proposals might work and be tested in the real world.