Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department spent on hospitality in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The amount spent on hospitality by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is as follows:
Year | Spend on hospitality |
2020-21 | £228.91 |
2021-22 | £425.04 |
2022-23 | £291.45* |
*This is for invoices paid to date.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the pay ratio was between the highest paid member of staff in his Department and the lowest in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Pay ratio information is published in the remuneration report of the Annual Accounts publication for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Both 2020 and 2021 have been published and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dclg-annual-reports-and-accounts.
The 2022 Annual Accounts will be published in due course.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Housing Mission announced in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, published on 2 February 2022, if he will publish the projected increase in first-time house buyers for (a) Hemsworth constituency, (b) Wakefield local authority and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber region in each year to 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Levelling Up White Paper set out 12 ambitious new missions that are targeted, measurable and time-bound declarations of the progress needed to achieve levelling up.
The housing mission aims to provide a path to home ownership for first-time buyers. The UK Government is committed to developing a metric for first-time buyer numbers per year that can be published at the sub-national level within the next year, to track progress against this mission. Ahead of these data being made public, supporting metrics drawn from the English Housing Survey will be used to track home ownership trends.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Pride in Place Mission announced in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, published on 2 February 2022, whether his Department plans to routinely collect data for metrics measuring pride in place, including on (a) regeneration, (b) communities and (c) culture, heritage and sport.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
Pride in place is connected to a number of variables including community engagement, local heritage, engagement in cultural life, access and quality of local amenities, and quality of town centres. Survey-based measures of pride in place are still in their infancy. These measures are subjective and, in some cases, not yet developed or designed to enable analysis at a spatial level. The Community Life Survey already measures aspects such as ‘sense of belonging’ and think tanks such as Local Trust have made progress in researching what matters for pride in place and local area satisfaction.
Engagement with experts will continue after publication to develop metrics and information that can support the implementation of the pride in place mission.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the healthy life expectancy mission in the Levelling Up White Paper, what the projected improvement in health outcomes in each year to 2030 are for (a) Hemsworth constituency, (b) Wakefield local authority and (c) Yorkshire and Humber region.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Levelling Up White Paper set out 12 ambitious new missions that are targeted, measurable and time-bound declarations of the progress needed to achieve levelling up.
The metrics through which progress on the health mission will be measured, including the geographical coverage, are set out in Figures 15 and 16 in the Technical Annex to the White Paper. The Office for National Statistics publishes data on Healthy Life Expectancy by upper tier local authority in England, local authority in Wales, council areas in Scotland, and local government districts in Northern Ireland. The supporting metrics for the mission include smoking prevalence of adults, obesity prevalence of children and adults, cancer diagnosis at stage 1 and 2, and the under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases considered preventable. These are available at various geographical levels.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Health Mission announced in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, if he will publish the projected change in Healthy Life Expectancy for (a) Hemsworth constituency, (b) Wakefield local authority and (c) Yorkshire and Humber region in each year to 2035.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The metrics through which progress on increasing Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) will be measured, including the geographical coverage, are set out in Figures 15 and 16 in the Technical Annex to the White Paper. The Office for National Statistics publishes data on HLE by upper tier local authority in England, local authority in Wales, council areas in Scotland, and local government districts in Northern Ireland.
The Health Disparities White Paper, expected to be published in Spring 2022, will set out the strategy to tackle the core drivers of disparities in health.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Skills Mission announced in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, if he will publish how many of the 200,000 more people successfully completing high-quality skills training will be in (a) Hemsworth constituency, (b) Wakefield local authority and (c) Yorkshire and Humber region.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
In addition to 200,000 more people successfully completing high-quality skills training annually by 2030, the skills mission commits to this increase being driven by 80,000 more people completing courses in the ‘lowest skilled areas’.
The metrics through which progress will be measured, including the geographical coverage, are set out in Figures 15 and 16 in the Technical Annex to the White Paper. All the metrics relating to the skills mission will be available at the local authority level. Further, a combined measure of achievements in Level 4 and 5 skills training across the Further Education and Higher Education sectors is under development, and the Department for Education will also monitor broader measures of private employers’ investment in training.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Digital Connectivity Mission announced in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, if he will publish (a) what percentage of the population will have 5G coverage by 2030, and (b) which sections or locations of the UK population will not have 5G coverage by 2030, for (i) the Hemsworth constituency, (ii) the Wakefield local authority, (iii) Yorkshire and Humberside, and (iv) the UK.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Levelling Up White Paper set out 12 ambitious new missions that are targeted, measurable and time-bound declarations of the progress needed to achieve levelling up.
The digital connectivity mission sets out the government's ambitions for 5G coverage in 2030, with the aim of ‘5G coverage for the majority of the population’. We are developing a Wireless Infrastructure Strategy which will set out how we will drive the development, deployment and adoption of future wireless networks in the UK. Through this we are developing a comprehensive picture of how demand for 5G may evolve over the next decade, working with industry to identify where they are planning to invest, and any interventions government should take to ensure we have the infrastructure in place to deliver on broader government agendas including Levelling Up and Net Zero.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the transport connectivity mission in the Levelling Up White Paper, what the (a) metrics and (b) minimum thresholds are by which he will determine (i) improved services, (ii) simpler fares and (iii) integrated ticketing.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Levelling Up White Paper set out 12 ambitious new missions that are targeted, measurable and time-bound declarations of the progress needed to achieve levelling up.
The headline metrics for the transport mission are ‘Usual method of travel to work by region of workplace’ and ‘Average travel time in minutes to reach the nearest large employment centre (500+ employees)’. In measuring the success and ambition of this mission, it will be important to look at a variety of counterparts that have a similar population and economic size, and transport needs, as towns and cities across the UK.
Informal consultation and engagement will continue after publication to check the current suite of metrics is correct, as well as to identify additional metrics and information that can support implementation of the missions.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Research and Development Mission in the Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper, if will publish estimates for increases in domestic and public investment in R&D outside the greater South East, by English region.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
The Levelling Up White Paper set out 12 ambitious new missions that are targeted, measurable and time-bound declarations of the progress needed to achieve levelling up.
The Research & Development (R&D) mission is focused on domestic R&D spending - excluding funding for Horizon Europe and other EU programmes. Progress will be measured combining Government funding for R&D and Business Expenditure on R&D outside the Greater South East. Both metrics are available for UK countries and regions.
While some information on public R&D funding is already collected and published - such as UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) spending - there are currently significant evidence gaps that prevent policy makers from tracking and measuring where public funding is spent. The UK Government will ask the Office for National Statistics and the UK Government Office for Science to work with all Whitehall departments to collect and publish sub-national data on their R&D spending. This will allow us to track progress on the mission to 2030.