Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which Minister of his Department is responsible for the day to day administration of the Levelling Up Fund.
Answered by Luke Hall
The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.
The Fund is jointly managed by HM Treasury, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Transport.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) policies and (b) grant and funding programmes his Department has introduced to provide support to individuals and organisations in response to the covid-19 outbreak; and what funding has been allocated to each of those programmes in the 2020-21 financial year.
Answered by Luke Hall
Throughout the pandemic, the Government’s priority has been to save lives and protect jobs, businesses, and livelihoods. To support workers and businesses across all sectors the Government has provided an unprecedented package of support worth more than £280 billion.
In light of current restrictions, businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure facing forced closure in England are eligible for a one-off grant worth up to £9,000 to help them through to Spring. This is on top of the existing Local Restriction Support Grant (Closed) which will continue to offer businesses support of up to £3,000 for each month they closed.
Local authorities are being provided with a top up to the Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) worth £500 million, bringing the total value of ARG to over £1.6 billion. This grant ensures local authorities can support, on a discretionary basis, businesses not eligible for other grants but still affected by restrictions.
Businesses across the UK can continue to apply for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), which as of mid-December had supported 9.9 million jobs. The Government has also extended the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) until the end of April 2021, with a boosted package of support providing the self-employed with grants covering 80% of average trading profits. So far SEISS has seen 2.7 million self-employed workers make claims under the scheme totaling £13.7 billion.
Businesses needing access to liquidity can also apply for guaranteed loans through various loan schemes, including the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. Over 1.4 million small and medium sized companies have received Government-backed loans, worth over £68 billion.
This support comes on top of billions of pounds’ worth of business rates reliefs, tax deferrals, and other labour market schemes.
The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has introduced a number of programmes to support individuals and organisations through the COVID-19 outbreak – spending £5.8 billion in our response to the pandemic. These programmes include funding to support pressure on social care and other services in local government, funding for rough sleepers and the Next Steps Accommodation Programme, and for council tax relief (Hardship Fund).
Full details of my Department’s COVID-19 funding is available in the NAO COVID Tracker: https://nao-mesh.shinyapps.io/Covid_cost_tracker/.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimates he made of the costs incurred by English local authorities in responding to the covid-19 outbreak when preparing the 2020 spending review.
Answered by Luke Hall
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we have worked closely with local authorities to understand the pressures they are facing. Local authorities have completed monitoring returns to assess the impact the pandemic is having on their finances which shows that the estimated additional expenditure up to the end of October 2020 is £4 billion. Based on this, we have allocated £7.2 billion directly to local authorities, with £4.6 billion of this being unringfenced money for authorities to spend how they see fit.
Furthermore, at the Spending Review on 25 November, the Chancellor announced estimated funding of around £3 billion of additional support for Covid-19 pressures next year. The Chancellor also confirmed that Core Spending Power is forecast to rise by 4.5 per cent in cash terms in 2021-22 - a real terms increase. This package means local authorities will be able to access an estimated additional £2.2 billion to support Adult and Children’s Social Care and to maintain universal services.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what projects he (a) has approved and (b) is considering for financing through the Towns Fund in the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
Answered by Luke Hall
Seven towns in constituent authorities of the West Midlands Combined Authority – Dudley, Wolverhampton, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, West Bromwich, Bloxwich and Walsall – have been invited to develop proposals for Town Deals.
Three further towns from non-constituent authorities of the West Midlands Combined Authority – Nuneaton, Redditch and Telford –– have also been invited to develop proposals.
Each of these 10 towns are at various stages of developing their proposals for Town Deals.
All 10 towns received accelerated funding in September 2020 for capital projects that would make an immediate difference in the town, helping recovery from the impact of Covid-19. We are continuing to work with the towns as they develop proposals and turn their plans into reality.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what awards have been made from the Towns Fund; to which projects those awards have been made; and what the value is of each such grant awarded.
Answered by Luke Hall
On 27 October, we announced the first seven offers of Town Deals, worth almost £180 million in total, for Barrow-in-Furness, Blackpool, Darlington, Norwich, Peterborough, Torquay and Warrington. These landmark deals will see millions invested in projects across the country including updating Blackpool’s famous Illuminations for a return to tourism, the modernisation of Torquay town centre and plans for low carbon-living in Peterborough.
In September, we announced accelerated funding for all 101 towns selected to work with Government to develop a Town Deal. This was to support capital projects that would help them address the immediate impacts of Covid-19. Each town received a grant of £500,000, £750,000 or £1 million, depending on population size. This funding is supporting a range of projects including new green spaces, pop-up business spaces and walking and cycling routes. Further details of the accelerated funding are also here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/80-million-boost-to-towns.
Further announcements will be made in due course.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many representations he has received from the Mayor of the West Midlands on proposed changes to the planning system.
Answered by Christopher Pincher
The Secretary of State and other Ministers in the department have regular and productive discussions with the Mayor.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been allocated from the public purse to the West Midlands Combined Authority for home building since 2017.
Answered by Jake Berry
In March 2018, the Government agreed a housing package with the West Midlands Combined Authority, to deliver 215,000 homes in the West Midlands by 2030/31, and committed to back that ambition through a Land Fund of up to £100 million. Funding is transferred to the West Midlands Combined Authority when key milestones are met. In addition, West Midlands Combined Authority has been allocated £6 million through the 2017 Devolution Deal to support immediate and long term housing delivery in the region.
The Government has also committed to supporting a successful legacy of the Commonwealth Games in 2022 by providing £165 million of grant funding for infrastructure to unlock up to 5,100 homes in Birmingham.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding has been devolved to each (a) metro mayor and (b) metro mayor region in each of the last four financial years.
Answered by Jake Berry
The core funds devolved to the Metro Mayors and their combined authorities are listed in the attached table. Further details can be found in the Annual Reports of Devolution, laid before Parliament each year by the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and in the devolution deal agreements.