Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the reasons were for the December 2017 increase to the minimum points threshold for Tier 2 certificates of sponsorship; what the annual quota for such certificates is; and what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of provision of such certificates for private sector employers wising to hire non-EU staff.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers, operates an annual cap of 20,700 places per year. The cap, which was set on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), ensures that the Government can control migration and encourages employers to look first to the domestic workforce before recruiting from overseas.
Restricted Certificates of Sponsorship – which are places within the cap – are allocated by points scores. When demand exceeds available places, priority, and the highest number of points, is awarded to occupations in national shortage first. The higher minimum points score in December 2017 was due to a rise in demand.
We keep all of our immigration routes under review.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding is available to regenerate and renew new town infrastructure.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The 2017 Autumn Budget set out government's ambition to deliver five new garden towns. Government will bring together public and private capital to deliver these new towns in areas of high demand, and work with local partners and the private sector to do so. We are determined that housing growth is supported by the right infrastructure at the right time. Our £5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund shows just how serious we are about that.
There are a range of further funding sources available to support the development of housing and the associated infrastructure required. Mayoral combined authorities in particular have devolved funds and could allocate parts of their Investment Funds towards supporting this. Government also committed in the 2017 Autumn Budget to publish a consultation on changes to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and developer contributions, which will help the public sector capture rising land values from additional public investment. The government will also encourage authorities to explore the introduction of a Strategic Infrastructure Tariff, in addition to CIL, supported by appropriate governance arrangements.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his Department's policy is on the future of New Towns.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Across England, we are currently supporting 24 locally-led garden communities to be exemplars of high quality, good design and best practice. Together, they have the potential to deliver up to 220,000 homes. Our support has helped foster local ambition to accelerate the pace of delivery, with over 12,000 new homes started. This support has included provision of £19 million of capacity funding expert delivery advice from Homes England and cross-government brokerage to resolve barriers.
At Autumn Budget 2017 we announced we will extend this support to the delivery of a further 5 locally led garden towns that will seek to bring together public and private capital. To deliver on this ambition we will introduce legislation to enable locally accountable New Town Development Corporations to be created as a key instrument of delivery.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many (a) new-build planning approvals were granted and (b) how many new houses were built in Telford constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Dominic Raab
1. Numbers of major and minor residential planning applications decided by each local authority district, in the year to 30 September 2017, are shown in Live Table P136 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics
Earlier versions of table P136 are also available from the same link:
those for years ending July 2012 to June 2017 are under the heading, “Historical Live Tables”, and
those for years ending September 2010 to June 2012 are available from the relevant link to the National Archives.
These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.
2. Estimates of house building for new build dwellings completions for England and in each local authority district, to September quarter 2017, are shown in Live Table 253a at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
These cover new build dwellings only and should be regarded as a leading indicator of overall housing supply. The department also publishes an annual release entitled ‘Housing supply: net additional dwellings, England’, which is the primary and most comprehensive measure of housing supply.
These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking increase the provision of starter homes in Telford constituency; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dominic Raab
We are supporting people's aspirations to buy through a range of initiatives including Help to Buy, Right to Buy, greater funding for Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy, and our plans for starter homes. Since Spring 2010 Government-backed schemes have helped over 433,000 households to buy a home and the number of first-time buyers is at a nine-year annual high. At the last Budget, the Government announced that first-time buyers will pay zero stamp duty on the first £300,000 of any home that costs up to £500,000.
The definition of starter homes is being finalised as part of the revised draft National Planning Policy Framework, which we will be publishing shortly.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the value added to the UK economy by businesses based in Shropshire.
Answered by Andrew Griffiths
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) provides annual Gross value added (GVA) estimates which provide a measure of the contribution of an area to the UK economy. Figures, published by the ONS in December 2017, estimate the GVA for the Shropshire County Council area in 2016 was £6,236 million.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision: a green paper, published by his Department in December 2017, if his Department will consider taking steps for (a) children in care and (b) children from deprived areas when implementing actions arising from that green paper.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
We know that children in care and children in deprived areas face particular difficulties which may impact their mental health. The proposals set out in the Green Paper aim to improve support for all children who need mental health support, and will in particular help those groups with higher incidences of mental health issues, including children in care and children from deprived areas. We are keen to ensure that the Green Paper proposals also align with the various pieces of work we are taking forward across Government to support the mental health and wellbeing needs of looked after children.
Through the public online consultation for the Green Paper, which is open until 2 March, we are seeking views on how looked after children can easily access the right support and whether deprivation should be a key factor in selecting the trailblazer areas. Trailblazer areas will trial the mental health support teams and waiting time standard pilots (as set out in the Green Paper) and will also test how the mental health support teams can link to the work of other professionals to enhance support for vulnerable children.
The outcome of the consultation will inform how we take forward and implement the Green Paper proposals, and how we select the trailblazer areas.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the annual quota of Tier 2 visas.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers, operates an annual cap of 20,700 places per year. The cap, which was set on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), ensures that the Government can control migration and encourages employers to look first to the domestic workforce before recruiting from overseas.
Places are allocated on a monthly basis to ensure consistency and that places can be allocated according to priority. Places are allocated first to those in occupations which are in national shortage and which appear on the published Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The SOL is drawn up on the basis of advice from the MAC.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to expedite the issuing of Tier 2 visas.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Tier 2, our main immigration route for non-EEA workers, operates an annual cap of 20,700 places per year. The cap, which was set on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), ensures that the Government can control migration and encourages employers to look first to the domestic workforce before recruiting from overseas.
Places are allocated on a monthly basis to ensure consistency and that places can be allocated according to priority. Places are allocated first to those in occupations which are in national shortage and which appear on the published Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The SOL is drawn up on the basis of advice from the MAC.
Asked by: Lucy Allan (Conservative - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of (a) total and (b) per capita funding from his Department's budget on (i) health and (ii) mental health in England was spent in (A) Telford constituency and (B) Wrekin in the last 12 months; and where Telford and Wrekin are ranked in England for such spending.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
NHS England allocates funding to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), rather than to individual constituencies.
The level of funding a CCG receives is informed by the estimation of the relative health needs of local areas, based on a set of funding formulae. These formulae produce a target allocation, or 'fair share', for each area based on a complex assessment of factors such as demography, morbidity, deprivation, and the unavoidable cost of providing services in different areas. As the need for different types of health services varies, there are separate formulae for each of the CCG core responsibilities, specialised services and primary medical care.
NHS England does not allocate budgets for specific services such as mental health. CCGs determine the level of expenditure appropriate for their population, based on their assessment of local health needs.
The figures for Telford and Wrekin CCG’s total expenditure on health and mental health, and this as a proportion of NHS England’s budget in 2016-17, is presented in the table below.
Telford and Wrekin CCG | 2016/17 |
Total expenditure | £229.5 million |
Total expenditure as a proportion of NHS England’s budget | 0.22% |
Total expenditure on mental health | £23.8 million |
Total expenditure on mental health as a proportion of NHS England’s mental health budget | 0.25% |