Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many schools were served by crossing guards in (a) 2018 and (b) 2024.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Local authorities are responsible for the provision of school crossing patrols as they are best placed to assess the needs of the local community. The Department for Transport does not collect statistics on school crossing patrols.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made with Cabinet colleagues on implementing the International Education Strategy, published on 16 March 2019.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department has been implementing a whole of government approach and working closely with Cabinet departments including the Department for Business and Trade, Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and other government departments to implement the International Education Strategy published on 16 March 2019. This includes ministerial and official attendance from across government at the Education Sector Advisory Group meetings, a valued forum that convenes three times per year and enables sector representatives to engage with the government to implement the strategy.
The department remains committed to the International Education Strategy and has published regular updates, most recently in May 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-education-strategy-2023-update. This sets out progress to date, including total UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity estimated to be £25.6 billion in 2021 and meeting the international student ambition for both 2020/21 and 2021/22.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme limit to £500,000 for eligible companies.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government recently expanded the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) to help more UK start-ups to raise higher levels of finance. In April 2023, the amount of SEIS funding that companies can raise was increased from £150,000 to £250,000 and the annual investor limit was increased from £100,000 to £200,000. The eligibility of the SEIS was also expanded as the limit on the age of a company’s trade was increased from 2 years to 3 years and the company gross asset limit was increased from £200,000 to £350,000. These changes increase the generosity and availability of the SEIS whilst ensuring it remains appropriately targeted at those very early-stage companies that investors view as the highest risk. Companies that outgrow the SEIS can utilise the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) to raise further finance.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme on (a) small businesses, (b) investment and (c) job creation.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Autumn Statement 2023, the Government published the report of an independent evaluation of the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), conducted in 2022. The full report can be found on the GOV.UK Website here: Evaluation of Venture Capital Schemes - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of challenges within the video games industry.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to the success of the UK games sector and we work closely with industry to support its future growth.
This includes the £13.4 million UK Games Fund supporting new IP and talent and generous video games tax reliefs.
However, we are also focused on building a talent pipeline through the Creative Careers Programme, T-Levels and bootcamps, and local skills improvement plans. Additionally, we have worked closely with industry to deliver guidance on loot boxes, and developed a video games research framework to inform future policy making.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of increases in energy prices on university students living in private rented accommodation.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2021/22 suggests that a third of students live in privately rented accommodation with friends. Over the period 2022/23 to 2024/25, the government will have provided support worth £104 billion to help families throughout the UK with the cost of living including to meet increased household energy costs. This will have eased the pressure on family budgets and so will in turn enabled many families to provide additional support to their children in higher education to help them meet increased living costs.
Students in private rented accommodation who are provided energy through a commercial entity may also benefit from the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS), which provides a baseline discount on energy bills for non-domestic users locked into high fixed price tariffs. Any non-domestic user who benefits from the EBDS must ensure the benefit is passed through to the end user, such as students in private rented accommodation.
More information on students’ expenditure on housing can be found in the 2021/22 Student Income and Expenditure Survey which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/student-income-and-expenditure-survey-2021-to-2022.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what the average monthly rent payment in Warwick and Leamington constituency was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Rental data at constituency level is not held centrally.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds on what the average monthly mortgage payment was in Warwick and Leamington constituency in each year since 2010.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
There is a wide variety of data and statistics about the mortgage market in the UK available from the Bank of England (https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/statistics), the Financial Conduct Authority (https://www.fca.org.uk/data) and UK Finance (https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data).
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the impact of trends in the level of interest rates on homeowners in Warwick and Leamington constituency.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The pricing and availability of mortgages is a commercial decision for lenders in which the Government does not intervene. However, the Government recognises this is a concerning time for mortgage borrowers.
Rising interest rates are in part driven by Bank Rate. Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. The MPC continues to have the Government’s full support as it takes action to return inflation to target through its independent monetary policy decisions.
The average offered mortgage rates on 2-year and 5-year fixed rates have now fallen from their peak in the Summer.
The Government has taken steps to limit the impact of rising interest rates on mortgage holders, through the Mortgage Charter. This Charter sets out the standards that signatory lenders – who represent over 90% of the UK mortgage market – will adopt when helping their customers.
We have also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, the Housing Loss Prevention Advice Service (HLPAS), and Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans. Accordingly, arrears and repossessions remain low by historical standards, despite the rise in interest costs.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
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 impact of sewage overflows into rivers and waterways in Warwick and Leamington constituency on groups who use the water for recreational activities.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is clear that the volume of sewage being discharged into our waters in unacceptable. That is why our Plan for Water sets out more investment, stronger regulation, and tougher enforcement to tackle pollution and clean up our water.
Alongside this, our Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan sets clear and specific targets for water companies to reduce sewage discharges, and will drive the largest infrastructure programme in water company history - £60 billion capital investment over 25 years
The rivers in the vicinity of Warwick and Leamington (River Avon and River Leam) are not designated Bathing Waters. Monitoring undertaken by the Environment Agency is primarily focussed on its statutory duties to monitor and report environmental quality.
We have increased the number of storm overflows monitored across the network: in 2010 only 7% were monitored, and now 100% are being monitored.
Nationally, the Environment Agency has directed water companies to make significant improvements through the PR19 Water Industry National Environment Plan and water company business plans, including upgrading over 8,000 storm overflows in successive price reviews since 1989. This has resulted in water companies investing £3.1 billion to improve storm overflows between 2020 and 2025.
Locally, Severn Trent Water, as part of their Green Recovery Programme, are carrying out a trial to improve a stretch of the River Leam near Warwick & Leamington Spa with the aim of making the river safer to swim in a location where bathing is known to occur. This trial includes river monitoring and improvements to some of Severn Trent’s sewer network, infrastructure and discharges.