Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help support local authorities with encouraging the building of net zero social housing.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Government has given councils a comprehensive range of tools to deliver a new generation of council housing. Alongside these ambitions, the Government remains committed to meeting its target of net zero emissions by 2050; we must ensure that the energy efficiency standards we set through the Building Regulations for new homes put us on track to meet the 2050 target.
From 2025, the Future Homes Standard will ensure that new homes produce at least 75% fewer CO2 emissions compared to those built to the 2013 standards. These homes will be future proofed with low carbon heating and high levels of energy efficiency.
In December 2021, we introduced an uplift in energy efficiency standards that provides a stepping-stone to the Future Homes Standard. Once the uplift comes into force, in June 2022, new homes will be expected to produce around 30% fewer CO2 emissions compared to the previous 2013 standards, marking an important step on our journey towards a cleaner, greener built environment and net zero by 2050.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what method local authorities will use to distribute the Council Tax Rebate.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has published guidance to local authorities on administering the council tax rebate. This can be found in the link below:
The council tax rebate 2022-23 – billing authority guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance is available to local authorities on the £150 Council Tax rebate.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has published guidance to local authorities on administering the council tax rebate. This can be found in the link below:
The council tax rebate 2022-23 – billing authority guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Government's levelling up agenda will support local plans for levelling up including those set out in Everyone’s Essex.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up White Paper sets out how we will spread opportunity more equally across all parts of the UK, including Essex. The government’s plan is underpinned by 12 ambitious missions that will serve as an anchor for policy across government, as well as catalysing innovation and action by local partners.
On ‘Levelling Up Essex’, ‘Everyone’s Essex’, and other local strategies, the government recognises that levelling up is a collective endeavour. Success in closing spatial disparities across Essex will rely on input, buy-in and partnership with local stakeholders.
The White Paper highlights how Essex is already benefiting from investments to boost living standards, spread opportunity, restore local pride and empower local leaders. These include the government’s commitment to develop a new integrated, high-tech healthcare campus to replace the ageing Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, as well as providing a new Institute of Technology at South Essex College. Basildon, Harlow and Southend-on-Sea will also receive expert support from the High Street Task Force.
To date, Essex has also benefited from £19.9 million from the Levelling Up Fund to support the fishing industry at Leigh-on-Sea and to enhance the visitor offer along Southend seafront. Essex County Council, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have also received a combined £5.6 million from the Community Renewal Fund to help support local areas to pilot imaginative new approaches, including a pilot with Harlow College to support economically inactive, unemployed and employed adults, and a project to develop the capacity of Harlow-based organisations through the Harlow Local Procurement Portal.
Communities in the East of England are set to benefit from the Thames Freeport and Freeport East, and government is also backing the Thames Estuary Growth Board. Government has invested £23.7 million through the Towns Fund to regenerate Harlow and address transport connectivity challenges within the town, with a further £60.9 million from the Fund awarded to Colchester, Grays and Tilbury.
Going forwards, local authorities in Essex will also be able to bid for further funding through the second round of the Levelling Up Fund and use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to further support Levelling Up priorities in the region. Finally, the White Paper sets out for the first time a clear framework for devolution in England, supporting areas to develop devolution proposals which demonstrate effective leadership and sensible geography.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that deprived areas of Essex will be supported through proposals in the Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up White Paper sets out how we will spread opportunity more equally across all parts of the UK, including Essex. The government’s plan is underpinned by 12 ambitious missions that will serve as an anchor for policy across government, as well as catalysing innovation and action by local partners.
On ‘Levelling Up Essex’, ‘Everyone’s Essex’, and other local strategies, the government recognises that levelling up is a collective endeavour. Success in closing spatial disparities across Essex will rely on input, buy-in and partnership with local stakeholders.
The White Paper highlights how Essex is already benefiting from investments to boost living standards, spread opportunity, restore local pride and empower local leaders. These include the government’s commitment to develop a new integrated, high-tech healthcare campus to replace the ageing Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, as well as providing a new Institute of Technology at South Essex College. Basildon, Harlow and Southend-on-Sea will also receive expert support from the High Street Task Force.
To date, Essex has also benefited from £19.9 million from the Levelling Up Fund to support the fishing industry at Leigh-on-Sea and to enhance the visitor offer along Southend seafront. Essex County Council, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have also received a combined £5.6 million from the Community Renewal Fund to help support local areas to pilot imaginative new approaches, including a pilot with Harlow College to support economically inactive, unemployed and employed adults, and a project to develop the capacity of Harlow-based organisations through the Harlow Local Procurement Portal.
Communities in the East of England are set to benefit from the Thames Freeport and Freeport East, and government is also backing the Thames Estuary Growth Board. Government has invested £23.7 million through the Towns Fund to regenerate Harlow and address transport connectivity challenges within the town, with a further £60.9 million from the Fund awarded to Colchester, Grays and Tilbury.
Going forwards, local authorities in Essex will also be able to bid for further funding through the second round of the Levelling Up Fund and use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to further support Levelling Up priorities in the region. Finally, the White Paper sets out for the first time a clear framework for devolution in England, supporting areas to develop devolution proposals which demonstrate effective leadership and sensible geography.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of supporting (a) Levelling Up Essex and (b) other local levelling up strategies as part of his plan to level up the country.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up White Paper sets out how we will spread opportunity more equally across all parts of the UK, including Essex. The government’s plan is underpinned by 12 ambitious missions that will serve as an anchor for policy across government, as well as catalysing innovation and action by local partners.
On ‘Levelling Up Essex’, ‘Everyone’s Essex’, and other local strategies, the government recognises that levelling up is a collective endeavour. Success in closing spatial disparities across Essex will rely on input, buy-in and partnership with local stakeholders.
The White Paper highlights how Essex is already benefiting from investments to boost living standards, spread opportunity, restore local pride and empower local leaders. These include the government’s commitment to develop a new integrated, high-tech healthcare campus to replace the ageing Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, as well as providing a new Institute of Technology at South Essex College. Basildon, Harlow and Southend-on-Sea will also receive expert support from the High Street Task Force.
To date, Essex has also benefited from £19.9 million from the Levelling Up Fund to support the fishing industry at Leigh-on-Sea and to enhance the visitor offer along Southend seafront. Essex County Council, Thurrock Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council have also received a combined £5.6 million from the Community Renewal Fund to help support local areas to pilot imaginative new approaches, including a pilot with Harlow College to support economically inactive, unemployed and employed adults, and a project to develop the capacity of Harlow-based organisations through the Harlow Local Procurement Portal.
Communities in the East of England are set to benefit from the Thames Freeport and Freeport East, and government is also backing the Thames Estuary Growth Board. Government has invested £23.7 million through the Towns Fund to regenerate Harlow and address transport connectivity challenges within the town, with a further £60.9 million from the Fund awarded to Colchester, Grays and Tilbury.
Going forwards, local authorities in Essex will also be able to bid for further funding through the second round of the Levelling Up Fund and use the UK Shared Prosperity Fund to further support Levelling Up priorities in the region. Finally, the White Paper sets out for the first time a clear framework for devolution in England, supporting areas to develop devolution proposals which demonstrate effective leadership and sensible geography.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether consumers are able to opt out of receiving the £200 upfront discount on energy bills.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Domestic energy customers in Great Britain will receive a £200 reduction on their bills this Autumn. The Government will provide funding to all suppliers for them to pass on to their domestic energy customers from October 2022. The Department will consult on the detail of the scheme in the spring
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of devolving specific powers or funds to county councils outside of a formal devolution deal, where requested, as part of the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Devolving specific powers or funds to an individual local authority is dependent on agreeing a devolution deal with government, informed by the devolution framework published in the Levelling Up White Paper. As well as those which establish new institutions, all devolution deals which establish new institutions or confer new powers will be subject to Parliamentary approval to the necessary secondary legislation in order to be implemented; and deal implementation will need to be prioritised and scheduled accordingly.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to (a) assess and (b) take account of the level of need in local communities when determining the areas of focus in the Government's Levelling Up White Paper.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Levelling Up the United Kingdom White Paper provides a clear plan to level up every corner of the UK, by addressing the spatial disparities that exist within and between regions. The White Paper sets out a detailed policy programme to deliver on the 12 levelling up missions and wider levelling up objectives, particularly in those places that have been left behind.
Essex will benefit from a number of policies targeted at local communities, as set out in the White Paper. For example, Basildon, Harlow and Southend-on-Sea are part of the next group of local authorities to receive expert support from the High Streets Task Force to regenerate their high streets. Essex is also one of the areas set to benefit from the greatest uplift in funding compared with 2021-22 from the updated allocation formula for the Supporting Families programme. A new Institute of Technology, specialising in delivering higher technical education, will be developed in partnership with South Essex College.
Additionally, the ONS is making publicly available a Levelling Up Subnational Data Explorer aimed at local users and decision makers, making it easier for them to extract insight from a wide range of local authority level data on economic and social outcomes in their area. This will ensure future policies continue to be targeted at areas with the highest need.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
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 extent of apprenticeship opportunities in the hospice sector.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
We are increasing funding for apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. This will support apprenticeships in non-levy employers, such as hospices, where the Government will continue to pay 95% of training costs.
Since 1 April 2021, all non-levy paying employers, including hospices, arranging new apprenticeships must do so through the apprenticeship service. This provides more control over apprenticeship choices and the ability to reserve funds before choosing the appropriate apprenticeship provider. All small and medium-sized enterprises, such as hospices, have been able to reserve funding for up to 10 new apprenticeships in 2021/22.