Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle criminals who attempt to defraud (a) the most vulnerable and (b) other citizens during the covid-19 vaccine roll-out.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government is aware that fraudsters are exploiting the pandemic to commit opportunistic crimes such as fraud. We are regularly monitoring the number of cases being reported to the police and these – at present- remain very low.
The Government is working closely with local enforcement teams and urging the public to beware of fake text messages, claiming to be from NHS or instructing people to sign up for the #COVID19 vaccine.
Through our public communications, we are reminding the public that the NHS will never:
We are encouraging the public to forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk and to forward suspicious text messages to 7726 (which is free of charge). This information is being used by law enforcement partners, alongside crime reports to identify, disrupt and stop fraudsters.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2021.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Due to the Covid19 pandemic, this year's national Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration will take place on-line on the 27 January at 7pm. The event will include a national candle-lighting moment at 8pm. Several national buildings will be lit in remembrance of the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust, all victims of Nazi persecution and victims of subsequent genocides.
MHCLG and a number of other Government departments will be hosting Holocaust Memorial Day events in the run up to Holocaust memorial Day. Local authorities, churches, schools and a number of civic society organisations across the country will also be marking the day with online ceremonies.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
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 to tackle rough sleeping in (a) Worcestershire and (b) the West Midlands.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
This Government is committed to ending rough sleeping. This is why we are spending over £700 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping this year alone.
As part of this, we have allocated significant funding to Worcestershire and the West Midlands. Worcestershire is receiving over £672,000 from the Rough Sleeping Initiative, which supports the establishment or enhancement of coordinated local services for rough sleepers or those at risk of sleeping rough. Local authorities across the West Midlands have been allocated £6.49 million in total from the Rough Sleeping Initiative this year.
Building on the success of the ongoing Everyone In programme, the Next Steps Accommodation programme makes available the financial resources needed to support local authorities and their partners to prevent as many of those as possible accommodated during the pandemic from returning to the streets. In total, local authorities across the West Midlands will receive £4.78 million to pay for immediate support to help prevent people from returning to the streets in 2020/21. Worcester and Wychavon have been allocated over £445,000 as part of this funding. We are also providing £5.95 million in capital funding and £2.65 million in revenue funding, to deliver longer term move-on accommodation and support for rough sleepers across the West Midlands.
Our expert rough sleeping and homelessness advisers continue to work closely with all local authorities in the West Midlands, to support and monitor their work to tackle rough sleeping.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to assess the potential merits of easing covid-19 restrictions on weddings through the use of (a) pilot schemes and (b) further consultation with the UK Weddings Taskforce.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government is keen to allow larger wedding receptions and celebrations to take place as soon as it is safe. Weddings by their nature bring families and friends together in a single group for extended periods of time, are highly social, and particularly vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19.
Through vaccination and testing we hope to increase the number of attendees when the scientific evidence shows that it is safe to do so.
I am planning to meet with the UK Weddings Taskforce early in the New Year.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the rate of transmission of covid-19 of the public health requirement that (a) golf courses and (b) tennis clubs must temporarily close during the November 2020 covid-19 lockdown in England.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Sports and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health, and are a vital weapon against coronavirus. That’s why we made sure that people could exercise at least once a day even during the height of the first period of enhanced national restrictions and why we opened up grassroots sport and leisure facilities as soon as it was safe to do so.
Nobody wanted to be in the position of having to introduce further National Restrictions. However as the Prime Minister said, with the virus spreading faster than expected we cannot allow our health system to be overwhelmed. The National Restrictions are designed to get the R rate under control through limiting social contact and reducing transmissions. We have not introduced further exemptions because when you unpick at one activity the effectiveness of the whole package is compromised.
However, as the Prime Minister said on 23 November national restrictions will end on Wednesday 2 December and gyms and the wider leisure sector including golf courses and tennis clubs can reopen across all tiers.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what support and information his Department has made available for small businesses which are considering establishing an online presence for the first time.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government provides a wide range of support and information for small businesses. The main source of information is the GOV.UK website, with support also available via the Business Support Helpline on FREEPHONE 0800 998 1098 and via the network of 38 local Growth Hubs in England.
In order to provide specific support for businesses considering establishing an online presence, the Government launched The Skills Toolkit on 28 April 2020. The online learning platform includes over 70 courses in digital, numeracy and employability/readiness to help people build their skills, progress in work and boost job prospects. These courses include Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, How to Create Great Online Content and Digital Skills: Social Media (for business).
Furthermore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is supporting the Digital Boost platform, which provides much-needed digital support for small businesses and charities in the UK that have been impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The platform is building a community of skilled digital expert volunteers, who are providing one-to-one support to small businesses and charities free of charge to help them improve their digital capability, build sustainable incomes through digital channels, reach more customers online, and stay competitive during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
The National Cyber Security Centre also published guidance on 20 May to support businesses moving from physical to digital delivery. The guidance was created specifically to support businesses who are relying more heavily on IT services to run their business. The support package includes guidance on home working, video teleconferencing and spotting Covid-19-related email scams.
We also provide grant funding to Be the Business, a business-led independent charity which aims to raise productivity at the firm level, through technology adoption and by promoting best practice management and leadership. Be the Business provides a tech adoption toolkit to help SMEs decide what kind of technology might benefit them, how to choose tech that best meets their needs, and how to implement it effectively into the business.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle county lines drug trafficking in Worcestershire.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
This Government is determined to crack down on the county lines gangs who are exploiting our children and have a devastating impact on our communities.
That is why we are investing £25m to boost efforts to tackle county lines. Our overall package launched in October last year includes: expanding the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre; increased disruption on the rail networks by the British Transport Police County Lines Taskforce; police intensification in three key exporting areas (including in the West Midlands region and Metropolitan and Merseyside Police areas); investment in new technology; and increased support for victims. Our funding has also supported operations across England and Wales, including with West Mercia Police.
Our investment is already delivering results. Following the £5m we invested in 2019-2020, the Metropolitan Police, Merseyside, West Midlands and British Transport Police closed nearly 140 deal lines, seized cash and drugs with a total value of over £3 million, and made over 100 weapons seizures between November 2019 and March 2020.
The most recent county lines ‘week of intensification’, which all police forces took part in and was co-ordinated by NCLCC, took place in September and resulted in over 1,000 arrests, drugs worth more than £1m seized and over 1,500 vulnerable individuals safeguarded.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to work with the (a) armed forces, (b) national voluntary groups and (c) regional voluntary groups to ensure as many veterans as possible in (i) Bromsgrove District and (ii) the UK benefit from the Veterans' Railcard.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The new Veterans’ Railcard will benefit approximately 830,000 HM Armed Forces Veterans who are not eligible for existing railcards. Officials are working closely with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, Veterans UK and charities such as Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion to raise awareness and ensure as many veterans as possible benefit from the railcard, with more than 4,000 sold during its first week on sale.
At launch we worked with high-profile veterans on a campaign targeting television, radio, print and digital media with the story featured by more than 100 regional radio stations across the UK. We will continue to work with stakeholders to raise awareness over the coming months.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many businesses in the (a) West Midlands, (b) Worcestershire and (c) Bromsgrove District have signed up to the Kickstart Scheme.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As of 30/10/2020, 3717 applications have been made for funding through DWP’s Kickstart scheme (either as an employer or a Gateway organisation), and at that date bids covering a total of around 15,170 potential placements had been approved. We are not yet able to reliably break these placements down by region, given that some of the employers have submitted national bids.
Asked by: Sajid Javid (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on business opportunities for businesses in Bromsgrove District.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government, along with Birmingham City Council and its partners, is investing £778 million to deliver the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The Games will be about far more than 11 days of sport and Government’s significant investment will provide legacy opportunities such as job creation, community and sports facilities and a timely boost to businesses for the whole of the West Midlands, including Bromsgrove District. The additional investment of £24 million from the Government and the West Midlands Combined Authority to create a Trade, Tourism, and Investment Programme for the Games will also ensure the West Midlands can fully maximise the national and international economic opportunities of hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games.