Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much funding will be allocated from the Community Renewal Fund to projects submitted by East Sussex County Council on 18 June 2021; and on what that funding will be disbursed.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Policy Renewal and Development)
There has been significant interest in the UK Community Renewal Fund across the four investment priorities and bids are being assessed in line with the published assessment process. Outcomes will be announced shortly and bidders informed. We will provide further guidance on UK Community Renewal Fund as soon as possible, to enable bidders to plan for delivery once decisions have been announced.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment the Government has made of the timeliness of distribution of covid-19 relief funds by (a) unitary councils, (b) two-tier councils and (c) combined authorities; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government has put forward a package of support for business in recognition of the disruption caused by COVID-19. As part of this, as of 28 June, £10.57 billion has been paid out to over 861,000 business properties under the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF) and the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Grant Fund (RHLGF). Local authorities are working hard to make grant payments to eligible businesses across the country at pace and we are continuing to work closely with them to deliver the remaining funding. We have published a full breakdown of grant funding allocated to and distributed by each local authority here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-grant-funding-local-authority-payments-to-small-and-medium-businesses .
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent estimate his Department has made of the potential savings generated from local authorities adopting unitary status.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We believe areas moving to unitary status with more sustainable and efficient councils can have significant benefits for local people and businesses, including improved and more affordable local services, stronger and more accountable local leadership, and by removing a layer of governance enabling town and parish councils and local communities to be genuinely empowered.
Ernst & Young’s 2016 [1] study of the two-tier councils in England estimated that each existing two-tier county area moving to a single unitary could produce annual savings (post implementation costs) approaching £30 million. A number of areas are now talking to us about unitarisation and are estimating annual savings of some £50 million.
[1] Independent Analysis of Governance Scenarios and Public Service Reform in County Areas, EY, September 2016.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits for local authorities of adopting unitary status.
Answered by Simon Clarke
We believe areas moving to unitary status with more sustainable and efficient councils can have significant benefits for local people and businesses, including improved and more affordable local services, stronger and more accountable local leadership, and by removing a layer of governance enabling town and parish councils and local communities to be genuinely empowered.
Ernst & Young’s 2016 [1] study of the two-tier councils in England estimated that each existing two-tier county area moving to a single unitary could produce annual savings (post implementation costs) approaching £30 million. A number of areas are now talking to us about unitarisation and are estimating annual savings of some £50 million.
[1] Independent Analysis of Governance Scenarios and Public Service Reform in County Areas, EY, September 2016.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the Government's policy is on further devolution of powers to county councils; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Simon Clarke
Building on the success of our directly elected city region Mayors, our English Devolution and Local Recovery White Paper will set out our plans for expanding devolution, creating more elected Mayors in England, giving them and existing Mayors the powers they need to lead economic recovery and long term growth, and more unitary local authorities with stronger town and parish councils to deliver sustainable local services.
We intend to publish the White Paper in Autumn 2020.