Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to allocate additional funding to East Sussex County Council for the NHS test and trace system; and what guidance he has published on developing local plans for the allocation of that funding.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
As of 5 November 2020, England is now under national restrictions. Local authorities in England were allocated up to £8 per head of population inclusive of any amounts previously provided through the Contain Outbreak Management Fund. Payments will be made to upper tier local authorities for onward disbursement. East Sussex County Council will receive funding of £4,457,832.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure adequate staffing levels in the social care sector after the transition period.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the Government’s ambition to recruit more people into social care to meet the future needs of society. In the short term, in order to attract people into social care now, we launched a new national recruitment campaign, ‘Care for others; Make a difference’, which ran across broadcast, digital and social media. We have also launched a new online platform to fast-track recruitment into the adult social care sector, which sits alongside the many local initiatives that have been put in place to recruit staff.
The new Health and Care visa will make it cheaper, quicker and easier for eligible social care professionals such as social workers, occupational therapists and nurses from around the world come to work the United Kingdom. In addition, all social care workers will now be permanently exempt from paying the Immigration Health Surcharge.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to include a devolution framework for local authorities to follow in the English Devolution White Paper.
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.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to include proposals on the county council tier of local government in his forthcoming devolution White Paper.
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.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to devolve further powers to metro mayors in England.
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.
Asked by: Sally-Ann Hart (Conservative - Hastings and Rye)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to ensure that communities can continue to access publicly funded community assets and projects that have been subsequently bought up by private individuals and organisations.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The key initiative which allows community groups an opportunity to take publicly or privately-owned buildings or land into community ownership is the assets of community value scheme introduced through the Localism Act 2011. The scheme however does not place any further restrictions on the asset after a sale is complete. The Government continues to recognise the value of community ownership and access to assets, and we have set out our commitment to strengthen the rights of community groups to protect and take over local assets and to introduce a £150 million Community Ownership Fund to support groups who wish to do so.