Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to review the level of business rate relief for childcare providers.
Answered by Rishi Sunak
The Government currently has no plans to review the level of business rates relief for childcare providers.
The Government has introduced a package of support on business rates worth over £10 billion by 2023. This includes permanently doubling Small Business Rate Relief to 100 per cent, taking over 600,000 small businesses out of paying business rates entirely, and a £435 million package of support for ratepayers facing the steepest increases in bills following the 2017 revaluation. Furthermore, all business, including childcare providers, will benefit from the Government’s decision to bring forward the switch of the annual indexation of business rates from RPI to CPI by two years to April 2018. This measure alone will be worth £2.3 billion over 5 years.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what childcare facilities his Department makes available for staff; how much his Department spent (a) overall and (b) per child on those childcare facilities in the last year; and how many staff members use those childcare facilities.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Department subsidises staff to use the Westminster Play scheme run by Tinies, a holiday play scheme covering school holidays.
During the last year there have been a total of 5 holiday sessions covered by the scheme. During this time a total of 9 Department employees with 10 children have benefited from the scheme. Unfortunately we are unable to provide a cost per child however the total cost to the Department for the scheme during this period was £691.50, which averages out at £69.15 per child.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether it remains his policy to secure devolution deals within city regions.
Answered by Jake Berry
Across England we are making huge strides towards rebalancing the economy and empowering local government. On 4 May, the first six city region mayors were elected for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, the West of England and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – representing 9.8 million people in England. We remain committed to our ambitious devolution deal with Sheffield City Region, comprising the local authority areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield. The mayoral election will take place in May 2018. Against this background, we intend to have early meetings with local businesses and political leaders, as it is important to agree a separate deal which includes West Yorkshire.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what meetings he has planned on devolution for West Yorkshire.
Answered by Jake Berry
Across England we are making huge strides towards rebalancing the economy and empowering local government. On 4 May, the first six city region mayors were elected for Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, the West of England and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – representing 9.8 million people in England. We remain committed to our ambitious devolution deal with Sheffield City Region, comprising the local authority areas of Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and Sheffield. The mayoral election will take place in May 2018. Against this background, we intend to have early meetings with local businesses and political leaders, as it is important to agree a separate deal which includes West Yorkshire.
Asked by: Tracy Brabin (Labour (Co-op) - Batley and Spen)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff are seconded to his Department; and how many such staff are seconded from which companies and organisations.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Department had thirteen employees working on secondment contracts as of 31 March 2017 from each of the following companies and organisations:
Kent County Council | Local Authority |
London Borough of Bexley | Local Authority |
London Borough of Lambeth* | Local Authority |
Selby District Council | Local Authority |
South Tyneside Council | Local Authority |
Southend on Sea Borough Council | Local Authority |
Surrey County Council | Local Authority |
Westminster City Council | Local Authority |
Homes & Communities Agency | NDPB |
St. Basils | Non Profit |
Barclays | Private |
Von Bradsky Enterprises | Private |
*There are two employees currently seconded from this organisation.