Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of funding to the Western Gateway partnership on the future economy of (a) South Wales and (b) Western England.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Department held a four-week public consultation on ending core funding for pan-regional partnerships in 2024. Following the consultation, the Government confirmed its decision not to extend core funding for Western Gateway and other pan-regional partnerships. We are now moving to a different model of economic collaboration, where we are keen to support new models driven by mayors and their partners.
Asked by: Baroness Wilcox of Newport (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for growth in South Wales and Western England over the next five years; and whether the English Devolution White Paper will include measures to maintain collaboration to support the cross-border economy in that area.
Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
A recent economic assessment undertaken by Oxford Economics, commissioned by Western Gateway on behalf of HMG, forecasts that the West of England and South Wales economies have the potential to grow by 1.4% a year between 2024 and 2029, slightly ahead of the UK excluding London, and if fully recognised, also ahead of other comparable growth areas such as the Oxford-Cambridge Arc and the Scottish Central Belt.
HMG is also currently undertaking the consultation phase of our new industrial strategy delivering a 10-year plan for growth across the UK and would encourage all regions to participate to be part of a modern and ambitious economic vision for the country.
HMG has already announced the Council of Nations and Regions, which will support cross-border collaboration by bringing together the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with the heads of the devolved governments and the mayors of combined authorities, combined country authorities and the Mayor of London, to consider shared opportunities and lessons on best practice across the UK.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse is of each sub-national transport body.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In Financial Year 23/24, the grant provided to each Sub-national Transport Body from the Department for Transport was as follows:
Summary of Payments to Sub National Transport Bodies for FY23/24
Transport for the North | £7,210,000 |
Midlands Connect | £5,000,000 |
Transport for the South East | £1,725,000 |
England's Economic Heartland | £1,350,000 |
Transport East | £762,000 |
Western Gateway | £605,000 |
Peninsula Transport | £585,000 |
TOTAL | £17,237,000 |
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the policy paper entitled Network North, published on 4 October 2023, whether the 10 new smaller Midlands road projects have entered the Road Improvement Strategy (a) programme and (b) development stage; whether formal approvals have been granted; and whether it will progress into the next strategy phase.
Answered by Guy Opperman
All of these schemes are being promoted for consideration for potential funding as part of the Department’s Major Road Network/ Large Local Majors (MRN/ LLM) programme. None of the schemes will form part of the Government's Road Investment Strategy.
The position with each scheme is set out in the following table:
Scheme name | Cost | Completion date | Next business case stage |
A511 Growth Corridor | £62.72m | January 2027 | Full Business Case |
A614/A6097 Corridor scheme | £34.44m | December 2026 | Full Business Case |
North Hykeham Relief Road | £193.71m | November 2028 | Full Business Case |
A509 Isham Bypass | £111.31m | December 2027 | Outline Business Case |
Chesterfield – Staveley Regeneration Route | £166.40m | November 2027 | Outline Business Case |
A43 Northampton – Kettering phase 3 | £28.58m | June 2028 | Strategic Outline Case |
Shrewsbury North Western Relief Road | Tbc – subject to Shropshire Council’s procurement exercise | October 2026 | Full Business Case |
A4123 Birchley Island | £30.13m | December 2026 | Full Business Case |
A426/A4071 Avon Mill/Hunters Lane improvements | £24.28m | August 2026 | Outline Business Case |
A454 between Wolverhampton and East Park Gateway | £53.38m | September 2027 | Outline Business Case |
The table provides the latest cost estimate and completion date provided to the Department. These may be subject to change.
A conditional offer of funding for a scheme is made by the Department upon approval of an Outline Business Case. Final confirmation of funding is made upon approval of a Final Business Case.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 32 of Network North, published on 4 October 2023, what estimate he has made of the (a) cost and (b) completion date of the 10 smaller road schemes in the Midlands.
Answered by Guy Opperman
All of these schemes are being promoted for consideration for potential funding as part of the Department’s Major Road Network/ Large Local Majors (MRN/ LLM) programme. None of the schemes will form part of the Government's Road Investment Strategy.
The position with each scheme is set out in the following table:
Scheme name | Cost | Completion date | Next business case stage |
A511 Growth Corridor | £62.72m | January 2027 | Full Business Case |
A614/A6097 Corridor scheme | £34.44m | December 2026 | Full Business Case |
North Hykeham Relief Road | £193.71m | November 2028 | Full Business Case |
A509 Isham Bypass | £111.31m | December 2027 | Outline Business Case |
Chesterfield – Staveley Regeneration Route | £166.40m | November 2027 | Outline Business Case |
A43 Northampton – Kettering phase 3 | £28.58m | June 2028 | Strategic Outline Case |
Shrewsbury North Western Relief Road | Tbc – subject to Shropshire Council’s procurement exercise | October 2026 | Full Business Case |
A4123 Birchley Island | £30.13m | December 2026 | Full Business Case |
A426/A4071 Avon Mill/Hunters Lane improvements | £24.28m | August 2026 | Outline Business Case |
A454 between Wolverhampton and East Park Gateway | £53.38m | September 2027 | Outline Business Case |
The table provides the latest cost estimate and completion date provided to the Department. These may be subject to change.
A conditional offer of funding for a scheme is made by the Department upon approval of an Outline Business Case. Final confirmation of funding is made upon approval of a Final Business Case.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much core funding his Department has allocated to each sub-national transport body (a) in each of the last five years and (b) over the next three years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The table below sets out how much core funding the Department for Transport has allocated to each Sub-National Transport Body (STB) in each of the last five years, and the core funding allocations for the upcoming financial year. Where no figure has been provided, the STB was not yet formally established.
STB | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
Transport for the North | £10m* | £10m | £10m | £7m | £6m | £6.5m |
Midlands Connect | £3m | £5m | £4m | £5m | £5m | £5m |
Transport for the South-East | £100k | £1m | £500k | £1.225m | £1.225m | £1.725m |
England’s Economic Heartland | £100k | £1m | £500k | £500k | £900k | £1.350m |
Transport East | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £520k | £762k |
Western Gateway | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £425k | £605k |
Peninsula Transport | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £425k | £585k |
*This was provided to the Transport for the North Partnership Board, prior to TfN being established as a statutory body.
Whilst all non-statutory STBs have received an indicative projection of their funding across the Spending Review period, actual funding will be subject to an approved workplan and good performance over the previous Financial Year.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield Heeley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much core funding his Department has allocated to each Sub National Transport Body (a) in each of the last five years (b) over the next three years.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The table below sets out how much core funding the Department for Transport has allocated to each Sub-National Transport Body (STB) in each of the last five years, and the core funding allocations for the upcoming financial year. Where no figure has been provided, the STB had not yet been formally established.
STB | 17/18 | 18/19 | 19/20 | 20/21 | 21/22 | 22/23 |
Transport for the North | £10m* | £10m | £10m | £7m | £6m | £6.5m |
Midlands Connect | £3m | £5m | £4m | £5m | £5m | £5m |
Transport for the South-East | £100k | £1m | £500k | £1.225m | £1.225m | £1.725m |
England’s Economic Heartland | £100k | £1m | £500k | £500k | £900k | £1.350m |
Transport East | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £520k | £762k |
Western Gateway | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £425k | £605k |
Peninsula Transport | N/A | N/A | N/A | £425k | £425k | £585k |
*This was provided to the Transport for the North Partnership Board, prior to TfN being established as a statutory body.
Whilst all non-statutory STBs have received an indicative projection of their funding across the Spending Review period, actual funding will be subject to an approved workplan and good performance over the previous Financial Year.
Asked by: Liam Byrne (Labour - Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will (a) list the spending programmes his Department devolves for administration to local government in England and other local spending bodies and (b) specify the value for each programme for every year for which budgets are agreed.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
The table below sets out funding DLUHC core department devolved in 2021-22. Future years funding will be published in the usual way. The Local Government Finance Settlement can be found using this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/final-local-government-finance-settlement-england-2021-to-2022.
Programme Name | Value 2021-22 (£m) |
AFFORDABLE HOMES PROGRAMME | 215.0 |
BETTER CARE FUND PROGRAMME SUPPORT | 0.3 |
BICHESTER | 4.6 |
BRENT CROSS | 29.1 |
BROWNFIELD HOUSING FUND | 157.8 |
BROWNFIELD LAND RELEASE FUND | 64.4 |
BUILDING SAFETY REMEDIATION | 393.0 |
CHANGING FUTURES | 16.0 |
CHANGING PLACES | 0.3 |
COASTAL COMMUNITIES FUND | 0.1 |
COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS | 22.5 |
COMMUNITY HOUSING FUND | 6.0 |
COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP FUND - COF | 1.4 |
COVID-19 CLINICALLY & EXTREMELY VULNERABLE | 61.3 |
CUSTOM BUILD LAND DUTY | 0.1 |
DATA IMPROVEMENT SHARE OUTCOME FUND | 4.1 |
DIGITAL PLANNING REFORM | 1.9 |
DISABLED FACILITIES GRANTS (N) | 573.0 |
DOMESTIC ABUSE | 1.8 |
EAST BANK | 51.6 |
EBBSFLEET DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION | 19.0 |
ENGLISH LANGUAGE | 5.2 |
ESTATE REGEN FUND | 14.2 |
FAITH, RACE AND HATE GRANT SCHEME | 0.4 |
FLOOD RECOVERY FRAMEWORK SCHEMES | 3.7 |
FREEPORTS | 3.7 |
FUTURE HIGH STREET FUND | 257.5 |
GETTING BUILDING FUND | 449.9 |
GRT EDUCATION PROGRAMME | 1.0 |
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PROGRAMME | 1.0 |
HOME OF 2030 | 0.4 |
HOMELESSNESS | 378.8 |
HONG KONG BRITISH NATIONAL OVERSEAS (HKBNOS) WELCOME PROGRAMME | 6.5 |
HOUSING INFRASTRUCTURE FUND (CORE) | 37.9 |
INFRASTRUCTURE FOR COMMONWEALTH GAMES | 17.7 |
INTERFAITH NETWORK FOR THE UK | 0.3 |
LEP CORE FUNDING | 19.1 |
LESSONS FROM AUSCHWITZ UNIVERSITIES | 0.1 |
LEVELLING UP FUND | 103.2 |
LOCAL DIGITAL COLLABORATION | 12.4 |
LOCAL GROWTH INVESTMENT FUNDS | 347.5 |
LOCAL LAND CHARGES | 0.1 |
LOCAL RESILIENCE FORUMS (LRFS) | 8.1 |
MAYORAL CAPACITY FUND | 9.0 |
MIDLANDS ENGINE | 2.5 |
MODERN PLANNING SOFTWARE | 6.8 |
NCTT | 0.3 |
NEAR NEIGHBOURS | 1.0 |
NEIGHBOURHOOD PLANNING | 7.9 |
NEW DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS | 2.1 |
NEW HOMES BONUS | 622.3 |
NORTHERN POWERHOUSE | 0.5 |
OXFORD-CAMBRIDGE ARC | 1.0 |
OXFORDSHIRE HOUSING | 40.0 |
PARTNERSHIPS FOR PEOPLE AND PLACE | 0.7 |
PFI HOUSING | 138.7 |
PLANNING ADVISORY SERVICE (PAS) | 0.7 |
PLANNING DELIVERY FUND | 5.3 |
PLANNING REFORM | 2.8 |
REDCAR AND CLEVELAND BOROUGH COUNCIL | 3.7 |
REGIONAL CONTROL CENTRES | 4.2 |
REMEMBERING SREBRENICA | 0.3 |
REOPENING HIGH STREETS SAFELY | 26.8 |
RIGHT TO BUY RECEIPTS | 12.3 |
ROUGH SLEEPING | 325.4 |
ROUGH SLEEPING COVID RESPONSE | 40.3 |
SCHOOLS LINKING | 0.2 |
SECRETARIAT FOR THE INDEPENDENT ANTISEMITISM ADVISER | 0.1 |
SHIELDING SUPPORT | 40.8 |
SSI STEELWORKS | 25.7 |
STDC - TEESWORKS WORKS | 11.1 |
STRENGTHENING FAITH INSTITUTIONS | 0.5 |
STRONGER TOWNS CAPACITY FUNDING | 162.4 |
SUPPORTED HOUSING OVERSIGHT PILOTS | 2.4 |
SUPPORTING FAMILIES | 163.7 |
TENANT FEES ACT 2019 | 0.8 |
THAMES ESTUARY | 1.5 |
TOWNS FUND | 0.5 |
TRANSPORT FOR EBBSFLEET | 1.7 |
UK COMMUNITY RENEWAL FUND | 122.5 |
VOLUNTARY AND COMMUNITY SECTOR FUNDING FOR ROUGH SLEEPING AND HOMELESSNESS | 2.7 |
VOLUNTARY RIGHT TO BUY | 1.4 |
WAKING WATCH | 0.4 |
WESTERN GATEWAY CORE FUNDING | 1.0 |
WINDRUSH | 0.7 |
WOMENS AID | 0.3 |
YOUTH HOMELESSNESS | 0.6 |
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the transport infrastructure needs of rural and coastal communities in the South West region.
Answered by Baroness Maclean of Redditch
Local areas are best placed to assess their transport infrastructure needs. With DfT funding, the two sub-national transport bodies in the South West, Peninsula Transport and Western Gateway, are in the process of developing transport strategies for their regions which will look at the entirety of the South West’s transport needs.
Asked by: Lord Triesman (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to develop the M5 as a growth corridor; and whether they have asked the National Infrastructure Commission to consider such a proposal.
Answered by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist - Opposition Whip (Lords)
Government has no plans at present to develop the M5 as a growth corridor. However, this strategic corridor is important for the economies of the Midlands Engine and the Western Gateway.
We have supported growth through a number of key projects which include: the recent announcement of £219million Housing Infrastructure Fund to improve Junction 10 in Gloucestershire; £12.19million Local Growth Funding to improve the junction 25 at Taunton; and also the creation of 2 Enterprise Zones, Gravity at junction 23 near Bridgwater and at the Exeter and East Devon Enterprise Zone at junction 29.