Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of adding rail as an eleventh point to the ten point Green Industrial Plan.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Rail plays a key role in the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution. In the section on ‘Green Public Transport, Cycling and Walking’, the plan included commitments to: invest tens of billions of pounds in enhancements and renewals of the rail network; electrify more railway lines; end the complicated franchising model and create a simpler, more effective system; expand rail routes around our big regional cities; restore many of the rail links removed in the Beeching era; and progress the Midlands Rail Hub scheme in Birmingham and improvements in Manchester and Leeds, alongside Northern Powerhouse Rail to improve east-west links across the Pennines.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the average number of summits and other diplomatic talks that will be held on the new national flagship each year.
Answered by Ben Wallace
The National Flagship will be a visible demonstration of the UK's commitment to enhance and strengthen trade with our key export markets around the world. Given eight of the world's ten largest cities are located by the coast, the National Flagship will promote the UK's diplomatic and trading interests. It will provide a unique convening power to British exporters and a secure sovereign hub for many diplomatic events. The Government is currently considering the potential number of summits and diplomatic talks that the National Flagship will host.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding the Government has allocated to planting trees in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021 to date.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are committed to increasing tree planting across the UK to 30,000 hectares per year by the end of this parliament. We published our ambitious England Trees Action Plan on the 18 May. This sets out our plans to at least treble tree planting rates in England as a key contribution to that 30,000ha UK commitment – this represents an unprecedented increase in woodland creation in England, supported by £500 million from the Nature for Climate Fund.
From that £500million, a series of funds will support the creation and management of woodland. This includes over £25 million for our Woodland Creation Partnerships this year, £6 million for the Urban Trees Challenge Fund for the next two years, a £2.7 million Local Authority Treescape Fund over this next year, and the £15.9 million England Woodland Creation Offer launched in spring 2021. This will support traditional methods of tree establishment as well as natural colonisation, agroforestry, and riparian planting.
In the planting season 2019/20, the Government made major commitments to help reach our tree planting targets. In January 2020, the Prime Minister announced £5.7 million to launch the new Northern Forest. In the Autumn Budget 2019, the Chancellor announced £50 million to help plant new woodlands through the Woodland Carbon Guarantee, and £10 million to plant new trees, including valuable street trees, in our towns and cities through the Urban Tree Challenge Fund, launched in May 2019.
For the last planting season (2020/21) we kick-started tree planting efforts through a number of initiatives including £12.1 million investment in expanding England's ten Community Forests; £1.4 million of planting along rivers through the Environment Agency; Support from the £80 million Green Recovery Challenge Fund for a range of charity projects to protect and plant trees.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to improve air quality in urban areas.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The government’s Clean Air Strategy sets out an ambitious programme of action to reduce air pollution from a wide range of sources. We have also put in place a £3.8 billion plan to tackle roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations.
The government’s Environment Bill makes a clear commitment to set a legally binding target to reduce fine particulate matter and enables local authorities to take more effective action to tackle air pollution in their areas. The Bill completed its passage through the House of Commons on 26 May and is now proceeding through the various Parliamentary stages in the Lords, with Royal Assent expected in the Autumn. In the meantime, key work on implementing the Bill’s measures is continuing at pace, including the work to set legally binding air quality targets.
These measures will help to clean up air faster and more effectively in our towns and cities.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average per capita savings that will accrue to passengers as a result of the new timetable that will be in operation once the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme has been completed; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) - is the key East-West artery across the Northern economy. It forms the most direct existing rail link between several major cities. The passenger-related benefits of delivering TRU are formed from a combination of journey time and performance improvements, where passengers will benefit from arriving at their destinations sooner with a faster, more reliable and punctual service; furthermore, the service enhancements will benefit commuters - who can realise the potential of being more productive during the journey due to more frequent, less crowded service. The route upgrade spanning a large section of the northern economy will enhance connectivity and play an important role in improving peoples access to jobs. Major rail infrastructure programmes such as TRU will deliver significant economic benefits to passengers, but not direct savings.
Asked by: Douglas Chapman (Scottish National Party - Dunfermline and West Fife)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on his Department's role in delivering the Government's levelling up agenda.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
My Department is playing a key role in levelling up, including supporting our towns and cities to recover and thrive post-Covid, to regenerate our high streets, and to ensure all places have the capacity and capability to level up.
We are working closely with colleagues across Government to deliver our shared priorities on levelling up.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question
To ask the President of COP26, what meetings he has held with councils and local government organisations on (A) the role of local government in meeting the national net zero target, and (b) how that role will be communicated at COP26.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are continuing to engage with local authorities and leaders across the UK through the UK Mayors and Regions Advisory Council, which most recently met on 15 March. We also work closely with a number of a number of Non-State Actor organisations such as the C40 Cities, ICLEI and UK100 to help further engage with local authorities.
The Government is still in the process of developing the programme for the Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day at COP26, which will showcase the key role that they all play in the pathway to net zero. I look forward to working with members of the UK Mayors and Regions Advisory Council to develop the programme.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question
To ask the President of COP26, what steps he plans to take to engage with local government over the coming months to ensure local government is effectively represented at COP26.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
We are continuing to engage with local authorities and leaders across the UK through the UK Mayors and Regions Advisory Council, which most recently met on 15 March. We also work closely with a number of a number of Non-State Actor organisations such as the C40 Cities, ICLEI and UK100 to help further engage with local authorities.
The Government is still in the process of developing the programme for the Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day at COP26, which will showcase the key role that they all play in the pathway to net zero. I look forward to working with members of the UK Mayors and Regions Advisory Council to develop the programme.
Asked by: Baroness Eaton (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the efforts by local authorities and local economic partnerships to develop local industrial strategies; and what plans they have, if any, to replace the local industrial strategies with an alternative place-based model.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has worked with all places, through the Cities and Local Growth Unit (MHCLG/BEIS) to develop Local Industrial Strategies across England. However, we know that in the four years since the Industrial Strategy was produced, the UK's economic and business environment has changed.
Creating and supporting jobs remains the Government's central economic focus, and helping to drive growth in existing, emerging and new industries is also a priority. This is why we have transitioned the Industrial Strategy into our Plan for Growth and its related strategies. As part of this, we are encouraging places to consider key sectors, assets and clusters they want to support to foster their long-term growth ambitions, building on the brilliant work done by places on Local Industrial Strategies.
Later this year we will go further by publishing a Levelling Up White Paper setting out how bold new policy interventions will improve livelihoods across the country as we recover from the pandemic.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question
To ask the President of COP26, what the Government’s objectives are for the cities and built environment theme for the COP; and what steps the Government is taking to engage UK cities in delivering those objectives at COP26.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
The Government is in early stages of planning for the Cities and Built Environment theme day which will showcase the key role that cities and the built environment play in the pathway to net zero. We are engaging widely with stakeholders ahead of the day, as well as using forthcoming meetings of the UK Mayors and Regions Advisory Council to ensure their views are reflected in preparations for the day.