Tag: Tom Blenkinsop

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide financial support to Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to compensate for the loss in business rates due to closure of the Redcar steel works.

Greg Hands

The Government has announced an £80 million support package for Redcar. We are working with the local Task Force to design a package that will include funding for workers to retrain, support to start their own business, and help for local businesses to grow and create jobs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions Ministers and officials from his Department had with the Insolvency Service on Redcar steelworks prior to the announcement of SSI entering administration.

Anna Soubry

I can confirm that Government agencies, including the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and the Insolvency Service discussed the situation at Redcar prior to SSI’s entry into liquidation, given the parlous state of SSI’s finances and its huge losses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much additional funding his Department will make available to support the retraining of steelworkers recently made redundant.

Anna Soubry

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is continuing to work closely with local Task Forces in Redcar and Scunthorpe to support individuals and businesses affected by SSI’s closure and Tata’s recent announcement.

In Redcar, as part of a support package worth up to £80 million, we have agreed over £40 million of support aimed at skills and jobs creation following proposals put forward by the Task Force chaired by Amanda Skelton:

• £3m has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, as well as a further £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
• £1.7m to ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;

• A £16.5m Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
• £16m support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business
• £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

In Scunthorpe, we have announced a package, worth up to £9 million, jointly with Tata, to support Tata steelworkers, the local economy and supply chain. We are working closely with a local Task Force, chaired by Baroness Liz Redfern, to deliver this support.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, from what part of his Department’s budget the support package for Redcar steelworkers will be funded.

Anna Soubry

The support package will be funded through central budgets.

As part of this, we have agreed over £40 million of support following proposals put forward by the Task Force chaired by Amanda Skelton, including:

• £2.42 safety net fund, to support workers with short-term financial challenges;
• £2.65m skills funding to plug any gaps in skills provision not available via the Further Education Offer;
• £1.7m to help ensure that the fifty apprentices who were with SSI can continue their apprenticeships with alternative employers;
• £16.5m Jobs and Skills Fund to help local firms employ former SSI workers or their spouses in full-time or part-time jobs for a minimum of three years;
• £16m support for firms in the SSI supply chain and wider Tees Valley impacted by the Redcar steelworks closure, to safeguard jobs, provide the stimulus to create new posts and provide expert assistance to help them expand their business; and
• £750,000 to fund advice and grants to start up a new business.

All of the requests for spend in 2015/16 have been transferred from Government to the SSI Task Force, which is beginning to implement its planned programme of interventions. This is on top of the up to £3m that has been made available to four Further Education colleges in the region to support re-training activity, and redundancy and final salary payments of former SSI employees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if (a) statutory redundancy payments and (b) final salaries will be paid from the Government’s support funding package for those affected by recent redundancies in the steel industry.

Anna Soubry

I can confirm that the support package covers both of these aspects. The money allocated towards redundancies factored in payments for owed salaries and does not affect the money for training and regeneration of the local economy. I also note that without Government action, SSI workers would not have been paid their salaries in September.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to address the reported shortfall of £107 million in the Department’s 2015 budget and the consequent imbalance in funding for mental health services.

Alistair Burt

With the financial controls package and help from system leads, we are working towards delivering a balanced position against the overall spending controls in this financial year, despite an unprecedented level of deficit in the National Health Service provider sector.

The NHS must now put in place cost-control measures we have introduced, like clamping down on agency spend, limiting the use of management consultants and making sure trusts have to justify the pay package of any manager who is paid more than the Prime Minister, while we continue to work with hospitals on ways to improve productivity and reduce waste.

This year, we are investing £173 million of additional money in mental health, including £30 million for services for young people with eating disorders. We are taking a targeted and phased approach to the additional investment, to enable local areas to develop additional capacity and a collaborative approach across health, education and children’s services. This is what is needed to make a real difference.

We remain committed to providing the additional £1.25 billion investment in mental health services over the next five years, as announced in the Budget 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve tests for Lyme disease to ensure early diagnosis.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England regularly review new tests for Lyme disease and participate in a Europe wide Quality Assurance programme to ensure that the most suitable tests available are used.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what advice the Government has received on Government intervention in the steelworks in Redcar and European Community state aid rules; and what discussions his Department has had on this issue.

Anna Soubry

I received advice from Departmental officials on the legality of supporting a steel company in difficulty. The state aid rules on giving rescue and restructuring aid to steel companies are clear and all such interventions are prohibited.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment she has made of the potential role of ports on Teesside in the decommissioning of offshore oil installations.

Andrea Leadsom

We are setting up the OGA to have a strong role in the decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure in the UK Continental Shelf. OGA are developing a decommissioning strategy, working closely with industry and government, to reduce the costs and increase the efficiency of decommissioning, and to encourage technology development. OGA is seeking to develop a more competitive model for decommissioning which stimulates market solutions and innovation. Decommissioning represents opportunities for UK industry to compete for business and I would encourage companies to engage to give themselves the best chance of winning contracts.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what transmission charges (KW/hour) are levied by the National Grid on organisations commuting electricity from one place to another for each region of the UK in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Andrea Leadsom

Transmission Network Use of System charges are charged on £/KW basis and include a locational element to reflect the extent to which the transmission system is used to move electricity from where it is generated to the centres of demand. Details of the 2015-16 charges are in National Grid’s charging statement which can be found at this link:

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Industry-information/System-charges/Electricity-transmission/Transmission-Network-Use-of-System-Charges/Statement-of-Use-of-System-Charges/

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