Newspaper column 21 April 2022 - The Shared Prosperity Fund

 

I hope you all had a good Easter and were able to spend some time with loved ones over the extended weekend. Thank you to everyone who continued working through this period too.

Last week it was a pleasure to welcome the Transport Minister to both Falmouth and Truro this week to discuss Cornwall’s new transport plan, electric vehicle charging points, e-bikes and car clubs!

Transport in Cornwall will be excellent and carbon neutral. Our transport system will connect people, communities, businesses and services in a way that enhances quality of life, is reliable, efficient, safe, healthy and inclusive.

We trialled e-bikes in Falmouth, and spoke about car clubs and electric vehicle charge points in Truro. The Minister understood the challenges we have in rural areas with connectivity, but the new Cornwall Transport Plan will be revolutionary for Cornwall.

As well as showing the Minister some key features of our constituency, last week also saw the long-awaited announcement of the funding from Shared Prosperity Fund, the Government’s replacement for European Structural Funds following Brexit.

The Government has confirmed that Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly will receive a £132million share of £2.6 billion of funding that has been allocated.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will see places that need it most draw up plans this year to deliver on their local priorities, based on a conditional allocation of funding over the next three years. This could include regenerating rundown high streets, fighting anti-social behaviour and crime, or helping more people into decent jobs - helping to revive communities, tackle economic decline and reverse geographical disparities in the UK.

The funding delivers on the UK government’s commitment to match the previous EU funding from the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund. However, the fund will be much more flexible and locally led, freeing communities from the bureaucratic, rigid and complex processes of the EU Structural Funds.

Bureaucracy will be slashed, and there will be far more discretion over what money is spent on. EU requirements for match funding, which impacted on poorer places, will be abolished. Instead of regional agencies, funding decisions will be made by elected leaders in local government, with input from local members of parliament and local businesses and voluntary groups.

The Government has always been clear that its replacement funding for the previous EU structural funds would not leave areas any worse off, and today’s announcement proves this.

In fact Cornwall, with its allocation £132million from the Shared Prosperity Fund, has more money per head from this fund than any local authority area in England.

I have been told time and time again by people, businesses and organisations in Truro and Falmouth that a real issue with the previous EU funding was how difficult it was to access and how funding allocated for Cornwall was often targeted at the wrong areas. The UKSPF will improve on this. It will be fit for purpose, administered locally and better targeted, so better value for all.

I am already making representations to Cornwall Council to ensure that Falmouth in particular is prioritised for future plans for this money and will be doing all I can to ensure the UKSPF makes a positive difference for ours and future generations across Cornwall.

As ever, if you need my assistance with anything then my team and I are here to help. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk , or by telephone on 01872 229698. My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.

 

Access to cash in Truro and Falmouth

The government recognises that cash remains an important part of daily life for millions of people across the UK, particularly those in vulnerable groups, and has committed to legislate to protect access to cash.

From 1 July to 23 September last year, the government held an Access to Cash Consultation on proposals for new laws to make sure people only need to travel a reasonable distance to pay in or take out cash.

The government’s proposals intend to support the continued use of cash in people’s daily lives and help to enable local businesses to continue accepting cash by ensuring they can access deposit facilities. The government has carefully considered responses to the consultation and will set out next steps in due course.

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery.

Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

On access to free-to-use ATMs specifically, free-to-use ATMs, LINK (the scheme that runs the UK's largest ATM network) has commitments to protect the broad geographic spread of free-to-use ATMs and is held to account against these commitments by the Payment Systems Regulator. LINK has committed to protect free-to-use ATMs more than one kilometre away from the next nearest free ATM or Post Office, and free access to cash on high streets (where there is a cluster of five or more retailers) that do not have a free-to-use ATM or a Post Office counter within one kilometre.

Following the Government’s commitment to legislate, firms are working together through the Cash Action Group to develop new initiatives to provide shared services. The Government welcomes the direction set by industry’s commitments at the end of last year and looks forward to seeing what results they deliver in protecting cash facilities for local communities across the UK.

Thank you once again for getting in touch, and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Newspaper column 31 March 2022 - Looking back at the Spring Statement

The situation in Ukraine reminds us that the United Kingdom’s security and ability to be a force for good in the world is in large part because of the strength of the economy.

But, the steps the United Kingdom are taking to sanction Russia are not cost free for people at home: the biggest impact will be for working families.

In order to protect the progress made in our economic recovery and help families with the cost of living, the Chancellor is delivering a new Tax Plan to reduce and reform taxes over the course of this Parliament – helping working people and turbocharging economic growth.

Last week the Chancellor Rishi Sunak at the Spring Statement announced his new Tax Plan to reduce and reform taxes across the United Kingdom – tackling the cost of living and incentivising private sector-led growth.

Measures set out by the Chancellor include reducing and reforming taxes by:

Slashing fuel duty by 5p for twelve months, delivering a £5 billion tax cut for drivers. Together with the fuel duty freeze, this will save car drivers £100, van drivers £200, and HGV drivers £1,500 this year, coming into effect immediately from 6pm this evening, across the United Kingdom.

Rising the National Insurance personal threshold from £9,500 to £12,570 from July, delivering the largest increase in a starting personal tax threshold in British history. This is equivalent to a £6 billion tax cut for nearly 30 million workers and worth over £330 a year starting in July, across the entire United Kingdom. This is the largest single personal tax cut in a decade.

Helping people keep more of what they earn by cutting the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence in 2024, delivering a tax cut worth £5 billion for over 30 million workers, pensioners and savers – only the second income tax cut in two decades and the first income tax cut for 16 years. This will be worth around £175 for a typical taxpayer.

Raising the employment allowance to £5,000, delivering a £1,000 tax cut for small businesses. The Employment Allowance cuts employers’ national insurance tax bills by increasing the employment allowance even further to £5,000 from April – that’s a new £1,000 tax cut for half a million small businesses.

Doubling the existing Household Support Fund to £1 billion, delivering an additional £500 million to the Household Support Fund. This helps the most vulnerable families with the cost of living. The fund is distributed through local authorities in England, who have discretion over exactly how the funding is used. This is expected to benefit 3 to 4 million vulnerable households.

Times are hard, as we come out of the unprecedented circumstances and public spending caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the international issues around the ongoing war in Ukraine caused by the Putin regime.

I am pleased to see that this Government is going further to strengthen our economy, publishing a new Tax Plan to reduce and reform taxes – including cutting fuel duty, cutting the basic rate of Income Tax and cutting National Insurance for 30 million working people – meaning people across Truro and Falmouth can keep more of what they earn.

This Tax Plan delivers the biggest cut to personal taxes in over a quarter of a century – simplifying our system in the long-term whilst we deliver immediate relief for cost-of-living pressures.

I know that times are still hard though, and will continue to do all I can to work with the Government and local and national groups to ensure Truro and Falmouth gets the support we need. To this end this week I launched a Cost of Living Survey, to better inform my work in supporting local people. Please take five minutes to fill out my survey on my website via the link below or contact my office to get sent a paper copy.

https://www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk/truro-and-falmouth-cost-living-survey

As ever, if you need my assistance with anything then my team and I are here to help. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk , or by telephone on 01872 229698. My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.

Please support Lord Dubs' Amendment on child refugees

Thank you for contacting my office. I appreciate you getting in touch about unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK and Lord Dubs' amendment to the Nationality and Borders Bill.

I am proud to support the Government's efforts to reform our immigration system to retain its compassionate approach but combine it with increased fairness, firmness, and efficiency.

During the Nationality and Borders Bill passage through Parliament, I am aware that Lord Dubs tabled an amendment that relates to safe routes for those seeking to claim asylum in the UK, including unaccompanied children, to travel from countries in Europe to join family in the UK. While well-intentioned, these measures would prove detrimental to the interests of vulnerable children and encourage young people to make dangerous journeys.

For example, regarding the best interests of vulnerable children, the amendment fails to consider children's individual needs, which raises significant issues. It creates entitlements to come to the UK to claim asylum if the individual has the specified UK relatives but does not consider whether this is in the unaccompanied child's best interests. Neither does it consider whether the UK relative can take care of the child, nor does it consider whether the child would be better placed with a relative, potentially an even closer relative, in another European state.

Furthermore, I cannot ignore that this new clause would encourage asylum seekers, including vulnerable unaccompanied children, to make dangerous journeys to Europe (facilitated by smugglers and traffickers) to benefit from its provisions. It would discourage asylum seekers, when in Europe, who wish to travel to the UK to interact with the care and support mechanisms or the asylum systems of those safe European countries which should provide them with the safety and protection they are entitled to under the same international legal obligations that the UK abides by.

It is vital to keep in mind that European member states are safe countries with international obligations towards protecting asylum seekers and children, as we do here in the UK, affording all asylum seekers in Europe an opportunity to access the rights they are entitled to.

While we may not agree on every point, I hope I have been able to outline why I am unable to support Lord Dubs' amendment with this response.

Thank you once again for getting in touch, and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Water Fluoridation

Thank you for contacting my office. I appreciate you getting in touch about water fluoridation.

While I note your concerns about fluoride in your water supply, fluoridation programmes in our country are common practice, and have been in place for nearly 60 years. I am aware that currently, around 5.8 million people in England already consume fluoridated water. I would like to reassure you that there have been no cases of water fluoridation causing any ill effects.

I understand that a report from Public Health England (now the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities) on improving oral health, published in 2020, found that water fluoridation significantly reduces tooth decay, especially in children. It found that, in deprived areas where water fluoridation occurs, there were 55 per cent fewer hospital admissions for tooth decay among children aged one to four.

This scheme is effective and safe, and I am reassured that there is no evidence of health harms from the levels of fluoride used in English schemes, nor the slightly higher levels allowed naturally. Further, the Government is required to monitor the effects of water fluoridation and produce reports on this every four-years, which I hope you find reassuring. The last report was published in 2018 which means that there will be a new report, which is due to be published this year.

While this is a government-supported programme, local authorities are responsible for any consultations on fluoridation schemes. You will be encouraged to know that ministers have published a toolkit for local authorities to aid them in carrying out these consultations. However, it is worth noting that the new Health and Care Bill proposes to return responsibility for the fluoridation of water in England from local authorities to central government, making it easier to expand water fluoridation schemes so that more of the population can benefit from it.

Thank you once again for getting in touch, and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Making youth services funding fairer and more proportionate

Thank you for contacting my office. I appreciate you getting in touch about youth services.

Youth services and trained youth workers can have a transformational impact, especially for young people facing multiple barriers or disadvantage. It is important that all young people are given the opportunity to develop the skills, networks and resilience that can improve their life chances and support them to avoid negative pathways such as violence and crime.

Therefore, I am delighted that young people in England will be given access to more activities, trips away from home and volunteering opportunities as part of a new National Youth Guarantee backed by £560 million investment.

This investment includes £378 million for the Youth Investment Fund. Under this scheme, youth services across 45 Local Authorities and around 600 district wards in the most deprived parts of England will be eligible to apply for the £378 million Youth Investment Fund. It will pave the way for up to 300 youth facilities to be built or refurbished over the next three years, providing young people with a safe space to engage in positive activities outside of school, and access support from youth workers.

In addition, the National Citizen Service (NCS) will receive £171 million over the next three years to provide thousands more young people from all backgrounds with opportunities to become ‘world ready and work ready’. The NCS is more important than ever following the Covid-19 pandemic, and it will provide a year round offer that supports young people’s mental wellbeing and helps them to develop life skills that improve their confidence and employability.

A further £22 million will go towards The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, non-military uniformed youth groups, including Scouts and Guides, and the #iwill Fund which will continue getting young people involved in social action projects, which is expected to trigger tens of thousands of new volunteering opportunities.

This means that, by 2025, every young person in England will have access to regular out of school activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This includes all 11-18 year olds, and up to 25 years old for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, I know my ministerial colleagues also worked hard to stabilise youth charities so that they are in strong position to deliver the outcomes envisaged for young people through the Youth Investment Fund. This included through the £15.6 million Youth Covid Support Fund which provided emergency funding specifically for youth services. This fund was part of a wider package of support for the charity sector which saw £100 million go to organisations supporting children and young people during the pandemic.

Furthermore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has been reviewing the guidance which accompanies the statutory duty placed on Local Authorities to secure local youth services. Officials held consultations with the youth sector and young people, and ran a public call for evidence, which closed in December 2019. The conclusions of the review were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and are now being considered as part of a wider review of out of school youth programmes.

Thank you once again for getting in touch, and if I can be of further assistance with any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Newspaper column 24 March 2022 - looking back at my work for you over the previous week

Last week was another busy one for me, with a lot going on both in Cornwall and in Parliament.

Ahead of the Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British Spring Clean event, which runs from 25^th March to 10^th April, I was pleased to lead my own beach clean with local residents and councillors on Perranporth Beach last weekend. Even with the particularly blustery weather and spectacular waves, the hard working beach cleaners managed to pick up four full sacks of rubbish over the course of an hour of cleaning – rubbish which is now removed from our marine ecosystem. There will be litter picks and beach cleans taking place all around Cornwall for the Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean and you can find out more via their website

https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/get-involved/support-our-campaigns/great-british-spring-clean

In Parliament I asked the Education Minister to re-affirm the Government’s plans to build a new secondary school in Perranporth. This will take students from the Perranporth, St Agnes, Cubert, Goonhavern, Holywell, St Newlyn East, Newquay and Truro area.

In 2020, after months of discussion, it was confirmed that I had secured a new secondary school for my constituency as part of the Government’s Free School Programme. This much-needed secondary school is set to be based near Perranporth and will make a huge difference to families on the North Coast.

I am in regular contact with the Department for Education and the local academy trust and we are so close to now securing a site for the school. I was pleased to see the Minister re-affirm the Government’s commitment to supporting and delivering a new secondary school in my Truro and Falmouth constituency as soon as possible and will continue to work with all involved to achieve this.

I also attended a meeting levelling up opportunities for South West region. This was an important meeting with leading regional housing associations, local government representatives and parliamentary colleagues to discuss how we can level up the South West and tackle one of the biggest issues for residents and local employees – the shortage of affordable housing. In particular, we discussed the need to provide more affordable housing for key workers to reduce staffing shortages in Cornwall. There is a huge amount of work going on to address this issue, and I will continue to keep it at the top of my agenda.

In Parliament I also had a meeting with the Health Secretary and the Minister for Patient Safety and Primary Care, ahead of the publication of the Women's Health Strategy later this Spring.

The need for this strategy is twofold:

First, to improve how the health and care system listens to women, and to reset our approach to women’s health by placing their voices at the centre of this work and second, to improve women’s health outcomes.

The Government’s consultation on this issue received nearly 100,000 responses from women across the country and over 400 written responses from organisations and experts working in the health sector and beyond and I look forward to seeing this information fed into the response and the strategy emerging soon, where it can positively impact on peoples lives.

As ever, if you need my assistance with anything then my team and I are here to help. Please get in touch with me by email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk , or by telephone on 01872 229698. My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe environment at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me about any matters that I can be of assistance with.