Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

Constituents are understandably  writing to me about the words and actions of BA.

I have condemned the way IAG has treated their staff and written to them urging them to be fairer to their employees. I have also questioned the worse treatment for  BA relative to other airlines they own. I have drawn attention to the strong financial position of IAG despite the temporary large loss of paying passengers.

I have urged the government to do more to allow safe returns to work for as many people as possible, and to work with the aviation industry on recovery. I understand the anger of my constituents who have worked well for BA over the years and who feel the airline’s shareholders and top management have let them down at this time when they need help and support.

The government has announced a new £40 m fund to help with the costs of school transport from September for English local government. I look forward to Wokingham Borough and West Berkshire getting some benefit from this, which is in addition to extra funding for walking and cycling policies which the government recommends to pupils where appropriate.

I have received this update from the Government:

Dear John,

On 8 July, I set out the government’s next step towards economic recovery and securing the UK’s long-term prosperity in our Plan for Jobs. As we embark on this next phase, the latest figures demonstrate that we are continuing to support jobs, incomes, and businesses across every corner of the UK.

• As of 02 August, the government has helped 1.2 million employers to furlough 9.6 million workers and as of 19 July has supported over 2.7 million self-employed individuals across the UK.

• As of 30 June, in England more than 7.6 million jobs had been supported under the furlough scheme and 2.2 million self-employment claims had been made; in Scotland, 736,000 jobs had been furloughed and 155,000 self-employment claims had been made; in Wales, 378,000 jobs had been furloughed and 108,000 self-employment claims had been made; and in Northern Ireland, more than 240,000 jobs had been furloughed and 76,000 self-employment claims had been made.

• As of 02 August, Bounce Back Loans have been approved to 1.1 million small businesses, and over 58,000 loan facilities have been approved through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

• In the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors and via the Local Authority Discretionary Grant Fund, as of 05 July 2020, over an estimated 902,000 business premises in England have received grants worth up to £25,000, and approximately 373,000 ratepayers will pay no business rates for the whole of 2020-21. Nurseries in England will also not pay rates for 2020-21.

In Wokingham, the government has supported:

• 13,500 workers furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (figures up to 30 June);

• 3,600 self-employed people through the Self-employment Income Scheme (figures up to 30 June);

• 1,602 local businesses through offers of government-backed Bounce Back Loans, whilst separately supporting local businesses through offers of 71 government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme facilities (figures up to 02 August);

• 551 local business hereditament in the retail, hospitality and leisure sector and 24 nurseries that will pay no business rates this year (figures up to 05 July);

• 1,043 local business hereditament that have received cash grants of up to £25,000 (figures up to 05 July).  

The government has done the right thing helping people and businesses through the pandemic and we are continuing to support them as we come out of it.

The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP

Chancellor of the Exchequer

I have received this update from the Government:

Dear John,

Thank you for your correspondence of 18 May, in which you request details of the government’s plans to improve broadband provision in the Thames Valley area. I am replying as the minister responsible for this policy area and I apologise for the delay.

The government has invested heavily in Berkshire, with over £5 million of central government funding allocated. Delivery is managed by our local delivery partner, Superfast Berkshire (http://www.superfastberkshire.org.uk/). Through their programme and through commercial intervention, 97% of premises in your constituency have access to superfast broadband – up from 61% in 2010. 70% of premises in your constituency have access to gigabit-capable connectivity.

This infrastructure is providing fast, reliable, and future-proofed technology and these figures will increase as the government strives to meet its ambitious broadband targets. However, if constituents are still suffering from slow speeds, I would recommend that they contact Superfast Berkshire who will hold the most up to date plans and timeframes for delivery.

For those premises in rural areas of your constituency, constituents may be eligible for the Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme. Businesses can claim up to £3,500 and residents can claim up to £1,500 to contribute towards the cost of installing gigabit-capable infrastructure when part of a group project. It is also possible for residents to pool their vouchers together, bringing the cost of installing gigabit-capable connectivity down for all of those involved in the project. It is worth noting that at least two connections will be required to be eligible for the scheme. Further details can be found at the following address: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/.

The government has made a commitment to deliver nationwide coverage of gigabit-capable networks as soon as possible. Much progress has already been made by the government, working with the telecoms industry. The government will continue to take action to remove barriers and to ensure that those in the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. For example, we have already introduced the Telecommunications Infrastructure (Leasehold Property) Bill into Parliament, which will make it easier for network builders to access blocks of flats where there is an absent or unresponsive landlord.

Improving our digital infrastructure will be instrumental in boosting productivity across the UK. This government will deliver on its promise to commit £5 billion of public money to make sure the hardest to reach areas are not left behind. We will do this via a so-called “Outside-In” approach, where we focus on those areas that have received less commercial investment. With this funding, we can deliver world-class connectivity in rural areas at the same time as it is deployed to our cities, to ensure that a connected, 21st century Britain is a reality for all communities across the UK.

I hope that this information is helpful.

With best wishes,

Matt Warman MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Digital Infrastructure

I have received this letter from the Department for Education:

Dear Sir John Redwood

Statement of Intent for a new primary free school in Wokingham Town (Matthews Green area), Wokingham

I am writing to inform you that The Keys Academy Trust has been given Secretary of State approval to sponsor the new free school, which is proposed to open from September 2022.

Wokingham invited proposals from potential sponsors under section 6A (the ‘free school presumption’) of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (referred to as ‘the Act’). Following the local authority’s assessment of the proposals received, the Secretary of State has agreed, in principle, that sponsorship of the new free school be awarded to The Keys Academy Trust.

With effect from May 2015, all new schools established under s6a of the Act have been classified as free schools. The school is not required to use the term ‘free school’ in its name, in line with practice within the department’s centrally managed free schools programme.

Letters have also been sent to the DCS of Wokingham and The Keys Academy Trust informing them of the decision.

Yours sincerely

Dame Kate Dethridge

Regional Schools Commissioner, North West London and South Central

Dear John

I am writing to you regarding today’s announcement of the public sector pay awards for 2020-21.

Today, we are accepting the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies and announcing a significant, real terms pay increase between 2-3% for around 900,000 public sector workers across seven workforces, around 20% of total public sector workforce. For the majority, this is the third inflation busting pay rise in a row following lifting of the public sector pay cap at the end of 2017/18.

Our public sector workers deserve to be recognised for their hard work as it is their commitment and dedication that ensures our essential public services continue to be delivered to those that need it, even during challenging and uncertain times.

These awards cover the Armed Forces, Teachers, Police Officers, the National Crime Agency, Prison Officers, Doctors and Dentists, the judiciary, senior civil servants and senior military personnel. The Devolved Administrations are responsible for the salaries of public sector workers in line with devolved areas of responsibility, including Teachers and NHS workers.

More than one million NHS workers continue to benefit from the three-year Agenda for Change pay deal, under which the starting salary for a newly qualified nurse has increased by over 12% since 2017/18.

This deal delivers a real terms pay rise for all nurses this year, and averages 4.4% for those not already at the top of their pay scale. The Agenda for Change pay deal has also increased the lowest starting salary within the NHS by over 16%. The Government has also agreed a pay deal that provides junior doctors with a minimum 8.2% pay rise over four years. 2

Social care is rightly an area of intensive interest from Members. Pay for social care workers is set independently of central government and is outside the scope of Tuesday’s announcement. The vast majority of care workers are employed by private sector providers who ultimately set their pay. Local Authorities work with care providers to determine a fair rate of pay based on local market conditions. In April this year, the Government increased the National Living Wage by 6.2% to £8.72 an hour, benefiting an estimated 2.4 million people, including social care workers. We have also delivered a Budget this year that cut the cost of living for hard working people, for example by giving a typical employee around £104 next year by cutting National Insurance.

We are conscious that public sector pay awards must deliver value for money for the taxpayer. The coronavirus is having a very significant impact on the economy, labour market and the fiscal position. In May 2020, public sector pay was up by 3.7% on the year before, compared to a fall of 1.2% in the private sector. Public sector pay awards announced today will be significantly more than the average in the private sector, where the OBR’s central scenario assumes a fall in average earnings. Therefore, for reasons of fairness, we must ensure that across this year and the spending review period, public sector pay levels retain parity with the private sector.

I enclose the table below setting out the breakdown of today’s announcements. Individual Secretaries of State lead this process for their relevant workforces and will lay Written Ministerial Statements setting out further details of each award.

Best wishes,

RT HON STEVE BARCLAY MP

Workforce	Number	Agreed award
School Teachers	450,000	3.1%
Doctors & Dentists	69,000	2.8%
Police Officers	124,000	2.5%
National Crime Agency	4,800	2.5%
Armed Forces	194,000	2%
Prison Officers	29,000	2.5%
Judiciary	5,000	2%
Senior Civil Servants	5,000	2%
Senior Military	Minimal	2%

The government has announced the National Funding formula figures for schools and constituencies. These figures tell us how much money the government has allocated per pupil and per school. Councils provide services to local schools and have some powers over the actual payments.

The Wokingham constituency is to get a 5.2% increase in cash , bringing the total to £87.16m. Per pupil funding averages £5.544 compared to a national minimum of £5150 for each secondary pupil, and £ 4364 compared to a national minimum of £4000 for each primary pupil. These figures are averages for schools in both the West Berkshire and Wokingham parts of the constituency.

There is also extra money for schools to allow catch up for the missed weeks of teaching for many pupils owing to the lock downs. This will be £80 per pupil.

I have today received this news from the Maiden Erlegh Trust:

20 July 2020

Dear Mr Redwood

At the start of this academic year, Maiden Erlegh Trust applied to open a new special free school for 150 children with complex special educational needs from Year 1 to Year 13. We are delighted to announce that the Department for Education (DfE) has approved our application to open Oak Tree School from 2022.

This is an exciting project, developed alongside Brighter Futures for Children, Reading Borough Council and Wokingham Borough Council, which will add much needed local places for SEND children the local area. We must also thank colleagues from the Trust and Cranbury College who have been instrumental in developing the vision and the bid itself.

The approval of our application is a huge validation of the quality of what we do and the values that underpin our work. It is also a strong endorsement of each any every one’s contribution to the high standards of care, education, professional development and governance that Maiden Erlegh Trust provides. We do not underestimate the responsibility involved in developing a new school and have always been clear that we would not take on any project which may undermine work elsewhere. We are confident that we have the capacity and expertise, and partners, to ensure Oak Tree School is a success.

We look forward to working with you over the coming months to ensure the success of Oak Tree School, and would like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to you to visit one, or all, of our schools to see first-hand the work we do. We would also be pleased for the opportunity to talk you through our plans for Oak Tree School in more detail.

If you have any questions about the project or would like to be involved further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Nick Jones Mary Davies

Chair of Maiden Erlegh Trust Chief Executive Officer

The government has recognised that Councils have incurred higher costs as a result of the pandemic and policy responses to it. Parliament has approved two tranches of £1.6bn each and a third tranche of £500m this  month to help Councils meet their greater obligations. I have supported  the  case for Wokingham and West Berkshire as have other MPs for their areas.

In total West Berkshire is receiving an additional £8,597,006 and Wokingham £8,302,714.  The share of the latest tranche is £1,015,669 to Wokingham and £1,037,936 to West Berkshire.

There is also a scheme for government to reimburse Councils for the bulk of the loss of income they have incurred from facilities like car parks during the lock downs.

I have received this update from the Government:

Dear John

I recognise the immense impacts that flooding and coastal erosion can have on homes and businesses across the country. That is why this government is committed to reducing the risk of harm to people, the environment and the economy from flooding and coastal erosion – as shown by our £2.6 billion investment in flood and coastal defences since 2015 to better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.

At the Budget we committed to double our investment in the flood and coastal defence programme in England over the next six years to £5.2 billion which will better protect a further 336,000 properties by 2027. In addition to this record funding, I am today announcing a further investment of up to £170 million to accelerate work on 22 shovel-ready flood defence schemes to boost jobs, businesses and economic growth as part of economic recovery from coronavirus. These projects will commence in 2020 and 2021 to drive growth and unlock a range of benefits for local economies across the country – from Sheffield to Bude.

As part of the government’s continuing action to tackle climate change, we have today set out a package of measures to better protect and prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion for the long-term. I have today published a new Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Policy Statement for England which represents the most substantive update to our national effort to tackle flood and coastal erosion risk in a decade – since the Flood and Water Management Act 2010.

I am announcing further details of the £200 million programme which will support 25 local areas to drive innovation to increase resilience to flooding and coastal erosion – and I am proposing to take forward changes to the Flood Re scheme which will accelerate uptake of property flood resilience measures.

The long-term Policy Statement sets out the government’s ambition to create a nation more resilient to future flood and coastal erosion risk. It outlines five ambitious policies and over 40 supporting actions which will accelerate progress to better protect and better prepare the country against flooding and coastal erosion in the face of more frequent extreme weather as a result of climate change.

These actions will not just reduce the likelihood of flooding and coastal erosion but will also reduce the impacts if flooding does happen. They will work together to increase resilience across the country. The Policy Statement will encourage wider and more comprehensive action by all those with a part to play to drive down flood risk from every angle through these five policies:

Upgrading and expanding our national flood defences and infrastructure

We will continue to build the new flood defences that the nation needs, investing in more permanent, demountable and temporary defences – building on the success of our £2.6 billion investment to better protect 300,000 properties since 2015. As announced at the Budget, over the next six years, we will invest a record £5.2 billion in the flood and coastal defence programme in England. This will better protect a further 336,000 properties and reduce national flood risk by up to 11% by 2027.

Managing the flow of water more effectively

We will deliver an integrated approach to managing water to better protect communities from flooding and provide wider benefits for water resource management and the environment. As part of this, we will increase the number of water management schemes within and across catchments to reduce flood risk and help manage drought risk. We will also do more to tackle surface water flood risk.

Harnessing the power of nature to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk and achieve multiple benefits

We will double the number of government funded projects which include nature-based solutions to reduce flood and coastal erosion risk. We will strengthen links between natural flood risk management and wider environmental and social benefits and explore how we can do more to deliver multiple benefits.

Better preparing our communities

We will ensure that every single home currently at high risk of flooding is better protected or better prepared. We will maintain and enhance our planning policies that direct new development away from areas at risk. We will ensure our communities and businesses have the information they need to take ownership of their resilience. Our policies will help to ensure that buildings, important infrastructure sites and key public services are better prepared to manage flood risk. We will work together to support communities, including when flooding happens and in recovery.

Enabling more resilient places through a catchment-based approach

We will adopt a catchment-based approach which means considering the full range of actions that could be taken in an area, upstream and downstream, by a variety of bodies to improve resilience. We will transform the current approach to local flood and coastal erosion risk planning so that every area of England will have a more strategic and comprehensive local plan by 2026 which drives long-term local action and investment. In areas facing significant coastal erosion and impacts from sea levels rising, we will support local areas to implement long-term plans to manage risk.

Alongside the Policy Statement, the Environment Agency will shortly lay before Parliament its National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England. The Strategy which will provide direction to the work of risk management authorities on the ground and includes strategic objectives to improve the resilience of the nation through to 2100.

The new £200 million innovative resilience programme will test and demonstrate actions which are needed to deliver the ambition outlined in the Policy Statement. As well as delivering innovative actions in 25 selected areas, the evidence gained from the programme will enable successful approaches to be identified and implemented more widely. 

In July 2019 Flood Re published their first Quinquennial Review into the scheme – a legislative requirement every five years – and made a number of proposals to government. Having carefully considered these proposals I am today announcing that we will consult on a number of them, including some proposals which go further in order to increase the uptake of Property Flood Resilience and better support customer and insurers to recognise the benefits. The proposals will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the scheme and incentivise the use of property flood resilience measures to make properties more resilient to flooding.

The actions the government is committing to today will strengthen our approach to tackling flood and coastal erosion risk for the long-term and demonstrates the UK’s world-leading work to tackle climate change. They will improve our health and wellbeing, enhance our environment and support our economic recovery. Taken together this means that our country will be significantly more resilient to flooding and coastal erosion and will ensure that every place can thrive in a changing climate.

RT HON GEORGE EUSTICE MP