Urban Areas: North East

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government written question – answered am ar 22 Hydref 2019.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

Photo of Grahame Morris Grahame Morris Llafur, Easington

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will (a) make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the Cambridge University Bennett Institute for Public Policy report entitled Townscapes: The North East and (b) reintroduce the position of Minister for the North East to tackle the decline in North East towns referred to in that report.

Photo of Jake Berry Jake Berry Minister of State (Cabinet Office), Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (jointly with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government)

holding answer received on 21 October 2019

a) This government is committed to levelling up the regions, so that people can benefit in our shared prosperity. On 6 September we announced the 100 places we have invited to develop proposals for Town Deals as part of the £3.6 billion Towns Fund announced on 27 July. 45 of these places are in the Northern Powerhouse, 18 of which are in the North East. Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland will also benefit from £600 million of investment in jobs and infrastructure under the North of Tyne Devolution Deal, whilst the Tees Valley Devolution Deal is worth £450 million. Additionally, of the £3.4 billion of Local Growth Funding that has gone to the Northern Powerhouse, £505.6 million has been allocated to the North East and Tees Valley Local Enterprise Partnerships.

b) The position of Minister for the Northern Powerhouse was first created in 2015 to drive economic growth in the North and ensure the needs of the North of England are represented in government. I was appointed Minister for the Northern Powerhouse and Local Growth in June 2017 and I was re-appointed on 25 July 2019 as Minister of State attending Cabinet, showing that the Northern Powerhouse remains at the heart of this government’s agenda.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes1 person thinks so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.

Secretary of State

Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Minister

Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.

Holding answer

Parliamentary questions are conventionally answered within seven days of being lodged, or on a particular day for so-called "Named Day" questions. (Source: House of Commons Information Office, Factsheet P1, "Parliamentary Questions")

A holding answer may be issued by a Minister if, for whatever reason, a substantive or final answer to the question cannot be provided in the time available.

Cabinet

The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.

It is chaired by the prime minister.

The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.

Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.

However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.

War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.

From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.

The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.