Peter Aldous calls for multi-year financial settlements for local government, calls for recognition in the settlements of the added cost of delivering services over large rural and coastal areas such as Suffolk and calls on the Government to provide a sustainable long-term plan for social care, with care workers being fairly paid and provided with proper career paths.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
This settlement is welcome because for many councils it staves off financial armageddon. However, as we have heard, we need a far more strategic approach to the funding of local councils and to how they deliver the crucial services that they provide. Year after year we go through an annual routine of the Government issuing a provisional local government funding settlement in December, which presents many councils with significant challenges. That is followed by an intense period of lobbying by councils, their representative bodies and MPs. The Government then find some more money to solve the short-term challenge. We then agree the settlement, as we will do tonight. Life goes on, and we repeat the whole exercise again the next year. I think there is consensus across the Chamber that we must break out of that cycle.
A county such as Suffolk faces significant challenges, including an ageing population, which means that there is an ever-increasing group of vulnerable people who require care and support. It is right that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor increased the national living wage in his autumn statement but it was wrong that, in the first instance, councils such as Suffolk were asked to fund most of the increase themselves from their existing resources. We need to pay properly and support the thousands of workers going out in all weather conditions to care for and assist vulnerable people in their own homes.
Like Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, Suffolk covers a large geographical area. In such circumstances it is expensive to deliver services, including, as we have heard, home to school transport and SEND provision. Faced with those challenges and an inadequate provisional settlement, Suffolk County Council cut its funding for arts and heritage. The latter in particular leaves the Waveney and Lowestoft area inadequately served and resourced with regard to archives and records. I am sure that I will return to that issue in due course.
My right hon. Friend the Levelling Up Secretary is right to set up an expert panel to advise on financial stability, and to ask local authorities to produce productivity plans, but more is required. As I have said, we need to move away from the current short-term approach to local government funding. To do that, I suggest the following changes should be considered. First, as many Members have said, there should be multi-year financial settlements rather than the annual settlements that we have had for the past six years. Secondly, we must recognise the added cost of delivering services over large rural and coastal areas such as Suffolk. Thirdly, working in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities must provide a sustainable long-term plan for social care, with care workers being fairly paid and provided with proper career paths.
There should also be a review of statutory responsibilities in such areas as home to school transport, to ensure that they are properly funded. Finally, as we have heard, the Government should carry out the relative needs and resources review—the so-called fair funding review. The review should look at not only the opaque and complicated formulas used, but the data used for the assessment of relative needs, which, as we have heard, dates way back—much of it to the last century.
In his summing up, I hope that the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), who has taken extremely well to his new role, will be able to herald in the long-term strategic approach that local government so desperately needs.
Peter Aldous welcomes Suffolk’s police funding increase of 6.7%, with hotspot response finance of £1 million, but calls on the Government to speed up the long-promised funding review to address the fact that Suffolk is the fourth lowest funded force in the UK, overturn the funding cut for the safer streets initiative and amend the Data Protection Act 2018 to reduce the bureaucratic burden of pre-charge evidence redaction.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am most grateful for that clarification.
I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire for setting out the Government’s proposals for the police funding settlement for 2024-25. Suffolk is due to receive an increase in core funding of 6.7%, and hotspot response finance of £1 million. Those settlements are welcome, but I will briefly raise three issues, two of which have already been addressed in some detail.
The first of those issues is the funding review. At present, Suffolk constabulary is the fourth lowest funded force in the UK, and as such, we are looking for the long-promised funding review to be carried out as soon as possible. Many of the challenges that we face are similar to what we have heard is happening in Cornwall. At Home Office questions on 27 November, I asked my right hon. Friend for an update on the progress of the review. He responded by stating:
“I completely accept the need for a new police funding formula”
and said that his team had been
“working on it extremely hard, with colleagues across government”
and that he hoped
“to have something…to say on the topic shortly”.—[Official Report, 27 November 2023; Vol. 741, c. 545.]
It is in that context that I would be most grateful for a further update on the progress of the review and on when we can expect the draft proposals for the new formula. There is a worry, as we have heard, that the review is being kicked into the long grass. I hope that the Minister can allay that concern in summing up.
Let me come to my second point. For police and crime commissioners such as Tim Passmore in Suffolk, budgeting presents considerable challenges. He and other PCCs are entitled to expect consistency in Government commitments. In that respect, the changes in funding for the safer streets initiative are disappointing. Initially, the Home Office offered Suffolk £1.4 million. It then reduced that by £400,000, and it is now taking away a further £180,000. That approach is, I suggest, unfair, and it penalises smaller forces such as Suffolk constabulary, which, through no fault of its own, now faces a funding gap without any explanation or justification being given. I therefore ask my right hon. Friend to review that decision, which affects not just Suffolk, but forces all across the country.
Finally, as we have heard, this is not just about money. A policeman’s lot can be made considerably easier and, I hope, happier, if red tape is reduced. In that regard, I applaud the work of Ben Hudson, the secretary and treasurer of the Suffolk Police Federation, who is ably supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Jane Hunt) in their campaign to amend the Data Protection Act 2018 so as to mitigate the impact of the bureaucratic burden of evidence redaction that is imposed on police officers when they seek charging decisions from the Crown Prosecution Service. A further amendment to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill is being tabled in the other place by the noble Baroness Morgan. I urge the Government to consider this matter closely and do all they can to accept those measures. Doing so would free up thousands of policing hours every year, as pre-charge redactions would not be required, and would enable chief constables to better utilise allocated budgets, which, as we have heard today, are restricted and not quite as bountiful as we would all hope.
I hope that, in winding up, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Laura Farris), can allay the concerns that I have expressed: we need that long-overdue funding review; we need funding commitments to be adhered to and kept; and finally, as I have said, please, let there be less red tape.
Peter Aldous welcomes the Government’s plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry and calls on the Government to provide funding for a new treatment and training facility in the Norfolk and Waveney integrated care board area similar to the University of Suffolk’s innovative service that is about to open in Ipswich.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
I welcome this recovery plan, which provides the foundation for putting NHS dentistry on a sustainable long-term footing. I urge my right hon. Friend to continue her negotiations to replace the existing NHS dentistry contract as soon as possible, and to provide funding to the Norfolk and Waveney integrated care board so that the University of Suffolk can open a new treatment and training facility in our area, to replicate the innovative service that is about to open in Ipswich.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Victoria Atkins)
I understand my hon. Friend’s point, and I commend him for his work to ensure that his constituents receive the care and help that they deserve. On training, I hope he has drawn out from the plan the emphasis that we are putting on long-term ambitions. We understand that we need to train more dentists and get internationally trained dentists registered in our system. We recognise the critical role that dental hygienists and therapists can play as well.
Peter Aldous joined fellow Suffolk MPs to visit the new state-of-the-art dental facilities being developed at the University of Suffolk.
The MPs had a preview tour of the University’s Centre for Dental Development which includes new teaching rooms for its BSc Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy. They also visited the dental practice rooms which will be operated by the University of Suffolk Dental Community Interest Company which is housed in the same building.
The MPs were shown round by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Langton, who said:
“This innovative partnership between the NHS and the University of Suffolk will help to develop a sustainable and multi-skilled dental care workforce for the future that will contribute to supporting the oral health needs of our population in Suffolk.
“It is a fantastic example of how universities can work with employers to develop skills and the future workforce alongside meeting the needs of their local community.”
The first cohort of students on the Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy course started their studies this week.
The new NHS dental practice is still being equipped and recruiting its new team and expects to offer its first appointments after Easter.
It will focus on the patients in Suffolk and Northeast Essex in greatest need and will eventually provide an additional 18,000 hours of NHS dental appointments a year.
When the service is up and running, it will treat patients referred by NHS 111, improving access to dental and oral health care for local people. It will also offer placements for the students on their degree programmes which is an important part of their learning.
Lorraine Mattis, CEO of the Dental CIC, said:
“We cannot singlehandedly solve the NHS dental access issues in this area, but we will make a real difference to those in greatest need and support the community by delivering the best possible dental care and driving oral health improvements.”
Peter Aldous MP said:
“Access to NHS dentistry has been a major challenge for my constituents for some time.
“It’s encouraging and exciting to see the University of Suffolk taking significant steps to address the problems, both in the short term by providing access to dentists through the Community Interest Company for patients who need to see a dentist and, in the long term, by training dental professionals.”
For more information, please visit www.uos.ac.uk
Peter Aldous highlights the enormous number of job opportunities presented by Sizewell C and asks what the Government is doing to ensure that local people have every opportunity to work on the project and can acquire the skills needed to do so.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
T4. Sizewell C will provide an enormous number of job opportunities in Suffolk. Will my right hon. Friend outline the work that the Department for Work and Pensions is doing to ensure that local people have every opportunity to work on the project and acquire the necessary skills? (901349)
The Minister for Employment (Jo Churchill)
Like my hon. Friend, I am excited about the jobs and opportunities at Sizewell. Local jobcentres have been engaged with Sizewell C, and I understand that a local partnership manager will be designated to promote opportunities, and to find people for 1,500 apprenticeships and thousands of jobs. We will invest in local skills through sector-based work programmes and the like.
Peter Aldous calls on the Government to develop a national coastal strategy to make the most of coastal communities’ significant potential for job creation in the renewable energy, tourism, fishing and maritime sectors. Specifically, locally, he calls on the Government to adjust the Lowestoft enterprise zone boundaries, invest in education and skills and very importantly at the current time coastal defences.
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
It is a pleasure, Dr Huq, to serve with you in the Chair.
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Virginia Crosbie) on securing this debate and I thank the Backbench Business Committee for granting it.
Also, it is great to see the Minister—the Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard)—here in Westminster Hall today, as well as the hon. Member for Lewisham, Deptford (Vicky Foxcroft), who represents the Opposition, and the hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Steven Bonnar), who represents the Scottish National party. I have to confess that I was not really expecting to see them, which probably indicates the problem that we have, in that there is some uncertainty as to where the issue we are discussing—employment in rural and coastal areas—best fits. Actually, it is an issue for the whole of Government, and one of the points that I will hopefully make today is the systemic approach that we need, because there is always a danger that if we leave this issue to one Department, even though it relates to a whole host of Departments, nothing actually happens.
I believe there is enormous potential for job creation in rural and coastal communities. There are the obstacles that my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn outlined, but there are also tremendously exciting opportunities, and if we do not adopt that overall approach that I mentioned, we are in danger of not taking them.
The focus of my contribution today will be on the coast in my area, centred on Lowestoft, which is the principal town in the Waveney constituency, and the village of Corton in the north and the villages of Pakefield and Kessingland to the south.
In its October 2020 analysis of coastal communities, the Office for National Statistics split towns on the coast into two categories: first, seaside towns, with a tourist beach and visitor attractions; and, secondly, coastal towns, focused on ports and related industrial activities. I was about to say that the Lowestoft area is unique, in that we fall into both of those categories, but so does Ynys Môn, as my hon. Friend so greatly articulated.
In Lowestoft, we have a port founded on fishing and with a current focus on low-carbon energy, and a magnificent sandy beach. Lowestoft is also the gateway to the Norfolk and Suffolk broads, and to two of the most popular visitor attractions in the east of England: Pleasurewood Hills; and Africa Alive.
Like most coastal communities, we have challenges to overcome, but as I have already said there are also some great opportunities, which, with the right policies and the right seedcorn investment, we can unlock, primarily for the benefit of local people but also for the benefit of the whole of the UK.
I specifically highlight the opportunities presented by the UK’s transition to low-carbon and renewable energy sources, which puts Lowestoft and the whole of the East Anglian coast in the vanguard of the UK’s energy supply system. In 2022, East Anglia’s renewable and low-carbon energy portfolio powered the equivalent of 32% of UK homes. It is estimated that by 2035, that figure could rise to 90%. That dramatic transformation presents both the Suffolk coast and Lowestoft with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive inward investment, to create exciting and enduring careers, and to play a major role in delivering the UK’s net zero goals.
These are great opportunities not just in Lowestoft but all around coastal Britain, but, as I have mentioned, there are significant obstacles to overcome. Coastal towns are more likely to have high levels of deprivation, and I am afraid that is the case in Lowestoft. Many of the jobs are seasonal, leading to fluctuations in employment opportunities throughout the year. Limited infrastructure and poor connectivity hinders job creation; coastal communities are invariably at the end of the line. Climate change, floods and coastal erosion can have a devastating impact on communities and businesses, particularly in the tourism sector. That has been experienced in recent weeks all along the Suffolk and Norfolk coast, and I shall return to that subject in a few minutes.
The seedcorn investment made by Government in the Lowestoft area over the past decade or so makes an impressive list, and it will help sustain and create new jobs. The Gull Wing bridge over Lake Lothing in the middle of the town is nearing completion. The Beccles loop on the East Suffolk railway line has facilitated the reintroduction of an hourly service from Lowestoft to Ipswich. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science—the Government marine scientist agency—has new offices and a refurbished laboratory in the town. There is the energy skills centre at East Coast College. There are two heritage action zones, one focused on the High Street and the other on London Road South. In Lowestoft itself, CityFibre has installed a full-fibre broadband network. The Jubilee Parade seafront is to be redeveloped, and work is starting on the various projects in the £25 million towns deal, which will help regenerate the town centre and its surrounding area.
Private sector investment and job creation is following the seedcorn funding, with projects such as the ScottishPower Renewables operations and maintenance base in the Hamilton dock, and the Associated British Ports Lowestoft eastern energy facility. That investment is welcome, and will bring enduring and positive benefits. However, I will make a general observation on the enormous opportunity to create jobs in coastal Britain. Although there are a number of funds to support regeneration—and they are well listed—I sense that there has been a lack of strategic overview. More specifically, we have not realised the full benefit of two initiatives.
First, one of the enterprise zones set up in 2012 was the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft enterprise zone. It has been incredibly successful in that it has created more than 2,000 skilled jobs and secured over £245,000 million-worth of inward investment. However, in Lowestoft, it is in need of some relatively minor adjustments to remove land that is not coming forward for development and replace it with land around the port that is ready for redevelopment. Unfortunately, the Government have been reluctant to sanction that change, which may well be because their focus is now on freeports and investment zones. I am due to have a meeting in the next few weeks with the Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, my hon. Friend the Member for Redcar (Jacob Young), who I think is the Minister with responsibility for enterprise zones, but I urge the Minister here today to reinforce that message and take it back to him.
Secondly, I go back to the coastal communities fund, which ran from 2012 to 2019. It was a great idea, but it was not set up on the right basis and has been discarded too soon. My criticism is that it provided relatively small grants scattered around the UK coast, whereas it should have focused on a smaller number of strategic regeneration projects. It was also wrong to close down the fund in 2019 and subsume it into other funds. A significant part of the income from the fund derives from the Crown Estate’s marine activities, which—in particular, the development of offshore wind farms—are providing opportunities for many coastal communities. The funds generated should be used to help the people in those areas, many of which face deprivation challenges, to realise the most of these opportunities, such as investment in skills and infrastructure.
Turning to skills, investment in education and training is vital if we are to make the most of the job opportunities that are emerging in coastal Britain. In the Waveney area, school performance has generally improved over the last decade. East Coast College is playing a vital role in enabling young and older people to acquire the skills needed in new emerging industries, and the University of East Anglia and the University of Suffolk are fully focused on the needs of local communities and the opportunities and challenges that the region faces. Challenges remain in raising overall attainment, improving special educational needs provision, and recruiting and retaining staff and teachers to work in what can be regarded as a periphery location—we come back to the problem of coastal communities being at the end of the line. An institute of technology would have provided a focus for meeting this skills challenge. It was disappointing that the local bid was not successful, and it is hoped that that omission can be corrected in the relatively near future.
In recent weeks, the threat of coastal erosion along the whole of the Suffolk and the Norfolk coast has come to the fore. It is starkly illustrated in the Lowestoft area, where the construction of the tidal barrage in the outer harbour is now on hold. The innovative Kessingland and Benacre flood defences scheme also has a funding gap, and the rapid erosion of the cliffs at Pakefield threatens not only nearby homes but Park Holidays UK’s adjoining holiday park. Proper coastal defences are vital to provide the private sector with the confidence to invest in new facilities, whether in the tourism, energy, fishing or maritime sectors.
It is not just a question of money; we need to speed up and simplify the process for assessing and approving coastal erosion and flood defence schemes. The floods budget for the six-year period from 2021 to 2027 has been doubled over the previous period to £5.2 billion. We are nearly halfway through this period; the money needs to be out of the door, and work needs to start on projects including the three I have mentioned. That will in turn leverage in the private, job-creating investment that we need.
As I mentioned, a lot of good work is taking place, but I sense that there is a need in Government for a change of mindset to view coastal areas as a great opportunity that, with the right policies and seedcorn investment, can create many well-paid and exciting jobs. Some good initiatives are being pursued, but to maximise their benefit there is a need for a strategic overview of the coast right from the heart of Government. Finally, we need proper investment in coastal defences.
Peter Aldous joined Parliamentarians at an event hosted by the Association of Dental Groups (ADG) to discuss how the UK can fill the gap in its dental workforce.
There are currently more than 5,500 dental vacancies in the UK, and we have per capita among the lowest number of dentists in Europe.
Many areas of the country have become dental deserts, with people unable to access dental services. In 2022, 90% of surgeries were not accepting new adult patients and 80% were also not able to see children as new patients.
In parallel with the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan to train the thousands more dentists – the effects of which will not be felt until the 2030s – the ADG is campaigning to increase the recruitment of qualified overseas dentists to address the immediate shortages in the workforce, many of whom are already in the UK.
Alongside 30 other MPs and Peers, Peter Aldous is urging the General Dental Council (GDC) to reform the Overseas Registration Exam (ORE), that dentists must pass in order to practice in the UK, and which currently is not fit for purpose.
Thousands of highly qualified overseas dentists, who could be practising in our ‘dental deserts’ tomorrow, are stuck in a backlog of applicants waiting to take the exam, with demand far outstripping supply for test places.
Just 1,000 extra dentists would deliver 750,000 additional appointments. This would make an enormous difference to the people across the Waveney constituency and to Britons up and down the country.
Peter is calling on the GDC to:
- Increase the frequency of part 1 and part 2 of the ORE
- Deliver part 1 of the ORE online or in British Council offices overseas
- Improve the processing time for new applicants wanting to take the ORE
- Prioritise candidates who will work in the NHS and will most likely pass the ORE
- Bring forward planned reforms to recognise overseas diplomats.
Peter Aldous responds to East Suffolk Council’s decision to halt work on the Lowestoft Tidal Barrage project.
The 2013 Storm Surge showed how exposed Lowestoft is to the severe weather conditions that we are increasingly experiencing and it was right that straight away afterwards Waveney District Council (and subsequently East Suffolk Council, through Coastal Partnership East] set about producing a scheme to construct defences to properly protect the town.
The first two elements of this protection, along Kirkley Stream and the flood walls around the Outer Harbour have been successfully completed, though the final and most challenging part of the project, the installation of a tidal barrage to the east of the Bascule Bridge remains outstanding.
The scale and ambition of the project has increased over the past 10 years and likewise it’s anticipated cost has risen. In 2014 this was estimated at approximately £24 million, in 2020 it had increased to the order of £70 million and today it is estimated at approximately £200 million. As a result, there is now a funding gap of the order of £124 million.
In 2020 Government provided £170 million to 22 flood defence projects across the country, of which the Lowestoft Flood Defence Scheme at £43 million was the largest recipient.
The Government are currently considering representations from East Suffolk Council, the Environment Agency and myself to meet the current shortfall. They are doing so against a backdrop where it is clear that the current national flood defence budget is inadequate, even though at £5.2 billion it is double what it was previously. Moreover there are other similar schemes around the country facing the same inflationary challenges.
I am also concerned that the way as a country we deliver flood defence schemes is too long winded, is vulnerable to such price escalation and the formula for calculating funding is biased against coastal defence projects. These are issues that I highlighted in the debate, which I led on 19th December on coastal erosion in Suffolk and Norfolk and on which I continue to lobby Government.
Whilst I can understand why East Suffolk Council have made the decision to halt work on the project, it is to be hoped that a way forward can be found for work to resume in the near future and I continue to make the case to Government so that this can happen.
In the meantime, it is important that the temporary barriers that have been deployed in times of emergency continue to be available to protect those areas that remain vulnerable, and that support and funding is provided for those properties that are at risk for them to install their own defence measures.
71 years after the ‘Big Flood’ of 1953, which caused devastation and loss of life all along the East Coast and which ultimately led to the loss of the Beach Village, it is unacceptable that a town the size of Lowestoft does not have adequate flood protection.
In recent years progress has been made to ‘right this wrong’. We are now better protected from pluvial and fluvial flooding, flood walls have been installed around the Outer Harbour and progress has been made in planning for the Tidal Barrier.
I am most grateful to the officer team at East Suffolk Council and Coastal Partnership East for their tireless work on the project, and I shall do all that I can to ensure that they can resume this as soon as possible, so that Lowestoft homes and businesses have the protection that they deserve.
This week Peter Aldous signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, in doing so pledging his commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.
Holocaust Memorial Day falls on 27th January every year, the anniversary of the liberation of the infamous former Nazi concentration and death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in 1945. Across the UK – and world – people will come together to remember the horrors of the past.
In the lead up to and on Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events will be arranged by schools, faith groups and community organisations across the country, remembering all the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. The theme for this year’s commemorations is ‘Fragility of Freedom’.
On Holocaust Memorial Day we also remember and pay tribute to all of those persecuted by the Nazis, including Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, gay men, political opponents to the Nazis and others. We also remember all of those affected by genocide since, in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
After signing the Book of Commitment, Peter commented:
“Holocaust Memorial Day is an important opportunity for people to reflect on the darkest times of European history. Today, I pledge to remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered in the Holocaust and speak out against all forms of antisemitism, which in recent months has risen exponentially and which needs to be tackled head on.”
Karen Pollock CBE, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said:
“On Holocaust Memorial Day, we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children who were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators, and we honour those who survived.
“When the concentration camps of Europe were liberated, the reality of the Nazi attempt to eradicate world Jewry became clear. In newspapers, cinema and radio broadcasts the atrocities were laid bare. The phrase ‘Never Again’ was coined, reflecting the hope that the Holocaust would forever represent the ultimate result of anti-Jewish hatred; a warning signal for generations to come of where unchecked antisemitism could lead.
“This Holocaust Memorial Day, as antisemitism once again sweeps across the globe, it is more important than ever to remember the six million Jewish victims and remind ourselves that anti-Jewish racism did not begin nor end with the Holocaust.”
Peter Aldous asks the Government what is being done to help SMEs and new businesses that are finding it difficult to open a bank account and to then obtain the support and services that used to be available in the rapidly diminishing branch network.
SMEs: Access to Finance
Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)
1. What steps she is taking with the Chancellor of the Exchequer to help increase access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. (901135)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Kevin Hollinrake)
Please may I take this opportunity, Mr Speaker, to pay tribute to Tony Lloyd? I worked with him very closely on the all-party groups on poverty and fair business banking. He was a thoroughly decent man. On behalf of myself and the Department, I pass on our deep condolences to his friends and family.
The Government work with the British Business Bank to improve access to finance for smaller businesses through targeted programmes, such as the £12.4 billion of finance that is backing more than 90,000 businesses across the UK and the £1 billion in start-up loans for 105,000 small businesses since 2012.
Peter Aldous
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that reply. Many SMEs and new businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to open a bank account and to then obtain the support and services that used to be available in the rapidly diminishing branch network. What steps is he taking to address those challenges that SMEs are facing?
Kevin Hollinrake
My hon. Friend raises an important point. Leading banks and alternative lenders are committed to the SME finance charter to help small businesses and start-ups. We continue to work with the UK finance and banking industry to make sure that SMEs have the support from banking services that they require. Many leading challenger banks, such as Metro, Aldermore and Starling, provide additional application support. Banking hubs are also available for those without a bank on their high street to offer face-to-face support. Thirty have already opened, and 70 more are in the pipeline.