This week the Prime Minister has set out the first steps in the strategy to rebuild Britain and fuel economic recovery across the UK.

This government is committed not just to defeating coronavirus but to using this crisis to tackle this country’s great unresolved challenges of the last three decades.

To build the homes, to fix the NHS, to tackle the skills crisis, to mend the gap in opportunity and productivity and connectivity between the regions of the UK, to unite and level up.

The government will build back better, build back greener, build back faster.

We will invest in and accelerate infrastructure across the UK; promote a clean, green recovery; reform our planning system; and strengthen the Union and local government.

All of these changes will make life better for the people of this great country and unleash Britain’s potential.

The Chancellor will unveil more of this plan next week, and we will use the forthcoming Spending Review and Autumn Budget to set the direction for the rest of this parliament.

Investing in and accelerating infrastructure

The government is committed to building a Britain with world class infrastructure. Spring Budget 2020 set out that the public sector will invest £640bn over five years in our future prosperity.

We are redoubling our efforts to get on with this now, in support of economic recovery and jobs right across the country by bringing forward £5bn of capital investment projects, supporting jobs and the economic recovery, including:

• £1.5bn this year for hospital maintenance, eradicating mental health dormitories, enabling hospital building, and improving A&E capacity. This will improve patient care, make sure NHS hospitals can deliver world-leading services and reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.
• £100m this year for 29 projects to improve our road network to get Britain moving, from bridge repairs in Sandwell to boosting the quality of the A15 in the Humber region. Plus £10m for development work to unblock the Manchester rail bottleneck, which will begin this year.
• Over £1bn to fund the first 50 projects of a new, ten-year school rebuilding programme, starting from 2020-21. These projects will be confirmed in the autumn, and construction on the first sites will begin from September 2021.
• £560m and £200m for repairs and upgrades to schools and FE colleges respectively this year.
• £142mn for digital upgrades and maintenance to around 100 courts this year, £83m for maintenance of prisons and youth offender facilities, and £60m for temporary prison places, creating thousands of new jobs.
• £900m for a range of ‘shovel ready’ local growth projects in England over the course of this year and next. This will enable local areas to invest in priority infrastructure projects to drive local growth and jobs. This could include the development and regeneration of key local sites, investment to improve transport and digital connectivity, and innovation and technology centres to build on local comparative advantage
• £96m to accelerate investment in town centres and high streets through the Towns Fund this year. This will provide all 101 towns selected for town deals with £500k-£1m to spend on projects such as improvements to parks, high streets, and transport.

We will establish a new Infrastructure Delivery Taskforce, named ‘Project Speed’.

• Led by the Chancellor, Project Speed will bring forward proposals to deliver government’s public investment projects more strategically and efficiently. This will ensure we are building the right things better and faster than before.
• The taskforce will aim to cut down the time it takes to develop, design and deliver vital infrastructure projects. For example, it will look at how it can address outdated practices and identify blocks to progress.
• Projects will include the 40 new hospitals the government has committed to build and the school rebuilding programme announced yesterday.

In the Autumn, the government will also publish a National Infrastructure Strategy which will set a clear direction on core economic infrastructure, including energy networks, road and rail, flood defences and waste.

The Government also intends to bring forward funding to accelerate infrastructure projects in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – working with the devolved administrations to identify where we can get spades in the ground, build our communities, and create jobs faster for citizens across the United Kingdom. We will also carry out a review to look at how best to improve road, rail, air and sea links between our four nations to create a more connected kingdom.

Through the Barnett formula, the UK Government has already given the Scottish Government £5.4bn, the Welsh Government £2.4bn, and the Northern Ireland Executive £1.7bn in capital funding for devolved areas this financial year. We would encourage them to accelerate infrastructure projects in the same way that the UK Government is doing.

Promoting a clean, green recovery

The UK was the first major economy to commit to net zero emissions by 2050 in law. We already have a proven track record of cutting emissions while growing the economy, with over 460,000 UK jobs in low-carbon businesses and their supply chains.

We will continue to build on this even further and deliver a stronger, cleaner, more sustainable economy after this pandemic.

The Government will continue to set out further measures as part of its green agenda in the run up to COP26 in November 2021.

Transport:

• We are making additional funding available this year to attract investment in ‘gigafactories’, which mass produce batteries and other electric vehicle components, enabling the UK to lead on the next generation of automotive technologies.
• £10m of funding will be made available immediately for the first wave of innovative R&D projects to scale-up manufacturing of the latest technology in batteries, motors, electronics and fuel cells.
• Additional funding will also allow us to progress initial site planning and preparation for manufacturing plants and industry clusters, with sites under consideration across the UK.
• This funding forms part of our commitment to spend up to £1bn to attract investment in electric vehicle supply chains and R&D to the UK.
• And this comes on top of the over £1bn we provided at Budget to support the rollout of ultra-low emission vehicles in the UK via support for a super-fast charging network for electric vehicles, and extension of the Plug-In Grant schemes.
• The UK will also aim to produce the world’s first zero emission long haul passenger aircraft.

Rebuilding our natural infrastructure:

• Re-foresting Britain by planting 75,000 acres of trees every year by 2025.
• £40m Green Recovery Challenge Fund to help halt biodiversity loss and tackle climate change through local conservation projects, connecting more people to the outdoors by delivering up to 5,000 jobs.

Innovation:

• Up to £100m of new funding for research and develop a brand new clean technology, Direct Air Capture (DAC), which captures CO2 emissions directly from the air around us. If successful, DAC technology could be deployed across the country to remove carbon from the air, helping sectors where it’s tough to decarbonise such as aviation.
• To help bring forward this technology, the government is exploring options around carbon pricing and incentives, where the government may pay a price per tonne of CO2 captured.

Reforming our planning system

We will make it easier to build better homes where people want to live.

New regulations will give greater freedom for buildings and land in our town centres to change use without planning permission and create new homes from the regeneration of vacant and redundant buildings.

Under the new rules, existing commercial properties, including newly vacant shops, can be converted into residential housing more easily, in a move to kick start the construction industry and speed up rebuilding.

The changes include:

• More types of commercial premises having total flexibility to be repurposed through reform of the Use Classes Order. A building used for retail, for instance, would be able to be permanently used as a café or office without requiring a planning application and local authority approval. Pubs, libraries, village shops and other types of uses essential to the lifeblood of communities will not be covered by these flexibilities
• A wider range of commercial buildings will be allowed to change to residential use without the need for a planning application
• Builders will no longer need a normal planning application to demolish and rebuild vacant and redundant residential and commercial buildings if they are rebuilt as homes
• Property owners will be able to build additional space above their properties via a fast track approval process, subject to neighbour consultation.
• These changes, which are planned to come into effect by September, will both support the high street revival by allowing empty commercial properties to be quickly repurposed and reduce the pressure to build on green fields land by making brownfield development easier.

The Prime Minister also announced that work will begin to look at how land owned by the government can be managed more effectively.

Ahead of the Spending Review, a new, ambitious cross-government strategy look at how public sector land can be managed and released so it can be put to better use.

This would include home building, improving the environment, contributing to net zero goals and injecting growth opportunities into communities across the country.

These announcements come alongside a package of measures to support home building across England, including:

• A £12bn affordable homes programme that will support up to 180,000 new affordable homes for ownership and rent over the next 8 years, confirmed today.
• Included in the affordable homes programme will be a 1,500 unit pilot of ‘First Homes’: houses that will be sold to first time buyers at a 30% discount which will remain in perpetuity, keeping them affordable for generations of families to own.
• Funds from the £400m Brownfield Land Fund have today been allocated to the West Midland, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, Sheffield City Region, North of Tyne and Tees Valley to support around 24,000 homes.
• The Home Building Fund to help smaller developers access finance for new housing developments will receive additional £450m boost. This is expected to support delivery of around 7,200 new homes.

The government will launch a Policy Paper in July setting out our plan for comprehensive reform of England’s seven-decade old planning system, to introduce a new approach that works better for our modern economy and society.

Strengthening the Union

• We will take steps to guarantee and enhance our internal market and find new ways to invest in Scotland, Wales, England and NI and focus on “levelling up” our whole country.

• As above, the Government also intends to bring forward funding to accelerate infrastructure projects in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – working with the devolved administrations to identify where we can get spades in the ground, build our communities, and create jobs faster for citizens across the United Kingdom.

• The Spending review will create a multi-year, UK-wide Shared Prosperity Fund which will support which will support local economic recovery by driving economic growth and tackling deprivation.

• We will carry out a review to look at how best to improve road, rail, air and sea links between all parts of the UK to create a more connected kingdom.

The funding comes on top of an estimated £600 million already earmarked for capital projects this year, including the construction of 2 new prisons.

With courts and prisons spread across England and Wales, this funding boost will create and sustain thousands of jobs nationwide in the construction and digital industries and related sectors.

Over £140 million will be spent installing temporary prison cells, repairing and refurbishing prisons, approved premises and young offender institutions, and improving IT in jail.

A further £142 million will be pumped into the courts system to speed up technological improvements and modernise courtrooms, building on the rapid progress made to keep the system running during the coronavirus pandemic. Combined with the £48 million already set aside this year, there will be £153 million for improvements to court and tribunal buildings – the biggest single investment in maintenance of the court estate for over 20 years.

The investment will end up in the hands of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, their suppliers and, ultimately, in the pay packets of tens of thousands of people across the country.

The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP, said: 

We have already launched the most ambitious prison building programme for generations, delivering over 13,000 places by the mid-2020s, and have dramatically increased the use of technology in the courts system.

This extra spending will keep thousands of people in work and generate jobs for thousands more, helping the UK recover from the economic freeze brought on by coronavirus.

These improvements will also help to speed up justice through the courts and improve education in prisons and youth custody so that offenders leave less likely to reoffend.

One thousand temporary cells will be installed to increase capacity and help speed up maintenance work, allowing the Prison Service to close wings at other prisons for refurbishment. Sixty million pounds of funding will go towards the UK-based small and medium companies which produce this specialist accommodation.  

A further £40 million will be spent on repairs outside the prison gate generating immediate employment for local maintenance companies across England and Wales. The former HMP Camphill site on the Isle of Wight will be demolished so the area can be regenerated with new housing and former aircraft hangars near prisons on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent will be restored to safeguard these historically important buildings.

Over 100 courts will see improvements as part of the extra investment, with at least 2,250 jobs created in the process nationwide. A further £30 million will be spent to give 750 more court rooms the ability to hold remote hearings within six months. Around £10 million extra will be spent building new court facilities and £95 million on maintenance this year, on top of the £48 million already planned. 

This includes courts such as Wrexham, Hull, and Leeds which will benefit from new court cells, court rooms, and improved accessibility as part of this investment. Maintenance at over 100 courts will see buildings across the country refurbished and become more energy efficient.

An extra £20 million will be spent improving IT in prisons so that more court and parole hearings can be heard remotely via video conference suites. The funding will also go towards technology which improves prisoners’ digital literacy and education so that they are better able to find work on release and move away from criminal behaviour.

Some £10 million has been set aside to refurbish the youth custody estate, installing in-room showers, improving existing and building new education facilities and to roll out secure in-room learning technology. The projects will help rehabilitate young offenders, while providing millions of pounds of contracts to businesses in Yorkshire, the West Midlands and the South East where these establishments are based.

Approved Premises – which are used by the Probation Service to monitor high-risk offenders recently released from prison – will see £10 million worth of building and security improvements, including upgrading CCTV and alarm systems.

• £6-million of new funding announced for 100 military charities across the UK
• consultation will be launched in July on tax relief for businesses that employ veterans
• enhanced support for ex-service personnel announced during Armed Forces week part of government’s drive to make the UK the best country to be a veteran.

Today the Office for Veterans’ Affairs (OVA) and the MOD have announced that 100 UK Armed Forces charities will benefit from nearly £6-million of extra funding to support serving personnel, veterans and their families during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

This is part of a package of support announced by the Chancellor in April to ensure charities can continue their vital work during the pandemic.

The charities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that are benefiting from this funding range from smaller local charities to bigger, more well-known names.

The charities provide support to veterans and serving personnel in a range of different areas, including employment, mental health and well-being, physical health, and recovery and support for service families.

As part of the government’s commitment to supporting service personnel throughout their military and civilian lives, next month a consultation will also be launched on employers paying no National Insurance contributions on the salary of any veteran they take on during their first year of civilian employment.

This delivers on the government’s manifesto commitment to encourage businesses to further utilise the immense skills and experience that veterans can bring to businesses.

Minister for Defence People and Veterans Johnny Mercer said:

Today we mark and give thanks to our veterans for the outstanding service which they have given to this country. To show our appreciation we’re advancing veterans issues across government, through the Office for Veterans’ Affairs. I’m delighted as well to confirm extra funding for service charities to help them through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said:

If it wasn’t for the brave servicemen and women who serve and protect our country, we would not have a United Kingdom to call our home.

That’s why we must continue to do everything we can to support our veterans through these challenging times.

Under the plans announced in this year’s Budget, an employer taking on a veteran earning £25,000 will save around £2,000 in NICs.

General Sir John McColl, Chairman of the Confederation of Service Charities, said:

This emergency funding is a very welcome step towards sustaining life-saving support for those in need across the Armed Forces Community. The Service Charity Sector has once again demonstrated great imagination and determination in adapting its delivery methods during this crisis, and we look forward to continuing to work with the MOD and the OVA to sustain these vital services in the coming months as the true impact of the pandemic is fully felt by charities throughout the Sector.

Employers currently pay Employers’ National Insurance contributions of 13.8% of the employee’s salary. Under this measure, they will be able to save this cost on an employee’s salary up to the Upper Earnings Limit (£50,000).

Recently the OVA announced the launch of a study to look at whether COVID-19 has had any specific impact on the veteran community in the UK. This in turn will allow policy makers in government to understand potential issues affecting veterans and respond accordingly based on expert advice and evidence.

The OVA, which was created last year, is ensuring that the whole of government is delivering better outcomes for veterans, particularly in areas such as mental health, employment and housing. It is working in partnership with government departments, the Devolved Administrations and charities to coordinate activity across the United Kingdom.

The role of the OVA includes:

• pulling together all functions of government, and better coordinating charity sector provision, in order to ensure this nation’s life-long duty to those who have served
• ensuring that every single veteran and their family knows where to turn to access support when required
• helping to generate a ‘single view of the veteran’ by making better use of data to understand veterans’ needs and where gaps in provision exist
• improving the perception of veterans.

The charities receiving funding are as follows:

• ABF The Soldiers’ Charity
• Age UK Suffolk
• Alabaré Christian Care and Support, £62,462
• Armed Forces Community Support Hub
• Beyond the Battlefield NI, £40,000
• Blind Veterans UK, £125,000
• Bravehound, £45,849
• Bright Horizons Day care Centre, £20,160
• British Limbless Ex-Servicemen’s Association, £125,000
• British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, £59,600
• Brooke House Project
• Broughton House Home for Ex-Service Men and Women, £125,000
• Building Heroes Education Foundation, £50,250
• Burnley FC in the Community, £17,981
• Can International, £24,074
• Cardiff City FC Foundation, £11,108
• Care After Combat, £83,318
• Care and Repair (North East Wales), £23,460
• Care for Veterans (formerly The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home), £125,000
• Catterick Garrison Preschool Group, £16,689
• Central Bank Lisburn Station, £20,000
• Ceredigion Armed Forces Veterans Hub, £2,000
• Combat Stress, £250,000
• Communities Fiji Britain £15,000
• Deafblind Cymru
• Dig In
• East Sussex Veterans Hub
• Erskine
• Finchale Group
• Friends of Wavell
• Future for Heroes
• Gloucester Rugby Foundation
• Groundwork Manchester Salford Stockport Tameside and Trafford
• Help 4 Homeless Veterans
• Help for Heroes
• Historic Army Aircraft Flight Trust
• Home Start Richmondshire
• Horseback UK
• Hull FC Community Foundation
• Icarus
• Improving Lives Plymouth
• Invictus Games Foundation
• KartForce
• Maximum Edge C.I.C.
• Mindfulness Scotland
• Mission Motorsport
• Nomad Construction Training CIC
• On Course Foundation
• Operation Veteran CIC
• Oxford Parent Infant Project
• Poppy Factory
• Poppyscotland
• PTSD Resolution Ltd
• Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity
• Quick Response Memorial Woodland
• RAF Association
• RAF Brize Norton Pre-School
• RAF Benevolent Fund
• Reading Force
• Recruit for Spouses Career Academy CIC
• RFEA – The Regular Forces Employment Charity
• Royal British Legion Industries
• Royal Hospital of Chelsea
• Sailors Children’s Society
• Scotty’s Little Soldiers
• Sharks Community Trust
• Sheffield Mind
• Shots in the Community Foundation
• Smart Savings South West CIC
• Special Boat Service Association
• Spinal Injuries Association
• St John & Red Cross Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS)
• Stand Easy
• Step Together
• Supporting Wounded Veterans Ltd
• Surf Action
• Team Endeavour Racing UK
• The Advocacy People
• The Bridge for Heroes
• The British Training Board
• The Felix Fund
• The Matthew Project
• The Military Wives Choirs Foundation
• The Not Forgotten Association
• The Royal Air Force Central Fund
• The Royal British Legion
• The Royal Marines Charitable Trust Fund
• The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity
• The Royal Star and Garter Homes
• The Sir Oswald Stoll Foundation
• The Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association – Forces Help
• The VC Gallery
• The Veterans Charity
• The Veterans Hub Weymouth & Portland CIC
• The Warrior Programme
• Thistle Health and Wellbeing
• Tom Harrison House
• Veterans Aid
• Veterans in Communities
• Veterans Outreach Support
• Walking With The Wounded
• Waterloo Uncovered
• Wigan Borough Armed Forces HQ CIC.

Letter from Luke Hall, Minister for Rough Sleeping and Housing, to all local authorities in England on announcement of additional funding to support individuals placed in emergency accommodation during the COVID-19 pandemic, and support for EEA rough sleepers.