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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that any extra workload due to plans to require the filing of quarterly tax returns by small businesses does not reduce profits and productivity for such small businesses.

Mr David Gauke

I refer the honourable Members to my response of 11 January 2016 (with references 20876 and 21032).

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to combat the (a) decline in the use of local shopping centres and (b) fall in employment rates by local shopping centres; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government is committed to helping our high streets and town centres thrive and is supporting them through a billion pound package of investment. This includes:

– targeted tax breaks;

– the doubling of small business rate relief;

– sensible planning changes to allow business to respond flexibly to changing market conditions; and

-taking action to tackle over-zealous parking practices.

As a result, we have seen some very positive signs that our local centres are fighting back. Vacancy rates are in decline, retail sales are up for the 31^st consecutive month and there was encouraging news on footfall over the festive period.

My Department also ran the Great British High Street Competition, which this year received nearly 200,000 votes from the general public. This shows that local people cherish their high streets and that, if the broader retail sector can adapt to their changing needs, it can thrive.

The devolution agenda also provides significant opportunities as we’re ensuring local areas that encourage growth reap the rewards. Councils will keep 100% of local taxes – including all £26 billion from business rates – by the end of this Parliament, providing a much stronger incentive to engage proactively with businesses in their local area.

I am also aware that, in my hon. Friend’s constituency of Romford, local partners are pushing forward a range of exciting and innovative programmes such as the redesign of the local market. This work is regenerating the wider area and creating jobs. I would like to applaud Romford for this work and suggest that others look to follow their example.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the decline in the broadcast of free-to-air sport on the accessibility of sport to young people.

Tracey Crouch

Our ‘Sporting Future’ strategy, published in December, 2015 highlighted the importance of sport being available for the public to enjoy, whether live or on television, radio or online. We encourage National Governing Bodies and other rights holders to sign up to the accessibility principle of the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Voluntary Code of Conduct on the Broadcasting of Major Sporting Events, which ensures as wide access as possible to free to air sport.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to expand the number of places in medicine courses in universities.

Ben Gummer

The Department of Health and Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) have periodically reviewed the total number and distribution of undergraduate medical students, basing targets for these students on information provided by the Centre for Workforce Intelligence and local workforce plans that estimate how many doctors we need to work in the National Health Service.

Since the establishment of Health Education England (HEE) in April 2013, responsibility for reviewing the target intake for medical students has sat with them.

HEE is currently reviewing the target intake for medical students and will submit recommendations to the Department in the spring. Any changes to medical student numbers will need to be agreed with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and HEFCE who also contribute to the funding of undergraduate medical education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the maximum permitted spending by each campaign will be during the final weeks of campaigning on the referendum on EU membership; and what steps the Electoral Commission plans to take to ensure that spending by each campaign is subject to the same limit.

Mr Gary Streeter

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA) sets out the spending limits that apply during the regulated referendum period at UK-wide referendums. The duration of the referendum period for the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union will be set out in secondary legislation.

PPERA does not set total spending limits for each of the referendum outcomes; rather it applies spending limits to individual campaigners that take part in the debate.

The Commission is already monitoring the campaigning activities of potential referendum campaigners so that it can identify any emerging issues and offer advice and guidance to those that intend to campaign at the referendum. Once the rules come into force, the Commission’s campaign monitoring will inform the use, if necessary and appropriate, of its enforcement and sanctioning powers where the rules are not followed.

For the EU Referendum, Parliament increased the limits set out in PPERA to take account of inflation. The limits for political parties that register to campaign in support of a particular outcome are allocated according to the party’s share of the vote at the last UK Parliamentary general election. Campaigners that do not register with the Commission are limited to spending £10,000. The new limits are set out in the table below:

	EU Referendum Bill spending limits for a referendum held before 31 December 2017	2015 UK general election vote share
Limits for designated lead campaigners	£7,000,000	–
Limits for political parties with:
>30% share of the vote	£7,000,000	Conservative (36.8%)
>20-30% share of the vote	£5,500,000	Labour (29%[1])
>10-20% share of the vote	£4,000,000	UKIP (12.6%)
>5-10% share of the vote	£3,000,000	Liberal Democrat (7.9%)
	£700,000	SNP (4.7%) Green (3.8%) DUP (0.6%) Plaid Cymru (0.6%) Sinn Fein (0.6%) SDLP (0.3%) UUP (0.4%) Plus all other parties that stood at least one candidate at 2015 UKPGE
Limits for other registered campaigners	£700,000	–

[1] Labour Party share of the vote is adjusted because votes cast for joint candidates are divided by the number of parties the candidate is standing for i.e. Labour / Co-op candidates (PPERA Sch14, para 1(4))

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, further to the Answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12448, what criteria are used by her Department to determine the amount of aid provided to emerging economies like China and India.

Mr Desmond Swayne

As referred to in my response to Question 12448, we use a range of criteria to determine allocations to countries, and to meet the objectives of the UK Aid Strategy. Regarding the two partner countries referred to in the question, DFID closed its bilateral aid programme to China in March 2011 and now works in partnership with China on global development issues. The UK ended its traditional aid programme to India at the end of 2015. The new partnership with India will include technical assistance (sharing skills and expertise), investments in private sector projects that help the poor and generate a financial return for the UK taxpayer, and working together on global development issues such as trade and nutrition.