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  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of how much has been lost to the National Insurance Fund from salary sacrifice schemes for occupational pensions in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    Department for Work and Pensions has published estimates on salary sacrifice available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employers-pension-provision-survey-2013 Estimates are not available for the number of active members who take advantage of these schemes or the loss to the National Insurance Fund.

    “

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to (a) make provision for non-EU furnished holiday let owners to benefit from the ability to offset finance costs, but not the additional reliefs that are available to EU furnished holiday let owners, or to extend the definition of a furnished holiday let to be include non-EU properties and enable access to all reliefs.

    Mr David Gauke

    No.

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether preliminary impact assessments were carried out on the effect of the current HM Revenue and Customs Location Strategy on local tax compliance, across all heads of duty, the Scottish economy, equal opportunities in Scotland, the environment, and the individual staff whose offices are to be closed and what those assessments have indicated.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) Location Programme is the result of an extended period of consultation and deliberation. The Department has taken account of a number of criteria in reaching its decisions, including the quality of local transport links, the local labour market and future workforce supply, the cost of buildings and asset value, and the need to retain the staff and skills it needs to continue its transformation. These changes will reduce HMRC’s estates costs by around £100 million a year by 2025.

    HMRC’s modelling estimates that the majority of staff in Scotland live within Reasonable Daily Travel of Glasgow or Edinburgh. Reasonable Daily Travel is calculated in line with established HR policies and procedures. Every worker at HMRC will have a one-to-one meeting with their manager to discuss their individual circumstances.

    HMRC conducted high level People Impact and Equality Assessments to inform its planning. The Department plans to update these once discussions have been held with its staff.

    Activities of trade union representatives are governed by long-standing agreements with departments.

  • Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Charles Walker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has conducted research on the total cost to the public purse of tax credits paid to private hire vehicle drivers in London in each of the last two financial years.

    Mr David Gauke

    No such research has been conducted.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number and value of projects funded by the Landfill Communities Fund in each of the last five years.

    Damian Hinds

    Information on projects funded by the Landfill Communities Fund is published by the regulator of the fund, ENTRUST. This information is available on their website at:

    http://www.entrust.org.uk/environmental-bodies/project-search/

    “

  • Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Meg Hillier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Meg Hillier on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the purchase of the Kingsland Fire Station site for use by the Hackney New Primary School; and how much accrued to the public purse from the sale of that site.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government purchased the Kingsland Fire Station, 333 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DR for the sum of £16,000,000 (exclusive of VAT) from the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority in October 2015. The site has not been sold on.

    The purchase, which was funded from the Department for Education’s budget, was made in the name of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; this is a long standing convention whereby the seal of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is held equally across all government departments and used for Land Registry Title purposes.

    We do not have the details of any gain made by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority from the sale of the site; that could only be answered by the Authority.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the overall effect of changes to housing legislation and housing-related benefits which have come into force since 2010.

    Brandon Lewis

    Government interventions are reinvigorating the housing market. The number of new homes delivered last year was up by 25 per cent on the previous year, the highest year on year rise for 28 years. Completions are up and housing starts at their highest annual level since 2007, with more than 277,000 affordable homes delivered since April 2010 .

    We have announced a doubling of the housing budget to more than £20 billion over the next five years to support the largest housing programme by any Government since the 1970’s

    Between 2000/01 and 2012/13, the Housing Benefit bill more than doubled to £24 billion and the cost to the taxpayer increased 50%.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of housing association residents have access to the internet at home.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.

    The honourable member will be pleased to hear that in her Great Grimsby constituency, 96 per cent of homes and businesses can already access superfast broadband – and it is estimated that coverage will rise to98 per cent by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the £129 million of gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Great Grimsby and the rest of the area covered by the North Lincolnshire broadband project.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what proportion of local authority social housing residents have access to the internet at home.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of UK premises by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. As the Prime Minister announced last autumn, the government proposes that by the end of this parliament people should have a legal right to request access to a good level of broadband speed, no matter where they live.

    The honourable member will be pleased to hear that in her Great Grimsby constituency, 96 per cent of homes and businesses can already access superfast broadband – and it is estimated that coverage will rise to98 per cent by the end of 2017. Additional funding sources, including the £129 million of gainshare funding that BT will return in response to the high levels of take-up being achieved, will allow coverage to be extended further in Great Grimsby and the rest of the area covered by the North Lincolnshire broadband project.

  • Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Melanie Onn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many disabled social housing residents have moved out of their property in each year since 2009-10.

    Brandon Lewis

    The number of disabled social housing tenants (including housing association tenants) who have moved out of their property in each year since 2005-6 is shown in the attached table.

    These figures show that the number of social tenants who have moved has fluctuated over time, but the proportion of social renters who have moved has remained relatively constant.

    The reasons for these moves are not known although we expect some disabled social tenants will have moved to better (e.g. adapted) accommodation. Some will have moved from a different tenure i.e.from owner occupation or the private rented sector), while others will have moved from another social housing property.