The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much was awarded to businesses in Brighton and Hove under the Government Start-Up Loans scheme; and how much of that has been repaid to date.
Anna Soubry
To date over £1.1million has been lent through Start-Up Loans issued in Brighton and Hove. Of this, over £268,000 has been repaid.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-02-22.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which estate agents in London have been penalised for failing to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 in each year since the introduction of those regulations; and what the level of the fine was in each such case.
Harriett Baldwin
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is unable to provide any information which would identify its customers. The Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 gives HMRC a duty of confidentiality which applies to all information it holds in connection with its functions.
In 2014-15 HMRC issued 677 penalties to the total value of £768,000. This is for all HMRC supervised businesses in the UK. The total includes estate agency businesses which HMRC supervised from 1 April 2014. This is three times the total value of penalties issued in 2013-14.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-03-16.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 1.248 of the Budget 2016, to which Department bids to help develop the next generation of small modular reactors will be submitted.
Greg Hands
Following the announcement made at the Budget, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) launched the first phase of a competition to identify the best value small modular reactor for the UK on the 17th March. This development builds on a previous announcement, made at Autumn Statement 2015, that DECC would conduct this competition to help pave the way towards building one of the world’s first small modular reactors in the UK.
The relevant documentation for the competition is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/small-modular-reactors
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Bridgen on 2016-04-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farmers have been subject to penalties for non-compliance with Single Farm Payment Scheme requirements in each of the last five years; and what the total value of those penalties was.
George Eustice
The volume of penalties, plus their value for Single Payment Scheme claims, for the last five years of the scheme are below.
We have not yet finalised information for the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme.
|
Scheme Year |
Number of Claimants In Breach |
Value € |
|
2014 |
2,703 |
2,489,438 |
|
2013 |
2,134 |
2,781,039 |
|
2012 |
1,574 |
1,704,085 |
|
2011 |
1,722 |
2,594,023 |
|
2010 |
1,493 |
2,329,495 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mendelsohn on 2016-05-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills has been asked by the Department for International Development to analyse why Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen from three percent in 1970 to less than two percent in 2014.
Baroness Verma
DFID, BIS and the FCO form a joint Trade Policy Unit which collectively works on issues of trade policy and trade facilitation and regularly scrutinises sectoral trade and growth trends across Africa.
While Africa’s share of global manufacturing has fallen since 1970, this is mostly driven by the rise in manufacturing production in China and India. Manufacturing production is increasing across Africa, but with varying experiences across countries. African manufacturing grew at 3.5% annually in real terms over the last decade. However, manufacturing still represents on a small fraction of economic activity and it is our assessment that manufacturing in Africa is lagging.
The World Bank calculates that 18 million jobs need to be created in Africa every year until 2035 to keep up with this growth. The Department for International Development is currently scaling up our efforts to boost manufacturing in Africa to help create jobs and economic opportunities. This adds to DFID’s strong portfolio on unlocking industrialisation and trade in Africa.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-07-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she will take to protect businesses in the digital sector as the UK prepares to leave the EU.
Matt Hancock
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is working closely with all of our sectors to make sure they have a voice as we prepare for negotiations to exit the European Union. We will continue to have regular engagement with organisations from across the digital sector to make sure their views and concerns are represented fully in our preparations for exit negotiations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to increase capacity at the Asylum and Immigration Chamber.
Sir Oliver Heald
The First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) is administered by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS). HMCTS have provided an additional 4,500 tribunal sitting days for this financial year compared to 2015/16. HMCTS keeps performance and resource levels under close review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to provide better support for ex-servicemen and women and their families.
Mark Lancaster
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 20 November 2015 to Questions 15830 and 15831.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many investigations the National Crime Agency has launched into money laundering offences in each of the last three years; and how many of those investigations resulted (a) from a referral from the Financial Conduct Authority and (b) in a prosecution.
Mike Penning
The National Crime Agency (NCA) became operational on 7th October 2013. Since that date the NCA has launched over 80 investigations where money laundering has been identified as a threat. In addition, in some investigations money laundering may not be identified at the outset but instead becomes a focus later on in the course of the investigation.
Between 7th October 2013 – 31st March 2015, NCA activity has led to 156 prosecutions for money laundering offences.
The NCA receives its intelligence from multiple sources, including partner agencies, but does not routinely provide detailed information on its sources in order to protect its operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will meet with house builders to discuss increasing the provision of two-bedroom end bungalows in the housing market so that retirees can downsize from larger two-storey residential housing.
Brandon Lewis
I meet with housebuilders regularly and have had many meetings on the provision of older peoples’ housing. This Government is committed to provide older people with choice over the housing that best meets their needs.
We have clear planning policy to support older peoples’ housing, and we strengthened guidance last year to reinforce our expectations – including to get local authorities to recognise the benefits of supporting applications to build homes for people wishing to downsize.
We are clear that local councils and mainstream housing providers need to increase the quality, choice and provision of housing for older people. We hope this will enable many older people who wish to move to available properties that suit their needs to do so, while freeing up family sized homes.