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  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will define the future (a) role and (b) powers of the Visit England Board.

    Tracey Crouch

    The VisitEngland Board will be an advisory body, responsible for advising the executive and board of the British Tourist Authority on how best to deliver and monitor English activity. The statutory duties and functions of the VisitEngland Board remain as set out in the Development of Tourism Act 1969 and it will remain a unfunded advisory non-departmental public body.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 52 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what mechanisms he plans to use to ringfence the £40 million Discover England Fund.

    Tracey Crouch

    To date all English funding has been ringfenced within the British Tourist Authority. This will continue.The £40m Discover England funding will be separately maintained and accounted for to ensure it is used in support of product development in English destinations, and in accordance with the process and criteria to be published shortly. The progress and spend of the fund will be monitored through regular reports.

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will define what powers the Visit England Board will have over the strategic direction and decisions on the Discover England Fund.

    Tracey Crouch

    The VisitEngland Board will be an advisory body, responsible for advising the executive and board of the British Tourist Authority (BTA) on how best to deliver and monitor English activity, including the Discover England fund. The strategic direction for the Discover England fund will be set out in an England Action Plan. This will be signed off by the Minister for Tourism and will be drafted with advice from the VisitEngland Boardas the Secretary of State’s statutory advisory body on English Tourism, but ultimate accountability for delivery of the plan, and for decisions on the fund, will remain with the Chief Executive and Board of the BTA.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on the priority that should be given to maintaining Green Belt land in Local Plans in areas where there is unmet housing need.

    Brandon Lewis

    Green Belt is protected by local authorities in line with national policy set out in the National Planning Policy Framework. The Framework states that permanence is an essential characteristic of Green Belt, and that a Green Belt boundary may be altered only in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan. Our supporting Guidance reminds local authorities that, in planning to meet their objectively assessed local housing needs, they must have due regard to national policies (including Green Belt policy) which indicate that development should be restricted and which may restrain the ability of an authority to meet all its needs. This applies even where there is no up-to-date Plan. It is for the Planning Inspector examining a revised Local Plan to determine whether it is based on sound evidence and in line with national policy.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much Lancashire County Council spent on cleaning drains and gullies in 2014-15.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We do not collect information specifically on expenditure for cleaning drains and gullies, but do collect data on expenditure for ‘Land Drainage and Additional Works’ and ‘Street Cleansing’.

    These statistics are available for each local authority and are published online in the Revenue Outturn (RO5), which are available for 2014-15 at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/478713/Revenue_Outturn__RO5__data_2014-15_by_LA_-_19-Nov-2015.xls

    “

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been built in (a) the Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England and Wales since January 2009.

    Brandon Lewis

    Statistics on new build housing starts and completions in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England and Wales are published on the Department’s website at:

    http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building

    “

  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to promote local authority sub-contracting to small local businesses.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government is committed to ensuring there is a simple and consistent approach to procurement across the whole public sector, including local authorities, so that small local businesses can gain better and more access to public sector contracts – either directly or sub-contracted.

    New reforms included in the Public Contract Regulations 2015 aim to make public contracts more accessible to businesses and in particular to small and medium enterprises. The reforms included the abolition of the pre-qualification questionnaire for low value tenders; advertising all contracts on Contracts Finder; and paying down the supplier chain in 30 days.

    Alongside these reforms we continue to work with the sector, the Local Government Association and the Crown Commercial Service to identify further ways to remove excessive burdens on small businesses and make the public sector procurement process faster, more transparent and less bureaucratic.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff in his Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether his Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether his Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain – so we get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new affordable homes to (a) rent and (b) buy will be built via section 106 Planning Obligations on the direct commissioning sites at (i) Old Oak Common, (ii) Northstowe, (iii) Lower Grayling Well, (iv) Connaught Barracks and (v) Daedelus Waterfront.

    Brandon Lewis

    The holding costs for the site relate to the entirety of the site and are consistent with the legal and health and safety obligations of the Homes and Communities Agency as land owner.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the announcement of 4 January 2016, The Government will directly build affordable homes, whether the new high street, schools and leisure facilities and commercial and office space are intended to be open at the same time as new homes take their first residents at the direct commissioning site at Old Oak Common.

    Brandon Lewis

    The direct commissioning pilots will follow the normal planning and commercial processes for determining the phasing of homes and associated facilities.