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  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the extension of Right to Buy on affordable housing supply.

    Brandon Lewis

    Under the 2012 reinvigorated Right to Buy, every additional home sold, as well as those homes sold to tenants through the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation and housing associations, will result in an additional home being provided. This will lead to an increase in overall housing supply.

    The Government exceeded its affordable homes target over the last 4 years by 16,000 homes, delivering 186,000 new affordable homes.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance his Department plans to give to local authorities to ensure that they are able to provide new affordable housing to people on low incomes.

    Brandon Lewis

    More council housing has been built since 2010 than in the previous 13 years. 2014 saw the highest number of council housing starts for 23 years.

    Almost £222 million of extra borrowing headroom has been allocated to 36 councils in England to support over 3,000 new affordable homes in 2015/16 and 2016/17.

    The 2011-15 Affordable Homes Programme exceeded expectations – delivering 186,000 new affordable homes -16,000 more than the target. In addition, this Government is committed to delivering a further 275,000 new affordable homes by 2020. Through the 2015-18 Affordable Homes programme, we have already allocated around £1.4 billion to support this delivery

    The Government is committed to helping hard working people across the country to own their own home. We believe that shared ownership has an important role to play in helping those who aspire to home ownership but may be otherwise unable to afford it.

    We launched a one-off £36 million funding package in August to pave the way for the first wave of Starter Homes on brownfield sites that would otherwise not be built on to help more young people into discounted home ownership. Of this, up to £10million will be made available to councils in England. 200,000 Starter Homes will be built by 2020/21.

    Right to buy additions are due within 3 years of sales: 3,694 new Right to Buy addition starts and acquisitions were delivered against 3,054 additional homes sold in the first year of the scheme. Receipts from the sale of Right to Buy homes will continue to help authorities to build new additional properties.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the starter homes policy on access to (a) home ownership and (b) affordable rented accommodation in (i) London and the South East and (ii) England.

    Brandon Lewis

    Evidence shows that young first time buyers have been priced out of home ownership. Since the early 1990s, the proportion of under 40s who are homeowners in England has declined by over a third from 62% in 1993/4 to 39% in 2013/14. The Housing and Planning Bill will require local planning authorities to promote Starter Homes and ensure Starter Homes are included on all suitable, reasonably-sized developments in future.

  • Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Diana Johnson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure companies or individuals suspected of funding ISIL through oil trades do not operate or transfer money through the UK financial system; and what steps she has taken to assess whether such steps have been effective.

    Mr John Hayes

    International engagement is a key part of the UK’s strategy for countering the financing of terrorism and the UK is part of the Global Coalition working together to dismantle and destroy the threat from ISIL. Denying ISIL access to revenue and funding for its ambitions of statehood is a core part of the Global Coalition’s strategy to defeat ISIL.

    The Government works closely with law enforcement and industry bodies such as the British Bankers’ Association. We also work bilaterally with international partners, and with multilateral institutions such as the Financial Action Task Force, to build international capacity the financing of terrorism.

    The recent Home Office and HM Treasury National Risk Assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing (published 15 October – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing) gave a clear and candid assessment of the current overall situation. It found that while the UK’s response to terrorist financing risks is well developed, more could be done to strengthen our regime. The Government will take forward comprehensive work to address these findings through a new cross-Government Action Plan.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the average (a) export and (b) import tariffs paid by the UK to countries with whom the EU has a Free Trade Agreement was in each of the last five years.

    Anna Soubry

    Estimating the average tariffs on UK exports and imports to and from all the countries with which the EU has free trade agreements in each of the last five years would involve a disproportionate cost.

  • Stephen Tim – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Tim – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Tim on 2015-11-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether there are alternative mechanisms for tax credits claimants to inform his Department of changes to their childcare arrangements other than the tax credits helpline.

    Damian Hinds

    Currently a tax credit customer can inform HMRC of changes to their childcare arrangements via the post as well as contacting the tax credits helpline.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-11-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure that all staff in HM Revenue and Customs authorised to cancel late-payment penalties are authorised to provide the person concerned with written confirmation of that cancellation.

    Mr David Gauke

    All staff in HM Revenue and Customs who are authorised to cancel late-filing penalties and late-payment penalties are also authorised to provide the customer concerned with written confirmation of that cancellation. The process to advise the person of the cancellation may differ between taxes, and the notification may in some cases be on-line rather than in a letter.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kirsten Oswald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2015-11-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure that all staff in HM Revenue and Customs authorised to cancel late-filing penalties are authorised to provide the person concerned with written confirmation of that cancellation.

    Mr David Gauke

    All staff in HM Revenue and Customs who are authorised to cancel late-filing penalties and late-payment penalties are also authorised to provide the customer concerned with written confirmation of that cancellation. The process to advise the person of the cancellation may differ between taxes, and the notification may in some cases be on-line rather than in a letter.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the relationship between household income and (a) taxi and (b) bus use.

    Andrew Jones

    The number of trips and distance travelled per person per year for different household income levels (based on data for households in England in 2014) are given in the table.

    Household income is gross equivalised income, which accounts for household size and composition.

    Real household income quintile

    Lowest real income level

    Second level

    Third level

    Fourth level

    Highest real income level

    All income levels

    Trips per person per year by main mode:

    Local and non-local buses

    96

    72

    53

    43

    35

    60

    Taxi/minicab

    14

    11

    9

    9

    10

    10

    Distance (miles) per person per year by main mode:

    Local and non-local buses

    465

    407

    308

    251

    193

    326

    Taxi/minicab

    61

    43

    42

    51

    85

    56

    “

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-11-13.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the total on-flow and off-flow for tax credits was for claimants in Salford in the most recent (a) three and (b) six months for which data is available.

    Damian Hinds

    The answers are only available at disproportionate cost.