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  • 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.

  • 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/

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) all and (b) part of the funding for universal technology schools count as public sector borrowing for the purposes of calculating the national debt.

    Greg Hands

    The Department for Education provides capital funding to support the construction of new University Technical Colleges and allocates resource funding to support day to day running costs.

    This funding impacts on public sector borrowing and public sector net debt in the same way as other central government spending.

  • 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, if his Department will publish the results of its consultation into the Reform of the Landfill Communities Fund; and if he will make a statement.

    Damian Hinds

    The government published a summary of responses to the consultation Reform of the Landfill Communities Fund alongside Autumn Statement 2015. This document can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479337/Summary_of_consultation_responses-as15-final.pdf

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the likely change in the number of projects being funded through the Landfill Communities Fund if the Contributory Third Party element is removed.

    Damian Hinds

    The Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) is a tax credit scheme into which landfill operators contribute voluntarily. Since its introduction in 1996, the LCF has contributed over £1.4bn to community projects in areas affected by a local landfill site. However, as the LCF is a tax credit scheme, it reduces the Government’s tax revenues. We therefore have an ongoing responsibility to seek value for money for the taxpayer.

    Our reforms aim to encourage LCF money to get to communities more quickly and use the savings to address other significant issues like waste crime. The LCF will provide £39.3 million of additional funding in 2016-17 alone. We also hope more unspent funds, which this year totalled £118 million, will reach projects as soon as possible.

    The impact of the changes to the LCF announced at Autumn Statement 2015 is set out in Reform and value of the Landfill Communities Fund. This document can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reform-and-value-of-the-landfill-communities-fund/reform-and-value-of-the-landfill-communities-fund

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

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

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what Government capital projects (a) have been carried out in the last and (b) are planned over the next five years in Greater Manchester; and what the (i) cost and (ii) location was and will be for each such project.

    Greg Hands

    The government has supported a wide range of capital projects in Manchester. This includes: £533m committed to Greater Manchester through the Local Growth Fund, which will support projects such as the new Ashton town centre interchange; a £900m gainshare agreement as part of the Devolution Deal, which will support projects such as the Trafford Metrolink extension; £199m as part of the city deal over ten years for local major transport schemes; £78m for the Factory theatre and arts venue at Spending Review 2015; and £235m for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials research at the 2014 Autumn Statement. Greater Manchester will also benefit from the North of England Rail Infrastructure programme, which is worth over £1bn.