Tag: Nicholas Brown

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities he estimates will have a net financial (a) gain and (b) loss in revenue from the proposed changes to business rate revenue allocation.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government intends to move to 100% business rates retention in England by the end of this Parliament. We have confirmed that as part of the new system there will continue to be redistribution of local tax revenue between authorities and protections in place for authorities that see their business rates income fall significantly. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.

Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact will be on individual areas or authorities, but before the start of the financial year, local authorities in the North-East estimated that the total business rates income for 2015-16 would be £854.58 million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what new mechanism he proposes to stimulate rural growth in the North East.

Greg Hands

On 23 October the Government signed a historic devolution deal with the North East Combined Authority. As part of the deal, and subject to the passage of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill through parliament, a new directly-elected Mayor for the North East will be created. The Mayor will chair the existing North East Combined Authority. Powers and responsibilities will be devolved from central government to the Mayor and Combined Authority.

Full details of the deal are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/north-east-devolution-deal

A detailed implementation plan will be agreed over the coming months between central government and the North East Combined Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what responsibilities are proposed for the (a) elected mayor, (b) North East Combined Authority and (c) North East local enterprise partnership in overseeing the adult skills budget for the North East.

Greg Hands

On 23 October the Government signed a historic devolution deal with the North East Combined Authority. As part of the deal, and subject to the passage of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill through parliament, a new directly-elected Mayor for the North East will be created. The Mayor will chair the existing North East Combined Authority. Powers and responsibilities will be devolved from central government to the Mayor and Combined Authority.

Full details of the deal are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/north-east-devolution-deal

A detailed implementation plan will be agreed over the coming months between central government and the North East Combined Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what governance and accountability arrangements are proposed for the North East Investment Fund.

Greg Hands

On 23 October the Government signed a historic devolution deal with the North East Combined Authority. As part of the deal, and subject to the passage of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill through parliament, a new directly-elected Mayor for the North East will be created. The Mayor will chair the existing North East Combined Authority. Powers and responsibilities will be devolved from central government to the Mayor and Combined Authority.

Full details of the deal are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/north-east-devolution-deal

A detailed implementation plan will be agreed over the coming months between central government and the North East Combined Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the proposed membership is of the skills board for the North East overseeing a comprehensive review of post-16 education, skills and employment.

Greg Hands

On 23 October the Government signed a historic devolution deal with the North East Combined Authority. As part of the deal, and subject to the passage of the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill through parliament, a new directly-elected Mayor for the North East will be created. The Mayor will chair the existing North East Combined Authority. Powers and responsibilities will be devolved from central government to the Mayor and Combined Authority.

Full details of the deal are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/north-east-devolution-deal

A detailed implementation plan will be agreed over the coming months between central government and the North East Combined Authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the functions are of the North East Rural Growth Network; and how much financial support it received from her Department in the last financial year.

George Eustice

Pilot Rural Growth Networks were set up in 2012 to test out approaches to tackling the barriers to economic growth experienced in rural areas.

Defra provided funding of £3,201,290 in the financial year 2012/13 to support the pilot Rural Growth Network in the North East for three years.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership has provided £1.75 million of Growth Deal funding in 2015/16 to enable the North East Rural Growth Network to continue to provide grants to rural businesses and support economic infrastructure projects.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what screening provisions the Government has put in place to prevent people who wish to cause the UK harm from entering the UK through the Syrian refugee resettlement programme.

James Brokenshire

We take security extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement, working closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When potential cases are submitted by the UNHCR for our consideration they are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further on the details of the screening process itself.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent assessment she has made of the UK’s progress towards meeting its 2020 carbon emission targets.

Andrea Leadsom

Each year we publish Energy and Emissions Projections which allow us to monitor progress towards meeting the UK’s carbon targets.

The last projections (published in September 2014) showed that we are on track to achieve the second and third carbon budgets, covering the period to 2022. Our projected performance over the third carbon budget equates to a 37% reduction in emissions below 1990 levels.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-09-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Deposit Protection Service; and what plans he has to strengthen protections for tenants’ damage deposits.

Brandon Lewis

The Department has a governance role in ensuring that all Tenancy Deposit Protection schemes perform to high standards.

The Deposit Protection Service is required to submit monthly key performance indicators and provide annual updates of their management and financial plans to the Department, in accordance with the Service Concession Agreement we have with them.In addition, the Department holds quarterly monitoring meetings with the scheme operators at which any performance issues can be discussed. Since the schemes began in 2007, the Deposit Protection Service’s performance against the benchmarks set by our key performance indicators has been consistently high.

Safeguards are already in place to ensure that tenants’ deposits are protected. All landlords and agents are required to protect a deposit and provide the tenant with certain prescribed information within 30 days of taking the deposit. At the end of the tenancy, the deposit should be returned to the tenant if they have honoured the terms of the tenancy agreement. If the landlord and tenant do not agree how the deposit should be apportioned, they can use the free Alternative Dispute Resolution service offered by the schemes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-06-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers’ payroll service in his Department and its agencies.

Mike Penning

The table below shows a Treasury Approved list of organisations to which employees can pay subscriptions and premiums through voluntary deductions to their salary.

The Department is unable to determine which of these are specifically subscriptions as per the question asked so for completeness this list details all potential voluntary deductions operated within the Department.