The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest day rate paid for external legal advice by his Department was in each year since 2010.
Mr Shailesh Vara
To obtain this information would incur disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Zac Goldsmith on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potentially constraining effect on Heathrow airport’s growth of that airport’s future carbon emissions.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.
The Government will carefully consider all the evidence set out, including that on noise, air quality and costs, when making a decision on additional runway capacity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2015-10-12.
To ask the Attorney General, what recent steps the Crown Prosecution Service has taken to improve the conviction rate for violence against women and girls.
Robert Buckland
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the oral questions from the Hon. Member for Redditch and the Hon. Member for Lincoln earlier today.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many apprenticeships are available in the North East; and how many applicants for such apprenticeships from disadvantaged backgrounds (a) secured and (b) completed apprenticeships in each of the last 10 years.
Nick Boles
Information on the number of apprenticeship starts (first link) and achievements (second link) in the North East is published online at the FE Data Library:
We do not centrally collect information on the number of apprenticeship applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds who secure and complete an apprenticeship.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to promote its statement of principles for online retailers.
Nick Boles
The UK wide Statement of Principles is on GOV.UK. At an adjournment debate last month I proposed a roundtable on online retail delivery charges. This is being planned for December. The statement of principles will be discussed at the meeting.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will consult on implementing no smoking zones outside government buildings for people employed in those buildings.
Jane Ellison
The Government has no current plans to extend smokefree legislation to outside public areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-10-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the level of existing VAT thresholds for small businesses.
Mr David Gauke
The UK has chosen to maintain a high VAT registration threshold, and it is currently the highest in the EU (at £82,000 from 1 April 2015). We believe that the UK’s current registration threshold achieves a reasonable balance between competing interests and reduces the administrative burden on the smallest businesses.
The Government may not increase this threshold further, aside from maintaining its value in line with inflation, without the consent of the European Commission and the unanimous agreement of all EU Member States.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guto Bebb on 2015-10-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to respond to the recommendations of the Treasury Committee’s report, Conduct and competition in SME lending, published on 16 March 2015.
Harriett Baldwin
The Parliament, and its then Treasury Select Committee, dissolved shortly after this report was published and HM Treasury was not able to prepare a response before dissolution.
HM Treasury is considering the Committee’s recommendations and will be responding to the new Committee in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of (a) extending and (b) making permanent permitted development rights to convert offices to residential buildings.
Brandon Lewis
To further support new housing supply and home ownership we are announcing further changes to permitted development rights. When the Government brought forward measures from the summer 2014 ‘Technical consultation on planning’ we undertook to further consider the case for extending the office to residential reforms, which are helping to provide more new homes on brownfield land. These rights are being used, with almost 4,900 applications received by councils in the five quarters ending June 2015 and 4,000 approved during the same period, without needing to go through the whole planning process.
Given the extensive use of the right, I can confirm that the Government intends to make permanent the permitted development right that provides for offices to change to residential use and extend the right to allow for demolition of the office and replacement by new housing on a like for like basis. This has the potential to allow for a new building to better accommodate new homes and improve design quality. We will allow for those applicants who already have prior approval or who secure a new prior approval to have three years from the date of their approval in which to complete the change of use.
Those areas that are currently exempt from the office to residential permitted development right, such as the City of London, the London Central Activities Zone and Central Manchester will remain so until May 2019. This will provide time for local authorities with exemptions to bring forward an Article 4 direction in line with national policy for these areas if they wish. Alongside this, we will also bring forward new permitted development rights for three years that allow buildings up to 500m2 used for light industry compatible with housing, to change to residential use. There will also be a permanent right for launderettes of up to 150m2 to change to residential. These changes will further increase the contribution to housing delivery and reduce unnecessary planning regulations.
These permitted development rights allow more development to take place without the need for a planning application. They will be subject to prior approval, allowing consideration by the local planning authority of specific planning matters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Huddleston on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of differences in the roll-out of superfast broadband in each county.
Mr Edward Vaizey
Current availability of superfast broadband at county and local authority level is published by Ofcom. The latest data (June 2014) is available here:http://infrastructure.ofcom.org.uk/
A data table listing all local authorities in the UK is available here:http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/infrastructure/2014/Fixed_local_authority.csv
Over 2 million additional premises have been given access to superfast broadband since June 2014. This will be reflected at local and county levels in the next Ofcom figures.
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