Tag: Seema Malhotra

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19817, for what reasons his Department does not produce estimates of the proportion of people who will be unable to afford to rent or buy a home in London in 2016.

Brandon Lewis

The proportion of people who are able to afford to rent or buy a home at a point in time is a function of macroeconomic and a number of other factors around which there is a high degree of uncertainty. As such, we do not believe such an assessment would prove to be reliable.

The Department publishes data on housing costs and income as part of the English Housing Survey. The latest survey, for 2013-14, shows that in England the proportion of income spent on housing costs was 18% for mortgagers, 29% for social renters, and 34% for private renters. The full report is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/461439/EHS_Households_2013-14.pdf

In respect of housing need in London, it is for the Mayor of London, working with London Boroughs, to identify and plan for the market and affordable housing needs in London.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) primary and (b) secondary policy purposes are of stamp duty exemption for transfers under schemes of company reconstruction and similar arrangements.

Mr David Gauke

Relief from stamp duty is available for company reconstructions where the same people hold the same proportion of shares before and after the reconstruction. The relief ensures that stamp duty does not apply where there is no real change in ownership of a company. The relief also recognises that reconstructions of companies often occur for genuine commercial reasons unrelated to tax, so in strictly defined circumstances should be able to take place in a tax neutral way. All claims are adjudicated by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure the strict conditions for relief are met.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-05-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of time between an application being made for a Venture Capital Trust Scheme and the scheme taking effect was in each of the last six years.

Mr David Gauke

The average time between a company applying to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for approval as a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) and receiving approval in the last six tax years was as follows:

Tax year	Number of VCTs approved	Average time taken to approve applications (days)
2010-11	16	7
2011-12	6	9
2012-13 to 2015-16	6	16

Notes

1. The information for the years 2012-13 to 2015-16 has been grouped owing to the low numbers of VCTs seeking approval in each of those years. Disclosure of average times in each of those years could identify specific companies.

2. The number of VCTs approved each year is provided in order to give context for the averages reported.

3. The average time includes non-working days such as weekends and public holidays. Fractions of days are rounded up to the nearest day.

4. The amount of time taken to approve a company as a VCT depends upon the specific facts of each case. Two cases in the period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 had significantly longer approval times, raising the average for this period. If those cases were excluded, the average time would have been 10 days.

5. A company cannot raise funds from VCT investors until it has been listed on a regulated stock market. HMRC does not hold information about the date of listing although that information is publicly available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent estimate he has made of the average cost to the NHS of employing a (a) nurse, (b) midwife and (c) doctor; and what forecast he has made of that cost in each year from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

Alistair Burt

Information is available for 2014/15 and is set out in the following table:

	Estimated Average Cost per Full-Time Equivalent
Qualified nurses, midwives and health visitors	£42,100
Midwives	£45,900
All hospital and community health services doctors	£96,200

Notes:

Separate figures for qualified nurses are not available. Costs include employer national insurance and pension contributions but not other costs such as recruitment and training (which is not collected centrally).

Source: Department of Health’s Headline HCHS Pay bill Metrics, which are based primarily on earnings statistics published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, supplemented by employer pension and national insurance contributions estimates informed by unpublished and unvalidated data from the Electronic Staff Record Data Warehouse.

Future costs will depend on the outcome of the Spending Review and pay recommendations of the independent Pay Review Bodies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the document, Fixing the Foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation, Cm 9098, when he will intervene in local authorities that do not produce local plans.

Brandon Lewis

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 21 July, HCWS172, which clarified that in cases where no Local Plan has been produced by early 2017, the Government will intervene to arrange for the plan to be written, in consultation with local people, to accelerate production of the Local Plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-07.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Oral Statement of 25 November 2015, Official Report, column 1358, what the evidential basis is for his statement that the Midlands is creating jobs three times faster than London and the South East; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Hands

The independent Office for National Statistics publishes labour market statistics for the 12 UK regions every month.

According to the latest data which covers the 3 months to September 2015, the total number of people in employment in London and the South East has increased by 53,000 since the same period one year earlier (the 3 months to September 2014). This equates to an increase of 0.6 per cent on the employment level one year ago.

According to the same data, the total number of people in employment in the East and West Midlands combined (the ‘Midlands’) has increased by 101,000 over the same period. This equates to an increase of 2.1 per cent on the employment level in the Midlands one year ago. This rate of increase is more than 3 times faster than the rate for London and the South East.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to implement the proposals in the Government’s report entitled Towards a one nation economy: A 10-point plan for boosting rural productivity published in August 2015.

Rory Stewart

Implementing the Rural Productivity Plan requires collaboration across Government.

We have already begun to implement the plan, for example announcing new Enterprise Zones in rural areas and small towns, assessing expressions of interest to deliver 30 hours of free childcare early implementers in some areas, including rural, from September 2016, and lastly, premises without basic broadband will have access to a subsidised satellite scheme by the end of December.

By investing in education and skills, increasing wages, improving infrastructure and connectivity, and simplifying planning laws for rural businesses and communities, we will help create thriving rural areas where generations of families can open and expand their businesses, buy a home and educate their children at first class schools.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-22.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings he has had on the growth of the current account deficit.

Harriett Baldwin

The Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England are statutorily required to meet to discuss the Financial Stability Report (FSR), and any other matters relating to the stability of the UK financial system, as soon as is reasonably practicable after the publication of the report.

At the most recent of these meetings—following the July 2015 FSR—the current account was discussed and the details of the meeting are published online by the Treasury at www.gov.uk.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-02-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) primary and (b) secondary policy purposes are of VAT exemption for supplies of commercial property.

Mr David Gauke

Supplies of commercial property are subject to a mandatory VAT exemption under the European VAT Directive.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data is held by her Department on levels of parental debt owed to schools.

Edward Timpson

The department does not hold data from which to supply the information requested.