The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.
Mrs Helen Grant
The Department has no plans to bring forward such proposals.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations he has received regarding the need for a vaccine for bovine TB; and if he will make a statement.
George Eustice
We have received representations on all aspects of tackling Bovine TB, including vaccination for cattle and badgers, from a very wide range of stakeholders. The role that cattle and badger vaccination can play in eradicating Bovine TB is outlined in our comprehensive Strategy for achieving Officially Bovine Tuberculosis Free status for England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of young people in (a) Brighton, Kemptown constituency and (b) East Sussex who have been unemployed for longer than 12 months in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Nick Hurd
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.
Jenny Willott
We do not have any plans at this time to relocate staff or offices to Brighton.
BIS currently has one active property in Brighton, Crown House, which houses the Insolvency Service.
Any future decisions to move staff and offices to Brighton would be led by the business needs of BIS which would be supported by the Property and Asset Management Team.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on reform of the Civil Service; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Francis Maude
In July 2013 we published a One Year On report that gave a frank account of progress against the Civil Service Reform Plan. This is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-reform-plan-one-year-on–2:
I took the opportunity to update the House on progress during the backbench debate on Civil Service Reform on 3 April 2014 and will update the House further in our Two Years On report this summer.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to reduce taxation on small businesses; and if he will make a statement.
Mr David Gauke
The Government is committed to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business and has focused a number of measures specifically on small businesses.
These include a £2,000 Employment Allowance available from April 2014 to support small businesses aspiring to hire their first employee or expand their workforce; and, as set out in the Autumn Statement 2013, a £1bn package of business rates measures, 90% of which is going to businesses occupying small premises. The Government is also increasing the payable R&D tax credit for loss-making SMEs from 11 per cent to 14.5 per cent from April 2014, providing particular support for early-stage companies and start-ups, who face the greatest risks and barriers to R&D investment.
Fuel costs are also significant for many small businesses so the Government has implemented the longest duty freeze for over 20 years. In total, by 2015-16 a small business with a van will have saved £1,300 and a haulier £21,000.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many quangos have been abolished since 2010; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Nick Hurd
The Government has already reduced the number of public bodies by over 280. 185 bodies have been abolished.
This is the largest restructuring of public bodies in a generation, making the landscape smaller, more accountable and transparent, and offering better value for money to the public.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent progress he has made on the localism agenda; and if he will make a statement.
Stephen Williams
This Government has been clear about its intention to devolve power, responsibility and decision-making down to the lowest possible level. This vision underpins significant elements of our policy agenda which are transferring power and freedom to both local councils and communities, some of which are noted below.
Nearly 1,000 assets of community value have been listed and we have helped 150 organisations to acquire a community asset or obtain significant investment towards doing so. 16 local campaigns for new parish councils are being supported covering local populations of more than half a million people. Over 100 new Our Place areas are starting work within their communities to transform neighbourhood level service delivery. Community share issues have raised over £24 million for community ventures.
Nearly 800 neighbourhood planning areas have been designated, and all 13 plans which have so far reached referenda have passed with significant majorities in favour.
Local authorities are now required to pass a proportion of Community Infrastructure Levy funding to local communities so that they can directly see the benefit of local development.
Over 2013-15 £14 million has been made available for community groups to develop their proposals for Community Right to Build orders or to progress community-led development. Groups can develop their ideas on the development that they want and need in their areas.Applications for this funding continue to rise with around 60 applications received.
In April 2014 four new combined authorities were established, on the request of the councils concerned. These will support the councils to collaborate and work jointly across the wider functional economic areas on economic development, regeneration and transport to support economic growth in the areas of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Greater Merseyside and Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
The Government wants local authorities to be more transparent and accountable to local people for how they spend money, deliver services and take decisions. We will shortly be publishing a revised local authority transparency code extending the breadth of data that local authorities must publish and will make regulations to make publication of certain data a legal requirement. Also, Regulations which will allow members of the public including professional journalists to film, photograph, audio-record and use social media to report the proceedings of meetings of local government bodies, and to access documents relating to decisions made by officers under delegation from their local government bodies, are now before Parliament.
Under the business rates retention scheme local authorities now directly retain nearly £11 billion of business rates, instead of returning it to Whitehall.
The Government has also reformed the outdated council housing finance system with the introduction of self-financing in 2012. This has given the 167 council landlords greater freedoms and the ability to plan for the long term to better meet the needs of their tenants and local area.
HomeSwap Direct – the national home swap scheme which increases opportunities for social tenants wishing to move through mutual exchange – was launched in October 2011 and since then tenants have made over 18 million searches of ‘partner’ data.
Social landlords are now free to match the length of tenancy to the needs of the household and to use their social housing stock in a way which best meets the needs of their local area. Councils have the freedom to decide who qualifies for social housing in their area and to find alternative solutions for those who do not qualify.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help shops in (a) Brighton, Kemptown constituency and (b) East Sussex with their business rate bills; and if he will make a statement.
Brandon Lewis
At the Autumn Statement we announced a £1 billion package of business rates support to help shops and local firms. This included a £1,000 discount for two years for shops, pubs and restaurants with a rateable value of below £50,000. We do not hold figures for numbers benefitting from that measure in the Kemptown constituency. However, based on local authority reports of the amount of relief awarded in the Brighton and East Sussex areas, we estimate that 2,270 properties will benefit in Brighton and Hove, 890 in Wealdon, 810 in Lewes, 750 in Rother, and 720 in Eastbourne. We do not yet have an estimate for Hastings.
The support package also included a 50 per cent discount for businesses taking on long-term empty shops, the doubling of small business rate relief for another year, a 2% cap on RPI increases for 2014/2015, and allowing businesses to spread their rate payments over 12 months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-05-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will bring forward proposals to relocate (a) staff and (b) offices of his Department to Brighton; and if he will make a statement.
Gregory Barker
The Department of Energy and Climate Change have no plans to relocate either (a) staff or (b) offices to Brighton.