Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the savings to businesses resulting from the Government's national insurance changes in (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, (b) Yorkshire and Humber region and (c) the UK
Answered by David Gauke
The Employment Allowance, which has been in place since April 2014, reduces an eligible employer’s employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) bill by up to £2,000 a year. Estimates of the number of employers benefitting from the allowance up to October 5th 2014, including breakdowns by region and constituency, are published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/employment-allowance-take-up-statistics.
By October 5th around 856,000 employers in the UK, 66,000 in Yorkshire and The Humber, 1,800 in Harrogate and Knaresborough are estimated to have benefitted by up to £2,000 from the Employment Allowance in Harrogate and Knaresborough.
The Government has also committed to abolishing employer NICs up to the Upper Earnings Limit (£41,865 in 2014/15) for employees under the age of 21 from April 2015.
These policies demonstrate the Government’s commitment to reducing the costs of employment for businesses across the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much aid has been given to countries affected by the Ebola epidemic in each of the last three years.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK has provided £65.7 million in 2011, £73 million in 2012 and £82.4 million in 2013 of direct, bilateral Official Development Assistance to countries affected by Ebola (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea). Additional aid to these countries has been provided by the UK through the multilateral aid system.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much government financial support has been budgeted for cycling initiatives in each of the next five years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department has recently consulted on future funding for cycling via the draft Cycling Delivery Plan. The consultation closed on 27 November 2014 and I will be in a position to provide a fuller answer to this once this consultation process has been completed and the final Cycling Delivery Plan has been published.
However, the work to meet our funding ambition set out in the draft plan has already begun; in November the Deputy Prime Minister and I announced a package of measures totalling £214 million, including a £114 million extension to our cycle cities programme, and £100 million investment to improve the conditions for cyclists and walkers travelling alongside and crossing Britain’s most important and busiest roads from 2015/16.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Government has spent on sustainable transport in (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber in each of the last three years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department has committed £51.952m to the Yorkshire and the Humber area as part of a range of Local Sustainable Transport Fund projects, which will be ongoing until March 2015. To date, £47.812m of this funding has been paid out. This includes £1.653m for Harrogate and Knaresborough, of which £0.968m has been paid out. A further £19.684m in funding has also been provided to Yorkshire and the Humber through the Linking Communities, Cycle Safety and Cycling Ambition grant programmes. This means that over the past three financial years, the Department has paid £67.496m to the Yorkshire and Humber area (including Harrogate and Knaresborough), and has committed £71.636m up until March 2015.
The breakdown of these overall figures are as follows in the attached table, and include any funding claimed thus far in Quarters 1 and 2 of this financial year, where this breakdown is known.
In addition, the Integrated Transport Block can be used for small transport improvement projects, including cycle routes. The allocations for the past three financial years are below. The current financial year is also provided for information.
| 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | |
| North Yorkshire | £4.474m | £4.091m | £4.091m | £5.753m |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | £47.760m | £43.666m | £43.666m | £61.403m |
The background notes provide a summary for the funding programmes mentioned above. More detailed information on the individual schemes can be found on www.GOV.UK
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of energy production came from micro-generation in each of the last three years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The table below shows the proportion of energy production sourced from micro-generation installations (less than 50 kW electrical capacity and less than 45kW for heat capacity) between 2010-11 and 2012-13. This includes energy production from installations registered on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), the Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FIT), and the Renewables Obligation (RO). FiT data for 2013-14 are due to be published by Ofgem on 18th December.
Total Production of Heat and Electricity Generated from Micro Schemes (GWh) | ||||
2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | |
Renewable Heat Incentive | 0 | 168 | 934 | |
Feed In Tariff Scheme | 51 | 374 | 1,236 | n/a |
Renewable Obligation | 8 | 13 | 34 | 40 |
Total (GWh) | 59 | 387 | 1,438 | n/a |
Full FiTs data are available at the link below:
RO data are available in table 6.3 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/energy-trends-section-6-renewables
RHI statistics are published monthly and are available at:
Total energy production data are available in DECC’s Energy Trends publication table 1.1 available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-trends#2014.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the size of the pig stock in the (a) Yorkshire and Humber region and (b) UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
Estimates of the number of pigs on farms are provided in the table below. Regional estimates are only calculated every 3 years. The latest available estimates are presented here.
Table 1: Number of pigs on farms on 1 June each year (thousands):
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 (provisional) | |
UK | 4460 | 4441 | 4481 | 4885 | 4820 |
Yorkshire & Humber | 1223 | 1438 |
Source: Defra June Survey of Agriculture
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the size of the dairy herd in the (a) Yorkshire and Humber region and (b) UK in each of the last three years.
Answered by George Eustice
Estimates of the size of the dairy breeding herd are provided in the table below. Regional estimates are only calculated every 3 years. The latest available estimates are presented here.
Table 1: Number of dairy breeding cows on farms on 1 June each year (thousands):
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 (provisional) | |
UK | 1830 | 1796 | 1796 | 1782 | 1828 |
Yorkshire & Humber | 91 | 83 | |||
Source: Cattle Tracing Scheme/Defra June Survey of Agriculture
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many properties have been listed as an asset of community value under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011 since that act entered into force.
Answered by Stephen Williams
The Government is not obliged to keep a list of assets which have been accepted as being of community value; this is the responsibility of the relevant local authority. However, we know that over 1,500 assets have been listed and these range from pubs (over 500), museums, parks and green spaces, post offices and village shops and an iconic cold war era control tower at Greenham Common. More information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/milestone-reached-as-community-rights-uses-hit-3000.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to increase home ownership among members of the armed forces.
Answered by Anna Soubry
We continue to listen to the accommodation needs and concerns of our Service personnel and their families, and recognise their need for increased personal choice and stability and the opportunity for home ownership.
In April 2014, we launched the £200 million Forces Help to Buy Scheme to encourage and support those Service families that aspire to home ownership. Forces Help to Buy is available nationwide, and has already helped almost 1,500 Service personnel get on, or stay on, the property ladder.
Asked by: Andrew Jones (Conservative - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been invested in road infrastructure in (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency and (b) North Yorkshire in each of the last four years.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Highways Agency is responsible for the motorway and strategic trunk road network. There have been no Major Road Schemes in the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency during the last four years.
The table below shows the investment in the two Major Road Schemes that are in the North Yorkshire area. Please note the 14/15 expenditure includes actual spend to the end of June 2014 and a forecast up to and including the end of March 2015.
| Scheme | 11/12 | 12/13 | 13/14 | 14/15 | Estimated total |
| Actual £m | Actual £m | Actual £m | Forecast £m | out-turn cost £m | |
| A1 Dishforth to Leeming | 80.4 | 6.0 | -5.9* | 1.9 | 311 |
| A1 Dishforth to Barton | 0.1 | 3.1 | 35.7 | 90.8 | 380 |
*The -5.9 reported in 13/14, is made up of a change in accounting policy and a reduction in the provision for post construction activity.
The Highways Agency does not separately identify the investment on its roads by constituency area. The Highways Agency has invested approximately £33 million on safety and improvement schemes, renewal of carriageway surfaces and repairs to structures in the North Yorkshire region within the last four years. The breakdown of investment by financial year is shown in the following table:
| Year | Investment £m |
| 2010/11 | 5.211 |
| 2011/12 | 4.261 |
| 2012/13 | 10.791 |
| 2013/14 | 12.438 |
For the local road network the Department for Transport provides capital funding to local highway authorities for maintenance. The Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency falls within North Yorkshire County Council’s area of responsibility and therefore we do not allocate any funds directly to that area for local road infrastructure. Over the four year period from 2011 North Yorkshire County Council’s allocation is:
Year
| Allocation £m
|
2011/12
| 25.252
|
2012/13
| 24.065
|
2013/141
| 29.002
|
2014/152
| 27.855
|
1 Includes the top up announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement 2012 and the Wet Weather funding paid in March 2014.
2 Includes the top up announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement 2012 and the Pothole Fund.
The Department for Transport is funding one local major scheme in North Yorkshire, the Bedale Aiskew Leeming Bar Bypass which has £10.760m of funding in 2014/15.