Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the cost to the UK has been of the Galileo satellite navigation system project to date.
Answered by Greg Clark
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my Rt Hon Friend the Member for Havant (David Willetts) on 22 January 2014, Official Report, column 213W regarding the cost of the Galileo and EGNOS satellite navigation programmes.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the benefits to the UK realised to date of the Galileo satellite navigation system project.
Answered by Greg Clark
Galileo is still in development and it is not currently possible to provide exact figures. The current total estimated value of Galileo-related contracts won by UK companies is in excess of the UK’s contribution to the Galileo programme (via the EU budget).
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he plans to make to the President of the EU Commission on tax deals given by Luxemburg to corporations trading in the UK.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government does not comment on the tax decisions of other Member States. There are, however, regular discussions of international tax issues in the ECOFIN Council, in the OECD and in other international fora including the G20. The UK is playing a leading role in reform of the international tax rules to ensure that companies pay the taxes they owe.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support is available to councils and housing associations to (a) modernise and (b) demolish tower blocks; and what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on tower blocks.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
We have invested more than £2 billion to enable council and housing association homes to be brought up to the Decent Homes standard, and have announced a £150 million funding pot to enable the regeneration of some of our most run-down estates.
Reforms we have introduced have given councils greater freedoms, including the retention of their full rental income. All 167 council landlords in England now have a long-term, stable source of funding, which they can use to better meet the needs of their tenants and local area, and have, on average, 15% more to spend on managing and maintaining their homes than under the previous system.
While we recognise that transformational estate regeneration may require some demolition of existing homes, this will need to be clearly justified. We would expect landlords to first consider options to upgrade and refurbish existing homes, in consultation with residents, in line with George Clarke’s 12 point plan (http://georgeclarke.com/2012/11/george-clarkes-empty-homes-manifesto-delivered-to-government-today/).
It is of course important that any modernisation, regeneration or demolition takes place only once the views of the local community have been taken into account.
I also refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 16 January 2015, Official Report, Column 35-37WS, which outlines what this Government has done to promote refurbishment and getting empty building back into use.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many houses have been built under the Government's proposal to replace every house sold under its right to buy arrangements; and how many houses have been sold under those arrangements.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government have committed to re-invest, for the first time ever, the additional receipts from Right to Buy sales in new affordable rented housing. Our aim, across England as a whole, is to deliver a new home for each additional home sold under the reinvigorated Right to Buy.
The one-for-one replacement policy applies to additional local authority sales, that is sales above the level forecast before the reinvigoration of the policy in April 2012. Since the reinvigoration, local authorities have sold 14,700 additional sales, and over 4,795 dwellings have already been started on site or acquired.
There will be a time lag between the Right to Buy sale, and the planning and construction of the new build home, but the replacement timetable is in control of the local authority. If a council were to fail to spend the receipts within three years, it would be required to return the unspent money to Government with interest. This provides a strong financial incentive for any slow-coach councils to use this new funding and get on with building more homes for local people.
Since 2010, a total of 217,000 new affordable homes have been delivered in England. Council house building is now at a 23 year high; almost twice as much council housing has been built under this Government, than in all of the 13 years combined of the last Labour Government.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications for open access train services on the East Coast Main Line are before his Department.
Answered by Claire Perry
There are no applications for open access services before the Department. The decision on all access applications is solely the responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation as the independent regulator. The Department responds to consultations on access applications as appropriate.
There are currently two open access applications before the ORR for open access applications on the East Coast Mainline. The ORR’s decisions on current and historical track access applications can be found on their website (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/track-access-decisions) alongside current applications being considered (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/current-track-access-applications).
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many open access train services have been agreed by (a) his Department and (b) Network Rail in each year since 2010; how many such applications have been rejected by the Office of Rail Regulation; and how many such services are now running.
Answered by Claire Perry
It is not the role of the Department or Network Rail to approve or reject any access applications. The decision on all access applications is solely the responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation as the independent regulator. The Department responds to consultations on access applications as appropriate.
The ORR’s past decisions on track access applications can be found on their website (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/track-access-decisions) alongside current applications being considered (http://orr.gov.uk/consultations/access-consultations/current-track-access-applications). There are currently two open access operators operating on the East Coast Mainline who were approved by the ORR. These are Grand Central and First Hull Trains.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of constructing the High Speed 2 line to (a) Birmingham, (b) Manchester and (c) Leeds.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
Spending Round 2013 set out a long-term funding envelope for HS2 Phase 1 (London to Birmingham) of £21.4bn (in 2011 prices). For Phase 2 (Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds) the envelope is £21.2bn (in 2011 prices), with a further £7.5bn (in 2011 prices) for rolling stock. This provides long-term certainty to the project.
In the Development Agreement signed between DfT and HS2 Ltd on the 8th December 2014 (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/389368/HS2_development_agreement__December_2014_.pdf), HS2 Ltd has been set a Target Price for delivering Phase 1 of £19.34bn, including £3bn for rolling stock.
There is no equivalent Target Price for Phase Two yet.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the potential cost of constructing a High Speed 3 line between Leeds and Manchester.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department is working with Transport for the North, Network Rail and HS2 Ltd to consider improving transport connectivity between cities and regions in the North of England; and new rail links between Manchester and Leeds forms part of this work. I would expect to be able to comment on the scope and the scale of possible investments within the next few months. However, candidate schemes in supporting the future growth and wellbeing of Northern economies must be both affordable and offer acceptable value for money.
Asked by: Austin Mitchell (Labour - Great Grimsby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information his Department holds for comparative purposes on VAT taxes and rates on (a) books and (b) eBooks in other EU countries.
Answered by David Gauke
E-books supplied from a business in Luxembourg to a consumer in the UK are currently subject to a 3% rate of VAT in Luxembourg. E- books supplied by a UK VAT registered business are subject to UK VAT at 20%. From 1 January 2015 UK VAT of 20% will apply to both.
The European Commission publishes a summary of the VAT rates that apply in all Member States including those applicable to books and e-books. This is available on the Commission’s website at: http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/vat/how_vat_works/rates/vat_rates_en.pdf