Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK arms export licences have been issued where the end user is the Israeli Defence Force for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment in the last 6 months.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023.
Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October – 31 December 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 January – 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many UK arms export licences are currently active for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment whose end user is the Israeli Defence Force.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics, including data on outcome, end user destination, overall value, type (e.g. military, other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
The most recent Official Statistics cover the period 1 April - 30 June 2023.
Information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 October – 31 December 2023 will be published after April 2024 and information regarding export licensing decisions made between 1 January – 31 March 2024 will be published later this year.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many arms export licences have been issued for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment for American built F-35 aircraft in the last 10 years.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics. This covers all requested data up until 30 June 2023.
This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many arms export licences are currently active for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment used in American built F-35 aircraft.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics. This covers all requested data up until 30 June 2023.
This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many and what proportion of domestic arms export licences are active for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment used in American built F-16 aircraft.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics. This covers all requested data up until 30 June 2023.
This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many arms export licences have been issued for (a) equipment and (b) parts of equipment for American built F16 aircraft in the last 10 years.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
HM Government publishes data on export licensing decisions on a quarterly basis in the Official Statistics. This covers all requested data up until 30 June 2023.
This data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/strategic-export-controls-licensing-data.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the study entitled Stepping Off the Road to Nowhere, published by Create Streets and Sustrans on 19 December 2023, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of adapting the funding model for new homes to incorporate gentle density and sustainable transport principles.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Government is committed to supporting the development of high quality, well designed and sustainable communities through the construction of new homes and, where appropriate, the regeneration of towns and cities across the country.
Homes England’s Strategic Plan has a Strategic Objective focused on promoting the creation of high-quality homes in well-designed places. The Agency uses Building for a Healthy Life, a design toolkit for neighbourhoods, streets, homes and public spaces, which covers twelve different considerations including density and sustainable transport.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of making not-for-profit organisations that provide welfare services VAT exempt.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. Whilst there are exceptions to the standard rate, these have always been strictly limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
Welfare services provided by local authorities and similar bodies and charities are exempt from VAT, meaning no VAT is charged to the final consumer.
Welfare services provided by state regulated private welfare organisations are also exempt from VAT. State regulated suppliers are those that are registered with the Care Quality Commission, and are eligible for the VAT exemption where they are providing services that are state regulated.
The regulation requirement ensures that VAT relief is limited to providers certified as offering safe and high-quality welfare services. This is a long-standing requirement, and there are no plans to make changes to these rules.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what (a) investigative powers and (b) sanctions are available to the Strategic Investment Board to tackle any reported misuse of Strategic Development Funding.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
All awards of Strategic Development Funding are granted under a formal funding agreement made between the Archbishops’ Council and the recipient of the funding. The Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board is able, on behalf of the Archbishops’ Council, to commission any necessary investigations into reported misuse, or misuse identified through various accountability processes, of Strategic Development Funding. Under the funding agreement, the Archbishops’ Council has the right to withhold a grant or require repayment if any part of the grant is misused. No report of misuse of funds has ever been received.
Asked by: Ben Bradshaw (Labour - Exeter)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what oversight is available to (a) the Strategic Investment Board and (b) others to monitor the use of Strategic Development Funding once distributed at diocesan level.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
a) The Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board reviews the progress of programmes supported by Strategic Development Funding at every meeting.
b) The progress of all programmes supported by Strategic Development Funding is regularly monitored by national Church staff, including through attendance at Programme Boards and annual reviews. Monies for projects supported by Strategic Development Funding are released in instalments across the funding period, with payments authorised by national Church staff after rigorous checks and against evidence of spend.