Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Minister for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2018 to Question 116503, whether the revised National Planning Policy Framework to include new developments will take account of culture, history and tradition where noise nuisance complaints are made about the continued ringing of church bells and chimes by residents living within existing developments.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The revised National Planning Policy Framework will clearly set out that the developer or ‘agent of change’ should be responsible for mitigating noise impacts and other potential nuisances arising from existing businesses and other organisations, such as churches when locating new development or changing uses nearby. However, noise nuisance complaints in existing developments are not handled through the planning system. They are subject to the provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and other relevant law.
We are committed to working across government to further strengthen the ‘agent of change’ principle in policy and guidance.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to answer Question 116503, tabled on 29 November 2017.
Answered by Dominic Raab
The question [116503] was answered on 15 January 2018 with the answer:
We are standing up for England’s churches. National planning policy already sets out that businesses should not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in nearby land uses since they were established.
We are minded to amend the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to give greater emphasis to this matter, by setting out that planning policies and decisions should take account of existing businesses and other organisations, such as churches, community pubs and music venues, when locating new development nearby.
We consulted on proposals for this as part of the Housing White Paper published on 7 February 2017 and we intend to publish a revised draft NPPF for consultation as early as possible in 2018. At that stage we will host a round-table with representatives from the sector to invite their input into this important matter.
We continue to work with other departments, to ensure local authorities support existing businesses, organisations or activities that are an integral part of local communities, at the same time as supporting new housing and local growth.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken within planning and other guidance to local authorities to support the continued ringing of church bells and traditional chimes.
Answered by Dominic Raab
We are standing up for England’s churches. National planning policy already sets out that businesses should not have unreasonable restrictions put on them because of changes in nearby land uses since they were established.
We are minded to amend the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to give greater emphasis to this matter, by setting out that planning policies and decisions should take account of existing businesses and other organisations, such as churches, community pubs and music venues, when locating new development nearby.
We consulted on proposals for this as part of the Housing White Paper published on 7 February 2017 and we intend to publish a revised draft NPPF for consultation as early as possible in 2018. At that stage we will host a round-table with representatives from the sector to invite their input into this important matter.
We continue to work with other departments, to ensure local authorities support existing businesses, organisations or activities that are an integral part of local communities, at the same time as supporting new housing and local growth.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2017 to Question 113472, for what reasons the period from April 2010 to March 2013 was excluded from the total amount of money from the public purse spent on Talk to Frank since its creation.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Talk to FRANK service is currently operated by Public Health England (PHE), and the information supplied in response to Question 113472 was drawn from PHE financial records.
During the period April 2010 to March 2013, the Talk to FRANK service was operated jointly by the Home Office and the Department of Health.
In the 2017 report ‘An evaluation of the Government’s Drug Strategy 2010’, the Government spend on media and information activity under the Drug Strategy 2010, 2010/11 to 2014/15 (including on FRANK) is provided on page 73:
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the results of the consultation on the tax treatment of heated tobacco products.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government is analysing the responses to the consultation and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the point of income maximisation on tobacco excise; and what steps he plans to take in the event the point has been reached.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The government keeps all taxes under review and considers this issue carefully at each fiscal event.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much money was spent from the public purse on the drug information service FRANK in (a) the most recent year for which information is available and (b) total since FRANK was established.
Answered by Steve Brine
During the financial year April 2016 to March 2017 Talk to FRANK received 94,760 calls. It should be noted that the Talk to FRANK service offers a range of contact methods and its customer support team also answered 39,163 emails, texts and webchat messages. The FRANK website also received five million web visits in 2016/17.
During the current financial year (April 2017 to March 2018) we are planning to spend £978,000 on the Talk to FRANK service.
Since the Talk to FRANK service was established in 2003 (but excluding the period April 2010 to March 2013) £9,117,242 has been spent on the service (including the current year’s £978,000 budget).
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many telephone calls the service Talk to FRANK received in the most recent year for which data is available.
Answered by Steve Brine
During the financial year April 2016 to March 2017 Talk to FRANK received 94,760 calls. It should be noted that the Talk to FRANK service offers a range of contact methods and its customer support team also answered 39,163 emails, texts and webchat messages. The FRANK website also received five million web visits in 2016/17.
During the current financial year (April 2017 to March 2018) we are planning to spend £978,000 on the Talk to FRANK service.
Since the Talk to FRANK service was established in 2003 (but excluding the period April 2010 to March 2013) £9,117,242 has been spent on the service (including the current year’s £978,000 budget).
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of tobacco taxes rises on the purchase of non-UK duty paid tobacco in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
Estimates of the value and volume of product in the illicit tobacco market for the last five years, up to 2016-17 are published below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the amount of revenue accruing to the public purse from taxation on tobacco has matched the forecasts set out for those revenues by the Office of Budget Responsibility in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Andrew Jones
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) and Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) regularly review the performance of forecast receipts and the findings are published in the OBR’s Forecast evaluation reports. The most recent Forecast evaluation report, published in October 2017, evaluates Tobacco Duty forecasts announced in the 2015 and 2016 Spring Budgets. This can be seen in the Forecast Evaluation Report :
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/fer/forecast-evaluation-report-october-2017/.
VAT is also charged on tobacco but this information is not separately forecast.