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 (a) lost business to convenience stores and (b) lost revenue to the Exchequer due to smokers purchasing black market tobacco.
Answered by Andrew Jones
No assessment has been made of the impact of the illicit tobacco market on business sectors such as convenience stores. The tax gap for tobacco was £2.5 billion in 2016-17. Of this tobacco duty was £1.9 billion and associated VAT was £0.6 billion. The details are published on GOV.UK (‘Tobacco tax gap estimates 2016-17’):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tobacco-tax-gap-estimates
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment on the benefits for Great Britain and Northern Ireland's coastal communities of the marine resources in the UK's Exclusive Economic Zone being used solely for the benefit of the UK after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by George Eustice
On leaving the EU, the UK will become an independent coastal state with responsibility for controlling and managing our Exclusive Economic Zone. This will provide an opportunity to negotiate new agreements on access and quota arrangements which will benefit our coastal communities. We are undertaking ongoing analysis on fish stocks in our waters.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the entirety of the Fisheries acquis will be transferred into domestic legislation in the EU (Withdrawal) Bill.
Answered by George Eustice
The purpose of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is to provide stability and certainty so that wherever practical, the same laws and rules will apply immediately before and immediately after our departure. On that basis, most of the fisheries acquis will be transferred into domestic legislation. The Queen’s Speech, however, set out the Government’s plans for a fisheries bill for the UK to control access to its waters and set fishing opportunities when we leave the EU and the Common Fisheries Policy. Provisions in the Fisheries Bill would supersede the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to make the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination available on the NHS to all babies and children under the age of 16.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunisation programme is a risk-based programme, with the key component being the neonatal programme which targets those most at risk from or exposure to tuberculosis. The BCG vaccine is also offered to at risk individuals under the age of 16. There are no plans to extend this further.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to eradicate tuberculosis.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department recognises the challenges posed by tuberculosis (TB) and supports NHS England in its collaboration with Public Health England (PHE) for a five-year national TB strategy.
In January 2015, PHE and NHS England jointly published the ‘Collaborative TB Strategy for England, 2015-2020’ available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/collaborative-tuberculosis-strategy-for-england
The strategy has three aims: a year on year reduction in TB incidence in England, a reduction in health inequalities, and to contribute to eventual elimination of TB as a public health problem in England.
To achieve these aims the Strategy sets out 10 key ‘areas for action’, which include improving diagnosis and treatment, ensuring comprehensive contact tracing, improving vaccination uptake, reducing inequalities and tackling drug-resistant TB.
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, how many people received assistance from the Government's Help to Buy scheme in South Thanet in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lord Barwell
In the parliamentary constituency of South Thanet, the number of households who have purchased homes through Help to Buy schemes are:
Help to Buy: Equity Loan: 22 (from scheme launch in April 2013 to September 2016);
Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee: 164 (from scheme launch in October 2013 to September 2016);
Help to Buy: ISA: 41 (from scheme launch in December 2015 to September 2016);
Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee and Help to Buy: ISA are the responsibility of HM Treasury;
The Government does not publish an annual breakdown of scheme completions by parliamentary constituency.
The Government publishes cumulative totals on a quarterly basis by parliamentary constituency:
Help to Buy: Equity Loan http://opendatacommunities.org/def/concept/folders/themes/housing-market
Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics
Help to Buy: ISA https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/official-statistics-on-the-help-to-buy-isa-scheme
The Government publishes cumulative totals on a quarterly basis by local authority for:
Help to Buy: Equity Loan https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics
Help to Buy: mortgage guarantee https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics
Help to Buy: ISA https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-isa-scheme-quarterly-statistics-december-2015-to-30-september-2016
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department has spent on rail improvements in East Kent in each of the last five years.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Transport does not hold investment data in the format requested and this could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. However, over the last five years, the Government has made significant investment which benefit East Kent. This includes the introduction of several new high speed services (including at Martin Mill station); ongoing work to deliver line speed improvements between Ashford International and Ramsgate and a traction power supply upgrade to facilitate the operation of longer trains. The train operator has committed to making improvements worth more than £70m across the franchise area by 2018.
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 patients have been treated by the NHS for drug abuse in (a) the UK and (b) South Thanet constituency in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The following table shows the number of individuals, in contact with specialist treatment services citing problematic drug use in England and Kent in each of the last five years.
Year | England | Kent |
2011-12 | 213,149 | 3,669 |
2012-13 | 209,561 | 3,316 |
2013-14 | 210,293 | 3,240 |
2014-15 | 206,117 | 3,474 |
2015-16 | 203,808 | 3,448 |
The commissioning of drug treatment services in England is done by local authorities and the services are provided by a combination of National Health Service or third sector providers.
As health is a devolved matter, figures are for England only. The National Drug Treatment Monitoring System collects data by local authority areas in England; it is not available for parliamentary constituency areas.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the cumulative effect of tobacco control measures on small retailers over the last 10 years.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Department reviews the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis, including by statutory requirement, as part of its policy development. The impact of individual measures is also assessed in advance of implementation through impact assessments, which are made publically available.
Asked by: Craig Mackinlay (Conservative - South Thanet)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much additional tax revenue his Department has collected as a result of Stamp Duty changes in South Thanet constituency since 1 April 2016.
Answered by Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs is planning to publish this information in Autumn 2017, in the Annual Stamp Tax Statistics bulletin.