Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will increase the pay to stay income threshold for South East England to that of Greater London.
Answered by Lord Barwell
The Government's position was made clear in my Written Statement of 21 November.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-11-21/HCWS274
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on 100 per cent business rate retention; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
We recently conducted a consultation on our approach to the implementation of 100% Business Rates Retention. There were over 450 responses from local authorities, businesses interests and other organisations. My officials are currently considering these and we will publish a summary of the responses and our proposed way forward in due course. In the meantime, we will continue close collaboration with local government in taking this work forward, including through the Business Rates Retention Steering Group, which is jointly chaired by the Local Government Association and the Department for Communities and Local Government.
The Steering Group was established to consider the mechanisms needed to set up and run the new business rates system, as well as the timetable and implementation of the reforms. It oversees the work of a set of technical working groups, each looking at particular aspects of the reforms. The Group meets on a regular basis and has done so on 6 occasions since April 2016. All papers for meetings are published here: http://www.local.gov.uk/business-rates
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to devolve greater responsibilities to democratically elected county councils and county unitary authorities.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Government has always believed that local decision-making plays an essential role in building stronger local economies and communities and is open to discussions over possible offers from areas that are interested in greater devolution of powers. This basic principle of localism underpins the Government's approach and is why programmes such as Growth Deals and Growing Places Fund have been made available to all local areas in England through Local Enterprise Partnerships.
I also refer my hon. Friend to the Government's publication, "The implications of devolution for England” (CM 8969) which outlines the views of both Coalition parties on the scope for greater decentralisation in England.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implications-of-devolution-for-england
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many small firms and shops will benefit from reductions in business rates in (a) England and (b) Crawley in 2015-16.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 bills, bringing the total support of 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices to £1.4 billion. This help includes:
These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:
Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.
Local authority level data is not yet available for the number of properties that will benefit from Autumn Statement 2014 measures in 2015-16. However, the attached table shows the number of hereditaments in 2014-15 that have benefitted from business rates measures extended in this year’s autumn statement.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the take-up has been of the Help to Buy schemes in (a) England and (b) Crawley constituency to date.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home.
By 31 October, nearly 66,400 families have bought a home with the assistance of the three Help to Buy schemes in England and 132 in the Crawley constituency.
The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme, at 31 October in England, broken down by constituency, local authority and postcode, are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics
The Department’s official statistics on sales for the Help to Buy: New Buy scheme, at 30 September are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-and-help-to-buy-newbuy-statistics-april-2013-to-september-2014 Figures are not available by constituency.
The Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme is managed by HM Treasury. The latest official statistics, at 30 September, are available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-september-2014
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many small firms and shops have benefited from reductions in business rates in (a) England and (b) Crawley constituency.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
We have introduced a £1 billion business rate support package for 2014-15 including:
– a 2% cap in the Retail Price Index increase in the small business rates multiplier;
– a retail discount of £1,000 for around 300,000 shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000;
– a 12 month extension of small business rate relief doubling, benefitting over half a million businesses;
– a 50 per cent discount for new occupants of long-term vacant shops, and;
– allowing ratepayers to pay bills over 12 instalments.
The Department does not collect data on a constituency basis, but the Crawley constituency lies entirely within the Crawley Borough Council boundary. Table 1 (attached) shows, where available, the estimated number of properties that will benefit from each of the reliefs introduced or extended in 2014-15 within Crawley Borough Council, as well as the amount of relief awarded. Table 2 (attached) provides the same data, but for England as a whole.
Asked by: Henry Smith (Conservative - Crawley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the take-up of the Help to Buy has been in (a) England and (b) Crawley constituency.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home.
Statistics for Help to Buy sales by constituency are published for Help to Buy: Equity Loan, but not for Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee and Help to Buy: NewBuy. These, together with statistics on the number of Help to Buy sales at local authority and postcode level are published on the Open Data Communities portal for Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee and Help to Buy: Equity Loan. This is available on the following link: http://opendatacommunities.org/def/concept/folders/themes/housing-market
Statistics on Help to Buy: NewBuy sales at local authority level are published on the Department’s website, available on the following link: http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/help-to-buy-equity-loan-and-newbuy-statistics
The number of Help to Buy: Equity Loan sales in the Crawley constituency (to 30 September 2014) is 49. The table below breaks down the total Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee, Help to Buy: Equity Loan and Help to Buy: NewBuy sales in England and the Crawley local authority area:
Mortgage Guarantee (to 30 June 2014) | Equity Loan (to 30 September 2014) | NewBuy (to 30 September 2014) | TOTAL | |
England | 15,091 | 33,911 | 5,518 | 54,520 |
Crawley local authority | 38 | 51 | 5 | 94 |
Data at constituency level is only available for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan Scheme.