Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many properties valued at or over £1 million were sold in October to December (a) 2014 and (b) 2015; and how much was raised in stamp duty land tax in each of those periods.
Answered by David Gauke
The table below summarises estimates for the number of and yield from property transactions between October and December 2014 and 2015. The estimates for 2014 include transactions in Scotland whereas estimates for 2015 do not because SDLT ceased to be applicable to Scottish transactions from 1 April 2015. The figures for the 2015-16 financial year are provisional.
| October to December 2014 | October to December 2015 |
Residential Transactions at or over £1m (Number) | 4,800 | 5,300 |
Residential Transactions at or over £1m (Stamp Duty Land Tax) | £577 million | £674 million |
Non-Residential Transactions at or over £1m (Number) | 3,800 | 3,600 |
Non-Residential Transactions at or over £1m (Stamp Duty Land Tax) | £708 million | £731 million |
Total Stamp Duty Land Tax | £2.87 billion | £2.91 billion |
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms are in place to monitor the use of HIV innovation funding; and when he plans to (a) conduct and (b) publish his review of the projects that have received such funding.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In November 2015, the HIV Prevention Innovation fund announced one year’s funding for seven projects led by voluntary sector organisations. Project funding included an allocation for monitoring and evaluation of their activities and projects have been asked to submit regular monitoring reports to Public Health England. Projects will be asked to report the outcome of their work at the end of their contract. These results will be combined into a single report, which will draw out and highlight important learning from all projects, to be presented and published before the end of the 2016/17 financial year.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which professional bodies provide accreditation for (a) counselling and (b) psychotherapy services for the NHS.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department has no statutory powers to compel professional bodies to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). We are working closely with the group who drafted the MoU, currently led by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, which has successfully increased the number of signatories since the document was first published in February 2015. The group will continue to encourage others to sign up to their revised MoU, which will be extended to include transgender people, over coming months.
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) provides independent accreditation of voluntary registers for counselling and psychotherapy services.
Accreditation by the PSA allows commissioners, employers, and service users to assure themselves that the practitioners on these registers meet high standards of training, conduct and competence, and at all times apply high ethical standards to their work.
The PSA accredits the following voluntary registers relevant to counselling and psychotherapy:
Association of Child Psychotherapists;
Association of Christian Counsellors;
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy;
British Association of Play Therapists;
British Psychoanalytic Council;
Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland;
National Counselling Society;
Play Therapy UK; and
UK Council for Psychotherapy.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that all professional bodies that provide accreditation for counselling and psychotherapy services for the NHS add their signatures to the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy in the UK, published in November 2015.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department has no statutory powers to compel professional bodies to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). We are working closely with the group who drafted the MoU, currently led by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, which has successfully increased the number of signatories since the document was first published in February 2015. The group will continue to encourage others to sign up to their revised MoU, which will be extended to include transgender people, over coming months.
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) provides independent accreditation of voluntary registers for counselling and psychotherapy services.
Accreditation by the PSA allows commissioners, employers, and service users to assure themselves that the practitioners on these registers meet high standards of training, conduct and competence, and at all times apply high ethical standards to their work.
The PSA accredits the following voluntary registers relevant to counselling and psychotherapy:
Association of Child Psychotherapists;
Association of Christian Counsellors;
British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy;
British Association of Play Therapists;
British Psychoanalytic Council;
Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland;
National Counselling Society;
Play Therapy UK; and
UK Council for Psychotherapy.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department is making on rolling out HPV vaccinations to men who have sex with men.
Answered by Jane Ellison
In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.
JCVI acknowledged that finding a way to implement its advice would be challenging and made clear that work was needed by DH and others to consider commissioning and delivery routes for this programme. This work is already underway and we will announce our plans as soon as we can.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the price of airline tickets of the falling price of oil.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The recent drop in crude oil price would not have the same effect in aviation as it does in, for example, petrol stations. It is common practice in aviation industry to purchase aviation fuel in advance by entering into long-term hedging contracts, which are designed to provide stability to the industry from short-term price fluctuations.
Should the current trend in the cost of oil prove long-term, it is likely to have an effect on ticket prices in the future in a highly competitive industry.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the merits of (a) extending and (b) making permanent permitted development rights to convert offices to residential buildings.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
To further support new housing supply and home ownership we are announcing further changes to permitted development rights. When the Government brought forward measures from the summer 2014 ‘Technical consultation on planning’ we undertook to further consider the case for extending the office to residential reforms, which are helping to provide more new homes on brownfield land. These rights are being used, with almost 4,900 applications received by councils in the five quarters ending June 2015 and 4,000 approved during the same period, without needing to go through the whole planning process.
Given the extensive use of the right, I can confirm that the Government intends to make permanent the permitted development right that provides for offices to change to residential use and extend the right to allow for demolition of the office and replacement by new housing on a like for like basis. This has the potential to allow for a new building to better accommodate new homes and improve design quality. We will allow for those applicants who already have prior approval or who secure a new prior approval to have three years from the date of their approval in which to complete the change of use.
Those areas that are currently exempt from the office to residential permitted development right, such as the City of London, the London Central Activities Zone and Central Manchester will remain so until May 2019. This will provide time for local authorities with exemptions to bring forward an Article 4 direction in line with national policy for these areas if they wish. Alongside this, we will also bring forward new permitted development rights for three years that allow buildings up to 500m2 used for light industry compatible with housing, to change to residential use. There will also be a permanent right for launderettes of up to 150m2 to change to residential. These changes will further increase the contribution to housing delivery and reduce unnecessary planning regulations.
These permitted development rights allow more development to take place without the need for a planning application. They will be subject to prior approval, allowing consideration by the local planning authority of specific planning matters.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made in developing a HIV prevention strategy; and what timetable he has set for the development of that strategy.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Department’s Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England (2013) addresses HIV prevention as part of wider action to improve sexual health and modernise sexual health services. It sets out the evidence base for sexual health improvement, including for people at risk of HIV. In addition, Public Health England (PHE) is currently consulting on its Health Promotion Strategic Plan for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV. This will complement the Department’s Framework and PHE expect to publish their strategic plan later this year.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress her Department has made in delivering a framework for strengthening health systems overseas; when that work is due to be finalised; and what engagement there has been between her Department and civil society organisations on that matter.
Answered by Grant Shapps
As part of the government response to the 2014 International Development Committee inquiry, DFID is committed to developing a framework for UK support to health systems strengthening in developing countries. DFID is working on the framework, consulting the Department of Health and other UK institutions. DFID is due to update the Committee on progress with a response in November 2015.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of her Department's research on development funding for infectious diseases.
Answered by Grant Shapps
DFID has supported some of the best research on infectious diseases. Recent examples include a new diagnostic for sleeping sickness, a new vaccine for rotavirus diarrhoea and a new drug for treating malaria in children. Globally, there is a lack of investment in research and development for infectious diseases. This includes diagnostics, drugs, vaccines, and research to improve the delivery of health services. DFID is the second largest Government funder of product development research.
The new Government made a manifesto commitment to lead a major new programme to develop drugs for the world’s deadliest diseases. DFID is currently working on a strategy to deliver on this commitment.