Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the business rates contribution of Hinkley Point B Nuclear Power Station has been to its relevant local authority as (a) a raw figure and (b) as a proportion of local authority income in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Department does not hold information on the business rates collected by local authorities from individual ratepayers or in respect of particular properties.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the business rates contribution of Dungeness B Nuclear Power Station has been to its relevant local authority as (a) a raw figure and (b) as a proportion of local authority income in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Department does not hold information on the business rates collected by local authorities from individual ratepayers or in respect of particular properties.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the business rates contribution of Sizewell B Nuclear Power Station has been to its relevant local authority as (a) a raw figure and (b) as a proportion of local authority income in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The Department does not hold information on the business rates collected by local authorities from individual ratepayers or in respect of particular properties.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect of the UK no longer complying with the REACH regulation on the (a) costs and (b) administrative requirements for the chemical industry to continue trading with other EU states.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
When we leave the EU we will bring REACH into UK law, retaining what it sets out to achieve including a high level of protection of human health and the environment.
The nature of our future trading relationship with the EU is a matter to be settled during the next phase of negotiations.
The Government published “EU Exit: Long-term economic impacts” in November 2018. This paper provides estimates of the economic impact of a range of future trading relationships with the EU.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the number of jobs in the chemicals sector on Teesside of the UK diverging from REACH regulations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
When we leave the EU we will bring Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) into UK law, retaining what it sets out to achieve including a high level of protection of human health and the environment.
The nature of our future trading relationship with the EU is a matter to be settled during the next phase of negotiations.
The Government published “EU Exit: Long-term economic impacts” in November 2018. This paper provides estimates of the economic impact of a range of future trading relationships with the EU by sector. One of the drivers of this estimate of impact is the cost of potential regulatory divergence.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for his Department to bring forward legislative proposals to extend the application of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 to seafarers.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
An Order in Council making the legislative changes is expected to be laid in draft before Parliament next month. This will be subject to the affirmative process and debates will be scheduled as the parliamentary timetable permits before final approval is sought from the Privy Council.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 11 January 2016 to Question 21124, what (a) premium and (b) subsidy payments the Northern franchisee is expected to make or receive in each year of that franchise's duration.
Answered by Grant Shapps - Secretary of State for Defence
The final subsidy paid to Arriva Rail North in 2016/17 was £281m which includes the net financial impact of allowable Changes that have taken place to the Franchise Agreement.
The final subsidy to be paid in respect of the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years is still not definitively known, as the financial impact of allowable Changes to the Franchise Agreement is still being finalised.
The final subsidy to be paid this year and in future years will be the contracted amount, again revised due to allowable Changes to the Franchise Agreement.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will remove the responsibility for race horse welfare from the British Horseracing Authority and award it to a new, government-appointed, independent body.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) works in collaboration with the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare to try and make racetracks as safe as possible. The number of racehorse fatalities at racetracks has been falling in general since 2012, except for an increase last year.
However, I and the BHA agree that more must be done to make horseracing safer and I have been in regular discussion with the horseracing authorities about how this can be achieved. I particularly welcome the establishment of the BHA’s Horse Welfare Board and I will be meeting the newly appointed independent chair shortly. I will await evidence of how effective these new arrangements are in practice. I am not currently planning to establish a new regulator in the interim.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the cost of the public purse has been of the Government's producing analysis papers relating to the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Kwasi Kwarteng
The Department does not record costs at such a detailed-level, instead recording costs on a functional basis, and does not hold this information for other departments.
Asked by: Mike Hill (Labour - Hartlepool)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for the roll-out of buses with audio visual next stop and final destination announcements in (a) the north east of England and (b) Hartlepool.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
In Summer 2018 the Government consulted publicly on plans to use powers in the Bus Services Act 2017 to make Regulations requiring the provision of audible and visible information onboard local bus services across Great Britain. This follows the Government’s commitment, set out in the Inclusive Transport Strategy, to invest £2 million towards ensuring that audio visual equipment is installed on buses.
We continue to analyse responses to the consultation and expect to announce our next steps regarding the making of Regulations and publication of guidance later in the year.