Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of further restrictions on the use and sale of fireworks.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Restrictions on the sale and use of fireworks already exist under the Fireworks Regulations 2004 and the Pyrotechnic Articles (Safety) Regulations 2015. The majority of people have a sensible and responsible attitude to fireworks and, on balance, I do not believe that further restrictions on their use would be necessary or proportionate.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage competition and switching between providers in consumer markets.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Government is determined to encourage more consumers to vote with their feet in key markets like energy, banking and telecoms. We are currently conducting a Call for Evidence on a set of six “switching principles”. Once fully implemented, these will make the process quicker and easier for consumers.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Government has provided in Start Up Loans in Mid Worcestershire constituency since their creation.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Up to the end of September 2015, 20 Start-Up Loans have been issued in the Mid Worcestershire constituency at a value of £107,810.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, by what measures landlords may be held responsible for the anti-social behaviour of their tenants in houses of multiple occupation.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Where a house in multiple occupation requires a licence, the local authority can attach a condition to the licence which specifies how the licence holder deals with the behaviour of occupiers. Breach of a licence condition is an offence subject to a fine of up to £5,000.
The local authority can also, subject to approval from a First Tier Property Tribunal, make Special Interim Management Orders to take over the management of individual private rented properties which give rise to significant problems of anti-social behaviour if the landlord does not take action to deal with the problem.
The Government is commited to raising standards in houses in multiple occupation more generally, so they are a safe place to live in and do not blight the neighbourhoods in which they are found. We will shortly engage with the sector on options for extending the scope of mandatory licensing of houses in multiple occupation.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy in on continued funding for Bikeability in schools after March 2016.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
We will take a decision on future funding for the Bikeability programme beyond March 2016 following the outcome of the Spending Review.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which 10 sectors received most support from the British Business Bank in (a) Mid Worcestershire constituency, (b) Worcestershire and (c) the UK since that bank was established.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Since 1st November 2014, the British Business Bank (BBB) has been an operationally independent public limited company, which is wholly owned by Her Majesty’s Government. The tables (attached) highlight BBB programmes by sector for Mid Worcestershire, Worcestershire and the UK. Start-Up Loans are presented separately for breakdowns beyond region.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much support the British Business Bank has provided to small and medium-sized enterprises in Mid Worcestershire constituency since its creation.
Answered by Anna Soubry
Since 1st November 2014, the British Business Bank has been an operationally independent public limited company, which is wholly owned by Her Majesty’s Government. Between November 2014 and August 2015, the British Business Bank have facilitated over £1.56m of lending to 40 businesses in Mid Worcestershire.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of differences in the roll-out of superfast broadband in each county.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Current availability of superfast broadband at county and local authority level is published by Ofcom. The latest data (June 2014) is available here:http://infrastructure.ofcom.org.uk/
A data table listing all local authorities in the UK is available here:http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/infrastructure/2014/Fixed_local_authority.csv
Over 2 million additional premises have been given access to superfast broadband since June 2014. This will be reflected at local and county levels in the next Ofcom figures.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish guidance notes on theatre tax relief.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is currently migrating hundreds of existing guidance manuals from its own website to GOV.UK. HMRC expects the changeover to be completed over the next few months. The department's priority has been moving existing manuals, but I am pleased to say that the Theatre Tax Relief Manual will be one of the first new manuals to be published on GOV.UK. In the interim, HMRC will shortly make available a temporary version via GOV.UK.
The theatre tax relief was introduced with effect from 1 September 2014. The regime provides relief for companies producing qualifying theatrical productions. There is a special unit within HMRC for the creative industries that regularly advise taxpayers on this relief and how to make claims.
Asked by: Nigel Huddleston (Conservative - Mid Worcestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his policy is on the future of Just Solutions International.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
Just Solutions international (JSi) was established in the previous parliament as the internal commercial brand of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).
Given our ambitious justice reform programme and the need to focus departmental resources on domestic priorities, the Justice Secretary has decided that JSi should cease to operate. NOMS will therefore not pursue any new projects with international partners through JSi.
One project led by NOMS through JSi is sufficiently far advanced that the Government has decided withdrawing at this late stage would be detrimental to HMG’s wider interests. Under the JSi brand, NOMS submitted an initial bid to the Saudi Arabian authorities in August 2014, and a final bid in April 2015, to conduct a training needs analysis for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prison service staff, via ELM, an executive agency of the Saudi Ministry of Finance. NOMS’s bid was signed off through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Overseas Security and Justice Assistance (OSJA) process, and was supported by UKTI and the British Embassy in Riyadh.
NOMS will therefore honour this outstanding bid and enter into a contract subject to the final decisions of ELM. All work relating to this project will be completed within 6 months of starting.
My Department will continue to promote the rule of law, good governance and judicial reform internationally, working with FCO, DFID and other Government Departments as required. In future, any support will be provided on a cost recovery rather than a commercial basis.