Written Statements

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

Thursday 5 March 2015

Contingent Liability Notification (Wholesale Guarantee Scheme)

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

The British Business Bank has been established as an economic development bank supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK. The wholesale guarantee scheme is a new scheme to be administered by the British Business Bank aiming to encourage participating banks to lend more to small and medium-sized enterprises by addressing the high capital consumption associated with such lending.

The aggregate notional amount of the guarantees issued by the Department under the scheme is expected to be circa £2 billion, with extension beyond this subject to further review. This enables the Department to manage its risk appetite and limit its credit risk exposure.

As a matter of record I have placed a departmental minute in the Libraries of both Houses explaining the procedure followed and containing a description of the liabilities undertaken.

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Cape Town Treaty

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for Business and Enterprise (Matthew Hancock)]

Last year the Government signalled their intention to ratify the convention on international interests in mobile equipment and the protocol thereto on matters specific to aircraft equipment, commonly called the Cape Town treaty, by laying the convention and protocol before Parliament as Command papers.

This treaty contains a number of optional provisions which the UK can decide whether or not to adopt. BIS held a consultation on the optional provisions between June and August 2014. Today I am publishing the response to the consultation, impact assessment, draft implementing regulations and draft guidance. The response to the consultation sets out which of the optional provisions the UK intends to adopt. I am also laying a supplementary explanatory memorandum to accompany the Command papers to update Parliament on the declarations the UK will make under the treaty.

A short technical consultation is being held on the practical effect of the draft regulations. Comments are also invited on the draft guidance. Following the technical consultation the necessary regulations will be made to implement the treaty. The treaty will come into effect on the first day of the month, three months after the instruments have been deposited with the International Institute of Private Law (Unidroit), the depository for the treaty.

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Off-payroll Engagements

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Danny Alexander)]

Today, I am announcing the conclusions of HM Treasury’s second evaluation of Departments’ compliance with the rules governing off-payroll appointments in central Government.

New, tighter, rules were established in May 2012 when I published the review of the tax arrangements of public sector appointees. This review covers off-payroll appointments from the 2013-14 financial year.

Off-payroll workers play an important role in helping Departments meet short-term needs for specialist advice and interim service. The majority of these arrangements will have been in place for legitimate commercial reasons. However, it is essential that Government Departments are able to assure themselves that their off-payroll workers are meeting their tax obligations.

The recommendations of the May 2012 review mean that the Departments’ most senior staff must now be on payroll, and Departments have stronger powers to seek assurance in relation to the tax arrangements of their long-term, high-paid contractors.

I asked the Treasury to evaluate compliance with these rules on an annual basis. The results of this second evaluation are summarised below.

Below board-level off-payroll engagements

The rules for new off-payroll engagements apply where the engagement is for more than six months with a daily rate above £220. All new engagements from 23 August 2012 meeting these criteria must include contractual provisions that allow the Department to seek assurance that the worker is paying the right amount of tax and national insurance contributions and to terminate the contract if assurance is not provided. For any individuals where their engagement has either been terminated; ended as a result of the assurance process; or ended after assurance was sought but before it was received, Departments have been asked to provide personal details of the worker to HMRC for further investigation of tax avoidance.

In accordance with the guidance, Departments adopted a risk-based approach in deciding which contractors to seek formal assurance from. In 2013-14, Departments sought assurance on the tax affairs of 2,505 of their contractors and received satisfactory assurances from 2,248 of these engagements. In 257 cases contracts were terminated or came to an end before assurance was received. Further details can be found in the table annexed. This does not include the Department for Education which did not publish its annual report and accounts until 20 January 2015. The Treasury is examining the Department’s compliance with the guidance and results will be issued in due course.

A small number of Departments have made errors in how they have reported the information or implemented the policy. These include:

the Ministry of Defence which due to administrative error failed to seek assurance from a number of workers in 2012-13. I will be imposing a sanction of £1 million on the Ministry of Defence.

the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) which made errors in the reporting of the policy and has issued a correction to its accounts for 2013-14. After further investigation I am content that DWP has complied with the guidance.

UK Export Finance where this review has raised a number of concerns regarding implementation of the guidance. I have asked the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury to commission the Government Internal Audit Agency to carry out an independent audit of the implementation of the off-payroll guidance at UK Export Finance, following which further consideration will be given to the need for any sanction.

Notwithstanding these issues, the results of this review suggest that the large majority of central Government Departments are operating the rules effectively. This has resulted in a number of engagements, where adequate assurance was not provided, being brought to an end and individuals’ details being passed onto HMRC for further investigation. Referrals to HMRC occurred in all relevant cases across Government, apart from 27 cases at NHS England, where the information necessary for referral was not retained by the organisation. This has now been addressed by NHS England to enable HMRC to undertake future investigations of individuals where required.

Board-level and senior appointments

The guidelines set out in May 2012 also specified that, regardless of their tax arrangements, board-level officials and those with significant financial responsibility should be on the payroll of the Department or other employing body. This is unless there are exceptional circumstances, and such exceptions should not exist for longer than six months.

As a result of the recent review, I can announce that HM Treasury has determined two cases which have breached these rules, both appointments at an arm’s length body of the Department of Health. As a result, I will be imposing a sanction on the resource budget of the Department of Health of £470,740.

The sanction will be imposed for two breaches at NHS England, which relate to the regional director of finance and the director of finance for Central Southern CSU being engaged off-payroll for a year or more. In both cases the individuals provided the necessary assurance to NHS England regarding their tax arrangements.

This review has encountered instances where an off-payroll worker at board level or with significant financial responsibility has been seconded to the Department from another organisation. Where the full value of payments from the Department to the individual are put through the payroll of the seconding organisation this has not been treated as a breach of the Treasury guidance. In addition, where this review has encountered below board-level appointments with significant financial responsibility that are in place to maintain the delivery of critical and time-limited projects, they have not been required to be on the payroll. This is subject to the strict requirement that all such engagements should be subjected to the assurance process to determine that they are paying the right amount of tax.

The public sector needs to demonstrate the highest standards of integrity and it is essential that Government employers are able to assure themselves that their senior and highly paid staff are meeting their tax obligations. Each Department is responsible for seeking assurance as to the tax arrangements of the off-payroll appointees in the Department and its arm’s length bodies, and judging whether the evidence presented demonstrates satisfactorily that the appointee is meeting their tax obligations.

The fines imposed as a result of this review reflect the failure of Departments or their arm’s length bodies to follow the processes set out in the guidance. However, I do not believe that less funding should be available to the users of the health service or our armed forces as a result of these breaches, and so I can today announce that the Government will be giving money levied from these fines to support armed forces veterans and health charities.

The Treasury will continue to monitor compliance with the HMT guidelines and will conduct a similar review for the 2014-15 financial year.

Annex 1: New off-payroll engagements between 1 April 2013 and 31 March 2014, for more than £220 per day and for more than six months.

Broadband Infrastructure

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)]

I am today announcing the outcome of the review of the broadband cabinet and pole siting code of practice.

The broadband cabinet and pole siting code of practice came into force in June 2013 to complement planning improvement to fixed broadband infrastructure. The Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 made possible the required complementary changes to secondary telecommunications legislation to allow broadband cabinets, poles and overhead lines to be deployed in all areas except sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) for a period of five years.

These changes were part of a package of measures announced by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in September 2012 aimed at speeding up the process of superfast broadband rollout, reducing the costs of deployment, and incentivising further investment. The availability of superfast broadband to business and individuals is crucial to supporting economic growth and the planning changes made in 2013 represent an important contribution to the process of extending broadband connectivity. I am pleased to report that these benefits are already being delivered. I understand from BT that more than 500,000 premises have access to superfast broadband that would not have been served, or otherwise not served in a reasonable timeframe, if the planning measures did not exist.

The code of practice is an engagement framework for communications providers, planning authorities and stakeholders. It provides detailed guidance on the appropriate deployment of broadband infrastructure in order to meet the objectives of avoiding or minimising adverse impacts on the physical amenity and supporting good practice while increasing the pace of the roll out of superfast broadband.

The code of practice was devised by a working group comprising representatives from a range of industry and sector organisations including the Planning Officers Society, English Heritage, the National Parks Authorities, Openreach, Virgin Media and the UK Competitive Trade Association (UKCTA), with oversight from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and input from the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The same group was responsible for reviewing the effectiveness of the code of practice.

The review examined the code of practice by assessing the available evidence on compliance and performance, and considered whether any revisions were needed. The working group members prepared for the review by gathering feedback from their own organisations about the performance of the code and assessing its effectiveness through their own experience as code of practice users. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport as well as the Departments for Communities and Local Government, the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs also passed on feedback received which feeds into the review.

Overall there has been relatively little feedback about the performance of the code of practice. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport received one letter from a local authority in September 2013 complaining that communications provider was resisting compliance with the code but did not provide specific details about the nature of the non-compliance. The code was revised in November 2013 to correct a factual error, and at that stage a feedback form was circulated to local planning authorities and communication providers, although none were returned. The Department for Communities and Local Government received four letters about poor siting of cabinets. One specifically cited non-compliance with the code. The Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs did not receive any feedback or complaints about the code.

The Planning Officers’ Society (POS) gave three examples of non-compliance with the code involving Openreach and insensitive cabinet siting in the London area. Overall however, POS’s view was these were isolated examples that had been addressed constructively by the relevant communications infrastructure provider and that generally, the code of practice appeared to be working well.

The national parks authorities also reported that the code appeared to be working well and that in their experience, the real issue for residents of the national parks was an eagerness to receive superfast broadband connectivity at the earliest opportunity.

English Heritage reported two cases of non-compliance by a communications infrastructure provider involving poor siting of a broadband cabinet near a heritage asset and in the other case failing to consult with English Heritage. In both cases the provider accepted that lessons needed to be learned and were putting in measures to avoid it happening again.

Virgin Media had received no complaints about their compliance or otherwise with the code and the same applied to the membership of UKCTA. All communications infrastructure providers agreed that overall the code was working positively. Openreach were aware of a few cases of non-compliance by their contractors, but they were committed to complying with the code and these were isolated examples which they had addressed.

Conclusion

The working group jointly agreed that overall the code appeared to be working well. There were no complaints from members of the public or interested organisations about the efficacy of the code itself, and relatively few complaints about non-compliance. Of the small number of cases of non-compliance, in each case the problems were addressed by the relevant communications infrastructure provider and they reiterated their commitment to future compliance.

We will continue to monitor compliance with the code and a further review will be carried out in 18 months to ensure it remains up to date and relevant.

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Sporting Legacy

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mrs Helen Grant)]

As Minister responsible for sport, I am committed to delivering a lasting sports legacy from London 2012 for all. For the last time in this Parliament, I would like to update the House on progress on the Government’s sport legacy plan since October last year.

While I was disappointed by the headline figure, and in particular the decline in the number of people swimming, I was pleased to see that the latest figures from the active people survey show there are 1.6 million more people playing sport regularly since we won the bid for the games in 2005 and there were year-on-year increases for team sports such as football, rugby union and cricket.

I am committed to ensuring that Sport England’s investment of over £1 billion into improving grass-roots sport delivers real results. I have recently spoken to underperforming sports and Sport England will focus on programmes specifically targeted at what women, disabled people, people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds or low socio-economic groups need and want. Sports governing bodies have been left in no doubt that public funding to them is a privilege and not a right.

Since my last update, we have hosted the Government’s first national women and sport conference on 30 October 2014. At the conference, Sport England launched “This Girl Can”, a £10 million national lottery-funded campaign to get more women and girls active, whatever their age, shape or ability. The campaign seeks to tackle the barriers that stop women and girls from taking part in sport. So far, the video has had over 16 million views on YouTube and Facebook, and 3,600 partners have engaged with the campaign.

Also in October, Sport England and UK Sport agreed a package to fund British basketball teams and help talent development in the sport. Sport England will provide £1.18 million-worth of Exchequer and national lottery funding to British basketball to support the men’s, women’s, under 20s men’s and women’s teams from November 2014 to March 2017.

Later this month, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and UK Sport will publish a joint major events framework setting out how Government will continue to work strategically alongside key stakeholders to secure and deliver a portfolio of major sporting events for the UK.

In December, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a new £50 million package of Government investment into improving grass-roots football focused on local community multi-sport facilities and football coaching. The Government have dedicated £8 million of funding per year, for five years, toward 150 multi-sport hubs across 30 cities. In addition, a further £2 million per year, for five years, will support 25 new coach educators that can help triple the number of high-level coaches nationally and a bursary scheme to fund qualifications, with specific targets for female coaches and coaches from a black and minority ethnic background. The Government investment will be matched by the Football Association, alongside further contributions from other partners such as the Premier League and Football League clubs and local authorities with a shared ambition for over £200 million of total funding.

In February this year, Sport England launched “Club Matters”, a £3.6 million programme, which offers a range of online resources and is a one-stop shop to support club administrators and volunteers who make sport happen in their communities. Clubs who register can get access to seminars, e-learning and mentoring from business professionals. All the tools and support are quick and easy to access and free for clubs to use.

The UK continues to host a number of major sporting events, including at some of the country’s newest venues on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Since October, international events held on the Olympic park have included NEC wheelchair tennis masters at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre; the UCI track cycling world cup at Lee Valley VeloPark and England versus Malawi international netball at Copper Box arena.

This year England will be the proud host of the IRB rugby world cup, the third biggest sporting event in the world. I am pleased to say that ticket sales have been excellent and the event is estimated to generate a boost of almost £1 billion to the UK’s GDP, including £85 million of infrastructure projects and the support of 41,000 jobs. We also expect there to be more international visitors coming to the country than at any previous rugby world cup.

Elite sport

There has been a £2.3 million boost to summer Paralympic sports as a result of UK Sport’s annual investment review process. The results saw wheelchair fencing re-admitted to the world-class performance programme.

As part of the continued Government funding for elite sport to 2016, all funded athletes have been asked to give up to five days a year to inspire children and young people to get involved in sport. UK Sport’s most recent survey of this activity, completed in December 2014, revealed that athletes had given more than 10,000 days to community and school sport since London 2012.

World-class facilities

All venues on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park are now open, with the exception of the stadium which is undergoing transformation work until 2016, when it will become the home of West Ham United football club and the national competition centre for UK athletics.

All the sporting venues on the park provide world-class facilities at affordable rates and run extensive school and community programmes, as well as host major sporting events throughout the year.

The venues are proving to be extremely popular. Since opening in March 2014 the London Aquatics Centre has attracted more than 650,000 visitors and Lee Valley VeloPark has attracted more than 360,000 visitors. Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre has a busy club and schools programme: four hockey clubs play out of the centre and five university clubs have regular bookings. Seven schools have regular bookings at the centre, while pupils from 50 schools across the region took part in free hockey and tennis activities in October’s schools festival.

Building on the success of 2014—which saw the arrival of the Tour de France, the Invictus games and the Queen’s baton on the park—2015 promises more major sporting events. The rugby world cup will stage five matches in the stadium and the London Aquatics Centre will host both the British swimming championships and FINA world diving.

“Active People, Active Park” is the London Legacy Development Corporation’s flagship programme to promote physical activity on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and continues to deliver free sporting opportunities on and around the park for the communities in the vicinity. So far, 35,000 people have taken part in sporting activities as a result of this programme. “Motivate East” is a programme run by the London Legacy Development Corporation in partnership with Sport England and other local partners to provide disability sport opportunities in east London; more than 22,000 sporting opportunities have been delivered since February 2013.

Major sporting events

Over 70 major international sporting events have been secured for the UK following the London 2012 games, including over 30 world and European championships. Earlier this year we were successful in securing the 2019 netball world cup and since October we have successfully hosted several events, including the WTF world taekwondo grand prix series in Manchester and the ITF wheelchair tennis singles masters series at the Olympic park. Later this year we will proudly host the rugby world cup and world artistic gymnastics, among other events.

We continue to strive towards identifying and securing events and in March the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will publish a major sporting events framework, setting out how the UK will continue to support events.

Places people play

Sport England has invested £10 million into 148 local sport facilities through the latest round of its Inspired Facilities Fund, which were announced in October 2014. Sport England has now invested £100 million through Inspired Facilities to upgrade over 1,800 sports clubs.

Since my last update, East Manchester leisure centre has opened. The new leisure centre is part of the Beswick community hub, which has been developed in partnership with Manchester City football club and Sport England. Sport England invested £2 million of national lottery investment through its iconic facilities fund, an Olympic legacy fund which invested £36 million into 26 state of the art sports hubs, providing the right facilities in the right places.

Youth sport strategy

The latest active people survey results saw an increase in the number of 16 to 25-year-olds playing sport regularly, with 3.78 million young people playing sport once a week. This is an increase of 133,400 since 2005 when London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

Satellite Clubs is Sport England’s £49 million programme that brings community sports clubs into schools and colleges. With over 3,600 clubs already up and running, Sport England is on track to meet its target of setting up 5,000 clubs by 2017. There are over 480 clubs, which are girls only, and Sport England estimates that through these clubs over 18,000 girls are playing sport regularly.

Sportivate is Sport England’s £56 million national lottery-funded Olympic legacy programme which, since June 2011, has reached half a million 11 to 25-year-olds and introduced them to sport through a six to eight-week coaching course. The coaching courses offer over 80 sports, including traditional sports like football, cricket and rugby, and also activities like windsurfing, parkour and skateboarding.

Sport for Development

We have increased our work on Sport for Development, recognising the important role that sport can play in achieving other policy priorities, for example helping promote employability and skill development as well as developing social cohesion and self-confidence.

In November, I hosted a round-table with organisations delivering Sport for Development. The key message from this was the need for better measurement and evaluation of these programmes. Sport England subsequently commissioned the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam university to establish a common measurement framework for the sector which will assist organisations in evidencing their impact and assist in future funding applications.

A subsequent round-table last month showed that real progress had been made and the sector were developing their own narrative and working closely together.

Separately we have also provided funding to some Sport for Development projects, including those run by Sussex county cricket club, Street League and the Change Foundation.

Volunteering

Join In has continued apace with volunteer recruitment with over 250 local leaders now trained, enabling more people than ever to become involved with grass-roots sports clubs through the 30 established local networks.

In January 2015, 694 volunteering opportunities were added to the existing 19,000 volunteering opportunities on www.joininuk.org. These opportunities are accessible to over 100,000 Join In registered volunteers and are actively promoted by local leaders.

Join In continued to work with national broadcasters, highlighting volunteer opportunities through ITV and partnering BBC sport personality of the year with #The Big Thank You. During the live broadcast, high-profile sports personalities were approached and asked to call sports club volunteers to thank them for their input, the success of which trended globally on Twitter.

School games

The School games is Government’s framework for competitive school sport, which aims to give every schoolchild, no matter their ability or disability, the chance to participate in high-quality competitive sport. The School games offer intra-school, inter-school, county festivals and national finals competition for school children.

The School games national finals 2014 were held in Manchester on 4 to 7 September. A total of 1,600 athletes competed in 12 sports in venues across the city. With more than 20,000 spectators and more than 400 volunteers, the event provided an opportunity to highlight the importance of youth sport. The games have been a launch pad for many elite athletes—for example, 150 of the competitors at the recent Commonwealth games in Glasgow had taken part in the School games previously.

As of 10 January 2015, 16,491 schools were actively engaged in the School games. Manchester has been confirmed as the venue for the 2015 finals.

PE and school sport

The primary spaces facilities fund will enable 601 schools to improve their outdoor facilities and create spaces that will inspire and encourage pupils to take part in play.

Schools were awarded grants up to £30,000. All 601 schools have their projects planned this year; they are being installed in five waves throughout the academic year. Approximately 150 projects have now been completed with children enjoying their newly enhanced outdoor facility.

In October last year, Ofsted published a survey report on the primary school sport premium looking at the first year of delivery of the primary PE and sport fund. The results were positive showing lots of good practice and that, in the majority of schools visited, head teachers were using the funding to make improvements to PE and sport. The report highlighted the need for clearer guidance for schools, which has now been taken up by the Department for Education.

Disability sport legacy

Sport England continued its support for disability sport investing £2 million into seven national disability sports organisations to help more people access sport. The funding will provide impairment-specific support to national governing bodies and deliver engagement programmes. This is part of a package of over £170 million that Sport England is investing to get more disabled people playing sport.

International sport

The international element of our sporting legacy has drawn to a close with the conclusion of the successful international inspiration programme.

Delivered through a unique and highly successful partnership between UK Sport, the British Council, UNICEF UK and the newly established legacy charity International Inspiration it exceeded many of its goals, in particular reaching 15.6 million children and young people against a target of 12 million across 20 countries.

The British Council had particular responsibility for delivering the physical education elements in schools, which included capacity building with practitioners, working with young leaders aged 14 to 19 years old, and developing school partnerships between the UK and overseas International Inspiration programme countries. In addition, the British Council built relationships with ministries to achieve policy change.

I would like to thank all those involved in delivering a first-class programme and wish the International Inspiration charity continued success in the future.

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Planning

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (Brandon Lewis)]

I would like to update hon. Members on further technical measures that the coalition Government are making to improve the planning system, helping to deliver more homes and increase certainty for both applicants and local residents.

Reducing delays after planning permission is granted

The Government are determined to tackle delays associated with Section 106 negotiations and the use and discharge of planning conditions, which can lead to delays in development being built on the ground after planning permission is granted.

To speed up section 106, we will address this in the short term through amending planning guidance by confirming that section 106 negotiations should be dealt with in statutory time scales; set expectations of early engagement about the scope of section 106 agreements at the pre-application stage by all parties; encourage greater use of standardised clauses; and set expectations for greater transparency about the raising and spending of section 106 funds. We are also currently consulting on whether legislative changes to section 106 will be required to streamline the process during the next Parliament.

On planning conditions, we are publishing today the Government’s response to the consultation on a range of proposals to improve the use and discharge of planning conditions.

Scaling back gold-plating of EU directives

The environmental impact assessment regime stems from an EU directive, on top of the checks and balances in England’s planning system. The procedures go beyond those normally required for a planning application. This increases the work load of developers, local planning authorities and the consultation bodies, adding cost and creating delays. There is currently confusion about when they are required, leading to gold-plating of the directive by local authorities and developers.

We will shortly be laying regulations which will significantly reduce the number of housing schemes and proposals for other urban development which are not likely to have significant effects on the environment but which currently have to be screened by local planning authorities. This will remove unnecessary gold-plating, reduce costs and provide more certainty for all interested parties.

Cancelling redundant policy from the last Administration

The coalition Government have sought to abolish top-down planning and streamline Whitehall planning rules. As Ministers explained on 24 January 2014, Official Report, Column 15WS, in 2010, the coalition Government cancelled the last Government’s top-down eco-towns programme, as part of our commitment to localism and to supporting locallyled development. Despite a pledge of 10 new towns by the last Government, the eco-towns programme built nothing but resentment. The initiative was a total shambles, with developers abandoning the process, application for judicial review, the timetable being extended over and over, and local opposition growing to the then Government’s unsustainable and environmentally damaging proposals.

The eco-town planning policy has remained on the books, as its planned repeal has necessitated us considering whether a strategic environmental assessment is required (as a consequence of yet another EU directive). A screening assessment, carried out by independent consultants, has concluded that cancellation of the eco-towns planning policy statement is unlikely, by itself, to have significant environmental effects, and so a full strategic environmental assessment is not required. We are consequently cancelling “Planning policy statement: Eco-towns: A supplement to planning policy statement 1” from July 2009. We are saving the policies for north-west Bicester until Cherwell district council has an up-to-date local plan in place, which is currently under examination.

Updating planning guidance

As part of roll-out of the new streamlined planning guidance online resource, we are updating planning guidance on a number of issues. We will shortly be updating planning guidance in relation to aerodromes and the change of use of agricultural buildings into homes. We will also be publishing planning guidance to support the new planning policy on sustainable drainage systems.

Updated household projections were published on 27 February which will provide an up-to-date basis for local authorities to determine their housing need. The new household projections cover the period 2012-37 for England and local authorities; they update the previous “2011-based interim household projections”, and have taken account of the latest Office for National Statistics 2012-based sub-national population projections. Planning guidance has been updated to make clear that the new projections are the most up-to-date and should now be used to take forward plan making.

Streamlining consenting requirements for national infrastructure

We are today publishing the formal Government response to the consultation on streamlining consenting requirements for nationally significant infrastructure projects. Businesses applying for a development consent order will be able to benefit from a more streamlined process to obtaining consents. Businesses using this streamlined approach will benefit from more certainty over their application process and a simplified regime for obtaining development consent.

Supporting the potential for shale gas extraction

The Government are taking steps to ensure that we lead the way with robust and efficient regulation of shale oil and gas. Shale gas has the potential to increase our energy security, create thousands of jobs, and reduce carbon emissions. This nascent industry presents new challenges for mineral planning authorities in how they consider and determine planning applications for shale exploration.

This is why, as part of the £5 million support package announced in the autumn statement in December, we have decided to make £1.2 million available in 2015-16 to support local authorities to assist with the administration of shale planning applications, ensuring they can be handled, with due process and a fair hearing in an efficient and timely manner. A prospectus inviting bids for funding to boost local authorities’ capacity and capability to deal with these applications has been published today.

We are also today publishing for technical consultation a proposal to improve the process for potential petroleum exploration, including shale gas, through making a minor amendment to existing permitted development rights in relation to mineral exploration.

This change would grant permission for the drilling of boreholes for groundwater monitoring for petroleum exploration, enabling limited works to be carried out to establish baseline information on the groundwater environment in advance of, or in parallel to, any planning application or applications coming forward for such development.

For this activity, it would improve environmental monitoring and put petroleum exploration on the same footing as that capable of being carried out under existing permitted development rights for mineral exploration more generally. We consider that the amended right should, with the exception of an intended raising of the current height restriction of structures needed to carry out the development from 12 to 15 metres, be subject to the same restrictions and conditions that apply to the existing permitted development rights.

Promoting regeneration and new homes in London

On 20 February, as part of our long-term economic plan for London, the Government announced proposals to promote brownfield regeneration in London. This includes beginning discussions on powers for the Mayor over lines of sight and wharves. The announcement also contained proposals to take forward new housing zones and further free up public sector land.

We recently laid secondary legislation at the request of the Mayor that will establish a mayoral development corporation vested with local planning powers for Old Oak and Park Royal from next month. This will help enable the regeneration of the site which crosses local authority boundaries and to maximise the benefits of a High Speed 2 and Crossrail station, in line with the Mayor’s ambitions to create 24,000 homes and 55,000 jobs in the area

These measures illustrate the practical steps we are taking to decentralise decision making, cut unnecessary bureaucracy, and help increase house building and economic growth.

Copies of the documents associated with these announcements are available online at: http://www.parliament. uk/writtenstatements.

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Smart Metering

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Mr Edward Davey)]

Following a proposal from the Data and Communications Company (DCC) to adopt an alternative delivery plan, I have today approved the DCC’s plan as provided for under powers in the DCC’s licences—which were granted under sections 7AB(2) of the Gas Act 1986 and section 6(1A) of the Electricity Act 1989. Under this revised plan, the DCC will plan to deliver operational services from April 2016 rather than its current target of December 2015.

The Data and Communications Company is responsible for establishing the enduring data and communications infrastructure over which energy suppliers will operate smart electricity and gas meters.

It is vital that the DCC delivers to a plan in which all parties have confidence. I have therefore made available up to a maximum of six months of contingency which will be strictly governed by my Department, and must be duly justified, to enable the DCC’s systems and services to come together with the energy companies’ systems and processes in a co-ordinated start to the main installation phase.

In the meantime consumers are already benefiting from the early roll-out of smart meters with over 1 million meters operating under the programme.

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Environment Council: Agenda

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dan Rogerson)]

My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Baroness Verma, and I will attend the EU Environment Council in Brussels on 6 March.

Following the adoption of the agenda the list of “A” items will be approved.

There will be four non-legislative items for an exchange of views. These are Greening the European Semester Communication from the Commission, annual growth survey 2015; the global post-2015 agenda—taking stock of negotiations; and the Energy Union. The remaining non-legislative item is the road to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Paris. This item will be for exchange of views on the submission of the EU and member states. It will be followed by adoption of the submission of EU and member states intended national determined contribution (INDC).

Over the lunch Ministers will be invited to discuss the findings of the state of the environment (SOER) report, following a presentation by the European Environment Agency.

There is a series of AOB items covering:

a global phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) under the Montreal protocol;

soil sealing; and

second ministerial conference on environment and renewable energies of the western mediterranean dialogue.

[HCWS346]

Justice and Home Affairs: Pre-Council Statement

Thursday 5th March 2015 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mrs Theresa May)]

The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council will be held on 12 and 13 March in Brussels. My hon. Friend the Minister of State for Civil Justice and Legal Policy (Lord Faulks QC) and I will attend on behalf of the United Kingdom. As the provisional agenda stands, the following items will be discussed.

The Interior session on 12 March will begin in mixed Committee with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland (non-EU Schengen States). The Council will discuss migration in the context of ongoing migratory pressures on member states and further deaths in the Mediterranean following the recent unseasonal increase in sea crossings. This discussion will also anticipate the Commission’s forthcoming proposals on a new ‘European Agenda on Migration’. The Government have offered their broad support for the Commission’s intention to pursue a more coherent and co-ordinated approach to work with key countries of origin and transit, and to better linking action ‘upstream’ to migration and asylum policies within the EU. Any new agenda should maintain the approach set out in the October JHA Council’s conclusions on migratory pressures, including maintaining the EU’s focus on work upstream and ensuring that all member states meet their responsibilities regarding migration, asylum and border management.

The presidency has tabled an item on Bulgarian and Romanian accession to Schengen, at the request of Romania and Bulgaria, who are seeking to finalise their accession to the borders aspects of the Schengen acquis—which does not affect the UK—and then lower border controls with their EU neighbours. However, accession remains blocked by a number of the member states concerned. The presidency may well withdraw it from the agenda (as they did in October and December). As this currently concerns only borders elements of Schengen, the UK does not have a vote.

Greece has asked for the Greek action plan on asylum and migration to be placed on the agenda. The UK has worked closely with Greece over the last five years, both bilaterally and through the EU European Asylum Support Office, to help build its asylum and border security capacity to make it harder for illegal immigrants to enter the EU; and ensure that if they do get into Greece, a viable asylum system exists so they are more likely to remain there than move on. Much progress has been made but momentum needs to be maintained, both to ensure that Greece continues building an effective asylum and border control system, and that ultimately Dublin returns may resume to that country.

During the main Interior meeting the Council will discuss counter terrorism where the presidency intends to agree a “road map” for the implementation of measures agreed at January’s informal JHA Council in Riga and at the recent European Council. The EU Counter Terrorism Co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, is pressing for this to focus on the possible amendment to the Schengen borders code (to allow routine checks on EEA nationals entering the Schengen area), firearms and internet referrals. The UK will push again for progress on intra-EEA PNR and press for more effective information exchange, in order to counter the opportunities that free movement within the EU provides to terrorists.

Justice day will begin with the Latvian presidency seeking a partial general approach on chapters II, VI and VII of the proposed data protection regulation. Chapter II deals with the key principles underpinning the instrument, including the conditions for using consent as a legal basis for data processing. Chapters VI and VII provide for the so-called “One-Stop-Shop” which seeks to provide a streamlined regulatory framework where business and citizens only have to deal with one data protection authority with the greater legal certainty that provides. The presidency’s overarching ambition remains to secure a general approach at the June Justice and Home Affairs Council on this file. The Government remain committed to seeing a proportionate regulation which balances the rights of individuals and the legitimate needs of private and public sector organisations to process personal data.

There will be a discussion on the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) proposal. We expect debate to centre on structural and related internal issues. While the UK plays an active role in the negotiations in order to shape and protect our position as a non-participating member state, we do not anticipate a need to intervene on these internal matters.

The presidency will present a general approach in relation to the directive on Legal Aid. This proposal aims to establish common rules to ensure that any persons suspected or accused of a crime, whose liberty is being deprived at the early stage of proceedings, have immediate access to legal aid. During negotiations, the Council has considered questions around the scope of the directive. The UK has not opted in to this proposal though it monitors negotiations.

The presidency will present a general approach in relation to the Commission’s proposal to reform Eurojust, covering the whole text of the proposal with all references to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) removed. Given that Eurojust’s relationship with the EPPO is not covered in the revised text, it is impossible to take a definitive view on items such as governance arrangements. However, the presidency’s general approach text is broadly positive from a UK perspective. One of our key concerns was to ensure that member states are not obliged to give additional powers to their National members. It should also be noted that, even if a general approach is agreed (as per the presidency’s plan), there is no guarantee that the European Parliament will be in a position to start trilogue negotiations immediately given it has been slower than the Council in dealing with the file.

The presidency will then seek a partial general approach on the proposed regulation on promoting the free movement of citizens and businesses by simplifying the acceptance of certain public documents in the EU. This will cover the chapters which deal with the abolition of apostilles, use of the internal market information (IMI) online system and rationalisation of certified copies, translations and administrative co-operation between member states through an online system. It will exclude the chapter and articles on multilingual forms. A political declaration to guard against the EU being given exclusive external competence on areas covered by this regulation is also expected to be presented at the meeting.

Over lunch, the presidency proposes a discussion on tackling radicalisation in prisons, an area where the UK can offer to share best practice to other member states.

[HCWS351]