Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of introducing Not for EU labelling on trends in consumer behaviour in the purchase of agricultural products from UK-based businesses.

Answered by Mark Spencer

Labelling is a proportionate and necessary means of ensuring goods moving under the unique arrangements provided by the Windsor Framework are not being moved inappropriately into the EU.

We are not aware of any change in consumer behaviour based on the labelling requirements in place so far, which already sees those labels on products on shelves across the UK in practice. That reflects that the ‘not-for-EU’ label does not represent a change in standards of production and quality and is simply a means of ensuring the smooth movement of goods within the UK.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of introducing Not for EU labelling on agricultural businesses.

Answered by Mark Spencer

Since the Windsor Framework was agreed, we have engaged intensively with businesses across the supply chain, including with agricultural businesses to understand their perspectives. We have published guidance on the labelling requirements to support businesses to understand any changes that may be required.

We have undertaken a public consultation on the extension of the labelling requirement across Great Britain. This provided the opportunity for stakeholders, including agricultural businesses, to put forward their views on the approach. We will be publishing a response to the consultation in due course.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of funding arrangements for Freeports.

Answered by Jacob Young

The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.

This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an estimate of the of the proportion of projected profits earned by Freeports to be received by (a) offshore investors, (b) UK companies and (c) Scottish companies.

Answered by Jacob Young

The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.

This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the return of investment from Freeports for (a) the UK economy, (b) the Scottish economy and (c) shareholders and private investors.

Answered by Jacob Young

The Government has evaluated the public benefit and value for money each Freeport will deliver through the competitive process for selecting Freeport locations and subsequently through a robust business case process. Once approved, these business cases, including details of the benefits the Freeport will deliver, are published online. To ensure Freeports are delivering these returns to the UK and Scottish economies, the Government is also monitoring and evaluating their delivery; our approach is published here.

This allows us to identify the impacts Freeports are already having: for example, we announced in November 2023 that Freeports have already generated £2.9 billion in investment in under two years, which will in turn create 6,000 jobs. It also enables us to monitor the suitability of the Freeports package and identify opportunities to enhance and double down on it. For example, we have recently extended the tax reliefs in Freeports from five to ten years and launched a £150 million flexible Investment Opportunity Fund to secure specific business investment opportunities.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking with HMRC to help ensure taxpayers receive (a) prompt and (b) accurate responses to queries.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston

HMRC strives to answer all queries promptly and accurately. HMRC is also encouraging more customers to use its online services which are accessible 24/7 and regularly score satisfaction scores of over 80%.

The details requested by the Hon. Member are published monthly by HMRC at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-monthly-performance-report-february-2024

RBS branch closures

Found: Laura worked for many years as an assistant in the European Parliament to Alyn Smith while he was MEP