Guy Opperman

The Government has a long standing relationship with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) which has seen the successful negotiation of £289.3m to support economic growth in the first round of Growth Deals announced in July 2014.

The Government is engaged in on-going dialogue with all LEPs about the shape of the next round of Growth Deals, including the North East LEP.

The North East LEP Growth Deal provided £6m towards a £23m Rural Growth Network project which will improve infrastructure in key rural market towns helping to grow innovative, community-led networks of rural enterprise hubs to support rural business growth.

Figures showing the pupil premium allocations to schools in the Hexham constituency area, Northumberland local authority, and the North East in the financial years 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 are given in the table attached. These include allocations to academies in each area in each year. The figures for secondary schools include middle schools and all-through schools.

The Government understands the concerns of British dairy farmers over the current pressures caused by the price volatility of the global market. I brought forward a meeting of the Dairy Supply Chain Forum to 19 November to discuss ways of tackling this issue and Ministers and officials are both in regular contact with industry. In particular, we are working to help farmers to manage the short term impact of price volatility and maximise its potential. We have given dairy farmers the opportunity for greater influence in the marketplace through uniting in Producer Organisations. The new Countryside Productivity Scheme, which will start in 2015, will include grants for investment in equipment, start-up activity for young farmers, and projects to help tackle endemic diseases.

The long term prospects for growth in the dairy sector are good and UK dairy exports are now at record levels reaching £1.3billion last year, a nominal increase of 62% since 2009. We are pushing within Europe for better Country of Origin labelling for British dairy products. In the past year we have opened new markets for UK dairy in Cuba, Honduras, and Madagascar which supported 47% year on year growth in non-EU dairy exports in 2014.

We are actively implementing our Forestry and Woodlands Policy commitments to protect, improve and expand our forests. Specifically in relation to commercial forestry, this includes working with the sector’s Grown in Britain initiative to make planting new commercial woodland more economically attractive, and encouraging private sector investment through our Woodland Carbon Code. We are also looking at ways of reducing red tape affecting woodland planting and helping forestry businesses to become more competitive through the Rural Development Programme.

The Ovingham Bridge scheme is grant funded through the Department’s Local Pinch Point Fund. The Department monitors progress through quarterly returns submitted by Northumberland County Council. The detailed programme and project management is a matter for the local authority as scheme promoter.

The most recent return reports that construction began last March and the scheme is due for completion in July 2015.

The UK, with allies and partners, demanded and secured a tougher UN Security Council resolution - UNSCR 2165 - which required Syria to open its borders to humanitarian aid deliveries. In parallel, we have also intensified our work delivering humanitarian aid to people in desperate need, including across borders and conflict lines.

I am appalled at the death sentence given to Meriam Ibrahim, and her continued imprisonment. Immediately following her trial, I issued a statement describing her conviction as barbaric and calling upon the Government of Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion or belief and international human rights laws as enshrined in its own constitution. The Chargé d'Affaires of the Sudanese Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign Office on the 19 May at the request of Foreign Secretary. DFID Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Lynne Featherstone, reiterated our demand with the Sudanese Foreign Minister when she met him on 20 May. Our Embassy in Khartoum, that attended her trial, continues to press the Sudanese authorities for Meriam Ibrahim's release, and is in close contact with the defence team.

This is a priority human rights area for us. We speak out regularly against violence perpetrated against Christians. The Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Warsi) gave a speech in Washington in November last year on the need for unity in confronting the intolerance and sectarianism that leads to minority communities being persecuted. We also lobby for changes in discriminatory laws and practices that affect religious minorities, including Christians, and support UN resolutions on the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief.

We do not judge that Mr Filmus' appointment marks a significant change in Argentina's policy towards the Falkland Islanders. Rather we understand that Mr Filmus is accountable to Foreign Minister Hector Timerman, who retains overall responsibility for Falklands policy within the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

The Government appreciates the real difficulties and the serious implications the Keydata issue has had for investors and is following the situation closely.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is an independent non-governmental body responsible for regulating and supervising the financial services industry within the framework of statutory objectives and duties agreed by Parliament. Although the Treasury is responsible for the legal framework, it has strictly limited powers in relation to the FCA. In particular the Treasury has no general power of direction over the FCA and cannot direct its enforcement activities.

A copy of the National Planning Policy Framework is available in the Library of the House and on the following website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/6077/2116950.pdf

There is no 'section A85', but the section entitled Protecting Green Belt land includes paragraph 85 which sets out policy on how Green Belt boundaries should be defined.

Below is a link to recent Green Belt guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-further-strengthen-green-belt-protections

The Department is working on the 2012-based Household Projections and publication is planned for February 2015.

The same methodology is being used as for the 2011-based projections. This means that the ONS 2012-based population projections (already published at local authority level) provide a good initial indication of likely household growth to feed into local authorities’ assessments of housing requirements.

Household projections are a starting point for local authority assessments of housing need but local factors are also important. It is for local planning authorities to determine the impact that they have on their Local Plans, which will inevitably differ from area to area.

The specific publication date will be pre-announced in the usual way for National Statistics.

We have introduced a £1 billion business rate support package for 2014-15 including:

– a 2% cap in the Retail Price Index increase in the small business rates multiplier

– a retail discount of £1,000 for around 300,000 shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000

– a 12 month extension of small business rate relief doubling, benefitting over half a million businesses

– a 50 per cent discount for new occupants of long-term vacant shops, and

– allowing ratepayers to pay bills over 12 instalments.

In the attached tables, Table 1 give figures for Northumberland Unitary Authority and Table 2 gives figures for England.