Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when his Department plans to publish housing projections for 2012; and what those projections were for (a) Northumberland and (b) Ponteland.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support the UK dairy industry.
Answered by George Eustice
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library a copy of section A85 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
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
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department expects the refurbishment of Ovingham Bridge in Hexham constituency to be finished; and if he will publish a stage by stage assessment of likely progress points.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on long-term commercial forestry.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what discussions he has had with North East Local Enterprise Partnership on the timing and size of the second phase of Local Growth Deals.
Answered by Greg Clark
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of how many small firms and shops in (a) England and (b) the Northumberland County Council area have been affected by the recent reduction in business rates.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that UN Security Council Resolution 2139 is being complied with in relation to the humanitarian crisis in Syria; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that Financial Conduct Authority disciplinary proceedings relating to Stewart Ford, formerly of Keydata Investment Services, are concluded as quickly as possible.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
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.
Asked by: Guy Opperman (Conservative - Hexham)
Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what support his Department provides for rural Northumberland.
Answered by Greg Clark
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.