Nadhim Zahawi

I have asked the British Business Bank to publish its analysis of equity finance available to UK small business before the end of the year, which will include analysis on UK venture capital. The Department also published an economics paper in January 2012 on SME access to finance, which summarized the evidence at that time about the equity gap in UK venture capital. The paper is available at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32263/12-539-sme-access-external-finance.pdf

Property developers and communications providers recognise the importance of superfast broadband provision in new builds, and that consumers' expectation is that these services will be available on the day they move in. DCMS, with the Department for Communities and Local Government, is working with house builders and communications providers to ensure that newly built residential properties have access to fixed line superfast broadband. For temporary construction sites, where it is not possible to provide fixed line services because of time constraints, wireless and satellite options are available.

Where appropriate, construction budgets for studio schools includes additional funding for specialist equipment but such funding is only provided in exceptional circumstances where equipment to support a school specialism is particularly high-cost and essential to curriculum delivery.

Employers now have a vital role to play in designing and endorsing qualifications. From this September, ‘Employer recognition’ is required if a qualification is to count in school or college performance tables.

The move to the paper based application approach for the Basic Payment Scheme 2015 has not had an impact on the validation and verification of claims and the Rural Payments Agency remain on track to make the majority of payments in December.

Good progress is being made on processing Basic Payment Scheme 2015 applications including capturing changes that were made on the paper forms along with any new requirements of the scheme onto the Rural Payments IT system. We currently have access to around 800 people to perform this processing work.

The Animal Reporting and Movement Service (ARAMS) was launched on 1 April 2014. The Government’s target was to capture 70% of sheep/goat movements electronically within the first year of operation and to increase the proportion of electronic movements recorded (the date the movement was recorded on ARAMS) to 80% within 5 years.

The proportion of paper vs. electronic moves recorded each month so far on ARAMS is:

There are a range of options available to sheep keepers to manage individual recording. Electronic tags can be read by eye (manually recording the visible individual animal number) or electronically using an electronic reader. Keepers may also choose for electronically identified sheep, which must be individually recorded, to be read on their behalf at central point recording centres (CPRCs).

It is not possible to say how many sheep farmers in England have the ability to read electronic sheep tags electronically as this is dependent on the number of keepers that have purchased EID readers. Defra does not hold this information.

As at 6 February 2015 (10.30 am) the following registrations to use the new Animal Reporting and Movement Service (ARAMS) for England have been made:

UK support contributed to a halving of global malaria death rates since 2000. DFID continues to be a global leader in malaria control. UK aid is saving lives around the world, including through our support to the Global Fund (our replenishment commitment will fund 40 million bednets), UNITAID (to increase access to new diagnostics and medicines), research to accelerate the development of drugs, diagnostics and insecticides, and helping countries scale up their own national malaria control programmes.

The information held by the Department on the proportion of Discretionary Housing Payment funding spent and returned by each local authority and the average amount of funding returned in the last three years is provided in the table which I will place in the House library.

Tourism is a delegated responsibility to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Government. Within their 'Territorial Recovery and Development Plan', the BVI Government have made an assessment, of the steps required, working alongside the private sector to support the tourism sector's recovery.

The British Government remains committed to working with the Governments of the BVI and other affected Overseas Territories as they develop their longer-term recovery plans.

At the World Bank meetings last month the UK announced a private sector task force to mobilise business to play a prominent role in the reconstruction of the Overseas Territories. The task force will identify and implement practical steps to increase flows of private sector financial support for reconstruction in the region.

We regret the Kurdish referendum on independence and continue to respect the unity and territorial integrity of Iraq. Any political process towards independence should be agreed with the Government of Iraq. We are urging all parties, including Iraq’s neighbours, to maintain calm and avoid statements and actions that could be perceived as inflammatory, particularly in light of events in Kirkuk. Iraq’s future lies in dialogue.

We are not aware of reports that aid intended for humanitarian projects, such as rebuilding homes of Gazans, has been misused by Hamas. The UK has recently invested £0.5million in the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM), specifically a Materials Monitoring Unit, to ensure that any reconstruction materials made available to Gazans to repair their homes are closely tied to an assessment of needs and subjected to rigorous spot checks. This will safeguard against the risk of building materials being diverted towards building tunnels. The GRM was established in November as a temporary and tripartite arrangement between the UN, Palestinian Authority and Government of Israel. Through the mechanism, 700 Gazans have been able to purchase much needed construction material in order to start the rehabilitation of their homes.

We have made no assessment on this issue. We are encouraging Israel to continue to work with the Palestinian Authority in order to find the perpetrators. We will look very closely at any information about who is responsible.

The UK does not talk to Hamas. It remains the Government's position that Hamas must adhere to the Quartet Principles, by renouncing violence, recognising Israel, and accepting previously signed agreements. To date, 02 July, they have not.

Approximately 1200 school nurses are employed by the NHS, and in 2013-14, the estimated average paybill per full time equivalent (FTE) school nurse was £41,061. This includes earnings plus the costs of employer pension and national insurance contributions.

The National Planning Policy Framework expects local planning authorities to meet the objectively-assessed needs for market and affordable housing in their area, insofar as it is consistent with other policies in the Framework. As part of the plan-making process we expect authorities to consider what infrastructure is needed to support development, and work with neighbouring authorities and transport providers, to develop plans for how it can be provided. The cumulative impact of development, and the need for infrastructure to support development, are material considerations in decisions on individual proposals.

There has been no such recent assessment of the accountability of parish councils and their administration of burial plots. The underlying statutory duties for local (burial) authorities are outlined in the Local Authorities Cemeteries Order 1977. The associated guidance is overseen by the Ministry for Justice and is available at:

www.justice.govuk/downloads/burials-and-coroners/burial-ground-managers.pdf