Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether (a) the Prime Minister and (b) the Prime Minister’s officials had discussions with the (i) the Home Department, (ii) Attorney General and (iii) Metropolitan Police on Special Escort Group policing for (A) Taylor Swift and (B) her entourage.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The safety of the British public is the first priority of this Government. We make no apologies for ensuring citizens are protected.
It is entirely right that for major events in the capital, the Government has a dialogue with the Metropolitan Police and Mayor to discuss planning to ensure events happen safely. Operational decisions on security arrangements are made by the police, independent of politicians.
It is long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on security arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans the Government has for revising his policy on accepting hospitality from the (a) football and (b) music industry.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answers by my hon. Friend, the Minister without Portfolio, during the Urgent Question, Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality, on 14 October 2024, Official Report, Columns 594-602.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether planned revised guidance on Ministers accepting hospitality from the (a) football and (b) music industry will apply to specialist advisers.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial Code guidance on hospitality applies to ministers.
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out the requirements for Special Advisers in respect of hospitality. .
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has had discussions with (a) the Premier League and (b) football clubs on (i) statutory football regulation and (ii) the taxation of football clubs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Ministerial meetings with external organisations will be published in the usual way on gov.uk as part of the government’s transparency agenda.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 9549 on Royal and VIP Executive Committee, who represents her on the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary is responsible within Cabinet and accountable to Parliament for the protective security of members of the Royal Family and public figures at particular risk.
The Home Secretary has delegated responsibility to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC).
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the proportion of revenue spent which has been generated by the Residential Property Developer Tax.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Residential Property Developer Tax has raised £157 million in 2022-23 and £103 million in 2023-24. Revenue raised from the tax goes into the UK Consolidated Fund, which contributes to the government’s ambitious Building Safety Package aiming to bring an end to unsafe cladding, provide reassurance to homeowners and support confidence in the housing market. Spend on interventions in 22/23 alone was £713 million [22/23 trust statement] with the accelerated pace of remediation being a key government priority.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the revenue raised by the Residential Property Developer Tax.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Residential Property Developer Tax (RPDT) is a 4% tax on the most profitable businesses undertaking UK residential property development to help pay for building safety remediation. The tax applies to developers' profits exceeding an annual allowance of £25 million for an accounting period.
The tax forms part of the government’s broader programme of work on building safety, which also includes significant capital funding (around £5.1bn) to remediate unsafe cladding on high-risk buildings.
According to HMRC’s latest Corporation Tax statistics, the tax raised £157 million in 2022-23 and £103 million in 2023-24.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, whether (a) the Attorney General has had and (b) officials in his Department have had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on Special Escort Group policing for (i) Taylor Swift and (ii) her entourage.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
It is a long-standing convention that the fact that the Law Officers have advised or have not advised and the content of their advice must not be disclosed outside Government without their authority. This is known as the Law Officers’ Convention, is provided for in paragraph 21.27 of Erskine May, and applies to your question.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much has been paid by (a) Kingspan and (b) all cladding manufacturers towards remediation of eligible buildings under the Developer Remediation Contract where their products have been used on eligible buildings.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Developer Remediation Contract requires developers to take responsibility for fixing or paying to fix buildings which they developed. The Ministry will shortly begin issuing payment demands to developers - who are contractually required to pay back monies spent on their buildings by government funds - after which, we expect developers to begin repayments. The value of debt that we will pursue with developers is reported in our Trust Statement, for our latest reported accounts in 2022/23 this is £417 million.
The Developer Remediation Contract is a contract between eligible developers and government. It does not apply to product manufacturers.
Other industry actors will also be held to account for their role in constructing unsafe buildings. We are reviewing the Grenfell Inquiry report and have written to all organisations (including manufacturers) found by the Inquiry to have been part of the failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. The Building Safety Act created avenues for parties to pursue a range of responsible parties for compensation. We will bring forward further reforms to the construction products regime in due course.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the amount that has been reimbursed to the Building Safety Fund from signatories to the Developer Remediation Contract.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Developer Remediation Contract requires developers to take responsibility for fixing or paying to fix buildings which they developed. The Ministry will shortly begin issuing payment demands to developers - who are contractually required to pay back monies spent on their buildings by government funds - after which, we expect developers to begin repayments. The value of debt that we will pursue with developers is reported in our Trust Statement, for our latest reported accounts in 2022/23 this is £417 million.
The Developer Remediation Contract is a contract between eligible developers and government. It does not apply to product manufacturers.
Other industry actors will also be held to account for their role in constructing unsafe buildings. We are reviewing the Grenfell Inquiry report and have written to all organisations (including manufacturers) found by the Inquiry to have been part of the failings, as the first step to stopping them being awarded government contracts. The Building Safety Act created avenues for parties to pursue a range of responsible parties for compensation. We will bring forward further reforms to the construction products regime in due course.