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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has carried out an impact assessment on plans to redistribute council tax.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government has no plans to redistribute council tax.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions she has had with (a) the Guardian Media Group and (b) Tortoise Media on the proposed buyout of the Observer newspaper.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

It would be inappropriate to comment on any live merger case. As is clear under the Enterprise Act, this is a quasi-judicial process for the DCMS Secretary of State alone to exercise the statutory powers based on the evidence and following the established regulatory process. If there are any updates to report, Parliament will be informed in the usual way.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of plans to redistribute council tax on councils with lower rates of tax.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government has no plans to redistribute council tax.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the proposal by the Welsh government to enable local authorities to charge a visitor levy.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Tourism is a devolved policy matter and we work closely with the Devolved Administrations. My department will carefully monitor the proposal by the Welsh government. Tax policy is a matter for HM Treasury and there are currently no plans to introduce a similar tax in England.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the National Youth Strategy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

We plan to publish the National Youth Strategy in the summer, with an interim report to come out in the spring.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with Chiltern Railways on increasing its capacity.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

My officials and I continue to work with Chiltern Railways to improve passenger experience. Chiltern periodically adjusts its timetable in response to passenger demand.

We are closely engaged with Chiltern’s fleet renewal programme. The option to procure additional trains to increase capacity is being investigated, whilst considering value for money.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) frequency and (b) capacity of services between Birmingham and (i) Nottingham and (ii) Leicester.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The scope for increased frequency is limited by current infrastructure which is being considered as part of the proposed Midlands Rail Hub project. In terms of capacity, CrossCountry has recently declassified First Class accommodation on services from Birmingham to Cardiff, Nottingham and Stansted Airport to provide a number of additional seats for all ticket holders.

The Department has funded 12 cascaded Voyager trains for CrossCountry Inter-city routes to provide additional capacity for passengers, including on routes that overlap with Birmingham to Nottingham services, thereby spreading demand across more carriages. Three of these trains are already in service, the rest will start in May.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the delivery of the Midlands Rail Hub on economic growth.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Midlands Rail Hub would kickstart economic growth by introducing additional trains and improving the performance of the railways, and in March £123m was committed to design the first stage.

In December, the Chancellor launched the second stage of the Spending Review. This is a ‘zero-based’ review, to ensure every line of spending – including the transport infrastructure portfolio – delivers the Plan for Change and provides good value for taxpayers.

Found: _NC9 Dame Harriett Baldwin Rebecca Paul Rebecca Smith Saqib Bhatti Dame Meg Hillier COMMITTEE STAGE

Found: _NC9 Dame Harriett Baldwin Rebecca Paul Rebecca Smith Saqib Bhatti Dame Meg Hillier .

Found: _NC9 Dame Harriett Baldwin Rebecca Paul Rebecca Smith Saqib Bhatti Dame Meg Hillier ★.