Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to continue the Community Ownership Fund with the same terms of reference.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This Government is committed to empowering communities with a strong new ‘right to buy’ beloved community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces.
We will confirm plans on the Community Ownership Fund in due course.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the financial impact of gambling-related (a) fraud and (b) other acquisitive crimes on the victims of those crimes; what the value was of assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 from offenders who committed gambling-related crimes in the latest period for which data is available; if she will make an estimate of the financial compensation provided to the victims of gambling-related crimes by (a) each and (b) all gambling companies in the latest period for which data is available; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Shadow Minister (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office does not hold the information which you have requested on the value of assets recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA) from offenders who committed gambling related crimes.
The Home Office holds information on the value of assets recovered under POCA 2002 from offenders who committed other types of offences including fraud and money laundering. This data is included in the Asset Recovery Statistical Bulletin which is published every year.
Its latest release was in September 2022, covering the period between financial year 2016 to 2017 and 2021 to 2022 . The total value of proceeds of crime recovered under POCA from fraud related offences over the last six financial years, is £388m as shown in Table 11.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government plans to publish the impact assessment for the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill before the commencement of the Committee of the Whole House debate on the Bill on 13 July.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Bill provides specific powers to make new laws where we are disapplying the EU regime and where such laws are considered appropriate. The full details of the new regime will be set out in regulations alongside and under the Bill.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been (a) prosecuted and (b) removed for entering the UK illegally via the Ireland and Northern Ireland land border in each of the past five years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
A)
2017- 3
2018 - 5
2019 - 32
2020 - 2
2021 -15
2022 - 2
B) We do not hold the data to the level of granularity required and therefore it would be cost-prohibitive to supply it. Data on returns activity is published quarterly and the latest figures can be found at How many people are detained or returned? - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Returns information is not published to a level of detail that enables identification of method of entry; and this could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how much overseas aid her Department has allocated to (a) India and (b) Pakistan in each year between 2015 and year end 2022; and what amount will be allocated to (a) India and (b) Pakistan over the next five years.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) brought together the Department for International Development (DFID) and Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 2 September 2020. As the principal distributor of Official Development Assistance (ODA), these figures represent DFID expenditure until 2019, after which they represent FCDO expenditure.
Year | Department | ODA to India | ODA to Pakistan |
2015 | DFID | £150.391m | £351.379m |
2016 | DFID | £54.209m | £423.927m |
2017 | DFID | £47.691m | £366.579m |
2018 | DFID | £40.345m | £291.457m |
2019 | DFID | £15.417m | £259.770m |
2020 | FCDO | £49.097m | £179.059m |
Since 2015, the UK has given no financial aid to the Government of India. Instead, our development partnership with India is based on sharing skills, expertise, and development capital investments that help the poor and generate returns on our investment; our work reduces poverty, tackles climate change, and creates new partners and markets for the UK. To date £80.2 million of our ODA investment has been returned to HMG.
Between 2014 and 2019 Pakistan was the single largest recipient of bilateral UK aid. There has since been a downward trend in ODA funding to Pakistan from the high point of 2016 to reflect Pakistan's lower middle-income status.
FCDO will publish further details on our ODA spending in 2021 when this spending is finalised and will publish annual ODA spending statistics as these are finalised over the next five years. We are unable to provide projected future ODA allocations.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what mechanisms exist to (a) suspend or (b) remove a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Answered by Vicky Ford
There is no mechanism to suspend or remove a permanent member specifically from the UN Security Council (UNSC). Suspension or expulsion of any Member State from the United Nations itself requires a decision of the UN General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. Any permanent member of the UNSC can therefore veto its own - or others' - proposed suspension or expulsion.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what information he holds on the (a) volume and (b) value of trade in goods between (i) Great Britain and Northern Ireland and (ii) Northern Ireland and Great Britain in each of the last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer
HMRC is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website: www.uktradeinfo.com. From this website, it is also possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria: https://www.uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/ots-custom-table/.
Prior to 2021, HMRC has not collected data on movements of goods between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as these are internal UK movements, and so not part of international trade.
HMRC is in the process of reviewing data available, including declarations lodged by traders on goods movements into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, and will set out its approach in due course.
Under unfettered access, traders do not make declarations except in very limited circumstances on goods moved directly from Northern Ireland to Great Britain. This data is not sufficient to provide an estimate of overall trade.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2021 to Question 87781 on Northern Ireland Government, how much of the more than £700 million released so far has been allocated to each programme under the New Decade, New Approach agreement.
Answered by Conor Burns
As the Hon Gentleman has highlighted, by the end of this financial year the Government will have released £710 million from the New Decade, New Approach financial package. This is composed of £200 million to resolve the nurses’ pay dispute, £50 million to support ultra-low emission transport, £93 million for the transformation of public services, over £7 million for the Northern Ireland Medical School, £10 million to address “Northern Ireland’s unique circumstances”, and £350 million to put the Executive’s finances on a sustainable footing.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will (a) place in the Library and (b) publish a copy of the recent audit report by the EU Commission on the functioning of Border Control Posts in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
The EU carried out a routine audit of various Border Control Posts in Northern Ireland from 21 to 30 June 2021. The purpose of the audit was to examine the system of official controls on the entry of animals and products of animal origin into Northern Ireland and verification of the compliance of border control posts in Northern Ireland with European Union requirements.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to review the UK Timber Regulations.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The UK Timber Regulations are not currently under review. We have, however, committed in the Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan to increase the use of timber in construction, identifying it as key measure in encouraging commercial forestry. Our England Trees Action Plan includes measures to encourage both supply and demand for UK grown timber, including our commitment to increase public demand for sustainably sourced timber through procurement policies.We committed in the Clean Growth Strategy and the 25 Year Environment Plan to increase the use of timber in construction, identifying it as key measure in encouraging commercial forestry. Our England Trees Action Plan includes measures to encourage both supply and demand for UK grown timber, including our commitment to increase public demand for sustainably sourced timber through procurement policies.