Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of VAT changes on (a) private schools and (b) demand on the state sector in North Dorset constituency.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department has made no separate estimate of the number of pupils in North Dorset specifically who will leave the independent school system as a result of VAT impact on school fees.
Across the UK as a whole, including North Dorset, the government predicts, in the long-term steady state, there will be 37,000 fewer pupils in the private sector in the UK as a result of the removal of the VAT exemption applied to school fees. This represents around 6% of the current private school population.
Of the 37,000 pupil reduction in the private sector, the government estimates an increase of 35,000 pupils in the state sector in the steady state following the VAT policy taking effect, with the other 2,000 consisting of international pupils who do not move into the UK state system, and domestic pupils moving into homeschooling. This state sector increase represents less than 0.5% of total UK state school pupils, of which there are over 9 million. This movement is expected to take place over several years.
The impact on individual local authorities will interact with other pressures and vary. Every year lots of pupils move between schools, including between the private and state-funded sectors.
Local authorities routinely support parents who need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed. Where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children that need them, the department will offer support and advice.
The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools.
Dorset Council has been allocated just below £1.5 million to support the provision of new mainstream school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.
Asked by: Simon Hoare (Conservative - North Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress she has made on changing licensing in the funeral home sector.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Funeral directors have a profound responsibility to treat those who have died with the utmost dignity and respect and the majority of funeral directors conduct themselves in accordance with the high standards expected of them. However, the Government recognises that there are some significant concerns about certain practices within the funeral sector, as evidenced by the incident in Hull.
This is a complex and sensitive matter that demands careful consideration to ensure a response that effectively safeguards the public. It is crucial to protect the rights and dignity of those who have died and their grieving families, while implementing measures that are proportionate.
For that reason, the Government is thoroughly evaluating all potential next steps to ensure that the high standards upheld by many within the funeral director sector are consistently reflected throughout the entire industry. This includes the possibility of introducing suitable and proportionate regulation for funeral directors. Further updates on the next steps will be provided in due course and the Government will respond to the Fuller Inquiry when its part two report is published.
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, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Local Government and English Devolution in response to the hon. Member for North Dorset during the Oral Statement of 16 December 2024 on English Devolution, Official Report, column 53, when her Department will commence a review into fair funding for rural councils.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is absolutely committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural communities.
We are committed to pursuing a comprehensive set of reforms for public services to fix the foundations of local government in partnership with the sector and on the principle of giving councils early certainty. As a core part of this plan, the government is committed to introducing an improved and updated approach to funding local authorities from 2026-27. We are inviting views on our principles and objectives for funding reform through a consultation (18 December – 12 February).
These reforms will build on the proposals set out in the previous government’s review of Relative Needs and Resources (also referred to as the ‘Fair Funding Review’), using the best available evidence to inform local authority funding allocations. We will move gradually towards an updated system and will invite views on possible transitional arrangements to determine how local authorities reach their new funding allocations.
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, what estimate her Department has made of the additional costs of providing council services in rural areas.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government is committed to tackling the issues that matter to rural councils in England. Places with a significant rural population will on average receive around a 5% increase in their Core Spending Power next year, which is a real terms increase. No council will see a reduction – and new funding will be available to rural areas in 2025-26 through guaranteed EPR payments. The government is keen to hear from councils about how best to consider the impact of rurality on the costs of service delivery, and demand, as part of our longer term consultations on local authority funding reform.
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 make an estimate of the number of farms that will be affected by changes made to agricultural property relief and Inheritance Tax at the Autumn Budget 2024 in (a) North Dorset constituency, (b) Dorset and (c) the UK.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Assessing the impact of the new Inheritance Tax policy, which comes into force from 6 April 2026, relies on a number of factors such as ownership structure and debt levels. Without such information, which the Government does not hold at that level, area level assessments cannot be made.
This Government is aware that each farm is different, and so we encourage farmers to speak to their tax advisors and agents to understand how these changes may impact their specific situation and how to plan for the future.
As an outcome of the recent Spending Review, we have committed £5 billion in the agricultural budget over the next two years – the biggest ever budget for sustainable food production and nature recovery in this country’s history. This enables us to keep momentum on the path to a more resilient and sustainable farming sector.
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
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.