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683009

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2017
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	India: Foreign Relations
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the strength of relations between India and the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	62693
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2017 answer text <p>The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) made her first bilateral visit overseas, outside of Europe, to India in November 2016. This demonstrates how strongly we value the relationship with India. As the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) said when he visited India in January, the UK and India are natural partners. We share a longstanding, broad and deep friendship with India, including in trade and investment, people-to-people ties and our partnership on defence and international security.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 09/02/2017 15:43:01 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

765783

	registered interest
	date	06/10/2017
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Housing: Construction
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the Home Building Fund has been allocated; and what proportion of that amount has been allocated to small and medium-sized house builders.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	106267
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2017 answer text <p>The £3 billion Home Building Fund provides long and short term loan finance to build the homes this country needs.</p><p>Of the £3 billion Home Building Fund, £1.38 billion (46 per cent) has been allocated to successful applicants. Of the £1 billion funding specifically allocated to support small and medium sized builders, custom builders and innovators, £540 million has been allocated. The amount of that fund specifically allocated to small and medium sized builders is £292 million.</p> answering member constituency Reading West answering member printed Alok Sharma question first answered 16/10/2017 16:35:06 answering member 4014 label Biography information for Sir Alok Sharma
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

901286

	registered interest
	date	10/05/2018
	answering body	Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept id	201
	answering dept short name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	answering dept sort name	Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
	hansard heading	Business: Government Assistance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to support businesses and entrepreneurs.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	142910
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/05/2018 answer text <p>We know how vital businesses are to the UK economy. So we will continue to work hard to support everyone who wants to start and grow their own business. Through our Industrial Strategy we aim to make Britain the best place to start and grow a business.</p><p> </p><p>We want to ensure small business owners have access to the support they need to start, grow and export. The Business Support Helpline, GOV.UK and a network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provide access to information, advice and support business growth. We are developing an Export Strategy to support businesses to access international markets. For Small &amp; Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) looking to export, UK export finance will announce a new guarantee to banks designed to increase the flow of money in the supply chain.</p><p> </p><p>We also want small businesses to have the access to finance they need to grow. So we are helping through the British Business Bank which supports over £4bn of finance to over 65,000 UK SMEs. This includes delivering 54,000 Start-Up Loans worth £400m since 2012. Going forward we plan to unlock over £20bn of investment in innovative and high potential businesses, including establishing a new £2.5bn investment fund within the Bank.</p><p> </p><p>Tackling late payments and ensuring small businesses have access to government contracts are also important issues we are working to address. The Small Business Commissioner will help with payment issues, dispute resolution and sourcing advice across the UK. And we are opening up public procurement to SMEs, with a commitment to one pound in every three of central government spend going to SMEs by 2022.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have launched a review into what actions could be most effective in improving productivity and growth of SMEs in what has been called the ‘long tail’ of lower productivity firms.</p><p> </p><p>We will carry on focusing on the needs of businesses through the delivery of our Industrial Strategy and as we work to secure the best and most ambitious Brexit deal for the whole of the United Kingdom.</p> answering member constituency Burton answering member printed Andrew Griffiths question first answered 16/05/2018 12:57:37 answering member 3936 label Biography information for Andrew Griffiths
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1046887

	registered interest
	date	23/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Railways
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the disused national rail network remains in the ownership of Network Rail.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	211842
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/01/2019 answer text <p>Highways England is now responsible for the vast majority of the historic railways estate. This includes legacy bridges, abutments, tunnels, cuttings, viaducts and similar properties associated with closed railway lines, and sales. Network Rail is still responsible for a small proportion of disused railway lines which have been retained due to their close proximity or connection to currently operational railway lines. Network Rail’s records however do not distinguish between disused and operational railway lines, and therefore it is not possible to precisely indicate how much disused network they own.</p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 30/01/2019 14:48:43 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1046890

	registered interest
	date	23/01/2019
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Railways: Oxfordshire
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of the disused Yarnton-Witney-Fairford branch line remains in the ownership of Network Rail.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	211843
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/01/2019 answer text <p>Network Rail no longer owns the disused Yarnton-Witney-Fairford branch line. The Highways England Historical Railways Estate is now responsible for the historical railways estate.</p> answering member constituency Harrogate and Knaresborough answering member printed Andrew Jones question first answered 31/01/2019 16:01:24 answering member 3996 label Biography information for Andrew Jones
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

670698

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2017
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Retail Trade: Urban Areas
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to support high streets around the country.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	59351
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/01/2017 answer text <p>We are committed to ensuring that high streets throughout the country remain at the heart of their community and we have taken significant actions to help high streets adapt and thrive through a range of targeted tax breaks, sensible planning changes and measures to ensure fairer parking for motorists.</p><p>At Budget 2016 we announced the biggest ever cut in business rates – worth £6.7 billion across the next five years. The Government is permanently doubling the level of Small Business Rate Relief and increasing the thresholds to benefit a greater number of property occupiers. Eligible properties with a rateable value of £12,000 and below will receive 100% relief. This means that 600,000 small businesses will pay no business rates at all. Furthermore, the revaluation of Business Rates will ensure business rate bills more closely reflect the property market and that all businesses are getting a fair deal.</p><p>We have also given over £18 million to town teams since 2010, funding successful initiatives such as “Love Your Local Market” and the “Great British High Street Competition”, which aims to recognise and celebrate some of the great work that is being done by local councils and communities around the country to help celebrate their high streets. The finalists for the 2016 Competition, which received over 900 applications and 500,000 public votes, included Thame, who were runners-up in the Small Market town “Place” category, and Chris Hurdman, who runs Thame weekly market, was a runner-up in the Market Champion “People” award.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Brigg and Goole answering member printed Andrew Percy question first answered 18/01/2017 17:25:37 answering member 3939 label Biography information for Andrew Percy previous answer version 29836 answering member constituency Brigg and Goole answering member printed Andrew Percy answering member 3939 label Biography information for Andrew Percy
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

1046029

	registered interest
	date	22/01/2019
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	UK Membership of EU: Referendums
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Electoral Commission report of 14 December 2018 entitled Cost of delivering the June 2016 referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, what the total cost of the referendum was to the public purse including pre-purdah referendum publicity and documentation.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	211344
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2019 answer text <p>The cost to taxpayers of delivering the 2016 EU Referendum was £129.1 million. A breakdown of that cost is provided in the report published by the Electoral Commission.</p><p> </p><p>The then Government undertook publicity on EU membership ahead of the referendum. This cost an additional £9.3 million.</p><p> </p><p>The total cost to taxpayers was thus £138.4 million</p> answering member constituency Norwich North answering member printed Chloe Smith question first answered 29/01/2019 09:49:58 answering member 1609 label Biography information for Chloe Smith
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

670697

	registered interest
	date	10/01/2017
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	hansard heading	Planning Permission
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure pre-commencement conditions do not delay development.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	59350
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2017 answer text <p>Imposing unnecessary or otherwise unacceptable pre-commencement conditions on a grant of planning permission can result in unnecessary and avoidable delays and costs to the completion of new development. That is why, as part of the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, we are pursuing measures to ensure that these conditions do not cause unreasonable delays to the delivery of new homes.</p><p>The measures in the Bill are two-fold. First, to require local planning authorities to seek the written agreement of the applicant to the terms of any pre-commencement conditions before granting permission subject to such conditions. Second, we are seeking a power for the Secretary of State to prescribe descriptions of conditions and circumstances when such conditions may not be imposed. These provisions are aimed at ensuring that any planning condition meets the well-established policy tests for conditions as set out in the National Planning Policy Framework.</p> answering member constituency Croydon Central answering member printed Gavin Barwell question first answered 12/01/2017 16:50:57 answering member 3955 label Biography information for Lord Barwell
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

683111

	registered interest
	date	01/02/2017
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Small Businesses: Digital Technology
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the level of interest among small and medium-sized enterprises in the Great.gov.uk digital platform.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	62768
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2017 answer text <p>Great.gov.uk is designed to engage as many businesses as possible, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and to date we have had a highly positive response to our digital services with over 5000 business registered for accounts, including 1500 registrations for our “Find a Buyer” Service and over 360,000 visits to the site.</p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 09/02/2017 17:38:01 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts

905634

	registered interest
	date	16/05/2018
	answering body	Department for International Trade
	answering dept id	202
	answering dept short name	International Trade
	answering dept sort name	International Trade
	hansard heading	Treaties: Investment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many international investment agreements to which the UK is a signatory include protections against expropriations without compensation.
	tabling member constituency	Witney
	tabling member printed	Robert Courts
	uin	144966
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/05/2018 answer text <p>The UK is a signatory to over 90 bilateral investment treaties (BITs). The UK is also a party to the plurilateral Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which has 53 other parties including the EU. The ECT and all of the UK’s BITs currently in force include protections against expropriation without compensation.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Chelsea and Fulham answering member printed Greg Hands question first answered 24/05/2018 10:23:58 answering member 1526 label Biography information for Greg Hands
	tabling member	4589 label Biography information for Robert Courts