<\/p>
Further to my answer to the hon. Member for Windsor on Monday, 24 February 2014, Official Report column 83W, the Environment Agency is continuing to work with partners to develop the River Thames Scheme (Datchet to Teddington). This includes flood channel capacity improvements, property level protection measures and the construction of three new channels.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
Preparatory work, which is under way, includes establishing appropriate consents and approval needed with planning authorities, undertaking surveys needed to gain consents, and the development of a funding package with other risk management authorities. The Environment Agency is planning to submit its Strategic Outline Case for this project to Defra as part of the HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office's Major Projects Authority approvals process.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
The Environment Agency aims to start the work on improving weir capacity in 2016.<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
<\/p>
Full appraisal and outline design of the flood channel and capacity improvements will commence this summer. It is expected that this will take three to four years to enable the proposal for the new flood channels to be submitted for planning consents and authorisations. It is estimated that the construction of the flood channel will commence in 2020 and will take five to six years to complete.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1504", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dan Rogerson"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "North Cornwall"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Dan Rogerson"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-05-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-05-06T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "13"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Environment, Food and Rural Affairs"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2014-04-28", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on the Lower Thames Scheme.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1586", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Adam Afriyie"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Windsor"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Adam Afriyie"} ], "type" : "http://data.parliament.uk/schema/parl#WrittenParliamentaryQuestion", "uin" : "196841"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/49058", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "HM Treasury"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/49058/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
At Budget 2014 the government announced it will implement Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) recommendations to simplify the taxation of employee benefits and expenses, employee share schemes, and partnerships. It will also simplify National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the self-employed by collecting class 2 NICs through Self Assessment from April 2016, as recommended by the OTS. <\/strong><\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1529", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Mr David Gauke"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "South West Hertfordshire"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr David Gauke"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-05-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-05-06T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "14"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Treasury"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "CaTreasury"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2014-04-29", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress has been made on implementing the recommendations of the Office of Tax Simplification.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1586", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Adam Afriyie"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Windsor"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Adam Afriyie"}
], "type" : "http://data.parliament.uk/schema/parl#WrittenParliamentaryQuestion", "uin" : "197027"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50009", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "HM Treasury"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50009/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " Treasury Ministers and officials have regular discussions with the Home Office on a wide variety of topics as part of the process of policy development and delivery.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1535", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Danny Alexander"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Danny Alexander"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-05-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-05-12T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2014-05-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the Home Office on the economic effect of the Tier 1 (Investor) visa; and if he will make a statement.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1586", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Adam Afriyie"}
}
, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Windsor"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Adam Afriyie"}
], "type" : "http://data.parliament.uk/schema/parl#WrittenParliamentaryQuestion", "uin" : "197732"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50010", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Business, Innovation and Skills"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50010/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " There is no register containing every business in the UK. The Companies House register provides information on a subset of businesses required to file information with the registrar of companies; for example, those businesses that incorporate as companies or limited liability partnerships or register as limited partnerships. Not all of the companies that register with Companies House are businesses or go on to becomeactively tradingbusinesses.<\/p> <\/p> Companies House statistics show that in the years in question the following numbers of companies were registered (a) online and (b) offline:<\/p> <\/p> Year<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2010/11<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2011/12<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 2012/13<\/strong><\/p><\/td><\/tr> Online <\/strong><\/p><\/td> 366,051<\/p><\/td> 437,441<\/p><\/td> 470,800<\/p><\/td><\/tr> Offline<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 34,504<\/p><\/td> 18,208<\/p><\/td> 11,995<\/p><\/td><\/tr> Total<\/strong><\/p><\/td> 400,555<\/p><\/td> 455,649<\/p><\/td> 482,795<\/p><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table> <\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/88", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Sir Michael Fallon"}
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, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Sevenoaks"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Michael Fallon"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-05-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-05-13T12:00:00.00Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Business, Innovation and Skills"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2014-05-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people registered a business (a) online and (b) offline in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1586", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Adam Afriyie"}
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, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Windsor"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Adam Afriyie"}
], "type" : "http://data.parliament.uk/schema/parl#WrittenParliamentaryQuestion", "uin" : "197731"}
, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50011", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Culture Media and Sport"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/50011/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "