Through the Government's response to the Portas review, published in March, we have set out a number of measures to support high streets in England, including those with high levels of empty shops. Measures include a £5.5 million support package for 27 Portas pilots (including Rotherham in Yorkshire) and over 300 town teams (including Barnsley metropolitan borough council and Wombwell Community Board); a £10 million High Street Innovation Fund for local authorities to tackle empty properties; and a £1 million Future High Street X-Fund to reward the most effective schemes for revitalising high streets. The autumn statement included a further one-year extension to the current temporary increase in small business rate relief, which will provide business rates relief to eligible ratepayers (generally ones that occupy only one property and have a rateable value below £12,000).

It is a matter for local areas to undertake an assessment of how these and other local actions impact on vacancy rates.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated October 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many shops have been empty in the Newton Abbot constituency in (a) each of the last five years and (b)the latest period for which figures are available, (125856)

We regret that ONS does not hold this information.

The relocation of the House of Lords gift shop over the Summer Recess cost £50,400.

The Government are actively working to help retailers. Retail is vitally important to local and national economies. This was why it was chosen to be one of the first sectors to be the subject of a growth review, and was the first theme chosen for the Red Tape Challenge. These initiatives identified a number of barriers to successful retail performance and growth, which the Government are addressing.

As a result the Government have committed to extending small business rate relief and announced that 160 regulations impacting on retailers or their customers will be scrapped or simplified. We are also conducting a review of employment law.

In March, the Government’s formal response to the recommendations made by Mary Portas in her report, An Independent Review into the Future of our High Streets, was published by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The report contained 28 recommendations, raising a number of important issues affecting today’s high streets, and provided some useful and interesting ways in which government, local authorities, business and the public can begin to address them.

DCLG took immediate action in implementing some of the recommendations, including on high street pilots.

Four hundred and nineteen town teams put in bids to become Portas Pilots, bringing communities together from across the country planning to secure the future of their town centres. Twenty-seven Portas Pilots have now been announced.

DCLG are offering the remaining 392 town teams the opportunity to put their town first by becoming a town team partner—they will receive access to a share of a £4 million fund to take forward key elements of their original plan for reviving their high streets, as well as support from the Association of Town Centre Management, which will provide town team partners access to a range of advice, information, mentoring support and events.

The Government also announced a £1 million Future High Street X-Fund, which will award prizes to the location or locations which have delivered the most creative and effective schemes for revitalising their high street, since the Portas review was launched in May 2011. The fund is open to all. The closing date for applications is 6 December. Winners will be announced in March 2013.

Retailers are also able to benefit from the same range of support offered by BIS to help small and medium businesses to start and thrive, through:

improved access to finance;

a more positive business environment which supports growth and ease of starting a business, and where new businesses and economic opportunities are more evenly shared between regions and industries;

a major programme to reform the way that people running a business get the information, guidance and support they need to start and grow a business; and

building a more entrepreneurial culture, equipping people with the skills and ambition to start a business.

This information is not held centrally. While there are commercial providers of such data, these tend to be focused on limited geographical areas such as town centres, rather than entire administrative areas.

However, as part of our commitment to improving our high streets, we are implementing virtually all of the recommendations of the Portas review.

We have also taken steps to support all our town centres: doubled small business rate relief, given councils new powers to cut rates for local firms while scrapping Whitehall rules that instructed them to hike parking charges, and outlined new plans to bring empty shops back into use by changing their use for two years.

This information is not held centrally. While there are commercial providers of such data, these tend to be focused on limited geographical areas such as town centres, rather than entire administrative areas.

However, as part of our commitment to improving our high streets, we are implementing virtually all of the recommendations of the Portas review.

We have also taken steps to support all our town centres: doubled small business rate relief, given councils new powers to cut rates for local firms while scrapping Whitehall rules that instructed them to hike parking charges, and outlined new plans to bring empty shops back into use by changing their use for two years.

No such assessment has been made by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

DEFRA receives correspondence on a variety of exotic and endangered species. Correspondence received since 1 July 2012 has particularly focused on the trade in ivory and rhino horn.

Guidance for local authorities and pet shops on the welfare of animals sold in pet shops is contained in the publication ‘Model Standards for Pet Shop Licence Conditions’, which is produced jointly by the British Veterinary Association, the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health, the Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association and the Pet Care Trust. We understand that industry and welfare groups are looking to update the guidance. The Government therefore has no need to issue any guidance in this area. We are not aware of having received any representations in this area.

There is no definitive list of animals that may be sold in pet shops. However, there are restrictions in place, for mainly conservation purposes, on the sale of certain species. There are no proposals to make any changes to this arrangement. The protection of the welfare of all animals in pet shops is provided under the Pet Animals Act 1951 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

These Acts make it an offence for an owner or keeper to fail to provide for the welfare needs of their animal. The Pet Animals Act requires that any person selling pet animals must be licensed by their local authority. Before granting a licence, the authority must satisfy itself that the animals are kept in accommodation that is suitable and clean, that they are supplied with the appropriate food and drink, and are protected from disease and fire. Local authorities can only issue licences to applicants who will safeguard their animals' welfare in respect of providing accommodation, adequate and suitable food, drink and bedding, protection in the case of an emergency, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and the animal's ability to take adequate exercise. There are serious penalties for committing an offence under either of these Acts.

In addition, the UK Government is committed to working with other countries to promote the conservation of the world's wildlife, including exotic animals, for example through membership of agreements such as the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). Through CITES, 175 countries work to protect endangered species of plants and animals from unsustainable levels of trade by prohibiting, restricting or monitoring international trade in them. CITES prohibits the sale of wild-taken specimens of the most endangered species apart from in exceptional circumstances. Given the protection afforded to exotic animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Pet Animals Act 1951 (as amended in 1983), the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and the CITES agreement and EU Welfare in Transport Regulation (EC) No. 1/200, we do not feel there is a need for the selling and keeping of all exotic species to be prohibited. While it is unacceptable to cause unnecessary suffering to, or fail to provide for, an animal's welfare, we do not consider that the failings of a few should result in an outright prohibition for everyone else.

There is no definitive list of animals that may be sold in pet shops. However, there are restrictions in place, for mainly conservation purposes, on the sale of certain species. There are no proposals to make any changes to this arrangement. The protection of the welfare of all animals in pet shops is provided under the Pet Animals Act 1951 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

These Acts make it an offence for an owner or keeper to fail to provide for the welfare needs of their animal. The Pet Animals Act requires that any person selling pet animals must be licensed by their local authority. Before granting a licence, the authority must satisfy itself that the animals are kept in accommodation that is suitable and clean, that they are supplied with the appropriate food and drink, and are protected from disease and fire. Local authorities can only issue licences to applicants who will safeguard their animals' welfare in respect of providing accommodation, adequate and suitable food, drink and bedding, protection in the case of an emergency, prevention and control of infectious diseases, and the animal's ability to take adequate exercise. There are serious penalties for committing an offence under either of these Acts.

In addition, the UK Government is committed to working with other countries to promote the conservation of the world's wildlife, including exotic animals, for example through membership of agreements such as the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES). Through CITES, 175 countries work to protect endangered species of plants and animals from unsustainable levels of trade by prohibiting, restricting or monitoring international trade in them. CITES prohibits the sale of wild-taken specimens of the most endangered species apart from in exceptional circumstances. Given the protection afforded to exotic animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, the Pet Animals Act 1951 (as amended in 1983), the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 and the CITES agreement and EU Welfare in Transport Regulation (EC) No. 1/200, we do not feel there is a need for the selling and keeping of all exotic species to be prohibited. While it is unacceptable to cause unnecessary suffering to, or fail to provide for, an animal's welfare, we do not consider that the failings of a few should result in an outright prohibition for everyone else.

There are no proposals to review the regulations relating to the welfare of animals sold in pet shops. The minimum age at which a. person can buy animals (16 years) is contained in the Animal Welfare Act 2006, which was reviewed in 2010. There were no proposals to change the minimum age.