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Local Government

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the level of area cost adjustment for each local authority in the West Midland region for the 2003–04 financial year using average pay levels for the West Midland region as a basis. [131360]

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Mr. Raynsford: The table gives the area cost adjustment (ACA) values calculated for each upper tier authority in the West Midlands region, relative to the West Midlands average. Because we no longer use average wages as the basis of the ACA, the figures are relative to the average labour cost adjustment for the West Midlands region.

	ACA
Authority	Education	PSS: children and younger adults	PSS: older people	Police	Fire	Highway maintenance	EPCS
Shropshire	0.970	0.972	0.968	0.968	0.968	0.976	0.976
Telford and Wrekin	0.970	0.972	0.969	0.969	0.969	0.976	0.976
Staffordshire	0.981	0.983	0.980	0.980	0.980	0.985	0.985
Stoke-on-Trent	0.976	0.977	0.974	0.974	0.974	0.980	0.980
Herefordshire	0.964	0.966	0.962	0.962	0.962	0.971	0.971
Worcestershire	0.986	0.987	0.985	0.985	0.985	0.988	0.988
Warwickshire	1.029	1.029	1.032	1.035	1.036	1.031	1.031
Wolverhampton	0.995	0.997	0.996	0.999	1.000	1.003	1.003
Walsall	0.972	0.976	0.971	0.974	0.975	0.984	0.984
Dudley	0.979	0.982	0.979	0.982	0.983	0.990	0.990
Sandwell	0.991	0.993	0.991	0.994	0.995	0.999	1.000
Solihull	1.055	1.053	1.059	1.062	1.063	1.051	1.052
Coventry	1.030	1.030	1.033	1.036	1.037	1.031	1.032
Birmingham	1.032	1.032	1.035	1.038	1.039	1.033	1.033

Note:

ACA factors estimated relative to the West Midlands average

There are two parts to the ACA: the labour cost adjustment (LCA) and the rates cost adjustment (RCA). To produce the ACA factors calculated in the table, individual LCA factors have been calculated for each upper tier authority in the West Midlands. These factors have been rebased so that they are relative to the West Midlands regional average and used in the above ACA calculation.

As a result, these ACA figures are not directly comparable to the current ACA figures because the West Midlands region is not used as the basis for ACA calculations. No lower limit is applied to the LCA figures calculated in the table, in the interest of providing illustrative figures for every authority.

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact of regional pay in public services upon the area cost adjustment used in revenue support grant calculations. [131368]

Mr. Raynsford: In his Budget statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government would be giving increased emphasis to the regional and local elements of public sector pay. As a first and immediate step, the terms of reference or remit letters of the Pay Review Bodies have been modified to require them to have regard to regional/local labour markets and their effects on recruitment and retention. The ability to recruit and retain staff in every location is crucial to high quality public services. Staff shortages, resulting from an inability to recruit and retain staff with the requisite skills in the right numbers in specific locations, are currently concentrated in certain areas, mainly but not exclusively in parts of London and the south-east. A stronger local and regional element to pay is one important tool to address these issues.

The area cost adjustment already directs grant to areas with higher wages in recognition of the increased recruitment and retention cost experienced there. Any effect of regional public service pay will be reflected in the pay cost evidence that we use in calculating the area cost adjustment.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many prosecutions have taken place using the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982; and if he will make a statement. [128798]

Ms Blears: I have been asked to reply.

Persons proceeded against under the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 cannot be separately identified on the Home Office Court Proceedings database.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, what recent estimates he has made on the costs of re-organising local government in the (a) North West, (b) North East and (c) Yorkshire and Humberside as a part of his proposals to set up regional assemblies. [131678]

Mr. Raynsford: The cost of re-organising local government in the three regions will be dependent on the extent of the changes recommended by the Boundary Committee for England and subsequent decisions made by the newly created authorities about their organisational structure and levels of service provision.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much central government funding was allocated to each local authority in recognition of residents receiving (a) disability living allowance, (b) attendance allowance and (c) minimum income guarantee in the latest year for which figures are available. [130414]

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Yvette Cooper: Elderly people in receipt of disability living allowance (DLA) and attendance allowance are taken into account in the older people social services formula spending share, although it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of how much money local authorities receive as a direct result of this.

Local housing authorities have a statutory duty to offer means tested disabled facilities grants (DFGs) to eligible applicants who require adaptations to help them live independently in their own homes. The grants are available to homeowners and tenants in both the private and social rented sectors.

The Government meets 60 per cent. of local authority expenditure incurred on DFGs, with the remaining 40 per cent. being met from the authority's own resources. The budget for this grant for English authorities in 2003–04 is £99 million compared with £88 million in 2002–03 and £56 million in 1997–98. The allocation of these resources to local housing authorities takes into account the numbers of people claiming DLA and attendance allowance within each local authority.

A table showing each English local housing authority's share of DFG resources from the national budget for 2003–04 is available in the Libraries of the House.

Planning

Bob Russell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what procedures are open to residents to seek an independent determination of planning applications involving departure from the local plan where the local authority is both the land owner and the planning authority; and if he will make a statement. [131609]

Keith Hill: The procedures dealing with development undertaken by local authorities are set out in the Town and Country Planning General Regulations 1992. Guidance on these regulations is given in Department of Environment (DOE) Circular 19/92. The general principle underlying these regulations is that the local planning authorities must make planning applications in the same way as any other person and must follow the same procedures as would be applicable to everyone.

Any local authority development proposals or development on authority owned land which are not in accordance with the provisions of the local development plan, must also be notified to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister so that he can consider whether to "call in" the application for his own determination. If consent is granted for a development undertaken by a local planning authority, the only recourse remaining to any aggrieved third party is to apply for judicial review if they believe the decision was wrong in law or to ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate if they consider there has been maladministration by the local authority.

Property Rentals

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent discussions he has had with groups representing tenants about the feasibility of establishing a Government-sponsored bond scheme for those renting property. [131128]

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Keith Hill: Later this year the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plan to hold a seminar between officials and representatives of groups with an interest in tenancy deposits (including tenants), to discuss the possibility of legislative measures for deposit handling in the context of the Law Commission's proposals for tenure review. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to consult interested parties on any further proposals.

Regional Assemblies

Joyce Quin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) on what basis the assessment was made in the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", that elected regional assemblies needed at least 25 members in order to provide members for the executive while retaining sufficient backbench members for effective scrutiny but set an upper limit of 35 members for assemblies; [131545]

(2) on what basis the assessment was made in the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", that for elected regional assemblies to be representative of different political views and different parts of a region 25 members was the minimum needed to secure a representative assembly using proportional representation. [131546]

Mr. Raynsford: Elected regional assemblies will be strategic bodies with an efficient and focused membership of between 25 and 35 elected members. They will have a similar role to that of the Greater London Authority, which has a Mayor and 25 assembly Members.

The Government expects that elected regional assemblies will have an executive of at least three members and a maximum of six, including the leader. The Government believes that this leaves a sufficient number of members to exercise the scrutiny function.

Approximately two thirds of elected members will be constituency members, the other third will be regional members elected from a regional list. This form of proportional representation will ensure that the assembly is representative of the region. Fewer than 25 members would make it difficult to reflect the vote proportionately. Membership will be larger where population is greater up to a maximum of 35. Any larger size would risk compromising the strategic role of Elected Regional Assemblies and could cause confusion between this and the separate representative and service delivery role of local authorities. Elected regional assemblies will also be expected to involve regional stakeholders in their work, which will help ensure that different views are taken into account.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will place in the Library the responses he received to the soundings exercise to gauge opinion on the proposed regional assemblies. [131679]

Mr. Raynsford: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced on 16 June that copies of the summary document "Your Region, Your Say" were available in the Libraries of both Houses, along with copies of the 1,333 responses from representative organisations. Copies of the 7,132 responses from individuals are held by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and can be viewed on request, except for those that requested that their responses be held in confidence.

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