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30 Jan 2004 : Column 609W—continued
Fire and Rescue Service
Michael Fabricant: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what estimate he has made of the change in the
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number of jobs in Staffordshire Fire Service as a result of the proposed regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service; [149842]
- (2) what change in the number of managerial jobs he expects to result from the regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service in Staffordshire. [149847]
(3) whom he has consulted on the plans to regionalise Staffordshire's Fire and Rescue Service; [149843]
(4) what discussions he has had with Staffordshire County Council on his plans to regionalise the Fire and Rescue Service; [149845]
(5) what discussions he has had with (a) retained and (b) full-time firefighters in Staffordshire on his plans to regionalise the Fire and Rescue Service; and what their advice was. [149846]
(6) under what powers he would implement the regionalisation of the Fire and Rescue Service in Staffordshire without the consent of Staffordshire county council. [149844]
Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Members for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow), for Taunton (Mr. Flook), for North Thanet (Mr. Gale), for North Wiltshire (Mr. Gray), for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond), for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice), for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles), for Poole (Mr. Syms) and for Spelthorne (Mr. Wilshire) on 22 January 2004, Official Report, columns 1454–1457W.
Grant Definition
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what definition he uses of (a) raw grant and (b) adjusted grant in spreadsheets published by his Department on http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0405/fandc2/index.htm. [151585]
Mr. Raynsford: 2004–05 raw grant is the sum of the following items:
- The authority's share of the Distributable/Amount (Redistributed National Non-domestic Rates) calculated in accordance with section 6 of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004/05, plus
- The amount of any police grant payable to the authority calculated in accordance with section 5 of the draft Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2004–05, plus
- Revenue Support Grant (RSG) before floors and ceilings for 2004–05.
RSG before floors and ceilings for each authority may be calculated as follows:
- Total FSS in 2004–05 calculated in accordance with section 4 of the draft
- Local Government Finance Report 2004–05, minus
- redistributed business minus
- the result of:
- Taxbase as described Annex D of the draft Local Government Finance Report 2004/05, multiplied by
- ANCT as given in paragraph 3.4 of the draft Local Government Finance Report 2004/05, multiplied by
- the share of ANCT for the appropriate class of authority as given in Annex B of the draft Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004–05.
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2003–04 adjusted grant is the sum of the following items:
- My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's estimate of the authority's share of the Distributable Amount (Redistributed National Non-domestic Rates) calculated in accordance with section 6 of the Local Government Finance Report 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services, plus
- My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's estimates of the authority's share of Revenue Support Grant calculated in accordance with section 3 of the Local Government Finance Report 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services, plus
- My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's estimate of the amount of any Police Grant payable to the authority for 2003–04 calculated in accordance with section 5 of the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2003–04, after adjusting for changes in the functions of councils or the financing of particular services.
Further information on how the 2003–04 adjusted grants are calculated may be found at http://www. local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0405/adjpap.pdf
Local Government
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the additional £344 million allocated to local authorities in December 2003 by the Treasury will be incorporated into the Revenue Support Grant settlement figure for future years. [150136]
Mr. Raynsford: The additional £340 million which Government have made available for local authorities in 2004–05 is a one-off payment for this year. The amount of money available for local government beyond 2004–05 will be as set out in the relevant Spending Review.
However, the extra funding put into the 2004–05 settlement will be taken into account when calculating floors and ceilings for future years.
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his policy is on the issuing of directions to local authorities before those authorities have completed local consultations on the matters to which such directions relate; and if he will make a statement. [150808]
Mr. Raynsford: The Minister for Local and Regional Government will exercise powers under section 15 of the Local Government Act 1999 and other comparable legislation when there is clear evidence that an authority is failing either to discharge its functions adequately or failing to meet its statutory obligations. Further details are set out
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in the Protocol on "Central government engagement in poorly performing local authorities" http://www. odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm localgov/documents/page/odpm locgov 609124.pdf
Phone Boxes
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many derelict phone boxes there were in each London Borough at the latest date for which data is available. [151123]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
Policy on public call boxes is a matter for the Office of Communications (Ofcom) and I understand the Chief Executive of Ofcom will be writing to the hon. Member shortly.
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received from the (a) British chambers of commerce, (b) Confederation of British Industry and (c) Institute of Directors on proposals to establish elected regional assemblies; what response he has made; and if he will place in the Library copies of the exchanges of correspondence on this issue. [151005]
Mr. Raynsford: After the White Paper was published the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received one response each from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the British Chamber of Commerce. Each received a reply thanking them for their comments.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also received letters from a number of individual chambers of commerce.
It is not the practice to disclose the contents of correspondence by placing it in the Library. However a summary of the responses to the White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" are available in the Library of the House.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) date and (b) venues were of the public consultations on the powers of the proposed regional assemblies for the (i) North West, (ii) North East and (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber. [151889]
Mr. Raynsford: A series of public hearings on the powers of the proposed regional assemblies will take place across the three northern regions. The dates and venues of the hearings have yet to be decided.