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25 Oct 2004 : Column 1085W—continued

Housing Renewal Pathfinder Areas

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what documentation he has received from Pendle Council concerning its willingness to participate in the housing renewal strategy for the area; and if he will make a statement. [193235]

Keith Hill: Pendle Borough Council accepted in 2002 the Government's invitation to establish, jointly with other local authorities in the East Lancashire sub-region, a market renewal pathfinder. As a participating authority, it expressed its support for the strategy and programme developed by the pathfinder, Elevate, earlier this year. The council continues to be a participating authority with membership of the pathfinder's governing body and has responsibility for the delivery of the programme in its area.

Local Authority Debt

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the funding requirement for local
 
25 Oct 2004 : Column 1086W
 
authority debt has been in each year since 1997; and what the projected requirement is for this financial year. [193811]

Mr. Raynsford: The amount as reported by local authorities since 1997–98 as the cost of their debt is tabled as follows.

	£ million
1997–98	3,936
1998–99	3,874
1999–2000	3,756
2000–01	3,650
2001–02	3,630
2002–03	3,516
2003–04	3,553
2004–05	3,614

Note:
The data show actual outturn figures for all years except 2003–04 and 2004–05 which are budget estimates. The data are the sum of the amount of external interest payments made by authorities and their provisions for the repayment of principal.
Source:
Local Government Financial Statistics—England: various years

Local Government

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on reform of local government since 1997; and what the costs of that reform have been. [191165]

Mr. Raynsford: The measures the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has taken to modernise local government are leading to an improvement in local authorities' performance. For example, the second year of Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) results for single tier and county councils showed that councils are making real improvements in their delivery of key services. Nearly a third of all 150 authorities achieved a higher star rating for Social Services and only two local authorities failed to make any improvements in education. Furthermore, 55 per cent. of all single tier and county councils are now rated 'good' or 'excellent'.

Also, the interim findings of the Cardiff Business School's evaluation of the long-term impact of best value in English local authorities from 2001 until 2005 suggest that best value is having a positive impact on the internal culture of many local authorities and better outcomes for local people.

Furthermore, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has recognised the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for councils and last year (2003–04) saw a reduction in inspection for local authorities of around one third and a reduction of 90 per cent. for top performers. We have also cut the number of plans authorities are required to produce by 75 per cent. Apart from the money that is set aside for schools, we are reducing the percentage of grant that is ring-fenced and expect this to be in single figures by next year.

Since 1997, the Government have undertaken a wide-ranging number of reforms as part of the Local Government modernisation agenda. However, information about the costs of these reforms is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
 
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Local Government Finance

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he has received from the Office for National Statistics the 2001 Census data for Worcestershire. [193239]

Mr. Raynsford: Yes. 2001 Census data were released in stages by the Office for National Statistics. It was necessary to specially commission a number of tables that were released later. The final indicator data used in the Local Government Finance Settlement that is derived from the 2001 Census was released on 21 October 2004.

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the financial impact of continued use of the 1991 Census data when calculating grants for Worcestershire county council. [193240]

Mr. Raynsford: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Yeovil on 19 October 2004, Official Report, columns 570–71W.

Mr. Keetch: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what census data he uses to calculate the Standard Spending Assessment Grant to Herefordshire Council; and if he will make a statement. [193284]

Mr. Raynsford: The data indicators used to calculate the 2004–05 Local Government Finance Settlement are described in Annex D of "The Local Government Finance Report (England) 2004/2005". A copy of this document is available in the Library of the House.

Mobile Telephones

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many mobile phones were used by (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in his Department in each year since 1997; how many were (i) lost and (ii) stolen; and what their cost was. [191431]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created on 29 May 2002. Since then the number of mobile phones used by Ministers and Special Advisers, and the associated costs (including purchase, line rental, and call charges) are tabled as follows.

	Number of mobile phones used	Cost (£)
30 May 2002–31 March 2003	3	2,071
1 April 2003–31 March 2004	6	3,756
1 April 2004–30 September 2004	6	2,250

The number of these lost and stolen, and the cost of replacement, is as follows:

	Number lost	Number stolen	Cost of replacement (£)
30 May 2002–31 March 2003	0	1	213.56
1 April 2003–31 March 2004	1	0	82
1 April 2004–30 September 2004	1	0	82

Information on mobile phones used by officials is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
 
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Park Homes

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what assessment his Department has made of complaints regarding park homes; and what investigations have been made regarding such complaints; [192894]

(2) how many complaints regarding the operation of park homes were received by his Department in each of the last five years for which figures exist; and how many of these were (a) investigated and (b) substantiated; [192895]

(3) what proportion of park homes have been the subject of (a) multiple substantiated complaints and (b) any complaints over each of the last five years for which figures exist. [192896]

Keith Hill: The information requested is not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Complaints about the condition of a park home site will normally be dealt with by the local authority responsible for the issue, monitoring and enforcement the site licence conditions. Complaints about the terms of contract are handled by the courts or if agreed by both parties, an arbitration service.

The Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, has no locus in respect of such complaints. But in response to representations from the industry and park home residents we set up the park homes working party in 1998 and have acted on their recommendations through measures in the current Housing Bill. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be consulting shortly on how best to take forward a number of the remaining recommendations of the working party.

Planning (Consultation)

Mr. Spring: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the oral statement by the parliamentary Under-Secretary on 18 October 2004, Official Report, column 745, what form the public consultation exercise relating to part 24 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 will take. [193355]

Keith Hill: The public consultation exercise relating to part 24 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 will be initiated early next year by the publication of a consultation document on the Government's proposals for amending the Order and follow the Code of Practice on Consultation published by the Cabinet Office.

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