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11 Nov 2004 : Column 849W—continued
Key Workers (Housing)
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 19 July 2004, Official Report, columns 10–11W, on key workers (housing), if he will make a statement on the progress of his discussions with employers and other Government departments about additional land contributions and access to accommodation. [196840]
Keith Hill: Over 750 dwellings of accommodation available for health staff have been made available to all key workers; further work is progressing with the Department of Health, the NHS Trusts and their RSL partners to increase the access of this type of short term rented accommodation for all key workers. Discussions are on-going with other Government Departments about contributing land.
Leukaemia
Ms Keeble: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the implications for planning policy of the preliminary findings of the study by the Childhood Cancer Research Group at Oxford University into possible links between power lines and increased rates of childhood leukaemia. [197003]
Keith Hill: Following the publication of the National Radiological Protection Board's (NRPB) new Electromagnetic Field (EMF) guidelines in March 2004 and the associated advice to Government, the Government are committed to taking forward the issue of building near power lines in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's officials are participating in this process.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister takes advice from the Department of Health, which considers the implications of medical research projects.
Local Elections (Spending Limits)
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the candidate spending limits will be for the 2005 local elections in England; and if he will make a statement. [197439]
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Mr. Raynsford: The Government will shortly be inviting the Electoral Commission to make recommendations on what the limits should be for candidates' election expenses for parliamentary and local government elections. The Government will consider carefully any recommendation the Commission makes. The Government are presently consulting upon an inflation increase to such expenses limits for City of London ward elections and elections by liverymen in common hall.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he takes to reflect the cost of providing local authority services in rural areas of England in central government funding; and if he will make a statement. [197493]
Mr. Raynsford: The relative cost of providing local authority services for all appropriate authorities, including rural areas, is assessed using the individual Formula Spending Share (FSS) formulae. The formulae split the total amount of FSS for the service between authorities taking into account their various socio-economic factors. They are generally of the form of:
a basic amount for each client (for example, primary school pupils) that is the same for each authority;
other top-ups that take into account a number of other cost pressures including rural sparsity, density and visitors and commuters.
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will use up to date population figures in the formula grant calculations made by his Department for the support of local authority services; and if he will make a statement. [197494]
Mr. Raynsford: Yes. The formula grant calculations are based on the latest available mid-year population estimates. For example, the 2005–06 Local Government Finance Settlement will be based on the mid-2003 population estimates released on 9 September 2004.
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will increase the area cost adjustment; and if he will make a statement. [197495]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister calculates the area cost adjustment (ACA) for 53 areas in England and Wales. The 25 areas with the lowest wage costs are protected by the lower limit, and receive an ACA of one. For the remaining 28 ACA areas, the size of the ACA in each area is determined using data on local wage and business premises costs. We do not intend to change the way the ACA is calculated during the current formula freeze.
The majority of the data the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects to use in calculating the 2005–06 provisional Formula Spending Shares for each authority is now available on the internet at: http://
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www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/0506/grant.htm. This includes the 2005–6 ACA factors for each local authority.
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average per capita external grant support for all local authority services was in 2004–05 in (a) England, (b) inner London, (c) outer London and (d) Lincolnshire. [197497]
Mr. Raynsford: The following table shows the average per capita amount of revenue support grant (RSG) and redistributed business rates (NNDR) for all services for the areas requested.
| Area | All service RSG plus NNDR per head (£ per head) |
|---|---|
| England | 846.54 |
| Inner London boroughs excluding the City of London | 1,300.05 |
| Outer London boroughs | 971.78 |
| Lincolnshire | 742.54 |
Lincolnshire's all service amount per head has been calculated as the weighted average of the all service amount per head for each of its districts. These are tabled as follows:
| Area | All service RSG plus NNDR per head (£ per head) |
|---|---|
| Boston | 753.46 |
| East Lindsey | 755.64 |
| Lincoln | 765.42 |
| North Kesteven | 724.51 |
| South Holland | 746.13 |
| South Kesteven | 727.36 |
| West Lindsey | 730.74 |
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The differences in the all service amount per head reflect differences in both the socio-economic characteristics of the area and the relative ability of councils to raise council tax.
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will change the rules which limit the gains local authorities may make in grant settlements as a result of formula changes; and if he will make a statement. [197499]
Mr. Raynsford: The distribution method for formula grant includes a formula that takes account of the relative socio-economic characteristics of local authority areas; an element that takes account of the relative ability of councils to raise council tax; and guaranteed minimum grant increases (the "floors"). Grant floors must be paid for within the total amount of grant that goes to authorities each year. In recent years, the cost of the floor has been recovered both from a "ceiling"—a maximum grant increase—and a scaling factor applied to grant increases between the floor and the ceiling. Decisions on the level of floors and how to fund them in 2005–06 have not yet been taken.
Mr. Hogg: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the per capita external grant support from his Department to (a) Lincolnshire county council, (b) Lincolnshire Police Authority, (c) Boston borough council, (d) East Lindsey district council, (e) City of Lincoln council, (f) North Kesteven district council, (g) South Holland district council, (h) South Kesteven district council and (i) West Lindsey district council was in 2004–05. [197496]
Mr. Raynsford: A table showing Revenue Support Grant (RSG), redistributed business rates (NNDR), the sum of RSG and NNDR, mid-2002 population estimates and the sum of RSG and NNDR per head, for the authorities requested, is tabled as follows.
The mid-2002 population estimates given are those published on 27 January 2004. These were used in the calculation of the 2004–05 Revenue Support Grant and redistributed business rates. It should be noted that the Office for National Statistics published revised mid-2002 population estimates on 9 September 2004.
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