| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
13 Dec 2004 : Column 937W—continued
Local Government Ombudsman
Mr. William O'Brien: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which body is responsible for dealing with complaints of maladministration against the local government ombudsman. [203636]
Mr. Raynsford: The Local Government Act 1974 sets out the procedures which the Commission for Local Administration in England (the local government ombudsman) must follow in carrying out his investigations. Anyone who has a concern about the outcome of their complaint to the ombudsman, or the manner in which their complaint has been dealt with by the ombudsman's staff, can contact the ombudsman's office. The matter will then be considered by a senior member of staff, usually the deputy ombudsman. If the concern is about the actions of the ombudsman himself then the matter would be considered by the ombudsman. If he is unable to satisfy the concern raised, then the complainant can pursue in the courts an allegation of failure to carry out an investigation in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
Neighbourhood Renewal
Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Neighbourhood Renewal Assessment for the Kensington New Deal for Communities area and the Elm Park neighbourhood of Liverpool will be published; and if he will make a copy available in the Library. [203645]
Phil Hope: The Regulatory Reform Order 2002 introduced greater flexibility for all local authorities in tackling private sector housing renewal. It also removed the need for the Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, to approve the declaration of renewal areas. It is understood that the neighbourhood renewal assessments for Kensington including Elm Park are under consideration by Liverpool city council. Information on this is available on the council's website.
Pay Bargaining Unit
Paul Holmes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times the appraisal system for each pay bargaining unit in his Department has been changed in the last five years; and how many staff are fully or partly employed in connection with pay negotiations in each pay bargaining unit, broken down by grade. [200344]
Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was established in May 2002 following Machinery of Government changes. The information on (a) the changing of appraisal systems and (b) the numbers and grades of staff in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's bargaining units directly involved in annual pay negotiations, is set out as follows. It should be noted that pay negotiation forms only part of wider responsibilities of the teams.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
(a) None.
(b) One Senior Civil Service equivalent, Grade 7 and two HEOs.
13 Dec 2004 : Column 938W
The Planning Inspectorate
(a) Once.
(b) One Senior Civil Service equivalent, Grade 7, HEO and EO.
(b) One Senior Civil Service equivalent, Grade 7 and HEO.
QEII Conference Centre
(a) Twice.
(b) The Centre's Chief Executive, a member of the Senior Civil Service and G7 equivalent.
(b) One Senior Civil Service equivalent, Grade 7 and HEO.
Rural Housing
Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to make an announcement on the exceptions policy for rural housing; and for what reasons an announcement has not yet been made. [203104]
Keith Hill: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs published her Department's five year strategy "Delivering the essentials of life" on 8 December 2004. The strategy signals that the rural exception policy will be retained.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's consultation paper 'Influencing the size, type and affordability of housing' published last year proposed to replace the rural exception policy with an allocation policy, which would enable local planning authorities to allocate sites solely for affordable housing. In the light of the consultation responses, we now intend to revise policy to enable local planning authorities to allocate sites in rural areas in plans, but also to take advantage of windfall sites through a continuing rural exception approach. We will make this change in the update to Planning Policy Guidance Note 3: "Housing", which will be published early in the new year.
Shredding
Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department has spent on acquiring shredding equipment for office use in each year since 1997. [202097]
Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed in May 2002. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's procurement is devolved and such items of low value are purchased direct by end users. This level of detail on procurement is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Sport and Recreation
Kate Hoey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list local authorities with strategies for sport and recreation. [201819]
Phil Hope:
Local authorities produced non-statutory Cultural Strategies between 2000–01 and 2003–04 that covered planning for sports and recreation, as well as
13 Dec 2004 : Column 939W
other cultural services. A list of authorities that produced these plans can be found on the Best Value Performance Indicator website: www.bvpi.gov.uk
As part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's process of rationalising plan requirements, we are encouraging local authorities to subsume Cultural Strategies within their statutory Community Strategies. Guidance entitled "Living the Good Life" on how this process could happen has been published.
Students
Mr. Reed: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what plans he has to consult local communities affected by the concentration of high student numbers in his study into managing good practice in the provision of student accommodation; and if he will make a statement; [203404]
(2) what groups he has invited to participate in the study of managing housing good practice in the provision of student accommodation in areas of high concentration of students; [203405]
(3) when he proposes to establish the study funded by his Department into best practice on dealing with the problems associated with areas of high student numbers in accommodation. [204023]
Keith Hill:
A joint project has been set in hand by Universities UK (UK) and the Local Government Association (LGA) with funding from the Department
13 Dec 2004 : Column 940W
for Education and Skills. This follows concern over the impact on local communities of an expanding student population.
The project is due to result in a publication in spring 2005, and will be divided into two parts, the first looking at the reasons, scale, nature and context of some of the problems associated with large numbers of students in the community. The second part will focus on good practice and will give examples of effective co-operation between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and local authorities and other partnerships in the community.
As part of this project, researchers will survey universities in the UK and use the responses as the basis for further inquiries, in the form of interviews, which will involve a wide selection of stakeholders, including community interests.
Timber
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the refurbishment projects that (a) are in progress and (b) will start in the next six months in (i) his Office and (ii) each agency of his Office; what steps are being taken to ensure that timber will be procured from legal and sustainable sources; and whether guidance will be issued to contractors on each of these projects to ensure that the timber used on site comes from legal and sustainable sources. [201025]
Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister presently has the following refurbishment projects:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has defined refurbishment projects to be upgrading and efficiency projects exceeding £100,000.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently updating all its Procurement Terms and Conditions in line with a number of recent and forthcoming changes and appropriate clauses with respect environmental considerations will be included. Contracts where the use of timber and timber based products is anticipated, contain clauses that require the supplier to actively seek legally sourced and sustainable timber and to supply physical evidence that supports this. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has the use of framework contracts for the purchase of furniture, which are subject to supply chain audits by officials.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is presently co-operating with the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs and other Government Departments in the creation of the Central Point of Expertise on Timber (CPET), and has agreed to provide funding to support the initiative.
Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government Offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Government Departments.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |