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1 Mar 2005 : Column 1117W—continued
Council Tax (Second Homes)
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of total council tax revenue raised by local authorities from charging on second homes in 2004–05. [217576]
Mr. Raynsford: It is provisionally estimated that just over £220 million is being raised by local authorities from charging council tax on second homes in 2004–05.
Departmental Policies
Mr. Gordon Marsden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will set out, with statistical information relating as closely as possible to the constituency, the effect of his Department's actions and policies on Blackpool, South constituency since (a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [215620]
Yvette Cooper: Along with other Government Departments, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to improving the lives of people across the whole of the UK. For example, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is determined that everyone should have the opportunity to have a decent home, and since 1997 we have reduced the number of non-decent homes nationally by one million.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides grant funding that benefits the Blackpool, South constituency through a number of programmes.
For example over the period 2001–06 Blackpool has been allocated £12.8 million Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) resources to help the local authority, in collaboration with the Local Strategic Partnership, improve services in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the area.
More broadly, since 1997 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been able to increase the total amount of government grant given to local authorities by £22.6 billion. This is a 33 per cent. increase in real terms. Blackpool council has received average annual increases in formula grant since 1997 of 5.3 per cent.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and
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other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at: http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./.
Mr. Pike: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Burnley constituency, the effects on Burnley of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [214694]
Yvette Cooper: Along with other Government Departments, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to improving the lives of people across the whole of the UK. For example, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is determined that everyone should have the opportunity to have a decent home, and since 1997 we have reduced the number of non-decent homes nationally by one million.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides grant funding that benefits the Burnley constituency through a number of programmes.
For example over the period 2001–06 Burnley has been allocated £5.4 million Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) resources to help the local authority, in collaboration with the Local Strategic Partnership, improve services in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the area.
More broadly, since 1997 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been able to increase the total amount of government grant given to local authorities by £22.6 billion. This is a 33 per cent. increase in real terms. Burnley council has received an average annual increase in formula grant since 1997 of 5.2 per cent. Residents of Burnley have also benefited from Lancashire county council's average annual increase in grant of 4.4 per cent.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at: http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./.
Mr. Chris Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to Maidenhead constituency, the effects on Maidenhead of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [215971]
Yvette Cooper: Along with other Government Departments, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to improving the lives of people across the whole of the UK. For example, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is determined that everyone should have the opportunity to have a decent home, and since 1997 we have reduced the number of non-decent homes nationally by one million.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides grant funding that benefits the Maidenhead constituency through a number of programmes.
More broadly, since 1997 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been able to increase the total amount of government grant given to local authorities by £22.6 billion. This is a 33 per cent. increase in real terms. The two local authorities in Maidenhead
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constituency have received average annual increases in formula grant since 1997 of 3.8 per cent. for Windsor and Maidenhead and 5.9 per cent. for Wokingham.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at: http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./.
Ross Cranston: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to the constituency, the effects of his Department's policy since 1997 on Dudley, North constituency; and if he will make a statement. [213146]
Yvette Cooper: Along with other Government Departments, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to improving the lives of people across the whole of the UK. For example, we are determined that everyone should have the opportunity to have a decent home, and since 1997 we have reduced the number of non-decent homes nationally by one million.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides grant funding that benefits the Dudley, North constituency through a number of programmes.
For example over the period 2001–2006 Dudley has been allocated £6.5 million Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF) resources to help the local authority, in collaboration with the Local Strategic Partnership, improve services in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the area.
Dudley metropolitan borough council was awarded a Liveability Fund grant worth a total of £3.4 million in March 2004. The grant is being used to support sustainable changes to the way the council delivers key environmental services and also to reward the council with capital grants for meeting agreed performance milestones.
More broadly, since 1997 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been able to increase the amount of government grant given to local authorities by £22.6 billion. This is a 33 per cent. increase in real terms.
Dudley has received average annual increases in formula grant since 1997 of 5.9 per cent.
The Neighbourhood Statistics Service provides a wide range of statistical information at parliamentary constituency level, taken from the 2001 Census and other sources. This service is available on the National Statistics website at http://neighbourhood.statistics. gov.uk./.
Entertainment Costs
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much has been spent on entertainment by his Office in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) food, (b) alcohol, (c) staff and (d) accommodation. [204358]
Yvette Cooper:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created following the machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. The information is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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However, the following table shows how much the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Central) spent on catering, hospitality and official entertainment in 2002–03 and 2004–05.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 241,124 |
| 2003–04 | 226,880 |
| 2004–05(22) | 58,090 |
(22) Spend to date.
All expenditure on official entertainment is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on the principles set out in Government Accounting".
School Fires
Jim Knight: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fires in school buildings were attended by each fire and rescue authority in England and Wales during the period from 1999 to 2004. [217517]
Mr. Raynsford: The number of school fires attended between 1999–2000 and 2003–04 by Fire and Rescue services in England and Wales are tabled as follows:
(23) Figures are based on sampled data weighted to true brigade totals.
(24) Provisional.
Note:
Excluding incidents not recorded during periods of industrial action in 2002 and 2003.
Source:
Returns by Fire and Rescue services to ODPM
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