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14 Mar 2005 : Column 147W—continued
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library the papers and representations that have been submitted to the Lyons Review into the balance of funding. [219859]
Mr. Raynsford: The Lyons Inquiry into local government funding is independent of the Government. I understand that Sir Michael Lyons intends to make available the evidence that underpins his conclusions and recommendations once the report is published.
Mr. Wareing: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much financial assistance his Department has provided to the City of Liverpool in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [221192]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established following the Machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. The following table sets out the amounts of formula grant and other grants and payments made to the City of Liverpool by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister since 2002–03. For earlier years, the table shows the amounts paid by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's predecessor Departments from programmes which are now administered by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
(41)These figures may not be comparable year-on-year due to changes in the funding and function of local authorities.
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Opinion Polling
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what contracts his Department has agreed with organisations for opinion polling and related research since June 2001. [219958]
Yvette Cooper: Full details of our research, since the creation of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in May 2002, is available on the Research Management Database on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at: http://www.rmd.odpm.gov.uk/programmes.asp
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not carry out 'Opinion Polling' in the sense of asking people about their political opinion.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) for what purposes NOP research was continued during the North East referendum campaign period; and whether the research findings accumulated before the official campaign period were made available to (a) the Yes campaign and (b) to Ministers; [220294]
(2) what advice he received from the Cabinet Office on spending public money on NOP World research in connection with the Your Say information campaign between June 2003 and September 2004; [220295]
(3) pursuant to his answer of 21 February 2005, Official Report, column 344W, on regional referendums, what the total cost to his Department was of the research conducted by NOP World; and what other expenditure was incurred by his Department on other research conducted by NOP during this period; [220298]
(4) whether the Electoral Commission was informed that the Government was using NOP World to conduct monthly tracking research in connection with the Your Say information campaign in the period up to and during the campaign on the North East referendum. [220287]
Mr. Raynsford: As was made clear in the answer given to the hon. Member on 21 February 2005, Official Report, column 344W, the NOP World research was designed to measure the effect of the information campaign in raising awareness of the referendums. The research lasted the duration of the information campaign, which ended on 10 September 2004—28 days before the earliest date that postal ballot papers could be dispatched.
The research was conducted in accordance with the requirements of guidance on the work of the Government Communication Network, produced by the Cabinet Office. No other advice was sought from, or given by, the Cabinet Office.
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As part of their role in the information campaign, Ministers in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister were aware of the results of the NOP World research. The results of the NOP World research were not made available by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to any campaign organisation, but were made available in the Library of the House on 21 February 2005.
The Electoral Commission were aware that research was undertaken on the effect of the information campaign in raising awareness of the referendums.
The cost of the research undertaken by NOP World research totalled £76,100
Other research conducted by NOP Research Group Ltd. for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister since June 2003 is:
1.Key public sector workers: exploring recruitment and retention issues and their housing preferences" (for the Analytical Services Research Programme).
2.Survey of Small Businesses and Rate Relief" (for the ODPM Local and Regional Government Research Programme).
Park Ownership
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to promote non-council ownership of parks. [219492]
Phil Hope: Government are committed to improving all parks and green spaces regardless of ownership by promoting greater involvement at the local level in their long term management and maintenance. We are doing this through our Cleaner, Safer, Greener Communities programme and Local Government Strategy. As part of the latter, we have recently published a discussion document entitled 'Citizen Engagement and Public Services: Why Neighbourhoods Matter', which discusses a range of ideas for neighbourhood engagement, including possible community management and ownership of local assets, such as local parks.
Parliamentary Boundaries
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 22 February 2005, Official Report, column 582W, whether it is the Government's intention to implement changes to parliamentary boundaries before the end of March. [220190]
Mr. Raynsford:
Any changes to parliamentary boundaries in Wales arising from the Boundary Commission's Report presented to my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 31 January, would come
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into effect at the first proclamation summoning a new parliament issued after the Order implementing the changes comes into force.
Planning
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how draft Planning Policy Statement 10 amends the planning process in relation to development on greenfield or green belt sites. [219860]
Keith Hill: The consultation draft of Planning Policy Statement 10 (PPS10) Planning for Sustainable Waste Management" sets out a search sequence to be adopted by waste planning authorities in preparing development plan documents that gives priority to the re-use of previously-developed land before greenfield sites.
There is no change to green belt policy which is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 Green Belts". This advises that the carrying out of operations and the making of material changes of use which do not maintain the openness of the Green Belt and conflict with the purposes of including land in the Green Belt would not be appropriate development. In such cases applicants would have to demonstrate that there were very special circumstances that clearly outweighed the harm that the development would cause to the Green Belt. Draft PPS10 expects regional planning bodies and planning authorities to prepare and deliver planning strategies that protect green belts but recognise the particular locational needs of some types of waste management and that the wider environmental and economic benefits of sustainable waste management are material considerations that should be given significant weight in determining whether proposals should be given planning permission.
Planning Zones
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1)how many areas have operated simplified planning zones since their inception; and what the dates are of the operation of each such zone; [219855]
(2) if he will list each simplified planning zone in operation in England; and if he will make a statement. [219946]
Keith Hill: The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (sections 82–87), amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 (section 28), provides for the creation of simplified planning zones (SPZs). Since the powers were taken, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is aware of six SPZs that have been created, two of which remain in existence today. They are tabled as follows:
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The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 (section 45) amends the 1990 Act to provide for the creation by local planning authorities of SPZs, where need has been identified in a regional spatial strategy.
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