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14 Mar 2005 : Column 151W—continued
Public Bodies
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what regional (a) bodies, (b) institutions, (c) taskforces, (d) panels, (e) offices and (f) organisations the Government have are the responsibility of his Department. [220193]
Yvette Cooper: The following regional bodies, institutions, taskforces, panels, offices or organisations are the responsibility of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Regional Housing Boards
Eight Regional Assemblies outside London are answerable to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for specific functions that they undertake on its behalf.
Rateable Values (Yorkshire)
Mr. Grogan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) the average percentage change in rateable value is from the 2000 rating lists in Selby and York and (b) the average percentage change in liability will be as a result of revaluation before reliefs are applied in Selby and York following the revaluation of business rates from April 2005. [221505]
Mr. Raynsford: The information is as follows:
Full data on the impact of revaluation on rateable values by billing authority are available on the Valuation Office Agency's website. These also show a breakdown by category within the billing authority.
See http://www.voa.gov.uk/business_rates/DraftListStats/baindex.html
The percentage change in liability is more difficult to estimate:
These figures represent the average change before reliefs and are strongly influenced by the changes in value of some high value hereditaments. These need to be seen in that context.
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish (a) the written communications to the Prime Minister concerning (i) the decision to hold three referendums in the North of England on elected regional assemblies, (ii) the decision to hold these referendums by all-postal ballot and (iii) the decision to postpone two of the three referendums, (b) the responses to those communications and (c) the minutes of meetings of (A) Ministers and (B) officials pursuant to those communications. [220556]
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Mr. Raynsford: No. The Government's decisions on these matters, and the reasons for them, were announced or debated in Parliament on the following dates:
(ii) 22 October 2003, Official Report, column 629 and 8 (laying of SI in Parliament), 19 and 21 July 2004 (debating of the orders),
(iii) 22 July 2004, Official Report, columns 501–04 and Official Report, the Other Place, columns 344–51 and 13 September 2004, Official Report, columns 987–89.
Regional Offices
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which (a) non-departmental public bodies and (b) executive agencies within the remit of his Department have regional offices based on the Government Offices for the Regions' regional structure; and when the regional offices were established in each case. [219876]
Yvette Cooper: The Housing Corporation, a non-departmental public body within the remit of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, reorganised its structure to be congruent with the structure of the Government Offices in the regions in October 2004.
Solar Photovoltaics
Ian Lucas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will amend building regulations to encourage use of photovoltaic cells. [221594]
Phil Hope: The Building Regulations requirements are functional rather than prescriptive to enable compliance in practical and cost-effective ways and to leave open the possibilities for innovation. It would therefore be inconsistent to prescribe particular technologies such as solar electricity. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is reviewing the energy efficiency requirements however and amendment proposals were published for consultation last July. The proposals include setting minimum overall building performance standards at levels much higher than at present and providing new technical guidance on low and zero carbon systems to further encourage take-up of these systems.
Sports Facilities
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister under what circumstances sports facilities may be included in section 106 agreements. [221352]
Keith Hill:
The provision of sport or recreation facilities is a legitimate use of planning obligations (s106 agreements), where they meet the Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's policy tests (set out in DoE circular 1/97 and the revised draft circular published in November 2004) of being necessary; relevant to planning; directly related to the proposed development; fairly and reasonably related in scale and kind to the proposed development; and reasonable in all other respects. Planning Policy Guidance note 17 also gives further guidance on the appropriate use of planning obligations to secure sport or recreation facilities alongside new developments.
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Telecommunications Masts
Mr. Gill: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many mobile phone masts have been erected (a) within school grounds and (b) within 100 m of school grounds in Leicester in each year since 1997. [221204]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not hold the information requested centrally, and could provide it only at disproportionate cost.
Travellers
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many full-time equivalent staff in his Department deal with issues relating to Travellers. [219861]
Yvette Cooper:
The equivalent of five and a half full-time staff deal with housing and planning policy as it relates to Gypsies and Travellers, along with the equivalent of two full-time staff in the area of planning casework. Part of one member of staffs time in the Social Exclusion Unit is spent dealing with Gypsy and Traveller issues as part of the Unit's project on improving service delivery for disadvantaged people
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who move frequently. These officials are part of the housing and planning directorates in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which employ 155 and 227 staff respectively.
A Gypsy and Traveller Unit is being established by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to take policy forward, and to provide support and guidance to local authorities. This Unit will bring together existing resources as well as providing additional resources. The exact staffing of the Unit has not yet been determined.
Your Say Information Campaign
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the advice or guidance his Department received from the Cabinet Secretary or from his office concerning the proposed content of the Your Say information campaign (a) before and (b) after the final content was agreed by the Cabinet Secretary. [220596]
Mr. Raynsford: Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not for publication. However, I can confirm that the advice received by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister from the Cabinet Secretary was acted on and incorporated into the Your Say information campaign material.