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Written Answers to Questions

Wednesday 8 March 2006

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Thames Gateway

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many Government organisations are involved in the administration of the Thames Gateway regeneration scheme. [56650]

Yvette Cooper: The delivery and development of the Thames Gateway programme is lead by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its agencies in partnership with other Government Departments including Department of Health, Department for Transport, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Department for Education and Skills.

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list local planning authorities in the Thames Gateway which have in place an urban capacity study which meets his Department's standards. [54612]

Yvette Cooper: The Secretary of State, my right. hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister does not keep records of local planning authorities which have undertaken urban capacity studies.

Planning Policy Guidance Note No 3: Housing", requires regional planning bodies to coordinate the programme of capacity studies undertaken by local authorities in their area and maintain consistency of approach in terms of the methodology used.

Local Government Finance

12. Paddy Tipping: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of local government expenditure was (a) raised locally and (b) provided by grants in the 2005–06 financial year. [56653]

Mr. Woolas: Some 25 per cent. of local government revenue expenditure in England in 2005–06 is estimated to be financed from council tax and 74 per cent. from Government grants.

The data are as reported by local authorities on their Revenue Account Budget returns.

District/County Councils

13. Mr. Francois: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent meetings he has had with local authority chief executives on the potential abolition of district and county councils. [56654]

Mr. Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has a programme of meetings involving local authority chief executives and Members to hear their views and ideas about future governance arrangements for places. There have been two county dialogues to date, in Shropshire and Gloucestershire, and a Roundtable in
 
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the West Midlands for council leaders. Officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have also held six meetings with council chief executives.

Housing (Northamptonshire)

14. Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what uses his Department proposes to make of the 2021 to 2031 housing projections for North Northamptonshire contained in the Milton Keynes and South Midlands sub-regional spatial

Yvette Cooper: The Milton Keynes and South Midlands sub-regional strategy contains a provisional planning assumption about levels of housing growth in the towns of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough for the period 2021 to 2031. These figures will be reassessed through future reviews of the regional spatial strategy.

Environmentally Sustainable Housing

15. Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to ensure that all new homes are environmentally sustainable. [56656]

Yvette Cooper: The Government are committed to building environmentally sustainable housing. From this April building regulations are being strengthened to deliver a 40 per cent. increase in energy efficiency compared to 2002. This is part of a wide range of measures to improve the environmental sustainability of new homes.

Council Tax

Mr. Betts: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what level of earnings a single person can have before they start paying council tax if they are (a) under 25 years and (b) over 25 years; and if he will make a statement. [56891]

Mr. Woolas: Council tax does not take account of earnings. However, entitlement to council tax benefit is based on a number of factors including income, capital and number of persons per household. Also, some properties may be exempt from council tax, for example if they are occupied solely by students or people under the age of 18.

Departmental Staff

Angus Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff work in the Local Government and Fire Group; how many are based in (i) London and (ii) each region and nation of the UK; how much was spent on their salaries in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by area; and what estimate he has made of the administration costs associated with the group. [50030]

Jim Fitzpatrick: As at 31 December 2005 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister had 550,72 staff on full-time equivalent (FTE) basis working in the Local Government and Fire Group, of which 463.97 (FTE) staff were based in London and 86.75 (FTE) staff elsewhere.

The total salary costs for the 2004–05 financial year was £23.762 million and total administration costs was £29.825 million.
 
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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not monitor regional or central London administration costs separately.

The figures above refer to England only.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff work in the Corporate Strategy and Resources Group; how many are based in (i) London and (ii) each region and nation of the UK; how much was spent on their salaries in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by area; and what estimate he has made of the administration costs associated with the Group. [50031]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Corporate Strategy and Resources Group brings together strategy and the resources to deliver it. The group includes a strategy and performance unit, provides analytical services to the rest of the Department and delivers key corporate junctions including finance, HR, workplace services, IT, procurement, business systems, corporate change and information management.

As at 31 December 2005 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister had 652.8 staff on full-time equivalent (FTE) basis working in the Corporate Strategy and Resources Group, of these 494.99 (FTE) staff were based in London and 157.81 (FTE) staff elsewhere.

The total salary costs for the 2004–05 financial year was £23.624 million and total administration costs was £26.626 million.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not monitor regional or central London administration costs separately.

The figures above refer to England only.

Infrastructure Funding (Milton Keynes)

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister by what medium the press notice issued on 16 February 2006 by his Department regarding funding for infrastructure projects in Milton Keynes was distributed to (a) the hon. Member for North-East Milton Keynes, (b) the hon. Member for Milton Keynes, South-West and (c) the press. [56739]

Jim Fitzpatrick [holding answer 7 March 2006]: The press notice was issued on the 16 February on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website, electronically through the Central Office of Information and hard copies were sent to the House of Commons Lobby.

Correspondence

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will reply to the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Brent East, dated 2 December 2005, regarding Mr. Brian Barker. [54693]

Mr. Woolas: I replied to the hon. Member on 1 March.

National Interest Mapping Service Agreement

Mr. Arbuthnot: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) discussions he has had with and (b) guidance he has given to Ordnance Survey on the exclusion of mapping products and services that have been wholly or
 
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partly funded via the National Interest Mapping Service Agreement from bids for the Pan Government Agreement; and if he will make a statement. [56955]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not discussed this with Ordnance Survey, nor provided guidance to Ordnance Survey on these matters.

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