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18 Apr 2006 : Column 97W—continued

Business Rates

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what primary legislation introduced since 1997 has amended rules or procedures on business rates. [62283]

Mr. Woolas: The primary legislation for business rates has been amended substantively since 1997 by the Local Government Act 2003, the Rating (Former Agricultural Premises and Rural Shops) Act 2001, the Rating (Valuation) Act 1999 and the Local Government and Rating Act 1997. Minor amendments have been made by other enactments.

Capita

Chris Grayling: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have held with directors and senior executives of (i) Capita Group plc and (ii) its subsidiaries since 1st January 2004; and whether (A) Capita Group plc and (B) its subsidiaries have provided input (1) in writing and (2) in person to policy discussions in his Department since 1 January 2004. [61086]

Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the value of contracts held by his Department with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries was in the last three financial years. [61438]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table shows the value of payments made to Capita plc and its subsidiaries in the last three financial years. For completeness spend in this financial year to date has been included:

	£
2002–03	1,019,208
2003–04	545,069
2004–05	1,339,945
2005–06 to date	1,166,965
Total to date	4,071,187

James Brokenshire: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many tenders (a) Capita plc and (b) its
 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 98W
 
subsidiaries have submitted to his Department in each of the last three years; and how many tenders were successful. [61439]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has awarded one contract to Capita Business Services Ltd. in 2005–06. Records are not held centrally of tenders offered and this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many contracts his Department holds with (a) Capita plc and (b) its subsidiaries which still have a potential duration of five years or more. [61440]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Department does not have any contract with Capita plc of this duration.

Civil Resilience Measures

Mr. Syms: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the cost to local government of civil resilience measures; and what funding has been provided to local government for this purpose from central funds in 2005–06. [60017]

Mr. Jim Murphy: I have been asked to reply.

As a part of Spending Review 2004, Cabinet Office officials worked closely with the Local Government Association to build up a detailed assessment of the costs facing local authorities in fulfilling their civil protection duties.

As a result of Spending Review 2004 the Government more than doubled their contribution to the cost of English and Welsh local authorities' civil protection work to £40.7 million in each of the years covered by the review—2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08. This uplift in funding levels was welcomed by the Local Government Association.

The Government are committed to ensuring that new burdens imposed on local authorities are adequately funded. In the light of this commitment, the Government have made an additional £2,913,000 available for the period 2005–06 to 2007–08 to local authorities in recognition of new responsibilities in relation to downstream oil emergency response planning.

Council Housing

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the merits of an investment allowance as a revenue stream on which to base borrowing for council housing; and if he will introduce such an allowance to underpin the borrowing allowed under the Local Government Act 2004. [41149]

Yvette Cooper: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 30 March 2006, Official Report, column 1216W.

Council Tax

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether a domestic property is revalued for council tax purposes on (a) the purchase of a freehold by a leaseholder, (b) the extension of the duration of the lease of a leasehold property, (c) the purchase of a
 
18 Apr 2006 : Column 99W
 
council house under the Right to Buy and (d) the purchase of a housing association property under the Right to Acquire. [62256]

Mr. Woolas: For the purposes of the council tax legislation, a relevant transaction means a transfer on sale of the fee simple, a grant of a lease for a term of seven years or more or a transfer on sale of such lease. The purchase of a freehold by a leaseholder, the purchase of a council house under the Right to Buy, and the purchase of a housing association property under the Right to Acquire, would all constitute a relevant transaction. The extension of the duration of the lease of a leasehold property would only constitute a relevant transaction if the extension was for seven years or more.

Where a relevant transaction has taken place, an authority may make a proposal to the listing officer for the rebanding of the property; but only if it is of the opinion that there has been a material increase in the value of a property. A material increase in relation to the value of a property means any increase which is caused (in whole or part) by any building, engineering or other operation carried out in relation to the property, whether or not constituting development for which planning permission is required.

This means that a property will be rebanded where work has taken place on the property such as to increase its value and move it into a higher band, and there has been a relevant transaction.

John Hemming: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the values were for (a) the assumed national Council Tax before floors and ceilings and (b) Council Tax at standard spending in each year since 1997–98; and for what reason these figures have increased at a rate beyond that of inflation. [63131]

Mr. Woolas: The following table gives the Council Tax for Standard Spending for the years 1997–98 to 2002–03 and the Assumed National Council Tax for the years 2003–04 to 2005–06.
Council Tax for standard spending/assumed national council tax

	£
1997–98	593.09
1998–99	634.62
1999–00	664.88
2000–01	695.54
2001–02	730.89
2002–03	769.16
2003–04	1,037.46
2004–05	1,061.46
2005–06	1,101.96

Both of these measures were simply the calculation of the assumed national council tax used within the formula grant calculations, and depended on the total of Standard Spending Assessments or Formula Spending Shares, the amount of Revenue Support Grant and the distributable amount of business rates, and the number of band-D equivalent properties in England.
 
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The large increase between 2002–03 and 2003–04 reflects the change to the Formula Spending Share system. The totals for Formula Spending Shares were set at approximately the level of spending by authorities, and thus the assumed national council tax was reset to a level nearer to the actual national average band-D council tax.

Departmental Financial Irregularities

Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many incidences of financial irregularities have been discovered in his Department in each year since its creation; and if he will make a statement. [54270]

Jim Fitzpatrick: Incidences of financial irregularities that have been discovered each year in the Office are as follows:
£

Financial year	Number of incidents	Value
2002–03	1	8,592
2003–04	2	8,185
2004–05	1	867,200
2005–06	0	0

These are gross figures. Actual and likely recoveries from perpetrators are excluded.

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