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22 May 2006 : Column 1400W—continued
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes the Government have made to planning fees since 2001. [70717]
Yvette Cooper: Planning fees were increased by14 per cent. in 2002 and again by an average 39 per cent. in April 2005. Fees were increased on both occasions to enable authorities to recover more of the costs of handling planning applications.
Regional Government
Mike Penning: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the annual cost of regional-level government is for each region. [68507]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
The Greater London Authority (GLA) will receive £37.868 million this year (2006-07) from central Government for the core GLA itself (through the General GLA Grant). The Mayor is also expected to raise a further £26.9 million for the core GLA from the
GLA precept on London council tax payers, putting the annual cost of the GLA at £64.8 million.
For details of 2006-07 central Government grant to the eight regional assemblies outside London, I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 18 April 2006, Official Report, column 121W.
Register of Home Condition Reports
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what private sector organisations will have access to the register of home condition reports. [66223]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
Access to the registers of home condition reports will be controlled by regulations. This will be limited to buyers and sellers, their advisers and mortgage lenders, and those monitoring the performance and quality of the reports.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions his Department has had with the Information Commissioner on the proposed register of home condition reports electronic database. [66229]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
We have discussed the proposed home condition report register with the Information Commissioner’s Office, who have confirmed they are satisfied with the proposals. Access to the register will be tightly controlled by regulations. Only sellers, buyers, their advisers and mortgage lenders and those monitoring the performance and quality of home condition reports will have access.
Science Cities
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when her Department expects to be presented with implementation plans from the regional development agencies for the development of Science Cities; and if she will make a statement. [71040]
Margaret Hodge: I have been asked to reply.
Science Cities is a policy initiative led by the regional development agencies. RDAs are working with other Science City partners to develop detailed implementation plans for Science Cities, in line with regional economic development strategies. The six Science Cities—Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and York—will present progress reports at the Science Cities National summit, to be held in Manchester at the end of May. The summit will also provide an opportunity to share best practice and consider how national and regional policies can best support Science Cities.
Social Services
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the standard spending assessment was for social services in the south-west in each year since 1997. [72786]
Mr. Woolas: The following tables show the standard spending assessment, formula spending share and relative needs formula for children's social care. Standard spending assessments were replaced in 2003-04 by formula spending shares. A new system of relative needs formulae was introduced for 2006-07. All these formulae look at an authority's relative needs on a particular service.
The Government do not regard any of these measures as an assessment of how much an authority should spend on a particular service.
| Standard spending assessment for personal social services (£ million) | |
| Formula spending share for personal social services (£ million) | |
| Relative needs formula for personal social services | |
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the social services standard spending assessment was for children’s services in Cornwall in each year since 2001. [72788]
Mr. Woolas: The following tables show the standard spending assessment, formula spending share and relative needs formula for children’s social care. Standard spending assessments were replaced in 2003-04 by formula spending shares. A new system as introduced for 2006-07. The relative needs formulae look at an authority’s relative need to spend on a particular service and are therefore not expressed in pounds.
Please note that during this period none of these measures were the Government’s assessment of how much an authority should spend on a particular service nor were they grant. They are simply formula based on the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of an authority.
| Standard spending assessment for personal social services for children | |
| £ million | |
| Formula spending share for personal social services for children | |
| £ million | |
| Relative needs formula for children’s social care | Relative needs formula for children’s social care damping | |
Special Advisers
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many special advisers her Department will employ. [70585]
Angela E. Smith: My Department will employ three special advisers.
Thames Basin
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the population density is of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area. [70178]
Mr. Woolas: The best approximate estimate that can be given is 1 per hectare.
Trees
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much money the Government have spent on producing research published within the Research for Amenity Trees series. [67029]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
A total of £1.95 million was spent on producing research published within the Research for Amenity Trees series. The cost for each publication is set out as follows:
Underground Electricity Cables
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the likely additional cost of requiring new houses to be serviced by underground electricity cables. [69978]
Yvette Cooper: Most new urban houses have access to electricity services via low-voltage underground cables, although some developments in rural areas may have a mix of underground and overhead service connections.. The cost of providing underground electricity distribution lines to particular housing developments will vary from case to case. Due to the numbers and variability of new development, this information is not practical to collate centrally.
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) presentation and (b) handouts produced by Diane Leggo, Director of Council Tax for the Valuation Office Agency, for the lecture on 23 November 2005 at the CPD Foundation. [66322]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
A copy of the presentation has been placed in the Library of the House. The handouts were a copy of this presentation.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 27 March 2006, Official Report, column 826W, on housing, whether the Valuation Office Agency will have access to the Register of Home Condition reports to assist them in the performance of their statutory duties. [66397]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden of 26 April 2006, Official Report, columns 1200-01W, on the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), why publication of the VOA document “Dwellinghouse Coding—An Illustrated Guide” would breach privacy; what advice she has requested from the Information Commissioner on whether publication would breach privacy; and what categories of personal information the document contains. [70561]
Mr. Woolas: The document—which is for the use of Valuation Office Agency listing officers and their staff only—contains photographs of individual properties. There is potential for the privacy of the occupiers of these properties to be breached if the illustrated guide is placed in the public domain. No advice has been sought from the Information Commissioner.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden of 27 April 2006, Official Report, columns 1283-84W, on the Valuation Office Agency, whether the Tenet IT Mapping software includes photographic data and vector data; and what data sources are used to provide the mapping information. [70562]
Mr. Woolas: The Tenet IT Mapping software used by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) does not include (a) photographic data but does include (b) vector data in the form of Land Line and MasterMap products.
The source data that underpins the Tenet IT Mapping software comprises the following map layers provided by Ordnance Survey: Land Line; MasterMap; 1:10,000 Scale Black and White Raster Map; 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 Scales Colour Raster Map; Postcode Map; Boundary-Line; and Address Point.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 26 April 2006, Official Report, columns 1203-04W, on the Valuation Office Agency, if she will place in the Library a list of the 10,000 localities in England. [70564]
Mr. Woolas: To list the localities is a task that would involve disproportionate cost. Each of the localities would need to be given an identifiable name—their existing reference numbers are meaningless in isolation—and this task would need to be undertaken for each of 354 local authority areas in England.
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