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Government Office for the North-East
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many whole-time equivalent staff there are in Government Office North East; how many there were in each year since 2001; and what staff reductions are projected in the next three years. [75252]
Angela E. Smith: The figures for whole-time equivalent staff in the Government Office for the North East for each year since 2001 is:
| April each year: | Number |
It is expected that the number of staff will reduce by around a third by the end of 2008, compared to the 2004 figure.
Government Office for the West Midlands
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what strategies for sustainable development the Government Office for the West Midlands has in place. [79967]
Angela E. Smith: The Government's commitment to sustainable development in the regions is set out in “Securing the Regions' Futures, strengthening delivery of sustainable development in the English regions”, launched on 25 April 2006. The Government Office for the West Midlands is currently considering, in conjunction with Regional Partners, how it will take this work forward, in particular:
“leading by example, to ensure that sustainable development principles are embedded in the way that we work across all our business as well as in partnership with others,
and
making sustainable development one of our key challenges but one which is central to our new more strategic purpose as set out in the Government Office Review”—(Securing the Regions' Futures, Strengthening delivery of sustainable development in the English regions; p25)
Regional partners are responsible for the development of strategies, in particular the Regional Sustainable Development Framework (RSDF), which provide a framework for sustainable development in the West Midlands,. The current RSDF was launched in January 2005. The Government Office for the West Midlands has actively supported and challenged partners to develop and use the RSDF in the development of regional and sub regional policies. It has been, or is being, used in the development of the Regional Housing Strategy, the Regional Rural Delivery Framework, the review of the Regional Economic Strategy and the Phase 1 review of the Regional Spatial Strategy, as well as a range of sub regional policies and plans.
A revised version of the RSDF, that incorporates lessons learned from the use of version 1, has been the subject of public consultation and the final document is in preparation.
The Regional Concordat is also being revised, led by the West Midlands Regional Assembly and supported by partners, including GOWM. This is a framework for partnership working and has sustainable development as one of its central tenets.
Sustainability West Midlands is the equivalent of a regional round table. Regional partners, including the Government Office for the West Midlands, have been very active in supporting and promoting its role as a regional champion for sustainable development. It has worked to embed sustainable development thinking into policy making and to develop the links between policy and practice through a wide range of projects.
The Regional Spatial Strategy for the West Midlands was issued as Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands (RPG11) in June 2004 on behalf of the Secretary of State by the Government Office for the West Midlands. A number of local authorities within the region have either prepared or are preparing their local development frameworks as part of the local planning process. These frameworks will include policies on sustainable development at the local level. The drafts seen to date have used the RSDF as a tool to help develop their policies.
Home Inspectors
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how a home inspector will be required to prove that he has valid professional indemnity insurance at the time he produced the report; what discussions the Government have had with the insurance industry to ensure that it will provide such insurance to qualified inspectors; what the expected cost is of professional indemnity insurance to an individual inspector; and whether the Government plan to give grants or loans to inspectors to help pay for professional indemnity insurance. [75417]
Yvette
Cooper: In order to be approved by the Secretary of State,
certification schemes will be required to have
robust systems in place to ensure that Home Condition Reports (HCRs) are
covered by indemnity insurance, before they are lodged on the central
register.
Discussions have been held with insurers and underwriters covering 60 per cent. of the market volume for insurance for existing residential surveyors to ensure that indemnity insurance will be available for home inspectors. Further discussions are under way in the commercial sector to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum.
It is too early for insurers to quote costs but we anticipate that the cost for existing practitioners will be similar to that which applies now.
Home inspectors will be expected to pay for indemnity insurance, as is the case with chartered surveyors at present.
Housing (Luton)
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make an assessment of the impact on equalities of recent budget decisions by Luton council. [80520]
Meg Munn: Public authorities are legally responsible for assessing the impact on equalities of their own policies (including decisions that revise a policy) and functions. The Commission for Racial Equality has powers of enforcement if the Commission is of the view that a public authority has not complied with the duty to promote race equality. Otherwise it is for a public authority itself, in this case Luton council, to demonstrate how its decisions take account of the duty and this is subject to audit.
Living Naze Community Project
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what correspondence her Department has had with the East of England Development Agency concerning the Living Naze community project in Walton-on-the-Naze. [76352]
Yvette Cooper: There has been no correspondence between the Department for Communities and Local Government and the East of England Development Agency concerning the Living Naze community project in Walton-on-the-Naze.
Local Government
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many written representations her Department has received from (a) district and (b) county councils calling for unitary status. [70570]
Mr. Woolas: Our records show receipt of over 60 written representations in favour of the principle of unitary local Government—24 from district council members and officers and eight from county council members and officers.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Government has paid in subsidy to each local authority since 2002. [79379]
Mr. Woolas: A table detailing the amount of central Government grant paid to each local authority since 2002-03 has been made available in the Library of the House.
The data are taken from Revenue Summary (RS) returns for 2002-03 to 2004-05.
Central Government grant is defined here as the sum of Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance (AEF), General GLA grant and Formula grant (Revenue Support Grant, Redistributed business rates and Police Grant).
Specific grants inside Aggregate External Finance are those revenue grants paid for councils’ core services (such as waste collection), excluding funding for local authorities’ housing management, and can be paid to any type of authority.
Combined Fire authorities did not receive Formula grant until they became major precepting authorities on 1 April 2004. Waste and waste disposal authorities and Passenger Transport Authorities do not directly receive Formula grant but receive levy income from their constituent authorities. They may, however, receive some specific grants. National Park Authorities do not receive Formula grant but receive specific grants, except Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, which receives levy income from its constituent authorities.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
The information excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Local Government Staff (Salaries)
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average annual wage was of (a) local government chief executives in England and (b) local government workers in each year since 1997. [79879]
Mr. Woolas: The requested information has been calculated from information provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and Local Government Employers (LGE) Organisation and is shown in the following table:
Local Strategic Partnerships
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to ensure that local strategic partnerships play a leading role in the reduction of (a) criminal and (b) antisocial behaviour in their areas. [78330]
Mr. Woolas: In the recent consultation on the future of local strategic partnerships, LSP were positioned as the overarching partnership in an area that would bring all relevant service deliverers together. In order for this to work effectively the consultation described the LSP as needing to consist of a board, which will determine the priorities for an area through the Local Area Agreement, and a series of thematic sub-partnerships including the Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership (CDRP) which would deliver against these agreed priorities.
The Home Office’s recent Crime and Disorder Act review built on this model and gave further emphasis to the strategic leadership role to the LSP in reducing crime and antisocial behaviour through its setting of the LAA targets. Furthermore, all LAAs contain mandatory targets on both crime and antisocial behaviour, which are developed by LSPs.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether her Department receives annual reports by local strategic partnerships on their (a) performance and (b) auditing of expenditure. [79682]
Mr. Woolas: Outside areas receiving Neighbourhood Renewal Funding Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) are voluntary partnerships and hence are not monitored on an individual basis by the Department. There are no requirements for LSPs to report to the Secretary of State on their performance. Where a locality has a local area agreement, the LSP, through the local authority, will report on progress to the Government Office on a six-monthly basis. This report is made available to the Secretary of State.
LSPs do not hold funds, funding is held by partner organisations. Any expenditure will be subject to partners’ individual audit requirements.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what external monitoring takes place by Government of local strategic partnerships. [80019]
Mr. Woolas: Outside areas receiving Neighbourhood Renewal Funding local strategic partnerships (LSPs) are voluntary partnerships and hence are not monitored on an individual basis by the Department. There are no requirements for LSPs to report to the Secretary of State on their performance. Where a locality has a local area agreement, the LSP, through the local authority, will report on progress to the Government Office on a six-monthly basis. This report is made available to the Secretary of State.
LSPs do not hold funds, funding is held by partner organisations. Any expenditure will be subject to partners individual audit requirements. Local authorities are the accountable body for LAAs.
Since 2004, LSPs in receipt of NRF resources have been required to develop performance management frameworks. This is primarily a self-assessment process. To ensure the process is robust, Government offices have undertaken an annual review, with the outcomes of performance management forming the basis of these reviews. Government offices will provide DCLG with a report on each of the 86 LSPs by 7 July this year.
Mayor of London
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers the Mayor of London has to make unilateral agreements with representatives of foreign countries on the supply of oil; and if she will make a statement. [73646]
Dr. Ladyman: The Mayor of London acting through the Greater London Authority has a general power, under section 30 of the GLA Act 1999, to do anything he considers will further the Authority’s principal purposes of promoting economic development and wealth creation, social development, and the improvement of the environment in Greater London. The use of this general power may enable the Mayor to make agreements with foreign countries on specific matters in certain circumstances, subject to other relevant national, EU and international laws.
Pathfinder Schemes
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the funding agreement between her Department and each Pathfinder scheme. [70726]
Yvette Cooper: I have placed in the Libraries of both Houses a copy of the funding agreement up to 31 March 2006 between each pathfinder and the Department. We are currently agreeing with the six pathfinders for whom we have announced offers of funding for 2006-08 variations to those funding agreements to cover the period to 31 March 2008.
Public Pensions (Transferability)
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what measures her Department has put in place to assist pension transferability of public pensions for members of the (a) Local Government and (b) Fire Service Pension Schemes. [79771]
Mr. Woolas: On joining the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), a member may request the LGPS fund to accept a transfer value in respect of some or all of his accrued pension rights, from a previous employment. On transferring out of the LGPS, a member is entitled to request a transfer value of his accrued LGPS pension rights, for payment into a new pension scheme.
Similar arrangements are provided for in the Firefighters' Pension Scheme (FPS) and are being provided for in the New Firefighters' Pension Scheme (NFPS).
Special provisions apply to individual transfers between members of the Public Sector Transfer Club under which a transferee will receive equivalent value service credits in the new scheme in respect of service in their former scheme. The LGPS and the FPS are members of the Club and the objective is that the NFPS should also satisfy the requirements to be a member.
Special provisions exist in the LGPS which allow employees transferring out of local government under a best value contracting out arrangement, either to remain in the LGPS in their new employment or to have access to a broadly comparable scheme.
Special Advisers
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who the special advisers are to each Minister in her Department. [78409]
Angela E. Smith: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has two special advisers: Dan Corry and Julie Crowley. No other Ministers in the Department have special advisers.
Mr. Grieve: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what role is played by special advisers in answering parliamentary questions asked of her Department. [80656]
Angela E. Smith: Special advisers conduct themselves in accordance with the requirements of the ‘Code of Conduct for Special Advisers’.
Sustainable Buildings
Mr. Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the number of homes built since 1997 that do not comply with environmental building regulations. [79384]
Angela E. Smith: Post implementation surveys of amendments to the energy efficiency provisions in Part L of the Building Regulations were carried out in 1998 and 2004 respectively. These surveys examined building control submissions to determine methods of compliance but were not designed to count numbers of non-compliances.
The former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also commissioned air-tightness tests on 55 new dwellings built in compliance with the 2002 requirements and it subsequently received from The Energy Saving Partnership for Homes the results of a further 99 similar tests on other new dwellings.
The results of these tests and surveys influenced the amendment to Part L that came into effect in April 2006 and the ongoing dissemination and training for builders and Building Control Officers.
Constitutional Affairs
1911 Census
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions she has had with the Information Commissioner on releasing the 1911 census records on a county-by-county basis. [80148]
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