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24 July 2006 : Column 818W—continued
Fire Service
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the level of provision was during the recent Hertfordshire fire strike for interim fire and rescue cover (a) to tackle fire and (b) to assist with road accidents. [88074]
Angela E. Smith: Hertfordshire experienced three individual periods of strike action, on 20, 26 and 31 May 2006, each lasting for eight hours. The level of fire and rescue cover varied from 11 up to 16 pumping appliances, plus a specialist rescue vehicle. All pumping appliances had capability for both firefighting and road traffic accidents. The specialist rescue vehicle was for road traffic accidents. It was in service for the first two periods of strike action, but not for the last period, when the skills were available in other crews.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans the Government have to ensure inter-operability and improve communications between the fire service and the other emergency services. [86977]
Angela E. Smith: The Firelink project, providing updated wide area radio communications to the fire and rescue service, will roll out from this autumn through until 2009. Firelink will provide inter-operability with police and ambulance services at strategic and tactical command levels.
Golf Courses
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many golf courses were registered on the Ratings List for business rates in England in the most recent year for which figures are available. [88077]
Mr. Woolas: The number of properties described as a golf course in the 2005 Rating List for England, at 31 January 2006, is 1,786.
Green Belt
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how she defines inappropriate development with regard to Green Belt policy. [87744]
Yvette Cooper: In deciding whether a development is inappropriate in the Green Belt the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government is guided by Planning Policy Guidance note 2 (PPG2), Green Belts.
Horses
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers are available to local authorities to deal with nuisance caused by horses (a) roaming wild in urban areas and (b) tethered on (i) public and (ii) private open space; and if she will make a statement. [85305]
Barry Gardiner: I have been asked to reply.
The Animals Act 1971 and the Highways Act 1980 contain provisions that relate to stray horses. Responsibility for enforcing this legislation lies with the police and local authorities.
The Protection Against Cruel Tethering Act 1988 created a specific offence under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 of causing unnecessary suffering to a horse, ass or mule by the manner or condition of its tethering. Anyone can seek to bring a prosecution where there is evidence of cruelty, either by tethering or by allowing horses to run free.
It is also an offence under the Abandonment of Animals Act 1960 to abandon an animal in circumstances likely to cause it unnecessary suffering. The maximum penalty for this offence is a fine of £5,000 or a six months imprisonment, or both.
House Prices
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average price of a home was in each London borough in each of the last five years. [82898]
Yvette Cooper: Average house prices for London boroughs and local authority districts from 1996 based on data from the Land Registry are published in Table 585 on the Department for Communities and Local Government website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=l156110
Housing (Hounslow)
Ann Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding has been allocated to the London borough of Hounslow for the upgrading and repairs of council housing stock to meet the decent homes standard since 1997. [84430]
Yvette Cooper: Capital investment by the London borough of Hounslow since 1997 via the housing revenue account system is set as follows. ALMO—arm’s length management organisations—allowances are included in these figures.
| £ million | |
Housing Renewal (Morecambe)
Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been allocated by English Partnerships to housing renewal in the West End of Morecambe under the West End Masterplan. [85033]
Yvette Cooper: Under the West End Masterplan for the renewal of the West End of Morecombe, English Partnerships have approved an investment of £8.6 million of which £4.5 million has been spent on land assembly and masterplanning works.
Intelligent Addressing
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what use (a) her Department and (b) local authorities make of Intelligent Addressing in geographical information systems. [88069]
Angela E. Smith: The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has a development and demonstration licence with the Improvement and Development Agency to use the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) data produced under contract by Intelligent Addressing. NLPG data supports the National Register of Social Housing data collection. DCLG has previously used Intelligent Addressing directly as a contractor to perform address matching.
Local authorities access data and services provided by Intelligent Addressing through their Mapping Services Agreement.
Land Classification
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hectares of land were classified as (a) urban and (b) suburban in each year since 1990, broken down by region. [84057]
Yvette Cooper: From the Department's statistics for Urban Settlements, the amounts of urban land in England were as follows:
| Hectares | ||
| 1991 | 2001 | |
Urban settlements are defined here as settlements with a population of 1,000 or more. They are based on the built-up extent and not on administrative boundaries. They are available only for census years, when there is information on population down to the necessary geographic level.
There is no standard definition of suburban areas and no information available centrally on their extent.
Land Value Tax
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of the likely effects of introducing a land value tax. [88087]
Mr. Woolas: The Department for Communities and Local Government has not made any assessment of the likely effects of introducing a land value tax.
Local Authority Staff (London)
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff were employed by each London borough in each year since 1997. [87277]
Mr. Woolas: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect this information.
Local Government
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the cost to local authorities of complying with BS 7799 on information security. [88065]
Mr. Woolas:
As part of the Implementing Electronic Government return process, local authorities were asked to provide information on compliance with BS 7799 on information security management, as an advisory good practice outcome relating to the internal organisation and management practices of the council that are required to help deliver the people, systems and service management changes necessary for e-government. No specific estimate of the costs of BS
7799 compliance has been made, as this outcome is advisory in status only. However, every local authority in England has been allocated £900,000 in capital grant to help in Implementing Electronic Government up to the end of 2005-06.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the contact administration address is for each pension scheme within the Local Government Pension Scheme. [88066]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government why the Audit Commission will not be reporting on Best Value Performance Indicator 199d for 2005-06. [88068]
Mr. Woolas: Best Value Performance Indicator 199d measures the year-on-year reduction in the number of incidents and the increase in the number of enforcement actions taken to deal with fly-tipping. The indicator was introduced in 2005-06. It will not be possible to publish data showing year-on-year changes until the indicator has been in place for two years.
Local Government Finance
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was given to each London borough per person in the Local Government Finance Settlement in each year since 1997. [87322]
Mr. Woolas: The table shows formula grant per head for each London borough for 1997-98 to 2006-07. Formula grant comprises Revenue Support Grant, redistributed business rates and principal formula Police Grant.
Formula grant per head has been calculated by dividing the total amount of formula grant received by the authority and dividing through by the mid-year population used in the calculation of the formula grant. For 1997-98 to 2005-06, the latest population estimates were used. These relate to the period two-years before the period for formula grant. For example, in 2005-06, the mid-2003 population estimates were used. In 2006-07, the population projections relating to the period of formula grant have been used i.e. the mid-2006 population projections.
Please note that these amounts are not comparable year-on-year due to changes in funding and function. For example, in 2006-07 support for school funding moved from Formula Grant (i.e. Revenue Support Grant plus Business Rates) to the dedicated schools grant.
| Formula Grant per head | |||||
| £ per head | |||||
| Authority | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 |
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