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4 Sep 2006 : Column 1671W—continued
Millennium Dome
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether (a) the Deputy Prime Minister and (b) another Minister within the former Department decided whether or not to call in the Meridian Delta/AEG planning application for the millennium dome to Greenwich borough council. [84502]
Yvette Cooper [Holding answer 11 July 2006]: I took the decision to leave the planning application to Greenwich borough council to determine.
Ministerial Meetings
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she last met her Scottish counterpart; and what subjects were discussed. [88772]
Angela E. Smith: The Secretary of State last spoke to her Scottish counterpart, Malcolm Chisholm MSP, on 12 June 2006. They discussed a range of issues of mutual interest.
National Land
Mr. Hands:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of the effect of Ordnance
Survey's MasterMap products on the commercial and financial viability of the National Land and Property Gazetteer. [88089]
Mr. Woolas: No assessment has been made.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the estimated total cost is of the National Land Use Database; [88402]
(2) if she will make a statement on the (a) status and (b) introduction of the National Land Use Database. [88407]
Meg Munn: There are two projects under the National Land Use Database heading. One is the National Land Use Database of Previously-Developed Land (NLUD-PDL). This was launched in 1998 and has been an annual survey since 2001. The latest report is on the Department's website at: www.communities.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?id=l147698.
The other is the Full National Land Use Database, also known as NLUD-Baseline. This would show land use and, separately, land cover for all land parcels in England. The Department for Communities and Local Government has funded developmental work, a report on which is on the Department's website at: www.communities.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?id=l161713.
At present there are no plans to implement the full database. A simplified version, the Generalised Land Use Database has, however, been created and is available on the website at: www.communities.gov.uk/embedded_object.asp?id=l146084.
NLUD-PDL is run jointly by the Department and English Partnerships. English Partnerships carries out the data collection at a cost of £250,000 a year. It is not known what the cost of Full NLUD would be. This would depend on the outcome of competitive tendering, the scope of the database and the potential for cost recovery through sales. As stated, however, there are no plans to implement Full NLUD.
New Growths Points Programme
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the new growth points programme; and where the development will be located. [88395]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement on the new growth points programme which I made on 20 June.
The new growth points programme is aimed at areas of high demand that are additional to and outside the existing growth areas, which include London.
Oil-fired Equipment
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to raise standards for installation and servicing of oil-fired equipment. [85122]
Angela E. Smith: My Department is responsible for the installation of oil fired equipment through the building regulations which set standards for safety and energy efficiency. Safety improvements were introduced in April 2002 and additional changes introduced in April 2005 mean that from April 2007 more energy efficient condensing oil boilers will normally be required.
To improve compliance my Department is working to attract more installers into approved competent persons schemes which demand reasonable standards of expertise and enable the self-certification of compliance.
Environmental issues are becoming more important however and the Government are looking to see how better maintenance could be achieved in the future.
Servicing is a matter for equipment owners but to assist in this the building regulations require that chimneys and flues should be labelled with their safe performance limits and oil tanks should be labelled with advice on dealing with spills. My Department also produces a leaflet for householders encouraging routine servicing of combustion appliances and flues to avoid the dangers that can otherwise arise.
Olympic Delivery Authority Partner
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when (a) Ministers and (b) officials in her Department have held meetings with representatives of companies or consortia on the shortlist for the contract as the Olympic Delivery Authority deliver partner; which (i) Ministers and (ii) companies or consortia partners attended each meeting; what the location was of each meeting; what was discussed at each meeting; and if she will make a statement. [88228]
Angela E. Smith [holding answer 24 July 2006]: Department for Communities and Local Government officials have regular meetings with developers and housing companies in order to take forward the government's regeneration agenda but no meetings have taken place with any of the companies or consortia regarding contracts for the Olympic Delivery Authority partner.
Ordnance Survey
Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the grounds for non-compliance were in the bid by the Ordnance Survey to supply geographical information to the Government. [87015]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 24 July 2006]: The procurement process for the replacement pan- Government agreement is not yet complete.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans the Government have to review the pan-Government agreement with Ordnance Survey. [87349]
Mr. Woolas:
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has undertaken a competitive procurement for the replacement of the
existing pan-Government agreement with Ordnance Survey. DCLG is currently consulting with pan-Government agreement members on the procurement and on future arrangements for the provision of geographic information to Government.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contracts Ordnance Survey has entered into with (a) Infoterra Limited and (b) BlueSky International Limited since 1997; and for what purpose. [88403]
Angela E. Smith: Since 1997, Ordnance Survey has entered into the following contracts with Infoterra Limited:
Imagery supply contract for the supply of digital imagery of England for the OS MasterMap imagery layer. This contract is with Infoterra as a partner in the joint venture company UK Perspectives.
Imagery hosting contract for the edge matching and colour balancing of imagery, hosting services and supply of data to customers.
Ordnance Survey has not entered into any direct contract with BlueSky International Limited.
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) information and (b) products Ordnance Survey has provided to the Valuation Office Agency in the last five years. [88404]
Angela E. Smith: The Valuation Office Agency is a signatory to the pan-Government agreement and has licensed access to coverage of Great Britain of the following Ordnance Survey datasets:
OS MasterMap Topographic Layer
OS MasterMap Integrated Transport Network Layer
OS MasterMap Address Layer
Land-Line
1:10000 Scale Raster
1:25000 Scale Colour Raster
1:50000 Scale Colour Raster
1:250000 Scale Colour Raster
Strategi
Meridian 2
MiniScale
Address-Point
Code-Point and Code-Point with polygons
OSCAR Asset-Manager
OSCAR Traffic Manager
Boundary-Line
Land-Form Profile
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many satellite photographs Ordnance Survey (a) took and (b) purchased from external suppliers in each of the last five years. [88405]
Angela E. Smith:
Ordnance Survey has not taken any satellite photographs in the last five years nor has it used satellite photography for production purposes.
However, it has evaluated the potential of satellite imagery to meet future business needs. This includes an assessment of data from the Quickbird, Ikonos and Spot 5 high resolution satellites for potential use in change detection and feature extraction applications.
Parks Funding
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she has issued to local authorities on the prioritisation of funding for parks. [88304]
Mr. Woolas: Public parks and green spaces are primarily funded by local authorities through unhypothecated formula grant. Central Government do not dictate how much should be spent by each local authority on their parks; this is clearly a matter for them to determine in line with local priorities.
We have made more money available for parks over the past five years, through revenue support, the liveability fund, and the safer and stronger communities fund. We have also provided support to local authorities to improve the quality of their parks through the CABE space-enabling scheme and the how to programme.
The quality of urban parks has improved since 2000, as recognised by the recent NAO report, ‘Enhancing Urban Green Spaces’. We remain committed to supporting local authorities to deliver quality parks and green spaces through our cleaner, safer, greener communities programme.
Planning Delivery Grant
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to change the methodology for the allocation of planning delivery grant. [88076]
Meg Munn: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the statement titled ‘Housing and Planning Delivery Grant’ which was made to the House on 24 July. This statement announced the launch of a consultation on proposals for a new housing and planning delivery grant and the proposed criteria for allocations for the final year of the current planning delivery grant. The document entitled ‘Housing and Planning Delivery Grant Consultation Paper’ and the corresponding document ‘Planning Delivery Grant 2007/08: Proposed Allocations Criteria’ are available in the Libraries of the House.
Post Office
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to her answer of 17 July 2006, Official Report, column 127W, on Post Office network services (1) what activity required to answer the question most contributed to her estimate of disproportionate cost; [87565]
(2) what services her Department makes available through the Post Office network. [87566]
Meg Munn: The Department for Communities and Local Government currently lets no contracts with Post Office Ltd. or Post Office Counters Ltd. Our principal predecessor Department—the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister—was established in 2002 and made one transaction with Post Office Ltd. during that year.
As was indicated in the earlier answer, the information requested in the hon. Member’s original question is not held centrally. Our judgment is that it would entail disproportionate cost to check with individual teams across the Department and its associated public bodies for the period and range of activity covered by the original question.
Questionnaires
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) questionnaires, (b) statistical inquiries and (c) investigations have been carried out wholly or partly at public expense on behalf of or by her Department or public bodies for which she is responsible in each year since 1997; and what the (i) nature, (ii) purpose and (iii) cost was of each. [83193]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested could be collated centrally only at disproportionate cost.
Renewable Energy Generators
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what additional scope she plans to give to individual households under the planning system to install renewable energy generators in houses. [84159]
Angela E. Smith: Works carried out inside a house do not generally require planning permission. Whether external work would be permitted without a planning consent would depend on the type of microgeneration technology proposed and the particular circumstances of the case. The Government have announced a review of this area in response to concerns that the current legislation as to what is allowed without planning permission is both too restrictive and too vague. We want far more microgeneration to be classified as permitted development and we plan to consult on the detail of the proposals for change later this year.
Right to Buy
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will suspend the right to buy in areas where demand for affordable rented housing exceeds the availability of such properties; and if she will make a statement. [86960]
Yvette Cooper: The Government support the principle of right to buy and have no plans to change the scheme in that way. The Government are introducing social home buy so that more tenants can have the chance to buy a share of their home.
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