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18 Jan 2007 : Column 1318Wcontinued
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the estimated cost is of exempting members of the armed services serving abroad on active duty and not living in departmental accommodation from having a council tax liability in England. [114395]
Mr. Woolas: The estimated cost of providing support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas will depend on the qualifying criteria used, the way in which that support is given and the level of relief provided. The administrative costs of running the scheme would also be dependent on how it was structured.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions her Department has had with the Ministry of Defence on the proposed exemption of members of the armed forces serving overseas from paying council tax. [114416]
Mr. Woolas: Discussions between my Department and the Ministry of Defence about how best to provide support for the council tax costs of service personnel on operations overseas are ongoing.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidelines she has set for chief executives of county councils with respect to whether they can participate in lobbying the electorate in a referendum on unitary status and whether they are allowed to debate publicly with politicians on this subject. [115178]
Mr. Woolas: Within the statutory framework, including the requirements under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 restricting certain officers party political activities, the conduct of chief executives is a matter for them and their councils.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the amber and red annual review reports to which she refers on page 55 of her Department's annual report for 2006. [115707]
Mr. Woolas: Across 88 areas receiving neighbourhood renewal fund (NRF) in 2004-05, the following 16 local strategic partnerships (LSPs) were assessed as amber/red for their performance in that year:
Allerdale
Ashfield
Barking and Dagenham
Birmingham
Burnley
Ealing
Hackney
Kingston-upon-Hull
Lambeth
Leicester
Lincoln
Luton
Nottingham
Plymouth
Sandwell
Sedgefield
Of these, nine improved sufficiently to be assessed as amber/green for their performance in 2005-06.
No LSPs receiving NRF were assessed as red for their performance in either 2004-05 or 2005-06.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the purpose of the regional policy budget referred to on Table B9 of her Departments annual report 2006, page 108 is; and how much of such funding was spent on administration. [115712]
Mr. Woolas: The regional policy line within table B9 of the 2006 annual report from the Department for Communities and Local Government comprises the sum of a number of expenditure programmes. It does not include any departmental administration costs.
The largest component of the total for 2004-05 (£1,179 million of £1,799.5 million) was the former Office of the Deputy Prime Ministers contribution to the work of the English regional development agencies, which was paid via the Department for Trade and Industry.
Other significant items were expenditure by English Partnerships (the Urban Regeneration Agency and the Commission for New Towns) and grant payments, other than to local authorities, under the European regional development fund. English Partnerships and each regional development agency have published their own accounts for 2004-05 which set out how they spent their money, including how much was spent on administration. Copies of these accounts are in the Library of the House and are usually posted on the relevant organisations websites.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projects were funded under her departmental budget line Development of English Regions; and what proportion of such funding was spent on administration. [115710]
Mr. Woolas: Table B1 of the 2006 Annual Report from the Department for Communities and Local Government sets out the Department's resource and capital spending.
The budget line Development of English Regions under each of these principally records ODPMs contribution to the work of (i) the English regional development agencies (in 2004-05 £758.1 million capital, £420.7 million resource); (ii) the London development agency (in 2004-05 £170 million capital, £106.9 million resource); and (iii) the voluntary regional assemblies (in 2004-05 £14.1 million resource).
The specific activities and expenditure to which these amounts relate are detailed in the accounts of the bodies concerned. They contributed to the Department's Public Service Agreement 2 target to
make sustainable improvements in the economic performance of all English regions by 2008 and over the long term reduce the persistent gap in growth rates between the regions, demonstrating progress by 2006.
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to include within building regulations a requirement that all new public buildings should be designed to include measures for energy-saving and energy-producing; and if she will make a statement. [114597]
Angela E. Smith [holding answer 11 January 2007]: Such requirements are already in place. The energy efficiency provisions in the building regulations apply whenever new buildings, including new public buildings, are constructed. Without prescribing solutions, the regulations set standards for energy performance in a way that enables builders to take into account the benefits of renewable and on-site energy generating systems, thus encouraging their take-up.
Mr. Galloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what dates Ministers in her Department and its predecessors made official visits to the London boroughs of (a) Tower Hamlets, (b) Newham and (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997. [115743]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the ratio between central Government funding and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council was in each of the last eight years. [114263]
Mr. Woolas: The ratio between central Government grant and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council in each of the last eight years is in the following table.
Ratio between central Government grant and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council | |
Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns from 1999-00 to 2005-06 and Revenue Account (RA) budget returns for 2006-07. |
Government grant is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside aggregate external finance (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils core services) and formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant).
Council tax revenue is defined here as the local authority council tax requirement (i.e. the council tax used to finance revenue expenditure), not council tax collected.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. The information provided excludes capital funding and funding for local authorities housing management responsibilities. The information also excludes those grant programmes, such as European funding, where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has estimated the average house price tax payment which would apply per property for people living in Altrincham and Sale West, if the scheme being piloted in Northern Ireland were introduced in England. [116695]
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who will conduct the independent review of the incentives and barriers to serving on councils. [114407]
Mr. Woolas: Paragraph 3.9 of the Local Government White Paper announced the Governments intention that there should be an independent review. A further announcement on who will conduct it will be made in due course.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the remit of the independent review into the incentives and barriers to serving on councils will include reviewing the salaries paid to councillors. [114408]
Mr. Woolas: Paragraph 3.9 of the Local Government White Paper said that the review of the incentives and barriers to serving on councils will look at a range of issues including allowances and remuneration. A further announcement on terms of reference will be made in due course.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether indirectly elected local authority leaders will be able to be removed from full council by a motion of no confidence under her Departments proposals for reform of local governance. [114434]
Mr. Woolas: Our proposals provide that a council may remove an indirectly elected leader from that office if its constitution allows this.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to what parliamentary procedure she expects the orders by which the Secretary of State may introduce local government restructuring to be subject. [114509]
Mr. Woolas: The Local Government and Involvement in Public Health Bill provides that orders creating new unitary authorities will be subject to the affirmative resolution procedure.
Mr. Pelling: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what population figure is used to calculate the local government settlement grant for the London borough of Croydon. [112851]
Mr. Woolas: The Office for National Statistics 2003-based sub-national population projections are used as the key source of population in the final 2006-07 and provisional 2007-08 local government finance settlements.
For the 2007-08 settlement, the projected populations for 2007 used for Croydon are shown in the following table.
Age group | Projected population for 2007 for Croydon |
Source: Office for National Statistics |
In addition, the mid-2004 estimates of population data are the source of population data in other indicators used in the top-up elements of the relative needs formula.
Detailed definitions of the data used and the data indicators are available on the local government finance website, at the following address:
www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/0708/grant.htm
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Tamworth borough council received from central Government in cash terms in each of the last six years. [114972]
Mr. Woolas: The central Government grant received by Tamworth borough council expressed in cash terms in each of the past six years is shown in the following table.
Cash terms (£000) | |
Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns |
Government grant is defined here as the sum of specific grants inside aggregate external finance (i.e. revenue grants paid for councils core services) and formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and police grant).
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