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18 Jan 2007 : Column 1322W—continued
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.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will rank each English local authority by the proportion of total expenditure raised by council tax in the last 12 months. [115067]
Mr. Woolas: The information ranked by the percentage of budgeted revenue expenditure to be met by council tax in 2006-07 has been made available in a table which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the percentage change in central Government funding provided to each local authority in England was in each year since 1997. [115068]
Mr. Woolas:
Information on percentage changes in central Government funding provided to each local authority in England since 1998-99 has been made
available in a table which has been placed in the Library of the House. Percentage changes for 1997-98 over the previous year have not been included due to complexities arising from the extensive local government reorganisation which took place around that time.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities or methods of funding.
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.
Local Government Funding: Cumbria
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage increase in local government settlement (a) above and (b) below inflation was awarded to each local authority in Cumbria for 2007-08. [114421]
Mr. Woolas: The following table shows the provisional percentage increase in formula grant, which comprises redistributed business rates and revenue support grant, for all authorities in Cumbria on a like-for-like basis i.e. after adjusting for changes in funding and function.
| Local authority | Adjusted 2007-08 formula 2006-07 grant (£ million) | 2007-08 formula grant (£ million) | Change (£ million) | Percentage change |
The latest GDP deflator, the only measure of inflation that is forecast in advance, for 2007-08 is 2.7 per cent. We are proposing that every local authority that provides education and social services, as well as every shire district, would receive at least a 2.7 per cent. increase in formula grant on a like-for-like basis for 2007-08.
Final figures will be available in due course, following a debate in the House.
Ordnance Survey
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of Ordnance Survey’s turnover in the year ending 31 March 2005, excluding the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement, came from licensing its products and services to local and central Government agencies and other public bodies. [116290]
Angela E. Smith: For the year ended 31 March 2005, 47 per cent. of Ordnance Survey’s turnover, excluding the National Interest Mapping Services Agreement came from the direct licensing of products and services to local and central government agencies and other public bodies.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Ordnance Survey has spent on legal fees in the last two years. [116291]
Angela E. Smith: The most recent years for which complete information is available are those ending 31 March 2005 and 31 March 2006. In those years expenditure on external legal fees was £506,000 and £556,000 respectively.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many lawyers have been employed as permanent staff by Ordnance Survey in the past 12 months. [116292]
Angela E. Smith: During the 12 months ended 31 December 2006, Ordnance Survey had no more than seven lawyers. These staff represented 6.2 full-time equivalents.
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much Ordnance Survey has spent on (a) creating and (b) maintaining addressing products in the last two years. [116294]
Angela E. Smith: The most recent years for which complete information is available are those ending 31 March 2005 and 31 March 2006. In those years expenditure directly attributable to the creation of addressing products was £0.6 million and £3.1 million respectively. Expenditure directly attributable to maintenance of addressing products in the same years was £300,000 per annum.
Parliamentary Questions
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she will answer question 109786 on departmental energy use, tabled by the hon. Member for Wealden on 12 December 2006. [116658]
Angela E. Smith: The hon. Member for Wealden’s question was answered on 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 377W.
Places Database
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) purpose, (b) function and (c) budget of the new Places database is. [114520]
Mr. Woolas: ‘Places’ has been developed as the central warehouse for all place-related data held by Communities and Local Government. It is available on the department’s intranet and its purpose is to enable staff to easily access a comprehensive range of information across regions, local authorities, wards and more local areas.
The Places database performs a number of functions including:
acting as a key statistical analysis and management information tool in support of the departmental policy and decision making processes;
contributing to more efficient management of departmental data and IT resources; and,
providing a local area database capable of adapting to the changing needs of the department without the need for significant redevelopment.
The Places database cost £675,000 (excl. VAT) to develop and has part-year maintenance costs for 2006-07 of up to £168,000 (excl. VAT). It will achieve efficiency gains through consolidating several existing separately maintained databases and through staff spending less time on collating data from a wide variety of sources.
Planning
Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place a restriction on the number of times a planning application can be made to develop the same site. [115189]
Yvette Cooper: There are no plans to place a restriction on the number of times a planning application can be made to develop the same site. However, local planning authorities have the power to decline to determine a repeat application where it is the same or similar to an application that has been turned down previously and where they believe it is being submitted to wear down opposition to a development proposal. The power can be exercised where a previous application has been called in and refused by the Secretary of State or has been dismissed on appeal and, since 24 August 2005, where there has been no call in or appeal subject to there having been at least two similar applications refused in the past two years.
Poultry Register
Lynda Waltho: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the passing of information on the Poultry Register to the Valuation Office Agency for the purposes of identifying and assessing game bird producers who are not registered for business rates. [112744]
Mr. Woolas: None. Decisions on the disclosure of information from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to the Valuation Office Agency are not a matter for the Department Communities and Local Government Ministers.
Second Homes and Holiday Lets
Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes in Somerset were classed as (a) second homes and (b) holiday lets in each year since 1997. [116140]
Yvette Cooper: The number of properties designated as second homes in Somerset for 2002 to 2006 are shown in the following table. Data prior to this are not considered sufficiently robust.
| Number | |
The data are from a snapshot taken each year and are as recorded on CTB forms submitted by each local authority for council tax purposes.
The information regarding holiday lets is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Translation Services
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what services provided by her Department and its related agencies translation services are provided. [113893]
Angela E. Smith: The Department has a framework contract to supply translations to support the services it provides and these are commissioned by individual business units within the Department as required. Information on the services for which translations are made is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Unitary Authorities
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations she has received about creating a new unitary authority in Nottinghamshire together with an extended unitary authority for the City of Nottingham; whether she intends the powers set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in the Health Bill to allow this; and if she will make a statement. [115965]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 17 January 2007]: We have received two written representations about this issue and the powers set out in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill provide for such a possibility. The current Invitation to Councils however specifies that all proposals must be based on existing boundaries.
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the data provided to the Valuation Office Agency by Rightmove.co.uk includes the provision of photographs of properties. [114397]
Mr. Woolas: Rightmove.co.uk plc does not provide data to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) but makes information accessible to VOA staff through a web link. This information includes photographs of properties, but such photographs are only for viewing and are not copied by the VOA.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what different property attributes are provided by local authorities to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to assist VOA listing officers in maintaining council tax lists. [114398]
Mr. Woolas: Local authorities are required by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 to provide information that will assist listing officers of the Valuation Office Agency in carrying out their functions in relation to council tax. This information will usually include information about attributes of domestic property. The extent of information provided will differ from local authority to local authority.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what different types of property attributes the Valuation Office Agency is supplied with under its property data deal with Rightmove. [114399]
Mr. Woolas:
No property attributes are being supplied. The contract with Rightmove gives the Valuation Office Agency access by a web link to an archive of estate
agent particulars that were made available to the public on Rightmove.co.uk’s main website when a property was being marketed.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency’s automated valuation model uses computer mass assisted appraisal techniques or technology. [114425]
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 11 December 2006, Official Report, column 906W, on the Valuation Office Agency, what the total spend with CLT was in each year since CLT signed the contract with Capgemini; and what the forecast expenditure is for 2007-08. [114570]
Mr. Woolas: No contract was signed with Capgemini. The contract—between EDS and CLT—was transferred to Capgemini when they took over as IT provider to the Valuation Office Agency in July 2004. The total spend (ex. VAT) each year with CLT, since the contract began in November 2003, is:
| £ | |
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