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23 Jan 2007 : Column 1727W—continued

Antisocial Behaviour

24. Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on her Department's contribution to tackling antisocial behaviour. [117395]

Ruth Kelly: My Department has made considerable progress over the last year in delivering a range of commitments as set out in the Respect Action Plan. For example, earlier this month my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister and I announced new regulations which will give arm’s length management organisations and tenant management organisations powers to apply for antisocial behaviour orders.

Barker Report

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what plans she has to recommend, commission or request strategic reviews of green belt boundaries following the publication of the Barker report on land use planning; [114362]


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(2) what plans she has to amend (a) Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 (PPG2), (b) Planning Policy Statement on town centres (PPS6) and (c) regional spatial strategies in relation to the green belt in response to the Barker report on land use planning. [114435]

Yvette Cooper: Kate Barker published the final report of her independent review of land use planning in England on 5 December 2006. The Government have welcomed her report and we are currently considering her recommendations in discussion with stakeholders before setting out a response.

The Government remain committed to promoting the vitality and viability of town centres and the town centre-first policy approach set out in PPS6.

The Government believe that existing green belt policy has served us well and we are not convinced that substantial policy changes are needed. The planning system needs to be fit for the 21st century and able to respond to pressing needs. It must do this through real consultation with communities, and with a proper assessment of environmental impacts. The Government will consider its response to Kate Barker's review in this light.

We will set out in a White Paper in the spring our proposals in response to Kate Barker's recommendations for improving the speed, responsiveness and efficiency of land use planning. In the meantime, the Government are interested to hear responses to the report.

Council Tax

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will estimate the administration costs of collecting council tax in 2006. [110464]

Mr. Woolas: Net current expenditure by local authorities in England on administering council tax collection in 2005-06 was £330.2 million.

The data are as reported by local authorities on Revenue Outturn (RO) returns for 2005-06.

Net current expenditure is defined as gross expenditure on employees and running expenses, less income from sales, fees and charges, and “other income”.

The council tax collection figures also include any costs relating to collection of arrears of council tax, pre-1990 domestic rates and community charges.

Richard Ottaway: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what change there has been in band D council tax since 1997-98 in (a) the London borough of Croydon and (b) England. [117389]

Angela E. Smith: Between 1997-98 and 2006-07 the band D council tax in the borough of Croydon rose by 108 per cent. The corresponding figure for England was 84 per cent.


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Departmental Expenditure

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the expenditure of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on (a) stress audits, (b) leadership training, (c) life coaches, (d) anger management training and (e) psychologists was in 2005-06. [114945]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not held centrally and would be of disproportionate cost to produce.

Departmental Targets

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which statistics are used to determine whether her Department’s public service agreement (PSA) targets have been met, broken down by PSA target; and which of these statistics are classified as national statistics. [115341]

Angela E. Smith [holding answer 15 January 2007]: The Department for Communities and Local Government’s public service agreements incorporate technical notes which contain information about the statistics used to monitor progress. The technical notes can be accessed using the following URL:

A report by the independent Statistics Commission entitled “PSA Targets: the Devil in the Detail”, which was published on 20 March 2006, sets out for each Department’s PSA targets whether the statistics used to monitor those targets are classified as national statistics. Copies of that report are available in the Library of the House and can also be accessed using the following URL:

Gypsies and Travellers

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many sites in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex have been designated for Gypsies and Travellers. [116553]

Meg Munn: A list of Gypsy and Traveller sites provided by local authorities and registered social landlords in England is published by the Department for Communities and Local Government twice yearly.

Copies of the latest publication, “Gypsy and Traveller sites provided by local authorities and RSLs in England—19th July 2006”, have been deposited in the Library of the House. An electronic version is also available on the Department’s website at

The publication also provides information on the number of caravans on private sites.

Local Energy Generation Schemes

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with colleagues regarding the creation of local energy generation schemes. [116886]


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Yvette Cooper: The Secretary of State and other Ministers in the Department are involved in ongoing discussions regarding the creation of local energy generation schemes with other Departments and stakeholders as part of the work to deliver zero carbon homes within ten years.

Local Government

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Citizen Service Partnership led by Bedfordshire county council. [105354]

Mr. Woolas: The Citizen Service Partnership led by Bedfordshire county council sought to provide the citizens of Bedfordshire with access to a vast range of information and services provided by Luton and Bedfordshire, their associate partners and third parties, via a single point of contact. My Department is aware that the Serious Fraud Office is conducting an investigation into the effectiveness of the project. The Serious Fraud Office will let my Department have a report once it has completed its investigation.

Local Government Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will meet a delegation from South Lakeland district council to discuss the local government finance settlement. [110665]

Mr. Woolas: I announced our final decisions on the 2007-08 local government finance settlement on 18 January 2007. As the second year of a multi-year settlement, it had always been clear that Government did not intend to change the 2007-08 settlement from that announced in January 2006 other than in exceptional circumstances. This is in line with Government's policy on three-year settlements, as I announced to the House on 19 July 2005, Official Report, column 60WS.

As part of their response to the recent consultation on the 2007-08 settlement, South Lakeland district council requested an official level meeting to discuss future settlements, and arrangements for this meeting are currently going ahead.

Ministerial Travel

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many official journeys she has made by train since taking up her position. [110493]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not readily available and could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Ministers use public transport wherever possible and practical to complete their journey taking account of security considerations.

All ministerial travel on official business is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in “Travel by Ministers”.


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Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) destination and (b) cost to the public purse was of each foreign trip undertaken by junior Ministers in her Department and its predecessor in the 2006-07 financial year. [114438]

Angela E. Smith: All ministerial visits are conducted in accordance with the ministerial code and “Travel by Ministers”. Since 1999, the Government have published, on an annual basis, a list of overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500 and the total cost of all ministerial travel. Information for 2005-06 was published on 24 July 2006. Information for 2006-07 will be published as soon as possible after the end of the financial year in the Library of the House.

Preventing Extremism Unit

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to which organisations or individuals the Preventing Extremism Unit has made grants of less than £100,000 since its inception. [110567]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 22 January 2007]: Since the formation of the Preventing Extremism Unit in October 2006, the unit has made grants of less than £100,000 to:

Project

Common Purpose

Muslim Leadership Development Project

The Muslim News

Muslim News Awards for Excellence

South Craven Community Action

Craven local Forum on Extremism and Islamophobia

Forward Thinking

Social empowerment among Muslim youth in Britain

British Muslim Forum

Part payment of a grant to build BMF capacity development has been made


No grants have been paid to individuals.

Valuation Office Agency

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the plot size of a domestic dwelling's (a) building and (b) curtilage around the building is entered as numeric data in the Valuation Office Agency's multiple regression formulas in its automated valuation model for council tax valuations. [114396]

Mr. Woolas: Yes, where the plot size is larger than average for the property concerned. But this may not prove to be value-significant in any given locality as the model records and analyses whether the market itself differentiates in any way.


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Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what property attributes and datasets the Valuation Office Agency's market comparable reporting tool licensed from Rightmove holds. [114409]

Mr. Woolas: “Market Comparable Reporting Tool” is the name given by Rightmove.co.uk plc to its database of properties that were advertised for sale on the Rightmove website. The Valuation Office Agency has access to this information, which for each property was freely available publicly for the period during which it was being marketed.

Duchy of Lancaster

Carbon Emissions

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster when the Prime Minister’s Office began to measure its carbon emissions; what the volume of those emissions was in the last period for which figures are available; when the Office started to offset those emissions; what the cost is expected to be of offsetting the Office’s emissions; and if she will make a statement. [116377]

Hilary Armstrong: For these purposes, the Prime Minister’s Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office began to measure carbon emissions from its buildings in 2005-06 and from business air travel in 2004-05.

The volume of building emissions in the last period for which figures are available is 2,031 tonnes. Efforts to reduce future building emissions will be as part of a wider strategy and hierarchy of actions starting with reducing emissions, using renewable energy and offsetting the remaining balance as part of a cross-Government offsetting scheme.

Since l April 2006, the Cabinet Office is offsetting official and ministerial business travel as part of its commitment to the Carbon Offsetting of Government Air Travel initiative and as a participant in the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund (GCOF). Flights by the Prime Minister have been offset since 1 April 2005.

The GCOF aims to fulfil the Prime Minister’s commitment to carbon offset all official air travel in central Government and will be available for all central Government Departments to offset emissions from their official air travel in a simple and cost effective manner, as well as ensuring high environmental integrity. The anticipated contribution which the Cabinet Office would need to make to offset air travel emissions over the three-year period covered by the GCOF is £16,530.

Engagements

Mr. Galloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on what dates Ministers in her Department made official visits to the London boroughs of (a) Tower Hamlets, (b) Newham and (c) Waltham Forest in each year since 1997. [115746]


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Hilary Armstrong: To search diary records prior to May 2005 and identify detailed information would incur disproportionate cost. However, since May 2005 Ministers in this Department have visited the boroughs in question on the following dates:

(a) Tower Hamlets:

(b) Newham:

(c) Waltham Forest:


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