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20 Feb 2007 : Column 565W—continued
Gender: Discrimination
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department has conducted into the extent of goods and services discrimination (a) on the grounds of gender identity and (b) against those who seek or who have had gender reassignment surgery. [118337]
Meg Munn: The Department has undertaken informal research on discrimination relating to gender identity and gender reassignment and has had access to a study commissioned by the Equalities Review on this issue. The study covers responses from transsexual people about the level and nature of discrimination they have experience in a wide range of circumstances, including in the goods and service field.
Home Inspectors
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate she has made of the number of trained home inspectors needed each year to produce the expected volume of (a) energy performance certificates (EPC) and (b) the non-EPC element of voluntary home condition reports once home information packs are operational. [114463]
Yvette Cooper: Overall estimates of the number of qualified individuals required to produce mandatory energy performance certificates and voluntary home condition reports remain at between 2,500 and 4,500. These are based on industry estimates of productivity and working patterns, together with data on the numbers of homes marketed for sale.
Numbers of qualified home inspectors will be supplemented by those who choose to undertake the Domestic Energy Assessor qualification (DEA), which will allow them to produce the mandatory Energy Performance Certificates within the pack.
This qualification is due to be launched during January and February, with three awarding bodies now finalising their courses in order to allow candidates currently in training to qualify as soon as it is launched.
Housing Data Warehouse
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what property information attributes are held in the Housing Data Warehouse. [114731]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 8 November 2006, Official Report, column 1571W.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the budget is of the Housing Data Warehouse project; [114732]
(2) what consultants have been contracted to advise on the Housing Data Warehouse project. [114733]
Yvette Cooper: The Housing Data Warehouse has been developed within existing resources and no consultants have advised on it.
Local Government
Chris McCafferty: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local government pension schemes implemented contribution holidays for employers in each year since 1979. [105292]
Mr. Woolas [holding answer 7 December 2006]: The contribution rates paid by local authorities in the local government pension scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales are assessed by fund actuaries every three years to ensure the long-term solvency of the scheme. The next valuation is due on 31 March 2007.
Details of the individual contribution rates finally set by the 89 LGPS administering authorities in England and Wales are included in reports prepared by fund actuaries engaged by those authorities and are not held centrally. At present, the information from all 89 authorities covering many thousands of individual
employers and the relevant actuarial firms to collect and publish this information for all nine valuation exercises that have taken place since 1979, is not available due to the disproportionate cost of collating it. However, I am in discussions with the authorities to establish how this may be done.
Individual local government pension scheme fund authorities can provide specific details of contribution levels for their participating employers.
Mayor of London
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans (a) the Government and (b) the Standards Board have to revise the (i) Code of Conduct and (ii) other guidance to councillors on standards following the success in the High Court of the appeal by the Mayor of London against the decision of the Adjudication Panel of England. [114751]
Mr. Woolas: We intend to consult on a draft revised Model Code of Conduct for local authority members shortly with the aim of implementing a revised Code this spring. The Standards Board will continue to publish associated guidance on aspects of the local conduct regime as necessary.
Following the High Court case involving the Mayor of London, we have included provision in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill to allow the remit of the Code of Conduct to include the behaviour of members in their private as well as official capacity in so far as behaviour which a court has found to be unlawful.
Planning
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in what circumstances PPS3 may be a material consideration in planning applications prior to 1 April. [114831]
Yvette Cooper: Whether or not PPS3 is a material consideration will depend on the facts of each planning application, including the policies in the development plan for the area. In every case a planning authority has to make a judgment about whether PPS3 is material to its decision. On 1 April 2007 PPS3, including the requirement for local authorities to have a 5-year supply of deliverable sites for housing, will become fully operational.
Culture, Media and Sport
Cultural Heritage: Grants
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much public money has been spent on heritage, excluding museums and galleries, in each year since 1997, broken down into grant-in-aid and lottery funding. [118992]
Mr. Lammy
[holding answer 5 February 2007]: The Government share a broad definition of the heritage with the Heritage Lottery Fund. In addition to the grant-in-aid funding to English Heritage, National Heritage Memorial Fund, and the Churches Conservation Trust, DCMS supports heritage through the Royal Parks Agency, Royal Palaces and Royal
Household. DCMS also funds the ‘Listed Places of Worship’ scheme and a small grant to the Greenwich Foundation. The following figures do not include public money spent on heritage by local government and other Government Departments.
| Heritage Lottery Fund and National Heritage Memorial Fund | ||
| £ million | ||
| Financial year | HLF awards for heritage, excluding museums and galleries | NHMF awards to heritage, excluding museums and galleries |
| National Heritage Memorial Fund grant in aid | |
| Financial year | £ million |
Breakdown of spend on heritage (excluding museums and galleries):
| Grant in aid funding for English Heritage since 1997 | |
| Financial year | £ million |
| Note: All figures have been rounded up to the nearest 100,000. | |
| DCMS support to places of worship and memorials | |||
| £ million | |||
| Financial year | Churches Conservation Trust | Listed Places of Worship scheme | Memorials Grant scheme |
| Royal Parks Agency | |||
| £ million | |||
| Financial year | Resource | Capital | Lottery and grants |
| (1)Excludes £18.6 million re exceptional item re permanent impairment of fixed assets (2 )Budgeted not actual | |||
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