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21 Jun 2007 : Column 2096W—continued
Communities and Local Government
Council Tax: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the internal guidance produced by the Valuation Office Agency on sending questionnaires to householders for council tax valuation purposes. [141813]
Ruth Kelly: The guidance is currently being updated to reflect feedback from customer working groups. A copy will be placed in the Library of the House when it is available.
Departments: Advertisements
Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much revenue her Department received from advertisements on its (a) public information leaflets and (b) public websites in each of the last 10 years; and if she will make a statement. [142339]
Angela E. Smith: The Department’s general policy is not to accept advertisements for public information leaflets produced by the Communications Directorate or for its main corporate website. Information on this subject covering our leaflets and the range of our websites over the last 10 years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. In the last year, no advertisements have been accepted for public information leaflets produced by the Communications Directorate or for the corporate website.
Departments: Home Working
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in her Department have been allowed to work from home for part of the week in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement on her Department’s policy on home working. [143889]
Angela E. Smith: At present no records are kept centrally on requests to work from home for part of the week as this is a local agreement between staff and the line manager.
Communities and Local Government supports all forms of flexible working and is currently reviewing its policy to make it clearer for staff and line managers to understand the balance between the work we need to do and the achievement of a successful work/life balance, including home working arrangements.
Departments: Manpower
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people granted (a) temporary part-time, (b) temporary full-time, (c) permanent part-time and (d) permanent full-time contracts of employment in her Department in each of the last three years were (i) male, (ii) female, (iii) registered disabled and (iv) aged 55 years or over. [143906]
Angela E. Smith: For staff for whom the information requested is available, the numbers requested are:
| Male | Female | Disabled | Aged 55 or over | |
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of staff in her Department are (a) male, (b) female, (c) registered disabled and (d) aged 55 or over. [143907]
Angela E. Smith: At 31 May 2007 percentages of staff, for whom information is available, is as follows:
| Percentage | |
Departments: Remploy
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) services and (b) products her Department has procured from Remploy in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [143800]
Angela E. Smith: Communities and Local Government has only purchased one service in the last 12 months from Remploy. This was for binding documents and cost £307.80.
Departments: Research
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list all the unpublished research commissioned from (a) individuals and (b) organisations outside her Department which was supplied to her Department and its predecessor in each year since 2002. [143638]
Angela E. Smith:
Details of projects commissioned by Communities and Local Government research programmes are available from our Research Management Database (RMD) at http://www.rmd.communities.gov.uk.
This includes information about publications associated with individual projects. Research is also funded from non-research budgets.
Departments: Sick Leave
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what average number of days per year was taken by staff in her Department as sick leave in each of the last five years for which records are available. [143108]
Angela E. Smith: The average working days lost per staff year for four of the past five calendar years are set out in the following table. Information for the calendar year 2006 is not yet available.
| Department identity | Average working days lost per staff year | |
| Source: Figures are taken from the annual series of reports “Sickness Absence in the Civil Service” published by the Cabinet Office at http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/occupational_health/publications/index.asp | ||
Departments: Sign Language
Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the merits of providing British Sign Language (BSL) videos on her departmental website for the benefit of those whose first language is BSL. [142489]
Angela E. Smith: The Department would consider the need to provide a version of individual publications in British Sign Language on a case-by-case basis.
Derelict Land: Contamination
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of brownfield sites are on (a) contaminated and (b) recently decontaminated land in (i) England and (ii) East Anglia. [144438]
Yvette Cooper: Information on the numbers of contaminated sites is not available centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Energy Performance Certificates
Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the objectives of energy performance certificates are with regard to the reduction of (a) carbon emissions and (b) fuel costs. [142777]
Yvette Cooper: Energy performance certificates will give people energy ratings and recommend measures to make improvements to the energy performance of buildings, helping them to reduce fuel bills and cut carbon emissions.
Energy Performance Certificates: EC Law
Mr. Lilley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which EU directive requires UK homes to have an energy performance certificate; and what its implementation date is. [144183]
Yvette Cooper: The directive that requires UK homes (and indeed other buildings) to have an Energy Performance Certificate is Directive 2002/91/EC on the Energy Performance of Buildings. The implementation date was January 2006. However the directive allows an additional period of up to three years to apply fully the requirements for Energy Performance Certificates where there is a shortage of trained and/or accredited assessors.
Fire Prevention
Mr. Curry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she intends to require a single enforcing authority for fire safety in residential accommodation under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. [144450]
Angela E. Smith: Premises occupied as a private dwelling are not covered by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and so residential accommodation is not covered unless that accommodation is a workplace. Fire and rescue authorities are the enforcing authority for premises which do not fall within any of the exceptions in article 25 (b)-(e) of the 2005 Order 2005.
Fire Services: Public Appointments
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what process will be used to appoint members of the Regional Fire Management Boards. [143542]
Angela E. Smith: It is for Fire and Rescue Authorities to decide the criteria by which representation and appointments will be made, subject to any statutory constraints.
The Department worked closely with the Local Government Association to establish voluntary Regional Management Boards (RMBs) in all English Regions outside London. All were constituted as joint committees under Section 102 (l)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972. Under Section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, a Fire and Rescue Authority’s appointments to a joint committee must reflect an Authority’s political balance where each constituent authority appoints three or more members to the RMB.
Home Information Packs
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the likely effect of the introduction of home information packs on the stability of the housing market. [140454]
Yvette Cooper: We published our assessment of the introduction of home information packs on 11 June 2007.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the research which her Department or its predecessor has (a) commissioned and (b) undertaken into the effect of introducing home information packs on the economy. [141928]
Yvette Cooper: Communities and Local Government commissioned Europe Economics to carry out independent research into the potential impact of introducing home information packs on the housing market. The results of the research will be published in due course.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what factors were taken into account when deciding whether to undertake a public consultation exercise in relation to the new plans to introduce home information packs on 1 August only for homes with four or more bedrooms. [143474]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the statement made by the Secretary of State to the House on 22 May 2007.
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