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27 Jun 2007 : Column 812W—continued
Local Government
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent by (a) local authorities in England and (b) City of York council on employing staff, including education staff, in (i) 2002-03 and (ii) 2005-06; and what the percentage change was in expenditure on staff over that period. [106478]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is listed in the following table.
| Employee expenditure( 1) | |||
| 2002-03 (£ billion) | 2005-06 (£ billion) | Between 2002-03 and 2005-06( 2) (Percentage change) | |
| (1) Total expenditure on employees as reported by authorities to Communities and Local Government on revenue outturn (RO) forms. This includes all direct and indirect employee expenses and contributions to employee-related provisions, including national insurance contributions, pensions and employee related expenses. (2) Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changes in the method of reporting the information. In particular, the outturn data for 2002-03 have been calculated on a non-FRS (financial reporting standard) 17 basis whilst the outturn data for 2005-06 have been calculated on an FRS 17 basis. Hence, figures for the different years may not be directly comparable. | |||
Local Government Finance
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authority population estimates used in the calculations to inform the 2007-08 local government funding settlement have been more than 5,000 people lower than official estimates of the population in those authorities. [109360]
Mr. Woolas: The 2007-08 Settlement uses population projections data for 2007 produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as the key driver of population in the settlement calculations. For all data used in settlement calculations we have to use the best data available on a consistent basis for all authorities that are available at the time of making the settlement. At the time of making the multi-year settlements for 2006-07 and 2007-08, the best population projections data available were the 2003-based sub-national population projections produced by the ONS. These data were published on 25 November 2004.
The most recently published ONS mid-year population estimates are those for mid-2005, published on 24 August 2006.
Comparing the two sets of data: 12 local authorities, five police authorities and four fire and rescue authorities have their 2003-based projected population data for 2007 5,000 or more lower than their mid-2005 population estimate.
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities met the deadline of 31 May 2007 to apply for directions to capitalise equal pay back pay from 2007-08. [146190]
Mr. Woolas: We have received applications from the following authorities, all of which met the deadline:
Basildon
Bedfordshire
Bexley
Birmingham
Blackburn with Darwen
Blackpool
Bolton
Brighton and Hove
Bromley
Bury
Cheshire
City of Nottingham
Cumbria
Darlington
Daventry
Dudley
Greenwich
Hammersmith and Fulham
Haringey
Havering
Kingston upon Hull
Knowsley
Leeds
Lewisham
Luton
Merton
Middlesbrough
Newark and Sherwood
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newham
North Tyneside
Northamptonshire
Oldham
Peterborough
Plymouth
Portsmouth
Preston
Redcar and Cleveland
Rotherham
Salford
Sefton
Sheffield
South Tyneside
Stafford
Staffordshire
Stevenage
Stockton-on-Tees
Stoke-on-Trent
Trafford
Wakefield
Waltham Forest
Warrington
Wear Valley
Wirral
Wolverhampton
York
Local Government Finance: Swindon
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much was provided in grants from central Government to Swindon borough council in 2006-07; [131821]
(2) how much she expects to be provided in grants from central Government to Swindon borough council in 2007-08. [131851]
Mr. Woolas: The amount of Government grant Swindon borough council budgeted to receive in 2006-07 and is budgeting to receive in 2007-08 is tabled as follows.
| £000 | |||
| Revenue support grant | Redistributed non-domestic rates | Specific and special grants inside aggregate external finance | |
| Sources: (1) Communities and Local Government Revenue Account Budget Return (2) Communities and Local Government Budget Requirement Return | |||
Budget estimates for specific and special grants inside aggregate external finance in 2007-08 are not yet available.
Figures exclude grants outside aggregate external finance (i.e. where funding is not for the authority’s core services, but is passed to a third party; for example, as in the case of mandatory student awards), capital grants, funding for the local authority’s housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where the authority is simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Local Government: Reform
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the impact on coterminosity of boundaries between primary care trusts and local government areas will be a criterion for assessing new local government structure proposals. [146152]
Mr. Woolas: The criteria for assessing councils’ unitary proposals were set out in the “Invitations to councils in England” published in October 2006.
Local Government: Standards
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many best value performance indicators in total have been required of local authorities in each year since the introduction of Best Value. [145522]
Mr. Woolas: Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) were introduced in 2000-01. Details of the number of BVPIs that have been set for local authorities in each year since then are set out in the table.
| Number | |
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many shire counties moved to a rating for excellent in the comprehensive performance assessment by the Audit Commission in the last 12 months; and if she will list them. [146150]
Mr. Woolas: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 27 June 2007:
Your parliamentary question on how many shire counties moved to a rating for excellent in the comprehensive performance assessment by the Audit Commission in the last 12 months and your request to list them has been passed to me for reply.
Under section 99 of the Local Government Act 2003 the Audit Commission has a duty, from time to time, to report on its findings and categorise English local authorities according to their performance in exercising their functions. CPA is the tool that the Commission uses to fulfil this duty.
In 2005 the Audit Commission revised the CPA framework in response to changes in the operational and regulatory environment, rising public expectations, and the performance of local government itself. Because the framework from 2005 is both a harder and a different test the CPA categories were renamed to reflect this change. As a result single tier and county councils are no longer categorised as excellent, good, fair, weak or poor. The five new categories introduced from 2005 were 4 stars (reflecting the highest category of performance), 3 stars, 2 stars, 1 star and 0 stars.
National CPA reporting for single tier and county councils last took place in February 2007. At the time of reporting there were eight county councils that improved their overall CPA category to 4 star. These councils were:
(a) Cheshire
(b) Dorset
(c) Norfolk
(d) North Yorkshire
(e) Oxfordshire
(f) Suffolk
(g) West Sussex
(h) Wiltshire
Following national reporting in February 2007, Somerset County Council was re-categorised as 4 star as part of the Audit Commission’s quarterly reporting arrangements in March 2007 following a corporate assessment.
Further information about the CPA framework and scores is available at www.audit-commission.gov.uk/cpa.
A copy of this letter will be placed in the House of Commons Library.
Non-Domestic Rates
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the internal guidance or training manual produced by the Valuation Office Agency for its staff on undertaking assessment casework for business rates valuations. [143670]
Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 28 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1596-97W.
Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the funding for the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund is additional funding that was not previously granted to local authorities in previous years through other named funds. [141757]
Ruth Kelly: The £6 million funding for the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund was sourced from the New Ventures Fund.
Travellers
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which company is making good the work on the Travellers' site at Ecton Lane following the completion of the refurbishment contract. [146003]
Meg Munn: Westgate Technical Services Ltd. have been issued with a comprehensive schedule of the remedial works needed to achieve the requirements set out in the contract specification. They have been asked to complete these works within three weeks. Work on perimeter fencing and floodlighting is being undertaken by separate contractors.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who is responsible for the management of the Ecton Lane Travellers' site. [146004]
Meg Munn: Northampton borough council own and are ultimately responsible for the Ecton Lane Travellers’ site.
The day to day management of the site was undertaken by Westgate Management Services Ltd. until 13 April 2007. I understand that the Gypsy Council was awarded a short term contract for the day to day management of the site from 1 May 2007, while long-term arrangements are put in place.
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