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13 Dec 2007 : Column 899W—continued
Non-Domestic Rates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate the Government has made of the expected yearly increase in business rate receipts if a supplementary business rate were introduced. [173318]
John Healey: Revenue from business rate supplements would be retained by the individual local authorities who levy them so will not increase business rate receipts to the national non-domestic rating pool.
Ordnance Survey
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reason her Department paid £2,260,000 to Ordnance Survey in 2006-07. [172476]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department did not pay Ordnance Survey such a sum in 2006-07. The Department did receive a similar sum from Ordnance Survey in 2007-08 by way of an additional receipt, as part of the Department’s agreed dividend policy with Ordnance Survey.
Planning Permission: Finance
Mr. Pickles:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether her Department is providing guidance to local authorities following the ruling of the Information Tribunal
upholding the complaint by Mr. David Markinson on unreasonable costs for photocopying building control and planning application information. [173342]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government issued guidance in November 2003 "General Power for Best Value Authorities to Charge for Discretionary Services—Guidance on the Power in the Local Government Act 2003" which sets out discretionary charges which local authorities can charge for some of their services. However, the specific issue of photocopying charges is not covered in this guidance.
The Government have no plans to issue new guidance as a result of the ruling of the Information Tribunal.
Planning: Parking
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Government’s recommended maximum limit is on the number of parking spaces for new residential developments, following the publication of Planning Policy Statement 3. [173315]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government do not prescribe car parking standards or maximum limits for new residential development. Rather, Planning Policy Statement 3 “Housing” introduced a more flexible approach to the local provision of car parking by giving local planning authorities the ability to set their own residential parking policies, taking account of expected levels of car ownership, the importance of promoting good design and the need to use land efficiently.
Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund: Grants
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many grants have been made from the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund to each local authority since the fund was established; and what the average size of grant was. [173983]
Mr. Dhanda: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State shall be writing shortly to the hon. Member with a list of projects funded under the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder fund. This will also provide an overview of financial allocations. A copy of this document will be placed in the Library of the House.
Regeneration: Finance
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what sums the Bridging Newcastle Gateshead Pathfinder have requested to support regeneration in the west of Newcastle. [172612]
Mr. Iain Wright: Bridging Newcastle Gateshead has submitted its Business Plan for 2008 to 2011 to the Department and the Plan is now being considered. The Plan does not provide details of how funding will be allocated to specific localities within the Pathfinder area.
Sleeping Rough: Immigrants
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the increase in rough sleeping in London arising from changes in the immigration from east European nations following EU enlargement. [171604]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities who conduct rough sleeper counts collect information on any individuals sleeping rough who do not have recourse to public funds and are therefore unable to be moved off the streets. These will include those from EU accession states.
In 2007, four London boroughs reported eastern European rough sleepers as part of their street count:
Westminster: 112 rough sleepers including 20 eastern Europeans;
City of London: 45 rough sleepers including five eastern Europeans;
Lambeth: 15 rough sleepers including three eastern Europeans;
Redbridge: five rough sleepers including two eastern Europeans.
There has been major progress in tackling the worst form of homelessness, that of people sleeping on the streets. Since 1998 we have reduced rough sleeping by 73 per cent. Councils will receive at least £150 million over the next three years to help them prevent and tackle homelessness including rough sleeping. This is the biggest ever cash injection for homelessness services.
We are funding Homeless Link to take forward targeted work to address homelessness among eastern Europeans. This involves both work with voluntary organisations, particularly in London, and organisations in the source countries to facilitate returns.
Small Businesses: Tax Allowances
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the estimated take-up rate is of small business rate relief in England. [171708]
John Healey: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Social Rented Housing: Finance
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total financial contribution from the public purse to registered social landlords was in each year since 1997; and how much of this was spent on (a) building new social homes and (b) meeting the decent homes standard for homes on their stock. [164963]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows public expenditure through the Housing Corporation’s programmes between 1997-98 to 2006-07 broken down by that provided for social rented homes (both new build and acquisition and refurbishment) and works to RSL stock.
| £ million | |||
| Total public expenditure via Housing Corporation by RSLs | Of which: Provision of social housing | Major repairs and works to RSL stock | |
RSLs are registered with and regulated by the Housing Corporation. The regulatory code, requires them to meet the Decent Homes Standard by 2010. RSLs are expected to meet the cost of decent homes from within their own resources.
Stakeholder
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her Department's definition is of a stakeholder. [171569]
Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the Oxford English Dictionary, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House. It says
“a person with an interest or concern in something”.
Tamworth Borough Council: Finance
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much was spent by Tamworth borough council in each of the last four financial years; [165760]
(2) what revenue Tamworth borough council received from (a) Government grants, (b) (i) domestic and (ii) non-domestic council tax, (c) the sale of assets and (d) other sources in each of the last four financial years. [165772]
John Healey: The gross expenditure, comprising capital and cost of services revenue (the latter excluding appropriations, interest and other accounting adjustments) of Tamworth borough council was:
| £ million | |
Tamworth borough council’s revenue from Government grants was:
| £ million | |
Tamworth borough council’s revenue from domestic council tax was:
| £ million | |
Tamworth borough council’s revenue from National non-domestic rates redistribution was:
| £ million | |
Tamworth borough council’s revenue from sale of assets was:
| £ million | |
Tamworth borough council’s revenue from ‘any other source’ (comprising rents, fees and charges) was:
| £ million | |
Temporary Accommodation: Standards
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether her Department has published a summary of responses to its May 2003 consultation paper, Improving Standards of Accommodation for Homeless Households Placed in Temporary Accommodation; [172991]
(2) which organisations responded to her Department’s consultation paper, Improving Standards of Accommodation for Homeless Households Placed in Temporary Accommodation in May 2003; [172992]
(3) what the reasons were for deciding against publishing guidance on the minimum standards in temporary accommodation for homeless households proposed in her Department's consultation paper from May 2003. [172993]
Mr. Iain Wright: The consultation paper, Improving Standards of Accommodation for Homeless Households Placed in Temporary Accommodation was published by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in May 2003.
I have deposited in the Library of the House a summary of the responses to the consultation which includes the full list of respondents at Annex A.
The consultation paper, included the following proposal:
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