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11 Mar 2008 : Column 232W—continued
Land: Prices
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average cost of a hectare of land which had been approved for development was in each local authority in each year between 1997 and 2007; and if she will make a statement. [193003]
Mr. Iain Wright: Communities and Local Government publish data on the average valuation of a hectare of land which has been approved for development at the regional level based on data from the Valuation Office Agency at:
Local Authorities: Public Libraries
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities cited efficiencies related to changes in public library provision in submissions of (a) forward and (b) backward look annual efficiency statements to her Department in each year since their inception. [192404]
Mr. Sutcliffe: I have been asked to reply.
Local authorities report their efficiency gains to the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) through annual efficiency statements, which are published on the Department's website at:
Guidance to councils on the completion of annual efficiency statements is available at:
Local authorities report efficiencies across the culture and sport sectors for which they are responsible; they are not obliged to complete the statements specifically identifying efficiencies in the public library sector and therefore we are unable to provide accurate data for this sector alone.
Local Government Finance
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what each local authority's (a) target according to the funding formula and (b) actual funding allocation following the application of the dampening mechanism was in each year since 1997; and what the real term change in funding was in each year. [193421]
John Healey: Tables showing the formula grant before floor damping, the formula grant after floor damping, and the real-terms change year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, i.e. after adjusting for changes in funding and function, for 2001-02 for authorities with responsibility for education and social services and for each year since 2002-03 for all authorities have been deposited in the Library of the House.
Formula grant comprises revenue support grant, redistributed business rates, principal formula police grant, SSA reduction grant (SSA Review), SSA reduction grant (Police Funding Review) and central support protection grant, where appropriate.
Floor damping was introduced in 2001-02 for authorities with responsibility for education and social services. In the following year floor damping was introduced for all authorities. Floor damping is an integral part of the formula grant system—the amount of formula grant before floor damping is not a funding target, it is simply a step in the calculation of the amount of formula grant that an authority receives.
The GDP deflator has been used to adjust the previous year's adjusted formula grant in order to calculate the real-terms increase in formula grant. The adjusted formula grant is a notional figure that is only used to ensure that we compare formula grant for damping purposes on a like-for-like basis (i.e. that we are comparing against the amount of grant the authority would have received had the same services been supported through formula grant as in the current year).
Local Government Finance: Ethnic Groups
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of trends in funding for black and minority ethnic organisations by local authorities. [191998]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the implications of the review by Darra Singh of her Department’s consultation on community cohesion on funding for black and minority ethnic organisations by local authorities; and if she will make a statement. [191999]
Mr. Dhanda: “Our Shared Future”, the report of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, chaired by Darra Singh, was published in June 2007. The report included a number of recommendations including some on funding issues, in particular that Government produce guidance on ‘single group funding’. The Government’s full response to the Commission’s report was published on 4 February and alongside it we also launched a consultation on cohesion guidance for funders, in line with the Compact Code of Practice governing relations between Government and the third sector. The consultation paper committed to producing a full equality impact assessment, drawing on consultation responses, once the consultation process has concluded. The consultation ends on 26 May 2008.
Local Government Finance: North East Lincolnshire Council
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much North East Lincolnshire Council collected in council tax in each year since 1997; and how much it received in (a) special, (b) liveability, (c) working neighbourhood and (d) neighbourhood renewal grants in each such year. [192094]
John Healey: Data on the council tax requirement and specific grants within aggregate external finance (AEF) (including neighbourhood renewal fund) for North East Lincolnshire council are tabled as follows:
| £ million | |||
| Council tax requirement | Specific grants within AEF | Of which: neighbourhood renewal fund | |
| Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns. | |||
Figures are as supplied by the local authority to Communities and Local Government.
The authority has not reported any joint liveability grant received over this period.
Working neighbourhoods fund (WNF) is a new grant replacing the existing neighbourhood renewal fund, payment of which commences from April 2008.
Local authority council tax requirement is the council tax available to finance revenue expenditure, not council tax collected.
Special grants have been interpreted as specific grants within AEF which are defined here as those revenue grants paid for council’s core services (e.g. dedicated schools grant (DSG) and standards fund).
The aforementioned grants exclude specific grants outside AEF, 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.
The large change in specific grants within AEF from 2005-06 to 2006-07 is because local authorities now receive funding for schools through the DSG rather than as part of formula grant.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
Planning: Casinos
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what planning guidance she has issued on the development of casinos within town centres. [192402]
Mr. Iain Wright: National planning policy on the development of casinos within town centres is set out in ‘Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for Town Centres’ (PPS6). PPS6 confirms that casinos are one of the main ‘town centre uses’ to which the policy applies.
PPS6 should be read alongside other relevant statements of national planning policy, in particular ‘Planning Policy Statement 1: Delivering Sustainable Development’, which is the Government's overarching planning policy, and ‘Planning Policy Guidance Note 13: Transport’.
Further planning guidance is given in the ‘Casinos: Statement of National Policy’ which was jointly issued by this Department and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in December 2004.
Regional Government: Brussels
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 18 December 2007, Official Report, columns 1343-44W, on regional government: Brussels, if she will place in the Library copies of the most recent set of audited accounts of each of the regional offices in Brussels. [192171]
John Healey: The offices in Brussels are facilities. They are not separate organisations. Their costs are borne by the regional partners who fund them, including the regional development agencies, regional arms of the Local Government Association and regional assemblies. These costs are included in the partner organisations’ published accounts available on their websites. Those for the regional assemblies, for which my Department is responsible, were included in the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 18 December 2007, Official Report, columns 1343-44W.
Regional Ministers
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many meetings she has had with each regional Minister in their capacity as such; and what the (a) date and (b) subject of each of those meetings was. [191622]
Hazel Blears: Information relating to internal discussion and advice is not disclosed.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many meetings each regional Minister has had in their capacity as regional Minister; and what the (a) date and (b) subject was of each of these meetings. [191764]
Hazel Blears: All regional Ministers have undertaken a variety of meetings and visits in their regions. They have met local authorities, regional bodies and other organisations and attended engagements including stakeholder events and visits to local projects and communities. To provide further details on meetings would incur disproportionate costs.
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many visits each regional Minister has made in their capacity as such to (a) hospitals and (b) schools in their region; which (i) hospitals and (ii) schools each visited; and what the (A) date and (B) subject of each visit was. [191621]
Hazel Blears: Visits to hospitals and schools by regional Ministers (undertaken in this capacity) are set out as follows:
| The Minister for the East | ||
| Hospital | Date | Subject of v isit |
| The Minister for the South West | ||
| School/hospital | Date | Subject of visit |
| The Minister for the North East | ||
| School/hospital | Date | Subject of v isit |
The Ministers for the South East, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands and London have to date made no visits to schools or hospitals.
Regional Planning and Development: South East
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when her response to the Examination in Public report on the South East Plan will be published. [192412]
Mr. Dhanda: At this stage Communities and Local Government is unable to commit to a precise publication date for the proposed changes given the complexity of the issues involved. As part of the process we are carrying out technical assessments aimed at demonstrating the level of consistency with the objectives of delivering sustainable development and assessing any impact on habitats protected by European legislation. Communities and Local Government hope to have completed this work in the next few months.
We also want to ensure that, when the proposed changes are published, sufficient time is available for a full 12-week public consultation to be undertaken, during which local authority and other committee cycles allow proper consideration. With this in mind the Secretary of State aims to publish the proposed changes before the summer recess.
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