| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8 May 2008 : Column 1076W—continued
Council Tax: Fire Services
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average Band D council tax precept was for fire authorities in England in 1998-99. [203060]
John Healey: The average Band D council tax precept for the seven precepting fire authorities in England in 1998-99 was £26.56.
Council Tax: Valuation
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1411W, on property: valuation, whether the Valuation Office Agency considers the presence of a (a) temporary and (b) permanent traveller encampment near a domestic dwelling to be material in determining the level of council tax. [202991]
John Healey: When undertaking a valuation to arrive at, or amend, a council tax banding, all material factors that affect the open market value of a dwelling will be taken into account, as required by the Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 613W, on council tax: valuation, when the Council Tax Revaluation Programme Board (England) met. [203046]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency’s Programme Board for the now postponed council tax revaluation generally met monthly between March 2003 and November 2005.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answers of 19 February 2008, Official Report, column 613W and of 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1390W, on council tax: valuation, if she will place in the Library copies of minutes of the meetings the Council Tax Revaluation Programme Board (England) prior to 22nd November 2005 redacting the minutes in the same manner as those for 22 November 2005. [203068]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1415W.
Councillors: Complaints
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether complaints about breaches of the councillors’ code of conduct can be made anonymously under the new scheme. [203040]
John Healey: Yes. Local authority standards committees will be able to consider anonymous complaints.
However, standards committees must have regard to guidance issued by the Standards Board for England, which stresses that anonymous complaints should only be considered in limited circumstances, such as when they are accompanied by evidence that the allegation is of an exceptionally serious or significant matter.
The guidance also advises local authorities to publish a statement setting out how they will deal with anonymous complaints.
Departmental Civil Service Agencies
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the role of the relevant Shareholder Executive is in determining the definition of the public tasks of her Department's agencies. [203463]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Shareholder Executive is responsible for advising Ministers from this Department directly on the management of their shareholding and financial interests in Ordnance Survey, a Government Department and executive agency in its own right. The executive also advises the Department on its interests in two other trading funds, the Fire Service College and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.
In April 2007, Ministers asked Ordnance Survey and the Shareholder Executive to work together to prepare a more precise articulation of Ordnance Survey's public task as set out in the Ordnance Survey Framework Document 2004. This work was undertaken between April and June 2007, and Ministers approved the revised public task document in July 2007.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department and its predecessor spent on entertaining in each of the last five years. [203738]
Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) on 27 February 2008, Official Report, column 1594W.
The Department does not record expenditure for entertainment on its finance systems and the figures in the earlier reply relate to hospitality. Changes in coding parameters on the Departments financial systems mean that figures for earlier years can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
All expenditure on hospitality is made in accordance with published departmental guidance on financial procedures and propriety, based on principles set out in Government Accounting and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
EC Grants and Loans: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations she has received from Castle Point borough council on the use of European Union funding for the Charfleets green business initiative; and if she will make a statement. [203662]
John Healey: The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has not received any representations from Castle Point borough council on the use of European Union funding, for the Charfleets green business initiative.
Floods: Repairs and Maintenance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2008, Official Report, column 1405W., on floods: repair and maintenance, if she will undertake an assessment of the availability of plumbers, electricians, plasterers and other essential workers necessary to complete repairs to flood damaged properties. [202968]
John Healey: We have no plans to carry out such an assessment.
Housing
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her target is for the number of transactions under each of the (a) social market homebuy, (b) New Build HomeBuy and (c) Open Market Homebuy schemes annually. [204521]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have clearly stated in the Housing Green Paper ‘Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable’, that we will provide 25,000 shared ownership and shared equity homes a year over the next three years. We have not set individual targets for Open Market HomeBuy or NewBuild HomeBuy to ensure flexibility within the programme. Social HomeBuy is a demand-led product and as such no targets are associated with this programme.
Housing: Greater London
Mr. Evennett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been built in each London (a)
constituency and (b) local authority area since 1997. [203384]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information on new build completions by constituency is not held centrally. The following table provides the figures as reported by local authorities:
| New build completions by London boroughs 1997-98 to 2006-07 | ||||||||||
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| Source: New build completions from P2 returns submitted by local authorities and the National House Building Council (NHBC). Regional totals include imputation for missing returns from local authorities. The local authority level figures are as reported and do not include imputation estimates. Regional totals may not equal the sum of the local authority totals. | ||||||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |