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13 May 2008 : Column 1442W—continued
Difficult to let properties;
Taxpayers who can comply with the council's Mooring Policy.
Other discretionary discounts based on individual cases:
Property affected by the proximity of a electricity generating wind turbine;
Hard to sell property;
Problems with a chalk mine;
Property damaged by fire;
RAF personnel where redundancy was delayed owing to events abroad;
New unfinished property;
Hardship.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department and its predecessors spent on carbon offsetting in each of the last three years; and to which companies payments for carbon offsetting were made in each such year. [204106]
Mr. Dhanda: Communities and Local Government spent £2,730 to offset 275 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from its ministerial and official air travel in 2006-07. These figures do not include data from the Department’s Executive agencies or the regional Government offices.
This was the first year that the Department offset any emissions. Data are being gathered to offset emissions from air travel undertaken during 2007-08.
The Department currently only offsets emissions from is air travel and does this through the Government Carbon Offsetting Fund (GCOF).
The GCOF is being managed by EEA Fund Management Ltd., who won the contract to source and deliver 255,000 Certified Emission Reduction Credits, with a provision for a further 50,000 credits, over three years from a range of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Credits will be supplied from the project portfolio of Trading Emissions plc, to whom EEA is the investment adviser.
Departmental Computer Software
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many copies of Adobe Acrobat, excluding Adobe Reader software, are licensed to her Department. [203058]
Mr. Dhanda: There are 79 copies of Adobe Acrobat licensed for use within the Department.
Flood Control: Buckingham
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions her Department has had with the Environment Agency on the Buckingham Flood Alleviation Scheme. [204360]
John Healey: My Department has not held any recent meetings with the Environment Agency to discuss the Scheme. However, there may have been discussions held at a regional level on the Buckingham Flood Alleviation Scheme.
Floods: Costs
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the cost to the (a) public purse, (b) local community and (c) local economy of the flooding in Buckingham of 21 July 2007. [204359]
John Healey: We do not hold information about the total costs to specific local areas of the county. Nor do we hold figures for the financial impact on local economies which is also difficult to quantify. However, the South East Regional Development Agency has reported that 110 businesses were affected across the South East. Only one business in Buckingham applied to the RDA for grant aid and as a result received a payment of £1,382.04.
Infrastructure Planning Commission: Appeals
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision for appeals against decisions made by the Infrastructure Planning Commission she plans to put in place; and what role the Planning Inspectorate will play in such procedures. [204182]
John Healey: Under the proposals in the Planning Bill, decisions made by the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be challengeable through a claim for judicial review rather than through an appeal mechanism.
Infrastructure Planning Commission: Pollution
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Infrastructure Planning Commission considers (a) air quality and (b) noise pollution factors in determining major infrastructure planning applications. [204188]
John Healey:
Under the proposals in the Planning Bill, when determining major infrastructure applications, the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be required to have regard to the relevant National Policy Statement,
other matters which may be set out in secondary legislation and any other matters which the Commission thinks are important and relevant to its decision.
National Policy Statements will be subject to an appraisal of sustainability and will take into account other government policies, including policies on air quality and noise impacts, where they are relevant. The Infrastructure Planning Commission will also have to ensure that relevant provisions of European Community environmental law are complied with, including those covering air quality and noise pollution.
Infrastructure Planning Commission: Public Appointments
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) when she plans to announce the names of members of the Infrastructure Planning Commission; [204183]
(2) when she expects the Infrastructure Planning Commission to commence operation. [204184]
John Healey: Subject to gaining parliamentary approval for the necessary primary legislation, we expect the first appointments to the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) to be made in spring 2009 with the IPC ready to advice applicants later the same year. We expect the IPC to begin determining applications in 2010 and we will be consulting with potential applicants about the appropriate length of time between national policy statements, regulations and guidance being issued and the new regime coming into effect.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration she will give to expertise in (a) air quality and (b) noise pollution in planning decisions relating to road or aviation infrastructure when making appointments to the Infrastructure Planning Commission. [204187]
John Healey: The White Paper “Planning for a Sustainable Future” stated that commissioners would be appointed from a wide range of fields such as national and local government, community engagement, planning, law, engineering, economics, business, security, environment, heritage and health, as well as, if necessary, specialist technical expertise related to a particular sector.
Leisure: Warrington
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reason the hon. Member for Warrington North was not (a) notified of or (b) invited to her briefing on the Orford Park Project. [205257]
Mr. Dhanda: I understand that Warrington borough council made a request to meet the Regional Minister for the North West in the margins of a conference she was attending, in order to brief her on the Orford Park Project. This meeting was arranged on the afternoon of Wednesday 7 May.
In accordance with paragraph 10.9 of the ministerial code, the hon. Member was notified about, and invited to the event on Thursday the 8 May, via the Private Office of the Regional Minister for the North West.
Local Authorities: Culture
Mr. Vaizey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance her Department has issued to local authorities on the production of local cultural strategies; and whether such strategies are submitted to her Department. [200298]
Mr. Dhanda: Councils are no longer required to produce or submit free-standing local cultural strategies. Instead they are expected to subsume planning for the longer-term cultural priorities for their area within their broader Sustainable Community Strategy. This approach is in line with a wider process of devolving greater freedoms to councils—in part by reducing the number of statutory plans they were required to produce.
Guidance on how best to achieve this expectation was issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in June 2004 entitled “Leading the good life: guidance on integrating cultural and community strategies”.
Guidance on Sustainable Community Strategies was first issued in 2000. This has since been updated in draft form as part of a broader package of guidance also covering, for example, Local Strategic Partnerships and Local Area Agreements. This guidance, entitled “Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities”, was issued in draft on 30 November 2007. Following a public consultation on this guidance which closed on 12 February we will be issuing the final guidance this summer. This guidance states that
‘The purpose of a Sustainable Community Strategy is to set the overall strategic direction and long-term vision for the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of a local area’
(see paragraph 3.1). Sustainable Community Strategies continue to be required to be produced by local councils but are not submitted to the Government.
Local Government Finance
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information her Department holds on local authorities’ equity to debt ratios; and what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on appropriate levels for those ratios. [204641]
John Healey: Communities and Local Government collects data on the amount and nature of local authority borrowing, lending and investments to varying levels. Analyses of these data are published. The Department is also currently collecting data that could be used to calculate local authority equity (the difference between their assets and liabilities) as part of the Whole of Government Accounts exercise, but this exercise is still in its experimental phase.
By statute local authorities’ debt is secured on their revenues and not their assets. The Department does not therefore provide guidance on equity to debt ratios for local authorities. We have, however, given statutory backing to the Prudential Code issued by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy on the affordability of borrowing by
local authorities, and to the Institute’s code of practice on treasury management as it applies to local authorities.
Regional Planning and Development
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 3 April 2008, Official Report, column 1275W, on regional planning and development, if she will place in the Library a copy of each development plan independent examination report published by a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State to date since the coming into force of the 2004 Act. [202482]
Mr. Iain Wright: A copy of each of the 68 reports provided on completed development plan document examinations will be deposited in the Library of the House.
Regional Planning and Development: South East
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will ensure that her proposed changes to the South East plan are published before 25 June 2008. [203192]
Mr. Dhanda: The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intends to publish her Proposed Changes to Regional Spatial Strategy for the South East before the summer recess.
I am sure the hon. Lady will understand that because of the nature of the work under way and the importance of the matters under consideration it would not be wise to commit, as she requests, to a more definitive timeframe.
Tenants: Deposits
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department plans to take to increase awareness of the tenancy deposit protection scheme among (a) tenants and (b) landlords. [205364]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department was involved in an extensive publicity campaign in the run-up to the launch and immediately after the scheme's introduction. We will continue to encourage the three tenancy deposit protection scheme providers to promote awareness of the requirements to landlords. We also encourage consumer organisations, such as the Citizens' Advice Bureau and Shelter, to help increase tenants' awareness.
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of landlords of assured short hold tenancy property to which tenancy deposit protection applies have registered with the tenancy protection schemes established under contracts let by her Department. [205365]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Over one million deposits for tenants with assured shorthold tenancies have been protected since tenancy deposit protection provisions commenced
in April 2007. We do not hold a breakdown of the number or percentage of landlords this represents.
Valuation Office: Local Authorities
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times the Valuation Office Agency's Local Authority Liaison Group met in the last 36 months. [204496]
John Healey: The Local Authority Liaison Group has met eight times in the last 36 months.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities routinely submit CR10 reports to the Valuation Office Agency. [204497]
John Healey: In the three years to 2007-08 CR10 reports have been registered for all billing authorities.
Valuation Office: Publications
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library copies of the Valuation Office Agency’s Billing Authority Newsletter from the last 36 months. [204495]
John Healey: The Valuation Office does not produce a central newsletter for Billing Authorities.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Air Pollution: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many sites in (a) Castle Point constituency and (b) constituencies adjacent to Castle Point monitor air quality. [204697]
Jonathan Shaw: The are no national air quality monitoring sites within Castle Point constituency, although we are aware of the local authority monitoring site at Furtherwick Park School on Canvey Island. This is in the London Air Quality Monitoring Network, and is managed by King’s College London.
There are two national air quality monitoring sites in constituencies close to Castle Point. These are at Chalkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea, and at Abbott’s Hall Close in Stanford-le-Hope.
Further information on the national air quality monitoring networks can be found on the National Air Quality Information Archive at:
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