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13 Nov 2008 : Column 1328W—continued
The current expenditure defined here is the cost of running local authority services within the financial year. This includes the costs of staffing, heating, lighting and cleaning, together with expenditure on goods and services consumed within the year. This expenditure is offset by income from sales, fees and charges and other (non-grant) income, to give net current expenditure.
Government Office Transformation Board
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projects are being carried out by the Government Office Transformation Board, as referred to on page 16 of her Department’s Annual Report 2008; and what the budget is of each project. [234308]
Mr. Khan: The Government Office network established a transformational change programme to implement the recommendations of the Government Office review which was commissioned by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and HM Treasury and published in March 2006. The projects in the programme are set out as follows:
Business Operating Model: identifying the most effective operating model to deliver the new roles identified in the review;
Regional Governance: establishing effective mechanisms within the network to support the new Regional Select Committees, Council of Regional Ministers and Regional Economic Council;
European Structural Fund Programmes: to deliver effective closure of the 2000-06 European regional development fund (ERDF) and European social fund (ESF) programmes and implement the GO role on the programmes which commenced in 2007;
Transformation of Communications: to identify and implement a highly professional and effective communications function across the network;
People Strategy and Culture: identifying and implementing the human resources processes, skills and behaviours required to support the new GO network roles;
Analytical and Delivery Capability: defining and implementing the capabilities required to enable the network to deliver its new roles; and
Influencing Whitehall: strengthening the skills and processes across the network to enable it to engage effectively in policy development and evaluation.
Budgets have not been allocated to each project. I would refer the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne to my answer on 29 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1134-35W, which states that the regional co-ordination unit of the Government Office network has a local budget of £288,500 for 2008-09 for planned
projects within the programme. Other costs are borne from within individual Government Office and regional co-ordination unit resource allocations.
Liverpool Corporation Act 1902
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations she has received on the operation of the Liverpool Corporation Act 1902 in relation to the (a) status and (b) proposed sale in part of Lever Park, Chorley. [233003]
Mr. Khan [ holding answer 4 November 2008]: I understand one letter of representation has been received. A response was sent on behalf of the Secretary of State on 3 October 2008.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what functions of the former Local Government Board her Department exercises for the purposes of determining disputes under section 21 of the Liverpool Corporation Act 1902; and if she will make a statement. [233053]
Mr. Khan: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him today (PQ 233001).
Local Authorities: Land
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which of the functions of the former Local Government Board are exercised by her Department in respect of the determination of disputes between (a) local authorities and (b) owners of land vested in those authorities. [233001]
Mr. Khan: The functions of the Local Government Board, which were transferred to Ministers by the Ministry of Health Act 1919, are currently exercisable by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (save for some health functions and functions applicable to Wales).
Local Government: Labour Turnover
Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of local government workers who left their employment with between two and five years experience in (a) 2005, (b) 2006, (c) 2007 and (d) 2008 to date. [234833]
Hazel Blears: The information is not collected centrally.
Mayor of London
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many meetings Ministers in her Department have had with the Mayor of London since his election. [230894]
Mr. Khan: Ministers in this Department have met the new Mayor of London five times since his election.
Non-Domestic Rates: Ports
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2008, Official Report, column 1410W, on non-domestic rates: ports, with which port tenants (a) she and (b) her officials have had discussions since May 2006. [235126]
John Healey: There have been a range of meetings which some port operators and tenants have attended. There have also been a number of representations from port operators, port occupiers, local authorities and hon. Members. We are urgently exploring options for mitigating the financial impact on businesses facing immediate payment of significant backdated liabilities.
Mr. Brazier: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 15 October 2008, Official Report, column 1410W, on non-domestic rates: ports, (a) which port operators and (b) how many port tenants were advised of the review of ports in May 2006. [235127]
John Healey: The letter from the Valuation Office in May 2006 regarding the review of ports was sent to the operators of the 55 large statutory ports and container terminals in England and Wales, requesting details of the occupiers. The port occupiers were then individually contacted once their identity and the need to review their particular circumstances was established.
Performance Appraisal
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in her Department did not achieve an acceptable assessment grade in their annual report in the latest reporting year for which figures are available. [235229]
Mr. Khan: For the performance management review round 2007-08, 12 staff (across all grades) did not receive an acceptable performance assessment grade.
Planning Permission
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many cases related to planning disputes were referred to the Local Government Ombudsman in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007. [234313]
John Healey: The local government ombudsmen publish their statistics in financial years (April to March). The number of planning complaints received by the local government ombudsmen in the years requested are as follows:
| Number | |
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many Questions for written answer were tabled to her Department and its predecessors in Session (a) 2002-03, (b) 2003-04, (c) 2004-05, (d) 2005-06, (e) 2006-07 and (f) 2007-08 to date; and how many were (i) answered substantively and (ii) not answered on grounds of disproportionate cost. [235398]
Mr. Khan: The number of written parliamentary questions received in each parliamentary session since 2002-03 by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and its predecessor Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is tabled as follows:
| Session | Total number of written parliamentary questions |
| (1) Includes questions tabled to the ODPM prior to 5 May 2006 and questions tabled to the DCLG and the Minister for Women and Equality from 5 May 2006 to 8 November 2006. (2) Includes questions tabled to the DCLG and the Minister for Women and Equality for the period 15 November 2006 to 30 June 2007 and for the DCLG only in the period 1 July 2007 to 30 October 2007. (3) Up to 11 November 2008. | |
Information on how many questions received a substantive answer or were not answered on disproportionate cost grounds is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Energy and Climate Change
Nuclear Energy
5. Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on the use of nuclear energy. [235271]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Nuclear power currently provides around 15 per cent. of our electricity.
New nuclear power stations are an essential part of the energy mix needed to hit climate change targets and provide secure and affordable generation.
Clean Coal
6. Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to promote the development of clean coal technology. [235273]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The Government are promoting clean coal technology by:
Support for technology advancement—including for one of the world's first commercial scale demonstrations of the full chain of carbon, capture and storage, demonstration of a 40 MW Oxyfuel combustion system, and increasing research and development activity across a range of clean coal technologies.
We are also setting the legislative framework by for example legislating for the storage of CO2 and developing policies to back the widespread deployment of CCS.
Kyoto Protocol
7. John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Kyoto Protocol in driving reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases; and if he will make a statement. [235274]
Edward Miliband: The Kyoto protocol has helped drive reductions in emissions in a number of countries, but if the world is to stop dangerous climate change, we need a more comprehensive agreement, covering all countries with deeper cuts in emissions. That is what we are working towards in Copenhagen in December 2009 and Britain is determined to play its part, through our actions at home and our work internationally to secure agreement.
Fuel Poverty: North-West Leicestershire
9. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent representations he has received on the number of people living in fuel poverty in North West Leicestershire; and if he will make a statement. [235276]
Joan Ruddock: The most recently available sub-regional split of fuel poverty relates to 2003 and shows that in north-west Leicestershire there were around 2,300 fuel poor households. At that time, there were around two million households living in fuel poverty in the UK.
Carbon Capture and Storage
10. Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the timetable is for awarding the contract for the carbon capture and storage demonstration plant; and if he will make a statement. [235277]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: We aim to move to the next stage of the competition by the end of the year. The timetable published when the competition was launched suggested on a provisional basis that a Preferred Bidder would be selected in the mid part of next year. We are working towards an operational project in 2014.
Gas Storage
11. Mr. Mackay: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the current capacity of UK gas storage facilities is; and if he will make a statement. [235278]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The UK currently has 4.4 billion cubic metres of working storage capacity, with an additional 420 million cubic meters of capacity expected to commission in 2008-09. Potential future projects (under construction or proposed) amount to some 15 billion cubic meters. The Government are encouraging investment in gas storage through reforms to the planning and consents framework in the Planning and Energy Bills, now before the House.
Meat and Dairy Consumption
12. Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with colleagues in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's assessment of the effects of meat and dairy consumption on greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. [235279]
Joan Ruddock: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I continue to work closely with DEFRA and international organisations to establish the extent to which all points in the meat production chain contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Nuclear Generation
13. Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent representations he has received on the construction of nuclear power facilities and electricity generation by such facilities; and if he will make a statement. [235281]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The siting of new nuclear power stations is subject to the strategic siting assessment criteria and process. Energy companies will fail to receive substantial investment in new nuclear power stations in Scotland while the Scottish Executive upholds its current policy to oppose new build in Scotland. Both current jobs and long-term employment potential is affected by this decision.
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