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20 Nov 2008 : Column 772W—continued
John Healey: A sub-location defines a group of properties having similar characteristics which are not necessarily geographically contiguous and neither electronic nor hard copy maps of them are produced.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 30 October 2008, Official Report, column 1284W, on non-domestic rates: valuation, what criteria have been used to identify the boundaries of each sub-location. [236147]
John Healey: ‘Sub-location’ is a VOA description or label for a particular category of property having similar characteristics and which should therefore be treated in the same way for valuation, but may not cover a geographically continuous area.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 30 October 2008, Official Report, column 1284W, on non-domestic rates: valuation, whether each sub-location is ranked according to its value. [235850]
John Healey: Sub-locations are not ranked as such because they are intended to identify groups of property which will reference a particular pool of market evidence for arriving at a valuation level. However properties within them may have different values reflecting their individual physical characteristics and/or specific location factors.
Regional Planning and Development
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the reasons are for the time taken to publish the Government's response to the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration; [236096]
(2) whether she plans to bring forward legislation to implement the content of the Government's response to the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration; [236098]
(3) when she expects to publish a response to the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration. [236100]
John Healey: The Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration (the SNR) and the subsequent consultation document ‘Prosperous Places—Taking Forward the Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration’ generated a high level of interest and a large number of responses. We have been carefully considering options for implementing the SNR reforms following the consultation. We will make our formal response shortly and will legislate to implement the reforms at the earliest opportunity.
Regional Planning and Development: Thames Gateway
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many small businesses she expects to undertake work in connection with the Thames Gateway project. [235807]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data are not collected in the form requested. Government intervention in the Thames Gateway is not targeted at individual businesses. The role of central Government across the Thames Gateway is to create the conditions for economic growth. All businesses will benefit from the additional Government investment set out in the Thames Gateway Delivery Plan (November 2007) and the Thames Gateway Economic Development Investment Plan, published by the three Greater South East regional development agencies in September 2008.
Repossession Orders
Paul Rowen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many house repossessions have been enforced by lenders without a court order in each month of the last three years, broken down by (a) constituency and (b) region. [237847]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data giving the number of repossessions are published separately by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Financial Services Authority. Data are only available at the UK level and cannot be split by whether a court order was involved or not.
Retail Trade: Planning
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the revised Planning Policy Statement 6 will include a presumption against out-of-town retail development. [236507]
Mr. Iain Wright: Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres (PPS6, March 2005) sets out a strong town centre-first policy which positively promotes vital and viable town centres across England. However, neither PPS6 nor our Proposed Changes to Planning Policy Statement 6: Planning for town centres, published on 10 July 2008, contain a presumption against out-of-town retail development. PPS6 sets out a clear framework within which local authorities should plan for their town centres and the considerations which need to be taken into account when managing development proposals for town centre uses in specific locations. Our proposals reaffirm and strengthen this policy framework. They refine the way in which development proposals should be considered and tested if they are outside town centres and not in accordance with an up to date development plan strategy.
Shelter: Eco-Towns
Peter Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what steps her Department took to ensure that (a) hon. Members, (b) local authorities and councillors, (c) local media and (d) members of the public received copies of the documents concerning eco-towns produced by Shelter and funded by her Department; how many hon. Members were sent copies; what further arrangements were made for the distribution of the documents in the relevant areas; and if she will make a statement; [232767]
(2) what discussions (a) she and (b) officials in her Department had with Shelter about the arrangements
for (i) publicising and (ii) consulting on the eco-town documents produced with a grant from her Department. [232768]
Mr. Iain Wright: Shelter organised mailings of their series of publications in respect of each potential eco-town location. Shelter is in the process of sending copies of publications to the relevant hon. Members, and is also mailing them to local authorities and councillors, members of the public, community groups, housing organisations and other organisations that are in contact with local residents in areas where a potential eco-town has been proposed. The publications are available to download from Shelter’s website. Shelter has also issued press notices to coincide with the publication of each document, which have been sent to the local media and include links to the PDFs of these documents on Shelter’s website.
Shelter discussed and agreed the arrangements for publishing and disseminating these eco-town documents with, my officials. However, any views expressed in the publications are those of the authors and not my Department.
Small Businesses: Tax Allowances
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 3 November 2008, Official Report, column 116W, on business: tax allowance, what funding has been given to local authorities to assist them in promoting and raising awareness of small business rate relief. [235854]
John Healey: When the scheme was introduced in April 2005 the Department requested that all local authorities send information leaflets to ratepayers to provide information on revaluation 2005 and the new small business rate relief scheme. The total amount paid to local authorities for the distribution of the leaflets was £500,000.08.
Travelling People
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many authorised sites for gypsies and Travellers were provided in (a) 1988 and (b) 1998 by local authorities in (a) Essex, (b) Suffolk, (c) Norfolk, (d) Kent, (e) Hertfordshire, (f) Berkshire, (g) Cambridgeshire and (h) Greater London. [237751]
Mr. Iain Wright: The number of authorised local authority sites as at January 1998 was as follows:
| Number | |
We do not hold data on authorised local authority sites in 1988.
Valuation Office: Databases
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for how many residential dwellings in England and Wales the Valuation Office Agency has access to property data through its interface with rightmove.co.uk. [236175]
John Healey: Releasing this information would prejudice the commercial interests and the procurement position of the Valuation Office Agency.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the proportion of records relating to private (a) sales and (b) rental transactions in England which are accessible each year to the Valuation Office Agency through its interface with rightmove.co.uk. [236177]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency does not obtain records of sales or rental transactions as a result of its contract with Rightmove.
Valuation Office: Reorganisation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency will use the property information held by the Rent Service for its valuation functions once the Rent Service is integrated into the Valuation Office Agency. [236144]
Mr. Timms: I have been asked to reply.
Work is well under way in both organisations to ensure a seamless transfer of Rent Service functions to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in April 2009. The aim is to ensure minimal disruption to normal working.
Duchy of Lancaster
Departmental Members Interests
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library the latest copy of the Cabinet Office Board Members’ Register of Interests. [233498]
Kevin Brennan: The Cabinet Office maintains a Register of Board Members’ Interests in accordance with Government accounting requirements.
A copy of the Register as at July 2008 has been placed in the Library of the House.
Children, Schools and Families
Children in Care: Crime
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he has taken to reduce the risk of young people in care becoming involved in criminal activity. [234039]
Beverley Hughes: I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 11 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1067-68W.
Children: Bed and Breakfast Accommodation
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were housed in bed and breakfast accommodation in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) age and (b) region. [236949]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
Data are not held centrally on the overall number of children housed in bed and breakfast accommodation. However, since mid-2004, some information has been collected on the number of children (and expected children) housed in bed and breakfast style accommodation used under homelessness provisions of the 1996 Housing Act.
Information about English local authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Information on the number of children (and expected children) in bed and breakfast style temporary accommodation (i.e. bed and breakfast hotels and other privately managed shared facility annexes) is reported quarterly by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter. This has been collected since mid 2004. Figures as reported by local authorities from 2004-05 onwards (as at the last day of March each year) are provided in a table, which has been placed in the Library. The response rate and quality of data reported by authorities is not yet sufficient to gross up to a regional and national level estimate, and data on the age of the children is not collected centrally.
Children: Day Care
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many child care places there were in the London Borough of Enfield in each year since 1997. [235453]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is shown in the following tables.
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