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2 Feb 2009 : Column 970W—continued
Non-domestic Rates: Valuation
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the Valuation Office Agency's documents for the 2010 rates and revaluation (a) Urinal Cost Guidance and (b) Pop-up Urinals—Cost Guidance. [252188]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency's operational instructions on the 2010 rating revaluation relating to urinals are available in the Rating Manual Volume 5 Sec 625 Practice Note 1:2010 which is published on its website:
Parish Councils: Council Tax
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Beckenham of 6 October 2008, Official Report, columns 353-54W, on parish councils: council tax, what estimate her Department has made of the average band D parish council precept for 2008-09. [252147]
John Healey: No estimate has yet been made of the average Band D parish council precept for 2008-09. A figure will be published in Local Government Financial Statistics England No 19 that is to be published later in the year.
Planning Permission
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in which month
she expects the Infrastructure Planning Commission to start considering planning applications. [251729]
John Healey: Our expectation is that the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) will be ready to begin receiving applications in spring 2010. When applications are made is a matter for the project promoters.
Regional Assemblies: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) budget and (b) administrative costs were of each regional government office in each of the last five years; and what estimate she has made of the administrative cost of each in 2008-09. [252570]
Mr. Khan: The budget/administration cost figures for the Government offices for financial years 2003-04 to 2007-08 are as shown in the following table.
| GO | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
The administrative budget for each GO in 2008-09 is as follows:
| GO | 2008-09 |
Regional Planning and Development
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her Department's timetable is for the implementation of conclusions arising from the consultation on the Sub-National Review. [252624]
John Healey: Provisions to implement reforms relating to regional strategies, local authority economic assessments and sub-regional governance arrangements are included in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill, which is currently before Parliament.
As the Government's response to the consultation stated, the Government have concluded that legislation is not needed to the deliver the spirit of the reforms relating to delegation of regional development agency functions to local authorities. Guidance on a new investment planning approach involving RDAs, local authorities and other delivery partners will be published in summer 2009.
European Charter of Regional Democracy
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what response the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has made to the Recommendation by the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities in Europe on the draft European Charter of Regional Democracy; and what assessment she has made of the content of the Recommendation. [252291]
John Healey: Whilst the official level Steering Committee has now advised, with the support of the UK delegation to that Committee, that no further CoE resources should be used to pursue a legally binding convention on regional democracy, I understand that the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has not yet responded to the Congress on their Recommendation. Whilst recognising the value that regions can have for democracy, the Government has consistently opposed a prescriptive legally binding charter of regional self-government on the grounds that democratic regional institutions are not a pre-requisite for a modern democracy and it is for each state to decide, having regard to what its people want, whether to adopt any regional governance structures.
Reposessions: Mortgages
Sarah Teather:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many
applications were received for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme in December 2008, broken down by individual Fast Tracker Authority. [253317]
Margaret Beckett: The Government's Mortgage Rescue Scheme was “fast tracked” by 76 local authorities on a voluntary basis from 1 December 2008.
An informal telephone survey of approximately half the “fast track” local authorities was conducted by officials at Communities and Local Government on 5 January 2009. This showed that up to 200 approaches had been made, resulting in approximately 80 cases meeting the eligibility criteria. We are putting in place formal monitoring arrangements from early February.
We continue to work closely with all participating local authorities following the Mortgage Rescue scheme's official launch on 16 January 2009.
Valuation Office
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Fulham of 4 September 2006, Official Report, column 1681W, on Valuation Office Agency, which property attribute variables may be used in billing authorities. [252209]
John Healey: All variables which are based on property attributes, used in modelling in the Valuation Office Agency's Automated Valuation Model, may be used in billing authority areas.
Valuation Office: Databases
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) domestic and (b) composite properties in England have an entry on the Valuation Office Agency's automated valuation model database; and how many have one or more digital photographs associated with an entry on the Agency's databases. [252294]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency's Automated Valuation Model is not in itself a database. The Agency's central database stores the data that feed into its automated valuation modelling.
The number of domestic properties in England with a live council tax band was 22,354,681 as at 30 November 2008. Of these, 832,982 had one or more digital photographs
associated with them. The number of composite properties in England with a live council tax band was 284,843 as at 30 November 2008. Of these, 13,190 had one or more digital photographs associated with them.
Valuation Office: Legal Costs
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what legal costs were incurred by (a) the Valuation Tribunal and (b) the Valuation Office Agency in relation to the legal action on the rating of coffee shops within bookshops which concluded in September 2008. [252202]
John Healey: In the valuation tribunal appeal concluded in September 2008 on the rating of coffee shops within bookshops the Valuation Office Agency incurred legal costs of £600 plus VAT; the Hertfordshire Valuation Tribunal incurred no legal costs.
Valuation Office: Rightmove
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency utilises property data from estate agent industry organisations other than Rightmove.co.uk plc. [252464]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency makes use of freely available and publicly published information from the estate agent industry to support its current work and reduce the burden on taxpayers.
Waste Management: South East
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership for the South East has given to the Waste Improvement Network. [252306]
John Healey: The budget for the Waste Improvement Network for 2008/9 is £90,000 of which DEFRA contributes £45,000 and the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership for the South East contributes the remaining £45,000. This is an annual cost for the service and contributions are expected to remain around the same for 2009/10 and 2010/11.
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