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12 Feb 2009 : Column 2214W—continued
Council Tax: Overpayments
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her Department’s policy is on the payment of interest in respect of overpaid council tax resulting from a Valuation Office Agency banding error. [254850]
John Healey: The legislative framework governing the administration of council tax does not include a specific provision on the payment of interest. The Government have no plans to change this.
Departmental Buildings
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the (a) display energy certificates and (b) advisory reports for public buildings issued in respect of each property occupied by (i) her Department and (ii) its agencies. [256042]
Mr. Khan: Communities and Local Government will place in the Library a copy of the display energy certificates and their associated advisory reports in respect of each qualifying property occupied by my Department and its agencies.
Departmental ICT
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Fareham of 15 July 2008, Official Report, columns 266-69W, on departmental ICT, what the purpose is of the (a) XML Schemas development, (b) RPD National Capability Survey Geo-database projects and (c) Ordnance Survey GIS Development project. [252435]
Mr. Khan: The development of a single form for planning applications to replace a myriad of existing forms used across local government in various different formats is achieving significant benefits for local and central government, stakeholder organisations and the general public. The XML Schema development is required to bring the current schemas and associated standards up-to-date to enable the single form to be widely accessible from different IT platforms and personal computers
The National Capabilities Survey (NCS) is a key part of the UK Government's programme to increase the UK's resilience. The survey aims to assess current levels of capability and readiness across England. The results will identify gaps in event preparedness and be the baseline for judging priorities for future investment, exercising and policy development.
Ordnance Survey's GIS Development Project is designed to deliver a 'state of the art' technical environment for the National Geographical Database (NGD) to allow field editing, database transaction and data production management activities to take place in a seamless environment. The new systems will replace aging technology and enable Ordnance Survey to increase efficiency, reduce costs and deliver geographic information to market more quickly, with the improved content, currency and capability that customers demand.
Departmental Impact Assessments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many equalities impact assessments her Department has undertaken in the last 12 month period for which figures are available; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of such assessments. [255078]
Mr. Khan: Over the last 12 months CLG has published one full Equality Impact Assessment for the White Paper "Communities In Control: Real People, Real Power" which is available on the Departmental website. In addition each of the thirty final Impact Assessments published by CLG in 2008 considered the impact of the proposal on race, disability and gender equality. In general the cost of Equality Impact Assessments or Impact Assessments are not distinguished from the total cost of a project.
Departmental Sick Leave
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in her Department or its predecessors were on sick leave for (a) over 30 days, (b) over 50 days and (c) over 100 days in each of the last five years. [256320]
Mr. Khan: Information on sickness absence for 2004, 2005, 2006-07 for the Department for Communities and Local Government can be found on the civil service website:
From January 2008, information is provided by departments and collated by Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. Figures for the 12 months to 31 December 2008 will not be prepared until March 2009.
Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in her Department were recorded as having been on sick leave for over 12 months on 31 December in each of the last five years. [256635]
Mr. Khan: Information on sickness absence for 2004, 2005, 2006-07 for the Department for Communities and Local Government can be found on the civil service website:
From January 2008, information is provided by departments and collated by Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. Figures for the 12 months to 31 December 2008 will not be prepared until March 2009.
Housing: Databases
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the information on domestic properties provided by the Rightmove interface to the Valuation Office Agency includes property attribute information on the number of (a) bathrooms, (b) bedrooms and (c) parking spaces as part of the property. [255290]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 28 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1596-97W.
Local Authorities: Debt Collection
Robert Neill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 19 November 2008, Official Report, columns 509-10W, on local authorities: debt collection, whether the local
authority enforcement powers for council tax include the use of bailiffs to undertake peaceful entry to collect unpaid council tax. [254768]
Local Government Finance
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department is providing to each local authority under the most recent round of Growth Funding (a) in cash terms and (b) per capita. [254857]
John Healey:
Allocations from the Growth Fund were announced in December 2008 to support the delivery of infrastructure in the growth areas (excluding Thames Gateway) and the growth points for 2009-10 and 2010-11. Allocations for 2010-11 are provisional and will be confirmed in early 2010. The Secretary of State will adopt a policy of only altering provisional allocations in exceptional circumstances, in line with the approach
taken in relation to the local government settlement. A copy of the allocations has been placed in the Library of the House.
As funding from the Growth Fund is un-ringfenced, it is paid to the growth location's nominated lead authority for the payment of grant. It is for the growth area/point authorities to prioritise how the funding is divided at the local level. There is no per capita element: to the allocation methodology.
The growth fund is now being managed by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Local Government Finance: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the percentage increase was in the local government finance settlement for the London Borough of Bexley in each year since 1997. [254803]
John Healey: The following table shows the increases for the London Borough of Bexley in formula grant on a like-for-like basis i.e. after adjusting for changes in function and funding.
| Prior year’s adjusted formula grant( 1) | Current year’s formula grant( 2) | Change | ||
| £ million | £ million | £ million | Percentage | |
| (1) The prior year's formula grant is adjusted for changes in function and funding to enable a like-for-like comparison. (2) Formula Grant comprises Revenue Support Grant, redistributed business rates, principal formula Police Grant, SSA Reduction Grant (SSA Review), SSA Reduction Grant (Police Funding Review) and Central Support Protection Grant where appropriate. (3) Prior to 2006-07 support for schools was paid through formula grant. In 2006-07 funding for schools transferred to the Dedicated Schools Grant. | ||||
Local Government: Manpower
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were employed by each local authority in England in each year since 1996-97. [254761]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Dartford (Dr. Stoate) on 7 July 2008, Official Report, column 1360W.
Local Government: Powers
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has written to local authorities on the use of their powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act in the last three months. [254772]
Mr. Khan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) by my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Gedling (Mr. Coaker) on 8 October 2008, Official Report, column 644W.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the combined authorities proposed in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill will have powers to levy (a) a council tax precept, (b) a congestion charge, (c) workplace parking charges and (d) local road pricing charges. [254773]
John Healey: The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill allows for the establishment of combined authorities. These will be able to take on the functions of an Economic Prosperity Board (proposed in part 6 of the LDEDC Bill) and the functions of an Integrated Transport Authority (ITA).
The LDEDC Bill does not empower combined authorities to raise a levy to cover other, non-transport,
costs, nor to set a council tax precept. Under the Local Transport Act 2008 the six existing passenger transport authorities in England became ITAs on 9 February 2009. These ITAs (and any new ITAs established under that Act) will have the levying powers which the PTAs have held since 1990 in order to allow them to deliver and invest in transport services in their area.
Mortgages
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of houses mortgaged in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008 where the ratio of house price to earnings was (i) more than 6:1, (ii) more than 8:1 and (iii) more than 10:1, based on data from the Regulated Mortgage Survey and the Council of Mortgage Lenders. [256237]
Mr. Iain Wright: This information is not collected by Communities and Local Government. However for the UK we have made the following estimates based on data from the Regulated Mortgage Survey and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Data on the total number of mortgages for house purchase during 2008 will be available from CML on 12 February 2009.
| Number and proportion of mortgages by price to income ratio, UK. 2007 | ||
| House price to income ratio | Number | Percentage |
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