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26 Feb 2009 : Column 1040W—continued
(ii) The Commission intervened as a third party in the case between Basildon council and the Dale Farm Gypsy and Traveller community. In the Commission’s view the local authority failed to undertake an equality impact assessment to establish any disproportionate impact, for example, on the mental health of children that might arise from forced eviction. In light of the decision by the court of appeal which ruled in favour of Basildon council, the Commission has met with senior officers from the council to ensure that they are aware of their legal obligations and to explore ways forward that would meet the interests of all concerned.
Women: Economic Situation
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what representations she has received from women on the effects of the economic downturn. [255864]
Maria Eagle: The Government Equalities Office (GEO) and the Ministers for Women and Equality have received a number of letters and e-mails from women setting out the effects that the economic downturn is having on them personally. The GEO has also received a letter from Working Families detailing the experiences of women who have called their free helpline since October 2009. These calls are mainly relating to redundancy, dismissal and insolvency.
Communities and Local Government
Community Relations: Finance
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2009, Official Report, columns 245-6W, on Preventing Violent Extremism Community Leadership Fund, how much each organisation received from the fund in 2007-08; and how much each organisation currently receiving funding will receive between 2008-09 and 2010-11. [259139]
Mr. Khan: The 2007-08 funding allocations for each organisation are set out in the following table.
Subsequent funding allocations through the Community Leadership Fund for 2008-09 to 2010-11 have been published on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Leadership Capacity —building the capacity of today and tomorrow’s leaders in the Muslim community, to enable them to help the community to resist the influence of violent extremists and promote a positive and engaged citizenship.
| Project partner | Funding level (£) |
Organisational Capacity —building the capacity of organisations in the Muslim community to actively resist the influence of violent extremists.
| Project partner | Funding level (£) |
Capacity of Muslim Women—unlocking the potential of Muslim women in tackling violent extremism, enabling their voices to be heard and empowering them to engage with young Muslims at risk of being targeted by violent extremists.
| Project partner | Funding level (£) |
Community Relations: Islam
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 12 January 2009, Official Report, column 246W, on Radical Middleway, how much the Radical Middleway Programme will cost in 2008-09; and how much her Department will contribute towards this. [259189]
Mr. Khan: Communities and Local Government are funding the Radical Middle Way at £350,000.00 for their domestic programme of work. This represents the total cost of their programme this year.
Community Relations: Religion
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department plans to release as part of round one of the Faiths in Action programme in 2009-10; how much it has allocated to the programme for that financial year; and if she will make a statement. [259330]
Mr. Khan: The Department intends to make £600,000 available during 2009-10 for grants in round one of the Faiths in Action scheme. A shortlist of applications is presently being considered and I plan to make an announcement soon.
Council Housing
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate she has made of the average percentage of annual rent from a new build social home built under the proposals outlined in Changes to the revenue and capital rules for new council housing, that will be spent on (a) repaying the debt from building the property, (b) maintenance, (c) management and (d) repairs in the first year of operation of the revised rules; [258961]
(2) what estimate she has made of the average annual cost to a local authority of servicing the debt required to build one new build social home under the proposals outlined in the Changes to the revenue and capital rules for new council housing consultation in the first year of operation of the revised rules. [258962]
Mr. Iain Wright: Our proposals will enable councils to exclude new properties from the subsidy system. This will allow them to retain surplus rents on those properties to help fund development costs. The amount of borrowing needed to build a new home and the cost to an authority of servicing debt associated with a scheme will depend on the level of rent, and the amount of grant support and other capital subsidy.
The consultation paper on the revenue and capital changes says that nationally in aggregate, management, maintenance and repairs for council houses represent 72 per cent. of assumed rental income, leaving 28 per cent. available to service any prudential borrowing.
Council Housing: Rents
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect of proposed local authority rent increases on their tenants in (a) Luton and (b) England. [257325]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities remain responsible for setting their actual rents, in consultation with their tenants, and will want to consider what is affordable and acceptable locally when doing this. Central government does not intervene in this decision.
However, we do want to encourage all social landlords to set rents that are affordable and fair for their tenants.
Disadvantaged: Coastal Areas
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the score of each of the lower layer super output areas in each principal seaside town in England was in each domain of the index of multiple deprivation for (a) 2004 and (b) 2007, ranked from highest to lowest in each year. [257542]
John Healey:
I have placed in the Library of the House a table which lists the score and rank of each of the Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs)—for each
domain of the Indices of Deprivation—in the local authority districts which contain the principal seaside towns. This table provides the data for 2004 and 2007, and also identifies the ward in which each LSOA is located.
Eco-Towns: Publicity
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 29 October 2008, Official Report, column 1142W, on eco-towns: finance, how much expenditure has been incurred on each (a) exhibition and (b) road show on eco-towns. [252797]
Mr. Iain Wright: The total cost of exhibition and roadshow activity incurred to date by the Department is £369,568.90. It is not possible to provide individual costs for each event as a substantial proportion of the costs relate to the management and production of the event programme as a whole.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people visited each eco-town roadshow; and how much each roadshow cost to provide, broken down by cost category. [254128]
Margaret Beckett: Due to the ‘turn up and view’ nature of the eco-town roadshows, there was no registration process. Therefore we do not have records of the actual numbers of visitors to each roadshow. However, 9,000 of the ‘Have Your Say’ leaflets were given out over the 15 days that the events ran.
In terms of the roadshow costs I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) today (PQ 252797).
Fire Services: Working Hours
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect on flex-duty fire brigade officers of the proposed ending of the opt-out from the EU Working Time Directive. [258640]
Mr. Khan: Although arrangements vary across the Fire and Rescue Service, typically officers on the flexible duty system are required to work a weekly average of no more than 42 positive managerial hours; and to provide standby cover on an on-call basis which should average not more than 36 hours per week.
The amendments voted by the European Parliament in December to end opt-outs from the working time directive's 48-hour weekly maximum; and to the treatment of inactive on-call time as working time could, taken together, have a substantial impact on FRS officers working the flexible duty system. The UK therefore places great importance on retaining the opt-out and other flexibilities agreed by the Council of Ministers in June and will continue to defend them.
Holocaust Memorial Day
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government took to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2009; and if she will make a statement. [256731]
Mr. Khan: The theme of Holocaust Memorial Day 2009, organised by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, was 'Stand Up to Hatred'. It examined what hatred means; how it can be enshrined in actions, language and legislation; and how each individual can help to make our communities strong and safe.
A number of hon. Members attended the national commemoration on 25 January 2009 at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. These included my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department. I also attended, and was able to meet with a number of survivors at a reception, where I read a goodwill message from my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.
In addition to this, on 26 January 2009 I attended the Beth Shalom Centre where I was able to take part in a service marking Holocaust Memorial Day. The Beth Shalom Centre is a place of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust and a place of education, challenge and reflection for people everywhere.
On 29 January 2009, I opened and closed a Topical Debate on the floor of the House of Commons which was dedicated to Holocaust Memorial Day.
Bodies that commemorate the Holocaust and subsequent genocides play a vital role in ensuring that we never allow ourselves forget past atrocities, and help our and future generations to learn from them. The Government are continuing strongly to support such bodies, as well as bodies whose work is associated with the theme of this year's event. This includes core grant funding of £750,000 to the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, an increase of 50 per cent. on previous years.
Local Government Finance: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations she has received in respect of the local government grant support settlement for the London borough of Bexley. [257844]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 22 January 2009, Official Record, column 1660W. Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Settlement 2009/10 on Wednesday 4 February. The Department has received no further representations on the level of Government grant support to the London borough of Bexley.
Local Government: Billing
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to encourage local authorities to pay invoices within 10 days of receipt. [257548]
John Healey: Local authorities are responsible for their own payment arrangements and in the present economic downturn many are taking steps to ensure invoices are settled promptly.
Members: Correspondence
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she plans to reply to the letter of 12 January 2009 from the hon. Member for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. [258841]
Mr. Khan: The Minister for Local Government replied to the hon. Member on 19 February 2009.
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to reply to the letter of 19 January 2009 from the hon. Member for Billericay on business rates. [258993]
Mr. Khan: The Minister for Local Government replied to the hon. Member on 20 February 2009.
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