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9 Mar 2009 : Column 30W—continued
The data are calculated from the council tax requirement as stated on the authorities' Budget Requirement form for 2008-09 submitted to Communities and Local Government divided by the mid-2007 population estimates.
Councillors: Arun
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 19 January 2009, Official Report, column 1072W, on councillors: Arun, if she will place in the Library a copy of the Code of Data Matching Practice. [262653]
Mr. Khan: A copy of the Audit Commission's Code of Data Matching Practice has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on (a) alcohol and (b) food in each of the last five years. [261164]
Mr. Khan: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Households
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households there are in the UK; and how many are classified as (a) retired, (b) non-retired and (c) non-retired with children. [261020]
Mr. Iain Wright: The latest estimates based on 2008 Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey data are:
| Number (million) | |
Retired households are defined as those whose household reference person is retired.
Housing Revenue Accounts
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether an equality impact assessment has been undertaken on the Housing Revenue Account subsidy. [261197]
Mr. Iain Wright: An equality impact assessment has not been carried out on the long established housing revenue account subsidy system.
The housing finance review is currently considering future arrangements and options for financing council housing. The Government want to see everyone in a decent home at affordable rents and at an affordable cost. An equality impact assessment will be considered as part of the review process.
Housing: Standards
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of the effects of the bringing forward of capital spending announced in the pre-Budget report 2008 on the (a) Decent Homes programme, (b) provision of social rented housing and (c) numbers of repairs to council house stock; and what progress has been made against the objective of assisting key regeneration and housing infrastructure projects. [261515]
Mr. Iain Wright: In the pre-Budget report (PBR) we announced additional brought forward expenditure to sustain and accelerate the Decent Homes programme in 2009-10. Significant elements of this will support expenditure above existing national budgets provided to schemes previously identified by partners in the arm’s length management organisation and transfer programmes. Additional brought forward capital, up to a maximum total value of £100 million, will be available to ALMOs in 2009-10 and the HCA has written to ALMO chief executives on the process for accessing this.
We also announced that £175 million would be brought forward from 2010-11 for major repairs to council housing stock. CLG has written separately to councils and ALMO chief executives on the process for accessing this resource. CLG and the HCA are currently reviewing bids for funding so no assessment of the effects of the bringing forward of capital spending can be made yet.
The PBR also brought funds of £150 million from 2010-11 into 2009-10 within the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Housing Programme (AHP). These funds will be utilised next year in the delivery of social rented homes within the overall AHP.
Infrastructure Planning Commission: Pay
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to pages 9-10 of her Department’s publication of January 2009, Annex to the Planning Bill Impact Assessment: Royal Assent, for what reasons the expected remuneration of the chairman of the Infrastructure Planning Commission will be significantly higher than the £150,000 a year originally estimated; and whether the salaries of the deputy chairs will be similarly increased. [259516]
Mr. Iain Wright: The annex to the Planning Bill Impact Assessment: Royal Assent (pp 9-10) makes clear that the higher remuneration
“reflects the need to recruit a person of sufficient calibre to carry out this challenging role. Recruitment for the IPC’s Deputy Chairs, remaining commissioners and CEO will be carried out during 2009. We envisage advertising these roles on ranges broadly consistent with the estimates given the original Impact Assessment. This change falls within the assumed error margin, and the overall assumptions originally made about the cost and size of the IPC and its Secretariat remain valid, and are the best current estimate of size and cost.”
Internet: Advisory Services
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent meetings she has had with the Power of Information Task Force to discuss its work. [260655]
Mr. Khan: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no such meetings.
Mobile Homes
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions park homes site licences have been revoked as a result of breaches of the provisions of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 on the part of the site owner in the last 10 years. [261050]
Mr. Iain Wright: A site licence may only be revoked if there have been two or more breaches of conditions in the licence. Section 5 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 specifies the types of conditions that a local authority can attach to a site licence. That power does not extend to attaching a condition relating to the compliance by the licence holder with the provisions in the Mobile Homes Act 1983. Therefore, no local authority in England would be able to revoke a licence because of a breach of that Act.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what restrictions are placed on the owners of park home sites on their exclusive supply of bottled gas to site occupants; and if she will make a statement. [261095]
Mr. Iain Wright: There are no restrictions placed on the owners of park home sites on their supply of bottled gas to site occupants.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress her Department has made on proposals contained in the consultation paper, “A New Approach for Resolving Disputes and to Proceedings Relating to Park Homes” under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. [261428]
Mr. Iain Wright: My Department is currently studying the responses received to the proposals and I intend to announce the way forward shortly.
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to revise the booklet, “Mobile Homes: A Guide for Residents and Site Owners”, published by her Department in 2000. [261432]
Mr. Iain Wright: We are shortly publishing a series of park home fact sheets that will be helpful to residents and site owners. They will cover:
Pitch fees and other charges;
Selling a park home;
Qualifying residents' associations; and
Residents' rights and obligations.
Therefore we have no plans to revise the booklet, “Mobile Homes: A Guide for Residents and Site Owners”.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate she has made of the number of home repossessions which have not taken place as a result of support provided by the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme; [260609]
(2) how many people have deferred their mortgage interest payments under the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme. [260610]
Margaret Beckett: We expect the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme to be open for business with the first lenders in April now that the Banking Act 2009, which is the legislative vehicle we have used to enable us to do this, has gained Royal Assent (on 12 February). The draft Master Guarantee is currently with lenders. We will publish a full impact assessment when the Master Guarantee Deed has been finalised.
Ordnance Survey: Finance
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what financial return on ordinary activities was expected from Ordnance Survey in the year ending July 2008. [260656]
Mr. Iain Wright: The financial target for the year ended 31 March 2008 was derived from the three-year target for 2004-05 to 2007-08 set down in the Ordnance Survey Framework Document 2004. This target was to achieve no less than 5.5 per cent. per annum return on capital employed (“ROCE”), averaged over a three-year period, with the return defined as surplus on ordinary activities before interest and dividends.
The target figure for ROCE for the year ended 31 March 2009 was increased to a return of not less than 6 per cent.
Ordnance Survey: Visits Abroad
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the ministerial correction of 29 January 2009, Official Report, columns 3-6MC, on Ordnance Survey: visits abroad, what the purpose was of each foreign visit listed. [262153]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 5 February 2009, Official Report, column 1436W. The table showing the countries and cities visited by Ordnance Survey in the time period specified along with the purpose for each visit, which was deposited in the Library in response to that question, includes all of the destinations identified in the ministerial correction of 29 January 2009.
In some cases the location listed was an intermediate business stop during a longer journey to other listed destinations.
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