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9 Mar 2009 : Column 35W—continued
Planning
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she plans to publish the revised version of planning policy statement 4: Planning for Sustainable Economic Development. [260465]
Mr. Iain Wright: We plan to publish the Government’s revised Planning Policy Statement later in the spring.
Playgrounds
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions she has had with local authorities on their provision of play areas. [261633]
Mr. Iain Wright: No recent discussions have been held with local authorities on their provision of play areas. However, the Department of Communities and Local Government’s Chief Planning Officer wrote to the Chief Planning Officer of every local authority in December 2008 to draw their attention to the newly published Play Strategy for England, and to set out the role Government would like them to take in supporting its local delivery.
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for the formal termination of regional assemblies. [262669]
Mr. Iain Wright: Government are repealing any legislation relevant to the assemblies as part of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill, which is currently before Parliament and on commencement of that Bill would cease funding any remaining regional assemblies. However, as regional assemblies are constituted by their membership, it is the membership who must decide when they will formally terminate the assembly. The assemblies in the north west and south east regions have already formally terminated themselves.
Regional Development Agencies
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers regional development agencies will have in respect of local planning authorities' local development frameworks when the new regional strategies are implemented. [262040]
Mr. Iain Wright: The regional development agencies will have no new powers in respect of local planning authorities’ local development frameworks when the new arrangements for single regional strategies are implemented. In accordance with existing regulations in the Town & Country Planning (Local Development) (England) Regulations 2004 (Statutory Instrument 2204) the local authority is already required to consult the RDAs whose areas are in or adjoin that of the LPA during the preparation of a local development framework.
Regional Planning and Development
Dan Rogerson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether European Regional Development Funds may be drawn upon for road improvement schemes. [261795]
John Healey: The overarching priorities of the English ERDF programmes are to improve regional competitiveness and create jobs. Below these, it is for each individual ERDF Operational Programme (OP) to define its priorities and objectives and describe the types of projects it will support.
Regional Planning and Development: EC Grants and Loans
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her most recent estimate is of the average cost of fire and rescue service attendance at an incident. [262069]
Mr. Khan: Estimates for 2004 suggests that the average cost in respect of attending an incident in England and Wales was £2,289.
Regional Spatial Strategies
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers she has to revoke regional spatial strategies once published. [262692]
Mr. Iain Wright: Under the terms of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 section 10(5) the Secretary of State may at any time revoke an RSS or such parts of an RSS as he or she thinks appropriate if the Secretary of State thinks it necessary or expedient to do so.
Rented Housing
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the proposed percentage change in guideline rents in housing revenue account subsidy is for next year; and what the percentage change has been in each year since 1997. [252629]
Mr. Iain Wright: Housing Revenue Account Subsidy Determinations issued in previous years have not generally provided a percentage for the average national guideline rent increase over the previous year.
The following table provides the average guideline rent increase calculated from figures issued in the 2009-10 determination, and the Department’s assessments of average increases in previous years.
| Percentage | |
Guideline rents are calculated using the rent restructuring formula, a system which commenced in 2002-03.
The Minister for Housing announced on 6 March that Communities and Local Government will shortly be consulting local authorities on a reduced national average guideline rent increase of 3.1 per cent. for 2009-10. This halves the existing national increase of 6.2 per cent. in recognition of the current difficult economic times.
Sleeping Rough
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methods are used by local authorities to make estimates of numbers of rough sleepers where street counts have not taken place. [261371]
Mr. Iain Wright: As part of the new rough sleeping strategy ‘No-one left out’ we are clarifying some issues around the counts and bringing in changes that will enable more in-depth reporting of the level and nature of need in different areas.
We are making it clear that the headline figure is not an estimate but the total of the actual counts undertaken during the year.
Social Rented Housing: Construction
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Government’s target is for the number of housing units for social tenants to be built over the next five years. [260806]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government’s aspiration is to provide 70,000 affordable homes per year by 2010-11 of which 45,000 are expected to be for social rent. Future targets will be set as part of the next spending review.
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which trade unions are recognised in her Department. [262078]
Mr. Khan: The following trade unions are officially recognised by the Department and its agencies to represent members of staff: the FDA, Prospect, and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS).
In addition, the Fire Service College, an Executive Agency of the Department, also recognises the General Municipal and Boilermakers Union (GMB) and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).
Waste Management
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the presentation and handouts produced by the Audit Commission's Director of Studies on the challenges for municipal waste management for the Waste Management Finance Forum on 22 January 2009. [262655]
Mr. Khan: A copy of the presentation to the Waste Management Finance Forum in January 2009 by the Audit Commission's Director of Studies has been placed in the Library.
Work and Pensions
Departmental Official Hospitality
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his Department’s entertainment budget was in each of the last five years. [261281]
Jonathan Shaw: The Department for Work and Pensions does not set a separate budget for entertainment.
Any expenditure which is incurred on entertainment has to be made in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury Handbook on Regularity and Propriety.
Such hospitality is normally only extended by Ministers, chief executives or executive members of the departmental board (DB).
Departmental Pay
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much each Minister who has left his Department since May 1997 received in severance pay. [259184]
Jonathan Shaw: Under exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information, details of individual severance payments are not disclosed in order to protect the privacy of the individual concerned.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether claimants of the planned treatment allowance will be required to prove that they are not taking crack or heroin as a condition of receiving the allowance. [255126]
Mr. McNulty: The measures included in the Welfare Reform Bill currently before Parliament, including the planned treatment allowance, are intended to support problem drug users and help them return to work. Claimants will not be required to be clean to receive treatment allowance but will be required to take steps to address their drug problem as a condition of receiving benefits.
Income Support: Lone Parents
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of lone parents with children aged (a) under three, (b) three to six and (c) over six years old will be moved from income support on to jobseeker's allowance; and when such moves will take place. [255515]
Kitty Ussher: In the White Paper, “Raising Expectations and increasing support: reforming welfare for the future” (Cm 7506, published in December 2008), we said that the next natural step towards a simplified benefit system should be the abolition of income support which would take us to a dual-benefits system based around jobseeker's allowance and employment and support allowance.
Provisions to enable this are included in the current Welfare Reform Bill. Subject to the passage of this legislation and as resources allow, we will consider further the timeframe for taking forward income support abolition.
There are currently around 460,000 lone parents on income support with a youngest child aged less than seven, around 230,000 with a youngest child aged nought
to two, and around 230,000 with a youngest child aged three to six. We are unable to predict accurately how many lone parents may move from income support to jobseeker's allowance when income support is abolished. Even in the case when income support is abolished there are no plans to require single parents with children under 7 to take up employment, even if they are receiving jobseeker's allowance.
As a result of the provisions of the Social Security (Lone Parents and Miscellaneous) Regulations 2008, lone parents with a child aged seven or over will no longer be able to claim income support solely on the grounds of being a lone parent.
Based on internal analysis carried out for departmental planning purposes, it has been estimated that around 45 per cent. of lone parents with older children moved off income support as part of these changes will make a claim for jobseeker's allowance. Others may apply for appropriate benefits such as employment and support allowance.
The following table shows the number of lone parents with older children on income support who we expect to apply for jobseeker's allowance in each quarter to May 2011.
| Quarter ending | Number of lone parents moving from income support to jobseeker's allowance |
| Notes: 1. Figures based on internal assumptions and analysis of DWP administrative data. 2. Figures rounded to the nearest 50. 3. Existing claimants with children aged 14-15 will begin to be moved off income support from March 2009. Existing claimants with children aged seven to eight will have their entitlement ended between January and April 2011. 4. The total number of lone parents moved from income support to jobseeker's allowance exceeds the number of lone parents with children aged seven and over currently on income support as it includes lone parents with younger children who reach age seven over the period. 5. There will be a continuing number of lone parents moved off income support and on to jobseeker's allowance after May 2011 resulting from those on income support whose children reach age seven. | |
Official Cars
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what cars are (a) owned, (b) leased, (c) hired and (d) otherwise regularly used by his Department, broken down by cubic capacity of engine. [250132]
Jonathan Shaw: The information requested about (a) owned (b) leased and (c) hired cars is provided in the following table.
In relation to (d) cars otherwise regularly used, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport on 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 10W, about cars provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency.
| Capacity (cc) | (a) Owned | (b) Leased( 1) | (c) Hired( 2) |
| (1 )The figures provided in the table on leased cars represent the number of cars leased in the period April 2008 to 21 January 2009. (2) Car hire figures cover the period April to November 2008, the most recent month for which figures are available. | |||
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