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21 Apr 2009 : Column 540W—continued
Homelessness: Birmingham
Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless (a) children and (b) adults are in temporary accommodation in (i) Birmingham Hall Green constituency and (ii) Birmingham City Council area. [270037]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about English local authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level, about households rather than individuals. Information is not collected at constituency level. Therefore, data are provided at the Birmingham city council area, but not for the Hall Green constituency. Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Information on the numbers of households housed in temporary accommodation is reported quarterly by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter. The figures include: those households which have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty; those for which inquiries are pending; those being accommodated for a limited period because they have been found intentionally homeless and in priority need; those being accommodated pending possible referral to another authority, and those being accommodated pending the outcome of a local authority review or county court appeal.
The number of dependent children (or expected children) in these households is also collected, but data on the number of adults are not. There were 452 households in temporary accommodation on the 31 December 2008, reported by Birmingham city council, of which 362 were households with dependent (and expected) children and in total 1,068 children (and expected children) within these households.
Housing: Crime Prevention
Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 973-74W, on housing: crime prevention, for what reasons there are no plans to include measures to make buildings more resistant to crime in the next revision of the Building Regulations. [269480]
Mr. Iain Wright: In 2007, security measures were included in the Code for Sustainable Homes. We are currently monitoring the effectiveness of the code in driving up security standards in homes and are continuing discussions with other Government Departments and other stakeholders to ensure we identify the most effective way to make new buildings more resistant to crime. Any proposals to change building regulations would need to be considered by the Building Regulations Advisory Committee in due course and would be subject to public consultation once proposals have become sufficiently developed.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether members of local authority independent remuneration panels are required to be resident in the local authority area. [268836]
John Healey: While there are no specific requirements about residency of remuneration panel members, the statutory guidance issued under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, to which local authorities must have regard, provides that the members of a council’s remuneration panel should be truly independent, well qualified to discharge the functions of the panel and representative of the diversity of the communities in the local authority’s area.
Local Government: Equality
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what role her Department had in the drafting of the Equality Standard for Local Government. [268919]
John Healey: The “Equality Standard for Local Government” was developed by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) together with the three Equality Commissions with input from the Audit Commission. A new “Equality Standard for Local Government” was published recently.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding regional improvement and efficiency partnerships have allocated to the development of the Equality Standard for Local Government in the last 12 months. [268920]
John Healey: The Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) are devolved partnerships of councils and other local services. Information on funding allocations to the development strategy for local government is not held centrally.
Local Government: Pay
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information her Department holds on the (a) top, (b) median and (c) average salary of chief executives in (i) county and (ii) district councils in England. [268909]
John Healey: This information is not collected centrally. The salaries of local authority officials are matters for their individual local authority employer.
Local Government: Standards
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to her Department’s National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships: Handbook of Definition, what recent discussions Government Offices for the Regions have had with local authorities on meeting National Indicator 14 on reducing avoidable contact. [268927]
Mr. Khan: Recent discussions between Government offices for the regions and local areas on specific national indicators have focused on those indicators that feature as targets in individual local area agreements (LAA). There are no targets against national indicator 14 in any LAA and therefore it has not been the focus of such discussions. Performance against all national indicators will be reported later this year through the comprehensive area assessment led by the independent inspectorates.
Non-Domestic Rates: Business
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate she has made of the number of firms eligible for transitional rate relief in each year of the 2005 to 2010 business rates rating cycle. [268831]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 25 March 2009, Official Report, column 484W.
Regional Assemblies
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in respect of which Government Office regions (a) her Department and (b) the relevant Government Office has been notified that the regional assembly is to be replaced by a Leaders' Board; and what the name and address of each such board will be. [268882]
John Healey: CLG and the relevant Government Offices have been notified of new governance working arrangements in the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside, South East and North West.
These new bodies, or committees connected to them, will be recognised as the Regional Planning Body as an interim arrangement until commencement of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Bill when Local Authority Leaders' Boards following consultation by participating authorities on a scheme will be approved by the Secretary of State.
The names and addresses of these new bodies are as follows:
Association of North East Councils
The Axis Building
Maingate, Kingsway North
Team Valley
Gateshead
NE11 0NQ
Local Government Yorkshire and Humber
18 King Street
Wakefield
West Yorkshire
WF1 2SQ
South East England Leaders Board
Berkeley House
Cross Lanes
Guildford GU1 1UN
4NW
Wigan Investment Centre
Waterside Drive
Wigan
WN3 5BA
Regional Planning and Development: South East
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the planned timetable is for the publication of the final version of the South East Plan. [268812]
Mr. Khan: Our intention to publish the regional spatial strategy for the South East remains as stated to the hon. Member, in the answers given on 10 February 2009, Official Report, column 1843W, and 23 February 2009, Official Report, column 124W, that is publication in the spring.
Social Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 79W, on the Tenant Services Authority, (1) how many people attended each regional National Conversation event for tenants; [269071]
(2) how many invitations were sent for each National Conversation event for landlords; and how many people attended each event. [269072]
Mr. Iain Wright: The primary objective of the TSA is championing the needs and aspirations of tenants, developing a genuinely tenant focused regulatory regime. From January to March 2009, the TSA used a number of techniques to find out what tenants thought about their landlords and their services.
This was called the National Conversation and consisted of regional events organised by the TSA; ‘local conversations’ organised by tenants/landlords; a campervan that captured tenants’ views by video clip; questionnaires; and online forums.
Invitations were not disseminated by region. Peter Marsh, TSA chief executive, wrote to all landlords (with stock holdings of more than 250 units) inviting them to participate in the regional National Conversation events. The total number of letters sent was 1,144.
With regards to the number of attendees, I refer the hon. Member to the reply by my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing (Margaret Beckett) to my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, South (Margaret Moran) on 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 79W.
Social Rented Housing: Foreigners
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects her Department to have completed its collection of data on social lets to foreign nationals; and when she plans to publish the data. [266489]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data on social lets are collected through the Continuous Recording of Lettings (CORE) on behalf of the Tenant Services Authority and Communities and Local Government. Tables giving estimates for 2007-08, adjusted for missing local authority data, will be published shortly. These will include information on social lets to foreign nationals.
Culture, Media and Sport
Science Museum
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will take steps to increase the operational independence of the Science museum. [269384]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 20 April 2009]: In common with other national museums, the Science Museum already has a high level of operational independence from Government, with its own director, management board and board of trustees. The museum has also established a trading company which allows it to operate on a more commercial basis. We have regular dialogue with the museum on a range of issues, including how we can continue to find more flexible ways of working, while maintaining appropriate good practice for a body in receipt of Government funding.
Departmental Information and Communications Technology
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate he has made of the (a) energy consumed by, (b) energy cost of and (c) carbon dioxide emissions from each category of IT device in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [269539]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS has not carried out a monitoring exercise to establish the effect of our IT procurement on consumption; energy cost and carbon dioxide emissions.
We will be rebaselining our ICT energy consumption as part of our Green ICT strategy to inform future direction.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department has taken to address the effect on levels of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department of its ICT purchases since the publication of the Greening Government ICT Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [269574]
Mr. Sutcliffe: DCMS has adopted the majority of recommendations of the Greening Government ICT Strategy. In particular, we have installed an IT power management solution which turns off inactive PCs.
We use established standards such as Energy Star in our procurement to ensure our hardware is energy efficient.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the average server capacity utilisation by each division of his Department was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [269583]
Mr. Sutcliffe: It is not possible to provide this information save at disproportionate cost. As part of the Department's Green ICT Strategy we are setting a baseline expectation for server capacity utilization in line with industry best practice.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) printers and (b) multi-function devices with printing functions were in use in each division of his Department in each of the last five years; how many such devices had a function enabling two-sided printing; and if he will make a statement. [269607]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department has 15 printers of which five have a function allowing two-sided printing and 30 multifunctional devices all of which have the function. Two-sided printing is set as a default for the multifunctional devices.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what estimate has been made of the proportion of personal computers in each of his Department's offices that are turned off (a) overnight, (b) at weekends and (c) during holiday periods; and if he will make a statement. [269620]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department does not record this information. Its policy has been that all PCs are turned off at the end of each working day. My Department has led the cross-government procurement of an automated solution to ensure that all PCs are automatically turned off overnight, at weekends and over holidays.
Jenny Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many and what proportion of IT products in each category procured for each division of his Department were compliant with the Government's Buy Sustainable-Quick Win standard in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [269630]
Mr. Sutcliffe: My Department's purchasing strategy is congruent with OGC standards.
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