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21 July 2009 : Column 1661W—continued
Conversions from completed privately developed units are not classified as starts on site by the Homes and Communities Agency.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes he expects to be sold under the HomeBuy Direct scheme. [288707]
John Healey: HomeBuy Direct is a demand led scheme. There are currently over 8,500 homes available under the scheme.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many HomeBuy Direct sales there were in each of the last three months. [288708]
John Healey: The following table shows provisional HomeBuy Direct sales figures for the last three months.
| Number | |
| Source: Homes and Communities Agency | |
LLM Communications
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) pursuant to the answer of 22 June 2009, Official Report, column 651W, on LLM Communications, whether LLM Communications received payment for their services (a) directly from his Department, (b) from the Campaign for More and Better Homes or (c) by another method; [288255]
(2) if he will publish the remit and terms of reference given LLM Communications by the Campaign for More and Better Homes; [288765]
(3) how much funding his Department has allocated to the Campaign for More and Better Homes to date; for what purpose such funding was allocated; and which Minister approved the allocation; [288766]
(4) what role the special adviser to the Minister for Housing and Planning played in the regional campaigns by LLM Communications; [288767]
(5) which local authorities were targeted as part of the LLM Communications campaign on the benefits of housing growth. [288775]
John Healey: In 2006, the Campaign for More and Better Homes (CMBH), an independent, pre-existing cross-sector Housing Alliance, sought funding for a series of regional housing debates to help raise public awareness of the need for, and benefits of housing growth. The Department agreed and granted them £25000, CMBH commissioned LLM Communications as their PR agency to deliver these debates in 2006-07. The Department paid LLM Communications directly.
The current special adviser to the Minister for Housing and Planning was not involved and had no role in the regional housing debates delivered by CMBH.
Local Government Delivery Council
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 12 June 2009, Official Report, column 1061W, on the Local Government Delivery Council, if he will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of each meeting of the Delivery Council since September 2007 held by (a) his Department and (b) the Government Office Network. [288364]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No meetings of the Local Government Delivery Council have been held by my Department or by the Government Office Network.
As referred to in the earlier answer, the Council was established under the auspices of the Local Government Association (LGA). It reports to the LGA Improvement Board and the secretariat for the Council is provided by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA), a member organisation of the LGA Group.
Local Government: Databases
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what datastreams which are not in the National Indicator set his Department collects from local authorities. [288328]
Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (John Healey) on 2 February 2009, Official Report, columns 965W-966W.
Local Government: Debt Collection
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) on how many occasions each local authority in England (a) issued a court order and (b) authorised bailiff action in respect of debts and charges in each of the last three years; [288536]
(2) on how many occasions each local authority in England (a) issued a court order and (b) authorised bailiff action in respect of housing benefit in each of the last three years; [288539]
(3) on how many occasions each local authority in England (a) issued a court order and (b) authorised bailiff action in respect of parking charges in each of the last three years. [288540]
Mr. Malik: Communities and Local Government does not collect this information.
Local Government: Pensions
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to reduce the cost of the Local Government Pension Scheme to the public purse. [288250]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The provisions which regulate the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales provide a prudent and stable regime from within which the individual scheme administering authorities can assess and manage their costs. Triennial valuations of each scheme pension fund establish new employer contribution rates to ensure ongoing solvency. The next valuation exercise takes place on 31 March 2010 and new rates will take effect from 1 April 2011.
Monuments: Armed Conflict
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance has been issued to local authorities on protection of war memorials from redevelopment. [288286]
John Healey: General guidance on planning and the historic environment is in planning policy guidance (PPG) note 15. This highlights the need for the historic environment to be fully taken into account both in the formulation of local authorities' planning policies and in development control. It also includes specific guidance on listed building control, which is relevant for war memorials that have been listed. A consultation document on a revised planning policy statement to replace PPG 15 and PPG 16 (archaeology and planning) will be published very shortly.
National Housing and Planning Advice Unit
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit employs; what its budget for 2009-10 is; and how much it will receive in support from his Department in 2009-10. [288480]
John Healey: The National Housing and Planning Advice Unit currently employs 12.8 full-time equivalent staff. It also has six board members who are paid for up to a maximum of 30 days per year each.
Its budget for 2009-10 is £1,433,710, which is entirely funded by Communities and Local Government.
Non-Domestic Rates
Andrew George:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many businesses have claimed (a) small business rate relief, (b) mandatory relief, (c) discretionary relief, (d) rural
settlement relief and (e) hardship relief in (i) St Ives constituency, (ii) Cornwall and (iii) England in each of the last five years. [288203]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of the number of businesses claiming business rate reliefs as at 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008 in Penwith district council, Cornwall and England are shown in the following table.
| Number of hereditaments in receipt of business rate relief as at 31 December 2007 | |||
| Penwith | Cornwall | England | |
| Number of hereditaments in receipt of business rate relief as at 31 December 2008 | ||
| Cornwall | England | |
Data for 2007 and 2008 are not strictly comparable as the rules governing empty property rate relief were changed by the Ratings (Empty Properties) Act 2007 and further subsequent changes.
Data as at 31 December 2008 are in respect of authorities that would be in existence from 1 April 2009. As part of the reorganisation of the local authorities Penwith DC became part of the Cornwall unitary authority.
Data for hardship relief and small business rate relief in these years are not available.
Data are not available at a constituency level and data for earlier years were not collected.
Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will revise the £15,000 upper limit for empty property rate relief to take account of the number of businesses eligible to claim the relief at its present level. [287602]
Ms Rosie Winterton:
The current upper limit of £15,000 for empty property rate relief is a temporary limit announced in the pre-Budget report 2008. At the end
of the financial year 2009-10 the threshold at which empty property rates become due will automatically revert to £2,200 under the current legislation.
All tax matters are subject to the pre-Budget report and Budget process and, as with all taxes, the Government continue to keep business rates under review.
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of businesses in England and Wales with a rateable value of over £15,000 in respect of which empty property rate relief has been awarded. [287039]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of the number of hereditaments in England with a rateable value of over £15,000 in respect of which empty property rate relief has been awarded as at 31 March 2009, are currently being collected.
Opencast Mining: Planning Permission
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many opencast mining planning applications he has (a) approved and (b) refused between July 2008 and July 2009. [287014]
Ordnance Survey: Manpower
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees are employed by Ordnance Survey. [288706]
Mr. Malik: There are 1,356 full-time equivalent employees employed by Ordnance Survey as at 20 July 2009.
Planning Permission
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate was made of the cost of preparation of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) to those submitting planning applications (a) before and (b) after introduction of the requirement to produce EIAs. [288164]
John Healey: The most recent estimates of the cost in carrying out an environmental impact assessment were set out in the explanatory memorandum to the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2008 (SI No. 2093). This shows an average cost of £30,000-£50,000 per assessment, equivalent to 0.3-0.5 per cent. of the total project costs.
We do not hold information on costs before Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations first came into force on the 15 July 1988.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for legislation to allow local authorities to extend the life of planning permissions. [288299]
John Healey: The proposed timetable for implementation of this measure is set out in paragraphs 51-52 of the consultation document 'Greater flexibility for planning permissions', which is available at:
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance he has issued to planning authorities to take account of (a) travel considerations, (b) energy conservation and (c) energy production from natural resources when determining planning applications; and if he will make a statement. [288504]
John Healey: These concerns are addressed through our national series of planning policy statements and guidance; in particular through Planning Policy Statement 1 and its supplement on climate change, Planning Policy Guidance Note 13 on transport and Planning Policy Statement 22 on renewable energy. More detailed guidance is available on our website at:
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