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1 Sep 2009 : Column 1830W—continued
Building Regulations Advisory Committee
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees the Building Regulations
Advisory Committee employs; what its budget for 2009-10 is; and how much it will receive in support from his Department in 2009-10. [288481]
Mr. Malik: The Building Regulations Advisory Committee has no full time employees. The Committee's budget for 2009-10 is £20,000 which is funded by the Department and used for members' expenses and the essential costs of its meetings. The Department also provides the Committee's secretariat and its resources for this comprise the equivalent of approximately three-quarters of a full-time post.
Council Housing: Construction
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authority housing units have been (a) started and (b) completed in the last 12 months. [288283]
Mr. Malik: 330 local authority dwellings were started, and 520 local authority dwellings were completed in England in the 2008-09 financial year.
The latest statistics on house building starts and completions in England were published in the Communities and Local Government Statistics Release of 21 May 2009 and accompanying live tables. The web links are shown as follows:
Link to House Building Statistics Release:
Link to House Building Live Tables:
Council Housing: Fire Prevention
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter sent by his Department's Head of Housing to each local authority following the Lakanal House fire. [288105]
John Healey: I have arranged for the letter to Chief Executives in all local authorities to be placed in the Library of the House.
The enclosures to the letter can be found on the Communities website at
Council Tax: Debt Collection
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions each local authority in England (a) issued a court order and (b) authorised bailiff action in respect of council tax arrears in each of the last three years. [288537]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Communities and Local Government does not collect this information.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 24 November 2008, Official Report, column 1128W, on departmental electronic equipment, how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies have spent on (i) flat screen televisions, (ii) DVD players and (iii) stereo equipment since November 2008. [289163]
Mr. Malik: The information is as follows:
(a) The Department spent the following on these commodities since November 2008:
i. £6,360 on two flat screen televisions and associated equipment
ii. £0 on DVD players
iii. £0 on stereo equipment.
(b) The Department's agencies spent the following on these commodities since November 2008:
i. £1,350 on flat screen televisions
ii. £582 on DVD players
iii. £0 on stereo equipment.
Departmental Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the proposals contained in the Draft Legislative Programme 2009, what changes will be made to the programme budgets of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in order to finance the £1.5 billion housing package; what proportion of the package will be funded by his Department; and over what timescale. [288782]
Mr. Malik: Details of the funding package for the £1.5 billion housing pledge announced in Building Britain's Future were announced on 17 July:
Departmental ICT
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projects involving information technology elements being sponsored by his Department and its agencies are (a) behind schedule and (b) overbudget. [288284]
Mr. Malik: The criteria set out in the question currently apply to several CLG projects as follows.
Communities and Local Government (including the regional co-ordination unit and Government offices in the regions)
FiReControl: The FiReControl project is a business change project with an IT component. On 15 July 2009 I announced a 10 month rescheduling of the project. The IT costs will remain the same although total costs might increase as a result of the extended delivery schedule.
FireLink: The Firelink project is primarily providing a radio system for the Fire and Rescue Service, and contains a small element of IT. Completion of the roll-out is scheduled for April 2010 compared to the previously published completion date of December 2009. The whole life project costs remain on target.
Charging for Appeals: This project, originally for delivery by April 2009, has been re-planned, and split into two stages. This recognises the time needed for the charging regime to be developed
and consulted on. Stage 1 is expected to be complete by October 2009, and stage 2 by April 2010. Costs are increasing by £65,000 as a result.
Departmental Manpower
Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of employees in his Department are (a) women and (b) men; and what the average hourly pay of (i) male and (ii) female employees is. [288298]
Mr. Malik: The workforce of Communities and local Government is 50.58 per cent. female and 49.42 per cent. male.
Data on Civil Service pay, including average pay for men and women, can be found in the Annual Civil Service Employment Survey statistics published by ONS at:
Please note the ONS collects the annual gross salary of civil servants and does not produce hourly rates of pay.
Departmental Pay
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) salaries, (b) benefits in kind and (c) payments for expenses each of his Department's non-executive directors have received in the last 24 months. [288829]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Non-executive members of the board are not employees of the Department, and do not therefore receive salaries. Rather, each receives a fee of £10,000 per year. As agreed on a case-by-case basis, however, this fee may be paid to the employer and not to the individual as reimbursement for their time spent on non-executive business. (Within the last 24 months, this has applied for Sir Bob Kerslake, a former board member and formerly chief executive of Sheffield city council; and Rob Vincent, the chief executive of Kirklees council and a current board member.)
No non-executive board member has received any benefits in kind during the last 24 months.
Non-executive board members are entitled to reimbursement of all reasonable expenses properly and necessarily incurred in respect of their appointment. Payments made to individual non-executive board members between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2009 are summarised in the following table. All business expenses reimbursed to non-executive board members, and also to senior civil servants at the director general and above level, from 1 April 2009 onwards will be published quarterly.
| £ | ||
| 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
On occasion, the Department also books travel and accommodation for all board members and incurs that expenditure centrally.
Departmental Recruitment
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which posts filled by his Department in the last three months were not advertised on either his Department's public website or the public part of the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway; and what the job title and remit of each such vacancy was. [286644]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Staff are from time to time recruited through limited competition on a time-limited basis to provide additional expertise and capacity as required, and are not permanent civil servants who can only be appointed through fair and open competition.
20 posts were not advertised and were filled through limited competition (including three student placements). The job title and remit for the remaining 17 posts are as follows:
Project Adviser-Local Analysis and Delivery Unit;
Marketing Assistant-Planning Portal;
Lawyer-Legal Directorate;
Grade 6-Residential Property Tribunal Service;
Team Leader-Olympics Legacy Planning and Delivery;
Personal Assistant, Strategy and Performance;
Development Team Admin.-Planning Portal;
HR Communications Manager;
Research Assistant-Planning Portal;
HR Helpdesk Operator;
Workforce Equalities Team Member;
Policy Adviser-Local Government Restructuring;
HR Management Information Manager;
Deputy Director-Communities Futures;
Policy Adviser-Strategy and Performance;
Executive Officer-Total Place;
HR Resourcing Manager.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many job vacancies have been filled in his Department in the last 12 months; and how many of them were advertised on (a) his Department's public website and (b) the public part of the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway. [286683]
Mr. Malik: 270 job vacancies were filled in the Department in the last 12 months, and most were filled internally. 82 job vacancies were advertised externally. A high proportion of external adverts are for specialist and senior roles. Advertising methods are chosen to ensure a strong field of candidates. It is standard procedure to advertise all external vacancies (below SCS level) on the public part of the Civil Service Recruitment Gateway and on the Department's public website, in addition to the use of other means such as Local Employment Partnerships and Jobcentre Plus.
Departmental Work Experience
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision is made to enable students to undertake work experience in his Department; by what means members of the public may obtain information about work experience in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [288731]
Mr. Malik: This year Communities and Local Government has offered internships to Greenwich university students, under/recent graduates from the ADAB Trust and students from the Cabinet Office Summer Development programme for Ethnic Minorities and Summer Placements scheme for disabled students. In addition we have taken on summer students and sandwich students via the Government Economic Service and Legal Directorate has offered summer placements to legal trainees.
Members of the public may obtain information about work experience opportunities from a variety of sources including the contact phone number and email address found on the Communities and Local Government website.
Eco-Towns: Construction
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to page 122 of the Draft Legislative Programme 2009-10, whether his Department's target to build five eco-towns by 2016 remains in place. [288456]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement of 16 July 2008, Official Report, column 42WS, on eco-towns and zero carbon homes, which sets out the first locations with potential to have an eco-town and our aims and proposals for the further development of eco-towns.
Energy Performance Certificates
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) of 8 July 2009, Official Report, column 902W, on energy performance certificates and home information packs, what the reasons are for the difference between the period of validity of energy performance certificates (a) included in and (b) not included in home information packs. [288109]
John Healey: The reasons were set out in paragraphs 7.1-7.3 of the Explanatory Memorandum to The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2008 which can be viewed online at
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