House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 12 Oct 2009 (pt 0077)

12 Oct 2009 : Column 334W—continued

Local Government: Pensions

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department plans to amend Local Government Pension Scheme regulations to remove the requirement to fully fund all promised pension benefits. [290423]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The pension entitlements of members of the Local Government Pension Scheme are guaranteed under the scheme's provisions. There are no plans to change that position nor the current solvency requirement in the regulations.

Local Government: Reorganisation

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the implications of the High Court judicial review judgement of Mr. Justice Foskett on the Boundary Committee and local government restructuring in Suffolk, with particular reference to the timetable for unitary restructuring in Suffolk, Norfolk and Devon. [289269]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This matter is currently before the Court of Appeal whose judgment we await. Any new date by which the Boundary Committee is to provide advice will be specified once it is clear when the appeal will be determined.

12 Oct 2009 : Column 335W

Mortgages: Government Assistance

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in Perth and North Perthshire constituency have applied for assistance under the Homeowners Mortgage Protection Scheme; and how many such applications have been (a) successful and (b) rejected. [289519]

John Healey: 1 refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) on 16 September 2009, Official Report, column 2217W.

John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households have received assistance under the Homeowners Mortgage Protection Scheme in (a) Glasgow Central, (b) Glasgow North, (c) Glasgow North East, (d) Glasgow South, (e) Glasgow South West and (f) Glasgow East to date. [289694]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 1 July 2009, Official Report, column 317W, to the hon. Member for Tamworth (Mr. Jenkins).

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in (a) Hemel Hempstead constituency, (b) Dacorum and (c) Hertfordshire have taken up the Homeowners Mortgage Protection Scheme. [290306]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne) on 16 September 2009, Official Report, column 2217W.

Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in Birmingham, Sparkbrook & Small Heath constituency have taken up the Homeowner Mortgage Protection Scheme. [291442]

John Healey: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 16 September 2009, Official Report, column 2217W, to the hon. Member for Tatton (Mr. Osborne).

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many completions he expects to be made in respect of applications from households in (a) Luton and (b) England for assistance in respect of the Mortgage Rescue Scheme in the next (i) three and (ii) six months; [291671]

(2) how many applications for assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme from households in (a) Luton and (b) England were under consideration on the latest date for which figures are available; [291672]

(3) how many enquiries his Department has received on assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme from households in (a) Luton and (b) England; and if he will make a statement. [291673]

John Healey: We have acted rapidly to put in place a range of help and support for households struggling with their mortgage at every stage, and launched a campaign to ensure households have clear information about the help available.

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme offers targeted support for the most vulnerable households who would receive
12 Oct 2009 : Column 336W
statutory homelessness assistance if repossessed. The scheme aims to support up to 6,000 vulnerable households over two years, depending on the extent of demand.

As part of the monitoring arrangements for the scheme, headline data up to the end of June 2009, provided by local authorities operating the scheme and broken down by Government office region, are available on the Department's website. The figures can be assessed using the following link:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/mortgagerescuestatistics

I have placed a copy of the figures reported by local authorities to June 2009 in the Library of the House.

Mr. Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many individuals have (a) applied for and (b) received assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme since its inception. [291813]

The Mortgage Rescue Scheme offers targeted support for the most vulnerable households who would receive statutory homelessness assistance if repossessed. The scheme aims to support up to 6,000 vulnerable households over two years, depending on the extent of demand.

As part of the monitoring arrangements for the scheme, headline data for January-June 2009, provided by local authorities operating the scheme and broken down by Government office region, are available on the Department's website. The figures can be assessed using the following link:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/mortgagerescuestatistics

Figures reported by local authorities from January to June 2009 are provided in a table, which has been placed in the Library.

Multiple Occupation: Licensing

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what requirements there are on local authorities to (a) publish and (b) release on request details of homes which are licensed under (i) mandatory and (ii) discretionary houses of multiple occupation licensing schemes. [289464]

Mr. Ian Austin: Section 232 of the Housing Act 2004 requires every local authority to establish and maintain a register of licences issued under mandatory HMO licensing and discretionary additional HMO licensing schemes. These registers are required to be made available for inspection by the public at all reasonable times.

Non-Domestic Rates

Mike Penning: 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) Hemel
12 Oct 2009 : Column 337W
Hempstead constituency, (ii) Dacorum, (iii) Hertfordshire and (iv) England in each of the last five years. [289424]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of the number of businesses claiming business rate reliefs as at 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008 in the Dacorum council area, Hertfordshire and England are shown in the following tables.

Number of hereditaments in receipt of business rate relief as at 31 December 2007
	Dacorum	Hertfordshire	England
Mandatory relief	480	5,321	275,159
O f which:
Rural rate relief	2	63	6,603

Discretionary relief	145	1,225	48,767
O f which:
Rural rate relief	1	55	3,515

Number of hereditaments in receipt of business rate relief as at 31 December 2008
	Dacorum	Hertfordshire	England
Mandatory relief	706	3,419	236,636
O f which:
Rural rate relief	1	61	6,308

Discretionary relief	145	1,037	49,909
O f which:
Rural rate relief	0	52	3,565

12 Oct 2009 : Column 338W

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 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.

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) small and (b) large properties in each region will be subject to (i) an increase and (ii) a decrease in business rates of (A) zero, (B) one to five, (C) six to 10, (D) 11 to 15, (E) 16 to 20, (F) 21 to 30, (G) 31 to 40, (H) 41 to 50, (I) 51 to 100, (J) 101 to 200 and (K) over 200 per cent. before the application of transitional relief in 2010-11. [289906] [Official Report, 22 October 2009, Vol. 497, c. 5-6MC.]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The following tables show the number of small and large properties by their percentage change in business rates before the application of transitional relief in 2010-11, grouped by Government office region.

A small property is defined as having a rateable value less than £18,000, or £25,500 in London. This is the definition proposed in the 2010 Transitional Relief consultation document published on 8 July 2009.

The analysis uses data from the Local List only; properties on the Central List are excluded.

12 Oct 2009 : Column 339W

12 Oct 2009 : Column 340W

Small properties
	North East	North West	North Yorkshire and the Humber West	East Midlands	West Midlands	East of England	London	South East	South West
Less than -50%	200	600	500	1,200	400	600	800	700	400
Between -50% (including) and -40% (excluding)	300	900	600	1,800	600	900	1,500	900	600
Between -40% (incl.) and -30% (excl.)	500	1,900	1,400	5,900	1,700	2,500	2,500	2,800	1,700
Between -30% (incl.) and -20% (excl.)	2,200	6,000	4,100	16,100	8,100	6,600	6,700	11,500	4,900
Between -20% (incl.) and -15% (excl.)	10,000	36,400	31,700	43,000	32,900	22,500	28,500	46,600	13,500
Between -15% (incl.) and -10% (excl.)	8,300	18,700	12,100	8,900	18,600	13,400	11,900	18,900	10,600
Between -10% (incl.) and -5% (excl.)	10,900	23,800	18,700	8,000	19,900	14,900	20,500	23,400	15,600
Between -5% (incl.) and -0% (excl.)	7,700	20,400	15,200	5,600	13,200	13,500	19,700	14,400	15,900
No change (0%)⁽¹⁾	⁽²⁾-	⁽²⁾-	⁽²⁾-	⁽²⁾-	⁽²⁾-	100	⁽²⁾-	100	⁽²⁾-
Between 0% (excl.) and 5% (incl.)	7,400	18,900	14,200	4,700	12,900	12,000	24,300	12,300	18,400
Between 5% (excl.) and 10% (incl.)	2,500	10,400	9,600	2,400	5,900	7,900	16,300	8,200	12,100
Between 10% (excl.) and 15% (incl.)	2,100	9,300	7,200	1,800	6,600	6,900	10,500	7,600	10,300
Between 15% (excl.) and 20% (incl.)	1,400	7,200	4,700	1,200	4,200	7,300	10,600	5,300	7,800
Between 20% (excl.) and 30% (incl.)	2,000	11,200	5,900	1,400	6,100	8,700	13,500	7,900	11,000
Between 30% (excl.) and 40% (incl.)	1,000	6,600	2,800	800	2,300	6,000	8,700	4,300	7,500
Between 40% (excl.) and 50% (incl.)	400	3,300	1,500	700	1,500	2,200	5,600	2,200	4,200
Between 50% (excl.) and 100% (incl.)	1,100	5,200	2,600	1,200	2,800	3,600	10,800	4,900	8,200
Between 100% (excl.) and 200% (incl.)	300	1,000	800	300	600	1,000	1,700	1,000	1,300
More than 200% (excl.)	100	200	200	100	200	300	100	200	400
⁽¹⁾ 344 properties see no change in their business rates bill. All these properties have zero Rateable Value before and after the revaluation. ⁽²⁾ Negligible (less than 50). Note: Figures rounded to the nearest hundred.

Next Section

Index

Home Page