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14 Oct 2009 : Column 965W—continued
If a household moved into a lower band before the 8 October 2007, then this will be reflected in the tax base figures for the local authority that were used in the current tax base calculations. If a change in tax band has occurred since this date, then this will not be reflected until the 2011-12 settlement when the data are next updated.
Departmental Electronic Equipment
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many laptop computers issued to staff of his Department in each of the last five years were issued to (a) new staff and (b) existing staff following the (i) loss or (ii) theft of a previous device. [290577]
Barbara Follett: Communities and Local Government does not record centrally whether or not laptop computers were specifically issued to new or existing staff, or if they are issued as replacements for lost/stolen devices. Such information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
All departmental laptops have hard drive encryption deployed and require two factor authentication to access the CLG corporate network. CLG staff are required to complete information assurance training in line with cross government requirements.
I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) on 30 June 2009, Official Report, column 190W.
Departmental Internet
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate has been made of the annual cost to his Department of maintaining and updating its Twitter account; and how many staff are responsible for updating the account. [292081]
Barbara Follett: The corporate Twitter account is maintained as part of the routine business of the Department's web team alongside other social media channels. The pay cost has not been disaggregated.
Departmental Manpower
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many speech writers his Department employs on (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term contracts. [292749]
Barbara Follett: The Department currently employs two full-time speechwriters on permanent contracts. In addition, a third permanently contracted speechwriter is shared between and co-funded by Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Departmental Pay
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in each division of his Department received bonus payments in the last year for which figures are available. [292588]
Barbara Follett: Information is not stored on our systems in a way that will allow us to provide this information by division. However, the following table shows the number of staff in CLG who received bonus payments in 2008:
| Category of employee | Scheme | Number of employees (approx) | Number of employees who received awards in 2008 |
Please note the numbers of employees in the table above excludes employees on unpaid special leave, outward loans and secondments but includes inward loads and secondments.
Final figures are not available for 2009 as the CLG annual pay award has not been implemented yet.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which Minister in his Department has been assigned responsibility for overseeing the delivery of value for money in his Department; whether his Department has established a public sector reform team to implement service reforms; and if he will make a statement. [289745]
Barbara Follett: I am the value for money Minister for this Department. The Department is committed to reforming public services to improve services for the citizen; various teams are working closely with colleagues in the centre of Government on this important agenda. We have not needed to establish a specific public sector reform team.
Eco-Towns
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department's Planning Policy Statement on eco-towns has cost to produce. [292484]
John Healey: It is not possible to cost the Department's spend on the production of the "Planning Policy Statement: eco-towns" (PPS), as the PPS has been developed as part of the Eco-towns programme and alongside our housing policies.
The cost of typesetting, printing and publishing the PPS and supporting documents including the SA Addendum, SA Statement, Impact Assessment and summary of consultation responses was £16,300.
Empty Dwelling Management Orders
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations his Department and its predecessor have received from civil liberties groups on empty dwelling management orders. [292637]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has not received any representations from civil liberty groups on empty dwelling management orders.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will initiate an independent review of the use of empty dwelling management order powers by local authorities. [292696]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department is making a continuous assessment of the success of empty dwelling management orders through its regular contact with local authorities and the Empty Homes Agency.
Energy Performance Certificates
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of (a) owner-occupied, (b) privately rented and (c) social rented homes which have been issued with energy performance certificates. [292463]
John Healey: The total number of domestic energy performance certificates (EPCs) lodged on the EPC Register in the following categories, as of 4 October 2009, is as follows:
| Number | |
In addition we estimate that there are 236,951 EPCs recorded for newly constructed dwellings, some of which may also fall into one of these categories.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of (i) local authority and (ii) registered social landlord homes have been issued with energy performance certificates. [292464]
John Healey: The National Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Register records whether the properties to which EPCs relate are in the social rented sector but does not record information about whether those properties are owned by either local authorities or registered social landlords.
English Regions Network
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department is providing to the English Regions Network in 2009-10. [292580]
Mr. Ian Austin: In the current financial year the Department will provide £60,000 to the English Regions Network.
Fetes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) permits, (b) risk assessments and (c) licences required from local authorities in order to operate a fete. [292639]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is not held centrally.
Fire Services: Pensions
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his planned changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme will include changes to the Firefighters' Pension Scheme. [293010]
Barbara Follett: Within the Government's overall policies for public service pension schemes, separate regulations govern the administration of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Firefighters' Pension Schemes.
Homes and Communities Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date his Department received the Homes and Communities Agency's most recent (a) annual report and (b) corporate plan; and on what date a Minister in his Department approved the publication of each. [292476]
John Healey: The Department has yet to receive a complete draft of the Homes and Communities Agency's Annual Report. The Annual Report does not require ministerial approval.
There were a number of iterations of the HCA's Corporate Plan, reflecting the additional funding allocated to the Agency announced in Budget 2009, and "Building Britain's Future". The Plan was published on 25 September, and can be found on the Agency's website at:
Housing: Construction
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new houses have been built in each county in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of these houses have been affordable. [291714]
Mr. Ian Austin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 8 May 2009, Official Report, column 450W, for figures showing new affordable homes built as a proportion of all homes built. This shows estimates at regional level; equivalent estimates at county level could only be produced at disproportionate cost.
There is some information on all new build by local authority available in Live Table 253:
on the CLG website. This information however is incomplete for some local authorities and therefore it is not possible to produce estimates of the proportion that are affordable.
A table has been placed in the House Library showing the number of new affordable homes built in each county by year.
Housing: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much he expects the Homes and Communities Agency to reclaim from registered social landlords under the Recycled Capital Grant Receipts Programme in each of the next three years; [292457]
(2) what the total level of (a) expired and (b) current Recycled Capital Grant Receipts Programme funding unclaimed by the Homes and Communities Agency was in (i) each of the last 12 quarters and (ii) the latest period for which figures are available; [292458]
(3) what the monetary value of reclamations made by the Homes and Communities Agency through the Recycled Capital Grant Receipts Programme was in each of the last 12 quarters. [292459]
John Healey: The following table shows the amount held in the Recycled Capital Grant Fund at the end of the last three financial years and the total the amount which had been held for over three years. Figures are only available by year.
| £ million | ||
| As at 31 March: | RCGF closing balance | Of which: Over three years old |
| (1) Figures for year ending 31 March 2009 are provisional. Source: Homes and Communities Agency | ||
Where deposits in the Recycled Capital Grant Fund are older than three years, the Homes and Communities Agency may grant an extension for their use past the three year recovery date.
The total amounts reclaimed by the Homes and Communities Agency from the Recycled Capital Grant Fund by quarter for the past three years are shown in the following table:
| £ | |
| Source: Homes and Communities Agency | |
There are no future estimates of amounts that may be reclaimed by the Homes and Communities Agency from the Recycled Capital Grant Fund.
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