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19 Oct 2009 : Column 1292W—continued
Former Ministers
Mr. Meacher: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office which former Ministers have been given leave to take up appointments in the private sector within two years of leaving ministerial office; and which appointment each was given leave to accept. [290644]
Tessa Jowell: The Ministerial Code, published in July 2007, states that on leaving office, Ministers must seek advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about any appointments or employment they wish to take up within two years of leaving office, apart from unpaid appointments in non-commercial organisations.
Details of advice given by the Committee on appointments taken up by former Ministers are outlined in the Committee's annual reports which are available in the Libraries of the House or on its website at:
Households: Poverty
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what her latest estimate is of the number of (a) households and (b) households in poverty without a landline telephone. [294041]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply to the hon. Member. A copy of the response will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Unemployment
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people resident in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) England were in receipt of jobseeker's allowance on the latest date for which figures are available. [293179]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated October 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many people resident in (a) Vale of York constituency and (b) England were in receipt of jobseekers allowance on the latest date for which figures are available. (293179)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. In September 2009 the number of persons claiming JSA who were resident in the Vale of York was 1,185. The number of persons claiming JSA who were resident in England was 1,329,140.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at: http://www. nomisweb.co.uk.
Written Questions: Government Responses
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office when she expects to answer Question 281652, on Civil Service nationality, tabled on 17 June 2009. [293864]
Tessa Jowell: Question 281652 was answered on 9 October 2009. It appears in the Official Report, dated 12 October 2009, columns 397-99W.
Young People: Jobseeker's Allowance
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of people aged between 16 and 24 years in Montgomeryshire was claiming jobseeker's allowance on the latest date for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [294186]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated October 2009:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of people aged between 16 and 24 in Montgomeryshire was claiming job seeker's allowance on the latest date for which figures are available. (294186)
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the number of claimants of Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) from the Jobcentre Plus administrative system. In September 2009 the proportion of 16 to 24 year olds resident in the Montgomeryshire parliamentary constituency claiming Jobseeker's Allowance was 7.7 per cent.
National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at: http://www.nomisweb.co.uk.
Communities and Local Government
Buildings: Energy
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the re-cast Article 4 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will require minimum energy performance standards for existing (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic buildings which are not otherwise laid out in the specified exemptions. [292633]
John Healey: Article 4 of the re-cast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will not require any new obligations in respect of energy performance standards for existing (a) domestic and (b) non-domestic buildings above those currently laid out in the Energy Performance of Building Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/991).
Campaign for More and Better Homes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 21 July 2009, Official Report, column 1662W, on LLM Communications, which Minister in his Department approved the payments to the Campaign for More and Better Homes. [293229]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) on 9 September 2009, Official Report, column 2011W.
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the responsibilities and remit are of (a) the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, (b) the Homes and Communities Agency's Design and Sustainable Development Team, (c) the Homes and Communities Agency's Advisory Team for Large Applications, (d) the Homes and Communities Agency's National Consultancy Unit and (e) the Homes and Communities Agency's Urban Design Compendium. [292889]
John Healey: The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) both have an interest in ensuring high standards in the built environment, and have distinct but complementary roles.
(a) CABE is the Government's statutory advisor on architecture, urban design and public space. It promotes education and high standards in architecture, the understanding and appreciation of it and the design, management and maintenance of the built environment. Its statutory functions are set out in Part 8 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 at:
The HCA is the national housing and regeneration agency with a delivery role to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places. It provides funding for affordable housing, and brings land back into productive use. It also aims to improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment and therefore works in a number of different ways to achieve this.
(b) The HCA's Design and Sustainable Development Team is responsible for setting standards in respect of all major HCA projects and programmes; developing and trialling new approaches, and developing and demonstrating best practice through exemplar developments including on the use of brownfield land.
(c) The Advisory Team for Large Applications provides local planning authorities with a specialist advisory service across the country. This team works with local authorities and the private sector to help unblock and speed up large and complex planning applications. See
(d) The HCA's National Consultancy Unit (now the Land and Development Consultancy Unit) provides HCA regional teams and partners with support and advice on their projects in regeneration and growth areas; manages the HCA's property and technical frameworks and those of its delivery partner panels; develops and disseminates specialist best practice in development, placemaking and community involvement.
(e) The HCA's Urban Design Compendium is a document that gives urban designers worldwide guidance on the principles of urban design and highlights how these can be applied in practice. See the following for more details:
Community Infrastructure Levy
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment has been made of the effect of the Community Infrastructure Levy on the burden of regulation on house builders. [289501]
John Healey: The Government have made an assessment of the impact of the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) upon landowners and developers, including house builders, in preparing the impact assessments on CIL, which have accompanied the different legislative stages of the passage of the Planning Act 2008 and the ongoing development of CIL regulations.
The most recent assessment was published on 30 July to accompany the draft CIL regulations and can be found at:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planning andbuilding/infrastructurelevypartial
Conservatories: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 16 September 2009, Official Report, column 2209W, on conservatories, how many conservatories in England are recorded on the Valuation Office Agency's automated valuation model. [293032]
Barbara Follett: The automated valuation model is not used to record the presence of a conservatory. Details, by Billing Authority, of the number of properties in the Valuation Office Agency's property attribute database recorded with each of the dwellinghouse codes (including codes for different types of conservatories) will be placed in the Library of the House.
Consolidated PR
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments the Audit Commission has made to Consolidated PR in the last three years. [292723]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission, and I have asked the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 19 October 2009:
Your Parliamentary Question has been passed to me for reply. You asked a similar question in May 2009 (pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 752W, on publicity, what projects were undertaken by each of the public relations companies hired by the Audit Commission; and for what reason the Commission did not use its own staff in each case).
We advised that the Audit Commission contracted with Consolidated Communications, a communications and public relations company, in 2006 and 2007 during a period of substantial reorganisation of our publishing and media relations. Consolidated offered advice and support, replacing functions that, temporarily, were not available in house. For this service, the Audit Commission paid a total of £137,700.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Conveyancing: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 230W, on conveyancing: fees and charges, if he will publish the data which his Department has collected on CON29 search fees charged by local authorities. [292989]
John Healey: This information is already in the public domain as individual local authorities publish details of the fees they charge for a CON29 search.
Council Tax: Databases
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will undertake a privacy impact assessment of the Valuation Office Agency's automated valuation model and associated council tax databases in light of the amounts of digital property data being stored by that Agency. [292630]
Barbara Follett: No. The Valuation Office Agency's Automated Valuation Model was developed before privacy impact assessment became mandatory and the project posed no risk to the privacy of an individual.
Council Tax: Energy
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations his Department has received from the Energy Saving Trust on (a) levels of council tax on homes with an energy efficiency rating of F or G and (b) the sale and rent of homes with an energy efficiency rating of F or G. [292705]
John Healey: EST have made representations on a number of policy areas including responses to the Home Energy Savings Strategy (HESS) joint DECC/CLG consultation, the Rugg review and the Beyond Decent Homes inquiry.
Council Tax: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 30 June 2009, Official Report, column 189, on council tax: valuation, how many proposals were submitted to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) in each of those four years requesting a band change; and how many and what proportion were (a) accepted, (b) rejected by the VOA and not subject to appeal, (c) rejected by the VOA, considered by the Valuation Tribunal Service and not successfully appealed against and (d) rejected by the VOA, considered by the Valuation Tribunal Service and successfully appealed against. [293343]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is shown as follows:
| (a) | (b) | (c) | (d) | Total settled | |
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