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20 Oct 2009 : Column 1385W—continued
Chris Bryant: The UK has donated a total of $159,298 to the UN committee on missing persons since its inception. In August 2009, the European Commission (EC) allocated €2 million in funding to the committee from the EC Aid Regulation for the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community. This will provide for half of the yearly needs of the committee for missing persons for the next 24 months. The Government have no plans for further donations.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make an estimate of the value of the cessation of the division in Cyprus in terms of (a) gross domestic product for the island and (b) income per capita; and if he will make a statement. [293736]
Chris Bryant: The Government have funded independent research by the International Peace Research Institute of Oslo (PRIO) into the economic benefits of a solution. Their report, "The Day After", found that Cypriots stand to gain an additional €1.8 billion per year in recurring benefits from a solution to the Cyprus problem. This translates into approximately €5,500 for every family every year. These were deliberately conservative estimates.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the likely consequences of the withdrawal of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus in the absence of a settlement in Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [293738]
Chris Bryant: It is for the UN to produce its own independent assessment of the impact of any changes.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will hold discussions with the European Commission on the co-ordination of the consideration of bids for funding for the Nicosia Master Plan for projects in the buffer zone in respect of (a) south and (b) north Nicosia being considered by the EU Directorate General for (i) Regional Policy and (ii) Enlargement; and if he will make a statement. [293743]
Chris Bryant: This is a matter for the European Commission and the municipalities concerned. We are not involved in these discussions.
Cyprus: British Nationality
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his most recent estimate is of the number of British nationals resident in Cyprus (a) north and (b) south of the Green Line; and if he will make a statement. [293741]
Chris Bryant: We do not have precise figures for the number of British nationals resident in Cyprus. However, we estimate that there are approximately 60,000 British nationals resident in the south of Cyprus and 7,000 British nationals resident in the north of Cyprus. We estimate that approximately half are dual British-Cypriot nationals.
Cyprus: Politics and Government
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received reports of the (a) hacking of the e-mails of the UN special representative in Cyprus and (b) publication of those e-mails in Phileleftheros newspaper; and if he will make a statement. [293724]
Chris Bryant: The Government are aware of the theft of UN documents and their subsequent publication in various newspapers. We continue to have every confidence in the UN Good Offices Mission and the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor, Alexander Downer.
Northern Cyprus
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his latest estimate is of the total compensation paid by the Immovable Property Commission in northern Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [R] [293711]
Chris Bryant: According to recent figures, the Immovable Property Commission has over the past three years paid close to £35 million in compensation.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what reports he has received of allegations of Turkish Army outlets undercutting prices charged by Turkish Cypriot businesses in respect of the sale of consumer goods in northern Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [R] [293712]
Chris Bryant: We have received no reports on this matter.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) Turkish and (b) Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus troops in Northern Cyprus based on information from (i) Turkey, (ii) Cyprus, (iii) the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and (iv) the UK; and if he will make a statement. [R] [293714]
Chris Bryant: The Government have no estimate of the number of Turkish or Turkish Cypriot armed forces in the north of Cyprus. There are no troops from the Republic of Cyprus, UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus or from the UK in the north of Cyprus.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made in the disbursement of the €259 million package of EU assistance to Northern Cyprus; and if he will make a statement. [293729]
Chris Bryant: By the end of September 2009, the Commission had contracted €133.9 million (52 per cent. of the overall programme) and endorsed €45.5 million for payment (18 per cent. of the programme). Tangible projects such as providing modern equipment to farmers, funding scholarships for students, improving traffic safety and replacing asbestos water pipes have already started and are making a real difference to the lives of ordinary Turkish Cypriots.
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which projects (a) contracted and (b) completed in Northern Cyprus have been funded from the 259 million euro of EU provided aid; what the value of each project is; and if he will make a statement. [293730]
Chris Bryant: Information on the projects funded by the Financial Aid Regulation can be found on the European Commissions website:
Turkey
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the government of Turkey on permission for UN Committees on Missing Persons teams to work in areas under Turkish army control; and if he will make a statement. [293733]
Chris Bryant: The Government have consistently supported resolutions by the Committee of Ministers at the Council of Europe urging the Turkish authorities to take additional measures to allow effective investigations into the fate of missing persons, in particular by granting the UN committee on missing person's access to all relevant information and areas.
Turkey: Northern Cyprus
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the financial subsidies given by the government of Turkey to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [293740]
Chris Bryant: The Government do not hold independent figures, however, in a speech given on 4 October 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan estimated that between 2003 and 2009, an average of $523 million per year, and in 2009 $815 million of aid was provided to the north of Cyprus.
Turkey: Varnava
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policy of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber in the case of Varnava and others v. Turkey; and if he will make a statement. [293742]
Chris Bryant: The Government have made no such assessment but will continue to call on both sides to release all information in relation to the tragic case of the missing in Cyprus, and will also continue to support the good work of the UN Committee on Missing Persons.
United Arab Emirates
Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the objectives are of UK foreign policy to the United Arab Emirates. [294502]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The UK aims to strengthen relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in all fields to our mutual benefit.
We work closely with the UAE to promote support for enhanced regional and global security we aim to improve cultural, sporting and scientific cooperation including supporting the creation and promotion of large scale renewable energy programmes by the UAE.
Our work also aims to support British citizens in the UAE and to foster effective trade and economic cooperation that will further enhance links between British and Emirati businesses to operate successfully.
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing: Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been received gross in council tax receipts in (a) cash and (b) real terms by each local authority in England in each year since 1997-98. [293324]
Barbara Follett: A table will be placed in the Library containing details of the gross council tax receipts collected by each local authority in England in each year since 1998 -99 in both cash and real terms.
The data are taken from the Quarterly Return of Council Tax and Non-domestic rates returns completed annually by all billing authorities in England and the real terms data are given at 2008-09 prices.
Council Housing: Sutton
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to respond to the points raised by the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam during the summer recess adjournment debate on 21 July 2009, Official Report, columns 837-38; and if he will make a statement. [293267]
Mr. Ian Austin: On 17 July, the Secretary of State announced as part of the Housing Pledge that over this year and next Government will be investing a further £1.5 billion to build an extra 20,000 new affordable homes for rent and low cost sale.
As a consequence, £150 million has been reprioritised from the Decent Homes programme in 2010-11, to fund the Pledge initiative to contribute to the building of these new homes. That means the Government are spending more on housing this year.
Council Housing: Waiting Lists
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to publish updated data on the number of households on local authorities' housing waiting lists; and if he will make a statement. [293415]
Mr. Ian Austin:
Local authorities report the number of households on their housing waiting lists on the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA). This information will be published in a statistical release, 'Local Authority Housing Statistics, England 2008/09: HSSA and BPSA Statistical Release', which has been
pre-announced for publication on the United Kingdom Statistics Authority (UKSA) publication hub for November/December 2009.
Council Tax
Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties in each local authority district are in council tax band (a) A and (b) B. [294495]
Barbara Follett: A table has been placed in the Library giving details of the number of properties in each billing authority in England that are in council tax Band A and Band B.
The data are as at 29 March 2009 and are supplied to Communities and Local Government by the Valuation Office Agency.
The data are also available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Council Tax: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under what circumstances the Valuation Office Agency will review the council tax banding of a dwelling upon the request of an occupier; and what the Agency's policy is on whether it will review a banding if the current occupier has resided in the dwelling for more than six months. [293348]
Barbara Follett: A review will normally be initiated, irrespective of duration of residence, in circumstances where the occupier provides information to suggest that the banding might be inaccurate.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many dwellings have had their property attributes updated by the Valuation Office Agency as a result of data obtained from the Rightmove portal in the last year for which figures are available. [293370]
Barbara Follett: A total of 64,014 dwellings have had their property attributes updated by the Valuation Office Agency as a result of data obtained from the Rightmove portal during the period 16 October 2008 to 30 September 2009.
Rightmove data are used routinely by VOA staff in the course of considering approximately 30,000 proposals/appeals and over 450,000 cases annually in respect of maintaining current council tax valuation lists. This provides quality assurance to ensure information about properties is correct and, ultimately, that taxpayers are asked to pay the right amount of tax. Rightmove also alleviates the need to inspect substantial numbers of properties thus minimising inconvenience to taxpayers. The use of Rightmove data more often than not results in no change to property attribute data.
Christopher Fraser:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties are recorded with each individual (a)
dwellinghouse code and (b) value significant code, broken down by (i) individual type, (ii) number of rooms, (iii) number of bedrooms, (iv) number of bathrooms, (v) number of floors, (vi) floor level, (vii) parking, (viii) garaging, (ix) conservatory type, (x) age, (xi) outbuilding and (xii) modernisation code, in the local authority area of (A) King's Lynn and West Norfolk and (B) Broadland according to electronic records held by the Valuation Office Agency. [293896]
Barbara Follett: The number of properties with each individual dwellinghouse code and each value significant code, for all local authority areas in England, will be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties in Forest of Dean district are recorded with each individual (a) dwellinghouse code and (b) value significant code, including each code for (i) type, (ii) number of rooms, (iii) number of bedrooms, (iv) number of bathrooms, (v) number of floors, (vi) floor level, (vii) parking, (viii) garaging, (ix) conservatory type, (x) age, (xi) outbuilding and (xii) modernisation, according to electronic records held by the Valuation Office Agency. [294497]
Barbara Follett: The number of properties with each individual dwellinghouse code and each value significant code, for all local authority areas in England, will be placed in the Library.
Departmental Dismissal
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff have (a) been dismissed and (b) had their contract terminated by his Department in each of the last five years; what the reason was in each case; and what the severance costs in relation to (i) dismissal and (ii) contract termination were in each such year. [290581]
Mr. Malik: The number of staff that have been dismissed or had their contract terminated over the last five years cannot be released due to reasons of confidentiality.
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