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27 Oct 2009 : Column 242W—continued
Council Housing: Tenants
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1109W, on council housing: tenants, if he will estimate the number of families required to move home by a local authority following the expiry of the right to statutory succession to a local authority property. [295339]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has no plans to make any such estimate.
Departmental Postal Services
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which companies are under contract to his Department to provide mail services; and when each such contract expires. [296181]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 October 2009]: Mail services for the Department's Headquarters building are provided under the Integrated Facilities Management contract with MITIE which runs until July 2011. MITIE currently use Royal Mail for despatch of national mail items and Corporate Mailing Services (CMS) for international mail items under sub-contract arrangements they have in place with those companies.
Disabled Facilities Grant
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the average time taken by local authorities to deliver projects for (a) veterans and (b) other disabled persons funded through the disabled facilities grant. [295612]
Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 26 October 2009]: Responsibility for the management and delivery of the programme rests with local housing authorities. As a mandatory grant, Communities and Local Government expects these important services to be prioritised and delivered within the legal time frame. The regulations that govern the disabled facilities grant programme are clear about how long anyone should wait for a grant and are triggered by the receipt of a valid disabled facilities grant application. A decision on whether or not to award the grant must be made within six months. The grant must then be paid by the authority either on completion of the works or by a date specified in the decision letter, whichever is sooner. That date must be no longer than 12 months from the date of the application for grant.
Infrastructure Planning Commission
Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Welsh Assembly Government has been consulted on the appointment of any Commissioners to the Infrastructure Planning Commission. [296074]
John Healey: We have agreed the following process with the Welsh Assembly Government: Commissioners are recruited through open competition and appointed by the Secretary of State, once appointments are made WAG ministers select a number of appointed Commissioners with an understanding of Welsh issues. At least one of these Commissioners will be involved in considering applications for development wholly or partly in Wales. We intend that this selection will happen early next year following the next round of commissioner recruitment, ahead of 1 March which will be the first date from which the IPC will be able formally to accept applications.
Local Government: Publicity
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department undertook an impact assessment in relation to the changes made to the Code of Conduct on Local Authority Publicity before those changes came into effect; and whether an assessment of the effectiveness of the changes has been undertaken. [294513]
Ms Rosie Winterton: As part of the changes to council governance arrangements, in particular the introduction of elected mayors, revisions were made in 2001 to the code of recommended practice on local authority publicity. These are the only changes which have been made to the code to date and have been subject to neither an impact assessment nor a subsequent assessment of effectiveness.
However, there have been two consultations on whether and how the code might be revised, the latest being earlier this year on which over 300 representations have been received. We will be publishing our response to the consultation later this year, but the representations do not reveal any widespread concern about council freesheets and newsletters.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations his Department has received on the effects of the operation of local authority newspapers on commercially produced newspapers in the same area. [294523]
Ms Rosie Winterton: A representative of the Newspaper Society, which represents and promotes the interests of Britain's regional and local media, wrote to me about this issue in August.
All council publicity, including newsletters and freesheets, is subject to the code of recommended practice on local authority publicity, to which local authorities must have regard. There have been two consultations on whether and how the code might be revised, the latest being earlier this year. We will be publishing our response to the consultation later this year, but the representations do not reveal any widespread concern about council freesheets and newsletters.
Non-Domestic Rates
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hereditaments were on the Rating List with special category code (a) 227, (b) 226 and (c) 303 in each of the last five years, according to records held by the Valuation Office Agency. [292744]
Barbara Follett: The number of hereditaments in England with a special category (SCAT) code of (b) 226 (Public Houses/Pub Restaurants (National Scheme)) (a) 227 (Public Houses/Pub Restaurants (Inc. Lodge) (National Scheme)) and (c) 303 (Wine Bars) as at the appropriate dates is as follows:
| England | 226 | 227 | 303 |
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1131W, on non-domestic rates, whether the overall business rate tax yield in 2010-11 will be reduced in cash terms as a consequence of the -1.4 per cent. level of Retail Price Index inflation. [295731]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 October 2009]: Under schedule 7 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 the increases in the business rates multipliers each year are capped by the previous September's RPI. Under the same legislation, the multipliers will also be adjusted to ensure that the overall tax yield does not increase as a result of the 2010 revaluation. The September 2009 RPI of -1.4 per cent will exert a downward pressure on the multipliers and on 2010-11 rates bills, reducing the overall tax yield in cash terms.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government intend to put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on the minority with bill increases. This is on top of the wider support available to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1131W, on non-domestic rates, whether he expects the downward pressure on multipliers as a result of the September 2009 Retail Price Index rate to result in an actual reduction in the multiplier of 1.4 per cent. in addition to the decrease in the multiplier due to the 2010 revaluation. [295732]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 October 2009]: The multipliers are set in accordance with schedule 7 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The increases in the small business rate multiplier each year are capped by the previous September's RPI. Under the same legislation, the multipliers will also be adjusted to ensure that the overall tax yield does not increase as a result of the 2010 revaluation.
The national non-domestic multiplier, as in previous years, will be found by adding to the small business multiplier an amount to recover the cost of the small business rate relief scheme. The Government have no plans to amend the way that the multipliers are calculated.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government intend to put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on the minority with bill increases. This is on top of the wider support available to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Justine Greening:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1131W, on non-domestic rates, what the (a)
standard and (b) small business rate multiplier in 2010-11 in England is; on what date it was set; and whether it incorporates the 1.4 per cent reduction as a consequence of the September Retail Price Index rate. [295734]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 October 2009]: The multipliers are set in accordance with schedule 7 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. The increases in the small business rate multiplier each year are capped by the previous September's RPI. Under the same legislation, the multipliers will also be adjusted to ensure that the overall tax yield does not increase as a result of the 2010 revaluation.
The national non-domestic multiplier, as in previous years, will be found by adding to the small business multiplier an amount to recover the cost of the small business rate relief scheme. The Government have no plans to amend the way that the multipliers are calculated.
The Department will publish the provisional multipliers in due course and these will be confirmed after the Local Government Settlement is confirmed in the New Year.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1131W, on non-domestic rates, whether the estimate of (a) 41.3 pence for the small business multiplier in 2010 and (b) 41.7 pence for the national non-domestic multiplier in 2010 cited on page 7 of his Department's consultation paper on transitional arrangements for the non-domestic rating revaluation 2010 in England will be revised downwards as a consequence of the -1.4 per cent. level of Retail Price Index inflation. [295735]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 26 October 2009]: Under schedule 7 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988 the increases in the small business rate multiplier each year are capped by the previous September's RPI. Therefore the September 2009 RPI of -1.4 per cent will exert a downward pressure on the multipliers cited in the Department's consultation on transitional arrangements.
The national non-domestic multiplier, as in previous years, will be found by adding to the small business multiplier an amount to recover the cost of the small business rate relief scheme.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government intend to put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on the minority with bill increases. This is on top of the wider support available to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Non-domestic Rates: Religious Buildings
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bromley and
Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 591W, on non-domestic rates: religious buildings, in respect of which faith communities or religions the Registrar General has certified premises as places of religious worship. [294777]
Meg Hillier: I have been asked to reply.
The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 provides for places of meeting for religious worship to be certified to the Registrar General. Under this Act the Registrar General records all places of meeting for religious worship certified to him. There are approximately 30,000 places of meeting for religious worship certified under the Act. The denominations are recorded as follows:
Roman Catholic
Methodist
Congregationalist
Baptist
United Reformed
Calvinistic Methodist
Brethren
Salvation Army
Unitarian
Society of Friends
Jehovah's Witness
Other Christian bodies
Jews
Muslim
Sikh
Hindus
Undenominational
Buddhists of the New Kadampa Traditional
Baha'is
Subud Britain
Valmiks
Followers of Guru Das
Nirankaries
Ravidasia
Aetherius society
Devotees of Krishna
Friends of Western Buddhist order
Antiochian Orthodox
Congregation of Yahweh
Das Dharam
Gujarati
Shree Swaminarayan Siddhant Sajivan Mandal
Shri guru Ravidasia community
Theosophists
Ukraine Autocephalic
Universal Order of Thios
Unsectarian
Who object to be designated by any distinctive appellation
Zen Buddhists
Buddhists
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