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3 Nov 2009 : Column 840W—continued
| (b) West Midlands | ||
| BA | Commencement lists | Completion notices |
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency takes into account a nearby Traveller encampment as a potential material consideration when valuing a dwelling for council tax purposes. [296990]
Barbara Follett: If a Traveller encampment was in existence on 1 April 1993 (or 1 April 2005 in Wales), or was set up after that date and can be said to have changed the physical state of the locality, it is a factor that can be taken into account when determining the council tax bands of other dwellings, providing that the existence of the camp is not transient.
Departmental Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to implement the efficiency recommendations within the Operational Efficiency Programme; and if he will make a statement. [296854]
Barbara Follett: My Department is fully engaged in delivering the Operational Efficiency Programme's (OEP) agenda and is harnessing the support of our arm's length bodies to do so.
As recommended by the OEP report I have been appointed VfM Minister for the Department.
The Department has made good progress in considering the key benchmarks to drive performance improvement in back office functions as recommended in the OEP report and is awaiting the publication of that information. It is also well engaged with the collaborative procurement agenda, and has established its own Collaborative Procurement Forum. My Department is represented on the OGC's collaborative procurement steering group which reviews this type of activity in the wider public sector, including the local authorities.
Departmental Telephone Services
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many help lines his Department operates; and how much his Department and its predecessor have received from the operation of such help lines in each of the last three years. [294975]
Barbara Follett: The Department for Communities and Local Government do not have a specific helpline. However, it does have a public inquiry line which is a contracted non-automated service. Calls to this line are charged at national rates and no income is derived by the Department from these calls.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will consider the merits of securing accreditation of his Department's helplines to the Helplines Association's quality standard; and if he will make a statement. [295729]
Barbara Follett: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not have any plans to secure accreditation of its telephone information lines to the Helplines Association's quality standard. At present, the Department has no helplines although it does have a public inquiry service which responds to general inquiries made to the Department. However, we are continually seeking to improve the levels of service we provide to the public, and will investigate the benefits of such accreditation.
Fire Services: Pensions
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2009, Official Report, column 585W, on fire services: pensions, when he expects the Government Actuary's report on firefighters' pension schemes to be published. [296954]
Barbara Follett: The Government Actuary's report on the firefighters' pension schemes will be issued to the Firefighters' Pension Committee in advance of its meeting on 18 November. Copies will be available from that date also on the Communities and Local Government website, and be placed in the Library.
Housing: Lighting
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the report on the research commissioned by his Department on the proportion of domestic light fittings which will operate with compact fluorescent lamps. [294520]
Barbara Follett: The Department has not commissioned research on the proportion of domestic light fittings which will operate with compact fluorescent lamps.
Local Government Finance: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much Tamworth borough council raised in council tax revenue in each of the last five years; [297202]
(2) how much Tamworth borough council received from central Government in cash terms in each of the last six years; [297203]
(3) what the ratio between central Government funding and council tax revenue for Tamworth borough council was in each of the last eight years. [297204]
Barbara Follett: The information requested on central Government grant in cash terms, the council tax requirement and the ratio between central Government grant and the council tax requirement in each of the last eight years is shown in the following table.
| Tamworth borough council | |||
| Central Government grant (£000) | Council tax requirement (£000) | Ratio | |
| (1 )Provisional outturn, Source: Communities and local government revenue outturn (RO) returns | |||
Local authority council tax requirement is the council tax available to finance revenue expenditure, not council tax collected.
Central Government grant is defined here as the sum of formula grant (revenue support grant and redistributed non-domestic rates) and specific grants inside aggregate external finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services. For 2008-09 it also includes area based grant (ABG).
Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities' core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Comparisons across years may not be valid owing to changing local authority responsibilities.
Migration Impact Fund
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 9 July 2009, Official Report, column 50WS, on the migration impacts fund, how much the levy charged on each individual migrant will be; whether it will apply to (a) EU nationals, (b) EEA nationals not in the EU, (c) A2 nationals, (d) A8 nationals and (e) asylum seekers; and in what circumstances in each case migrants will be (i) required to pay and (ii) exempted from paying. [295837]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
Migrants pay a contribution to the migration impacts fund when making visa applications and in-country extensions of leave to remain on all routes under PBS Tiers 1, Tier 2, Tier 4, the Settlement Route, Leave to Remain, Indefinite Leave to Remain and Nationality. The fund contribution is £50 per applicant. For applicants making a Tier 4 visa application the contribution is £20.
EU nationals, EEA nationals not in the EU, A2 nationals, A8 nationals and asylum seekers do not pay a contribution towards the Migrant Impacts Fund when making an application for leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain.
All applicants, including EU nationals, EEA nationals not in the EU, A2 nationals, A8 nationals and asylum seekers, pay a £50 contribution towards the migration impacts fund when making an application for British nationality.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in Birmingham, Northfield constituency have (a) applied for and (b) been granted assistance under the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme; and if he will make a statement. [296277]
John Healey: Homeowners Mortgage Support is part of the range of assistance available at every stage to households struggling with their mortgage. The scheme encourages lenders to allow households who have suffered a temporary income shock to defer some of their interest payment, if this is necessary to make their monthly payment affordable. The Department plans to publish information in December on the number of households who have been helped through Homeowners Mortgage Support. Statistics from the Financial Services Authority show that more than 135,000 borrowers were benefiting from forbearance offered by their lender at the end of June 2009, an increase of 17 per cent. on the previous quarter.
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