Further supplementary memorandum by CLG
(DAR (07-08) 04)
1. This note provides supplementary information
further to the hearing held on 27 October with the Rt Hon Hazel
Blears MP, the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP and the Rt Hon John
Healey MP, and subsequent correspondence from the Department on
28 October and 3 November dealing with flooding response and recovery
and delays to Select Committee responses. Copies of this correspondence
are at annexes A and B for ease of reference.
LOCAL AUTHORITY
INVESTMENTS
Reviewing the Audit Commission's investment decisions
(Q121)
2. The Comptroller and Auditor General (National
Audit Office—NAO) is named in statute as the auditor of
the Audit Commission. The NAO inspects and certifies the Commission's
accounts each year.
3. We understand that the Audit Commission
is currently undertaking an internal review of its procedures
relating to its deposits in Icelandic banks. Once this review
has been completed, the findings will be shared with the NAO.
It will be for the NAO to decide how to take forward its response
to the information provided.
Guidance on local authority investment decisions
(Q125)
4. The Department's guidance on local authority
investment is available on our website.[4]
(We have arranged for hardcopies to be provided to your office).
HOUSING
How might Regional Assemblies test a "range
of houses" put forward by the National Housing and Planning
Advice Unit (Q141)
5. In the Housing Green Paper (2007), the
Government committed to early reviews of regional spatial strategies
(RSSs), where necessary, to reflect plans for some 240,000 homes
per year from 2016. We also committed to strengthen the evidence
base to inform these reviews by issuing formal guidance at the
beginning of RSS preparations, based on independent advice from
the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit (NHPAU).
6. Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing
states that Regional Assemblies must take evidence provided by
the NHPAU into account in determining housing levels. Stage 2
of the RSS revision process requires the Regional Planning Body
to identify and test different strategic options in relation to
the policy area which is being revised—in this case housing—and
we expect regions to test options that include housing numbers
within the NHPAU range. Where a preferred option is identified
which falls outside the NHPAU range, the Regional Planning Body,
working with the councils and authorities identified in section
4(4) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act, 2004, must provide
the Examination in Public, with sufficient evidence to illustrate
the spatial implications of delivering a level of growth within
the NHPAU range.
7. Following receipt of the NHPAU advice,
on 16 July 2008 the then Housing Minister Caroline Flint MP wrote
to the chairs and chief executives of the Regional Assemblies
setting out how this advice should be used to inform future RSS
reviews. A copy of the advice provided to the East of England
is attached for information.
Q147—what are local authorities being asked
to do, re the housing situation?
8. Local authorities have not been asked
to draw up or submit plans for funding to buy up empty homes nor
to build new homes, although it is hoped that they will continue
to work closely with the Housing Corporation and Homes and Communities
Agency on the development and implementation of local housing
strategies. However, the Department announced in September that
it would invite local authorities to seek funding from the Homes
and Communities Agency for new social housing.
9. The Department also continues to work
closely with all English local authorities to ensure that advice
and assistance is available to all households where homelessness
is threatened. Since July all English local authorities have reviewed
and published their Homelessness Strategies, including greater
emphasis on landlord and lender repossessions to reflect changing
market conditions.
10. Briefings on court processes and mortgage
repossession prevention have also been circulated to every English
housing authority and the Department has held Regional Summits
in all Government Office regions to brief local authorities on
repossessions and to explain their role in delivering the Government's
mortgage rescue scheme. Local Authorities will act as a gateway
to the scheme by assessing households' eligibility before negotiating
with an applicant's lender to halt repossession action and referring
successful applicants to money advice agencies.
11. Local authorities also have a key role
in the Surplus Public Sector Land programme, currently managed
by English Partnership (EP), which is working closely with public
sector bodies including local authorities to identify potential
sites for development.
12. The programme includes the development
of Local Housing Companies to help local authorities to bring
forward additional homes on surplus land. We are working with
14 local authorities to establish a pilot programme to develop
this model. They have the potential to make a significant contribution
to our target of delivering 60,000 homes on surplus sector land.
SMART METERING
Lead department and current progress (Q184)
13. Smart meters allow energy suppliers
to communicate directly with their customers, removing the need
for meter readings and ensuring entirely accurate bills with no
estimates. They can tell people about their energy use through
either linked display units or other ways, such as through the
internet or television. Among other potential benefits, they could
offer gas and electricity customers accurate bills and provide
information that could help them use less energy and encourage
energy efficiency.
14. This is not an area of policy on which
Communities and Local Government leads, although we make a strong
contribution to the Government's wider work on climate change.
Following Machinery of Government changes, the Department for
Energy and Climate Change (DECC) took on policy responsibility
for Smart Meters from the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform. Subsequent to the hearing on 27 October,
the Government announced (28 October) that smart meters would
be rolled out to all domestic consumers and the indicative timetable
for this.
15. We understand that DECC currently anticipate
that is will take around two years to design and establish the
full details of the roll-out, followed by a ten-year roll-out
period resulting in an indicative completion date towards the
end of 2020.
16. For business customers, Government is
proceeding with a roll-out of advanced metering to larger businesses,
where there is a clear economic case. The current target is to
roll-out smart metering in this sector over five years from January
2009.
17. The decision to announce the planned
roll-out reflects Government's belief in the potential benefits
of smart metering. Smart meters will benefit customer service
and contribute to a competitive market by, for example, improving
the accuracy of billing and allowing rapid, problem-free switching
from one energy supplier to another.
18. There will also be environmental benefits
through reduced energy demand and carbon emissions from better
customer information, targeted energy efficiency advice and activity
and the facilitation of micro-generation.
19. Finally, smart meters will offer security
of supply and a more resilient network through improving the capacity
for dynamic demand management and the facilitation of distributed
generation and smart grids.
November 2008
4 http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/capital/data/lginvest2.pdf Back
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