| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Nov 2009 : Column 11W—continued
The Department also has a Special Bonus Scheme to reward exceptional performance in particularly demanding tasks or situations. The maximum bonus under these arrangements is £600 but records are not yet available to show the number of in-year payments made under this scheme.
Departmental Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) laptop computers, (b) mobile telephones, (c) items of office furniture and (d) works of art have been (i) lost by and (ii) stolen from his Department in each of the last three years; whether his Department has made an insurance claim against each such item; and what the estimated value of each item was. [300993]
Barbara Follett:
The following table identifies the number of laptops and mobile phones that have been
reported lost or stolen from this Department in each of the last three years, together with the approximate value of each item.
| Stolen | Value (£) | Lost | Value (£) | |
The Department has not had any items of office furniture or works of art stolen or lost in this period nor has it made any insurance claim for any item referenced.
Fire Prevention
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent research his Department has (a) commissioned, (b) funded and (c) undertaken on fire safety in rented properties; and if he will make a statement. [300220]
Mr. Malik: We have not commissioned, funded or undertaken any research specifically on rented properties. Various projects in the fire and resilience research programme have included rented accommodation along with other types of premises, e.g.:
Cost-effectiveness of sprinklers in high risk buildings
Cost-effectiveness of sprinklers for offsetting fire cover for new homes
An evaluation of the Fire Safety Order.
Government Hospitality Unit
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many functions his Department has hosted in each of the last three years; and at which such functions the services of the Government Hospitality Unit were provided. [300434]
Barbara Follett: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing: Heating
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new domestic dwellings which use (a) electricity and (b) gas as their primary source of heat have been built since 1997. [300584]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information on primary heat source is not available for dwellings built since 1997. The English House Condition Survey provides an estimate for the main fuel type used in all housing built after 1990. The survey estimates that in 2007 there were 2,531,000 dwellings that had been built after 1990, of which 2,149,000 (84.9 per cent.) used gas as their main fuel and 264,000 (10.4 per cent.) used electricity. Virtually all other post-1990 dwellings used oil.
Housing: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new houses were completed in Milton Keynes unitary authority in each of the last 12 months. [300548]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information on house building completions is collected quarterly, and is not available on a monthly basis.
The following table shows the number of houses completed in Milton Keynes unitary authority in each of the last four quarters.
| House building completions in Milton Keynes unitary authority | |
| Quarter | Completions |
| Source: New build completions from P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House-Building Council to CLG. | |
Housing: Prices
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 5 November 2009, Official Report, column 1124W, on house prices, by what means his Department establishes a 1991 sale price for a newly constructed property in Yate, South Gloucestershire for council tax banding purposes. [301033]
Barbara Follett: In England, the Valuation Office Agency is responsible for ascribing a property to a council tax band, based on its expected sale price on 1 April 1991. Therefore, a property built in 2009 would be banded for council tax by reference to: (1) sales of newly built properties of a similar size, character and location that were sold on or around 1 April 1991: (2) the council tax band of similar tax band of similar properties already on the list: (3) the outcomes of any proposals made by tax payers on similar properties in the area: (4) any Valuation Tribunal decision affecting similar properties in the locality
Local Government: Pay
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was paid in salary and wage costs for local government employees in the last 12 months; and what estimate he has made of the proportion paid to such employees who earn more than £50,000 per annum. [300845]
Barbara Follett: In the latest year for which figures are available, 2007-08, total pay including employers National Insurance and Pensions contributions for all local government staff including teachers, police and fire fighters, was £58.8 billion. Further information is available from:
No estimate has been made of the proportion paid to employees who earn £50,000 per annum. This information is not collected centrally.
Planning Permission: Appeals
John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the written ministerial statement on 30 June 2008, Official Report, columns 43-44WS on planning appeals, what guidance he has issued to (a) Government offices and (b) local authorities on the reasons for which a residential development of over 150 units might be considered to have an impact sufficiently significant to instigate a recovery of a planning appeal by the Secretary of State. [300428]
Mr. Ian Austin: As the power to recover planning appeals rests with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, and is exercised on his behalf by the Planning Inspectorate (PINS), no such guidance has been issued or is necessary.
John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times he has exercised his powers to recover a planning appeal under section 79 and paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in each year since 2005. [300722]
Mr. Ian Austin: The following table sets out the number of times the powers under section 79 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 have been exercised in England to recover appeals made under section 78 of that Act for decision by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. The figures relate to calendar years.
| Total | |
Temporary Accommodation
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in each London local authority were placed in temporary accommodation in each other London local authority area in 2008. [300400]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information about English local housing authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include the number of applicants accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Data collected on temporary accommodation include the number of households placed in temporary accommodation by each London local authority at the end of each quarter, including the number housed in a different local authority district. However, information on which different local authority area these households were housed in is not held centrally.
The following table shows the number of households in temporary accommodation in each London borough on 30 June 2009, and of those the number which were housed in another local authority district:
| London local authority | Number in temporary accommodation | Of which : in another LA district |
| (1) Data not reported. | ||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |