| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
24 Nov 2009 : Column 66W—continued
Departmental Consultants
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) bonuses and (b) incentives have been paid to (i) consultants and (ii) contractors engaged by his Department in each of the last three years. [300643]
Barbara Follett: The Department has not paid any (a) bonuses and (b) incentives to (i) consultants and (ii) contractors in the last three years.
John Mason: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) bonuses and (b) incentives have been paid to (i) consultants and (ii) contractors engaged by executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible in each of the last three years. [300644]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Disclosure of Information
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing have been made to his Department by its staff since 6 June 2006. [301563]
Barbara Follett: There have been no allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing made to the Department for Communities and Local Government since 6 June 2006.
Departmental Official Cars
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of providing official cars for the use of (a) Ministers and (b) officials in the last 12 months. [301181]
Barbara Follett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 22 October 2009, Official Report, column 1642W, to the hon. Member for Putney (Justine Greening).
Figures could be broken down by (a) Ministers and (b) officials only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Official Visits
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what date he last travelled by train in the course of his official duties. [301192]
Barbara Follett: Friday, 20 November 2009.
Departmental Recycling
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what weight of paper his Department has recycled in each of the last five years. [300774]
Barbara Follett: The weight of paper recycled by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the last five years is as follows:
| Paper r ecycling( 1) (tonnes) | |
| (1 )The data includes cardboard as this is often mixed with paper for recycling | |
Departmental Travel
Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what contracts his Department has with private hire taxi companies; and what expenditure his Department has incurred against each such contract in each of the last three years. [300833]
Barbara Follett: The Department has spent the following amounts through formal and informal contracts with taxi companies over the last three fiscal years.
| £ | ||
Staff will also pay taxi fares themselves in the course of official business and claim the costs back through the T&S system, figures from this show the following expenditure over the last three years:
| £ | |
Food: Procurement
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) lamb, (b) beef, (c) chicken, (d) pork, (e) turkey, (f) other meats, (g) vegetables and (h) fruit procured by his Department that was produced in the UK in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [300188]
Barbara Follett: A second report on the proportion of domestically produced food used by Government Departments and also supplied to hospitals and prisons under contracts negotiated by NHS Supply Chain and HM Prison Service was published in November 2008, covering the year from 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008. This report and the first one covering the previous year can be found at:
The report gives details of the proportion of individual meat, fruit and vegetable categories purchased.
Although it is too early to show a trend, the report indicates that the amount of domestically produced food consumed by Government Departments in England is increasing. The proportion of domestically produced food procured by Communities has gone up from 59 per cent. in 2006-07 to 65 per cent. in 2007-08. We expect to publish a third report at the end of 2009.
Homes and Communities Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) shareholdings and (b) subsidiaries the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) owns; what the purpose of ownership of each stake is; what the HCA's shareholding represents as a percentage of the overall shares; and what recent estimate he has made of the monetary value of each stake. [300441]
John Healey: A list of the Homes and Communities Agency's associates and subsidiaries and its proportionate shareholding is disclosed in its Financial Statements for 2008-09, as laid in the House (pages 81 and 82).
The main reasons for holding these investments is to further the business of the agency in pursuit of its strategic objectives.
The carrying values of the agency's investments in the Financial Statements are assessed each year. This assessment is scrutinised by the National Audit Office as part of their annual audit work.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor spent on (a) Places of Change, (b) the Thames Gateway and (c) growth funding in each of the last three years. [300442]
John Healey: Information on spending on Places of Change, the Thames Gateway and growth was published in the Homes and Communities Agency's Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2008-09, and in the financial statements of its predecessor bodies: the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships and the Department for Communities and Local Government for preceding years, as lodged in the House Library.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has spent on staff costs related to the HCA Academy. [300443]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the Homes and Communities Agency's 2008-9 Annual Report which includes information about the HCA Academy's staff costs.
A copy of the Annual report and Accounts can be found in the Library of the House. They can also be found at the following web link.
Grant Shapps: 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 the Homes and Communities Agency: consultants, how much the Homes and Communities Academy spent on (a) the National and Regional Delivery Structure project, (b) the Brownfield Skills project, (c) the Endorsement Framework project, (d) the Benchmark and Toolkit project, (e) the Practical Knowledge to Support delivery project and (f) the programme staff costs project; and how much of each sum was spent on consultancy costs. [300515]
John Healey: The HCA Academy's project and consultancy spend on the projects listed above are as follows:
| £000 | ||
| Workstream | Total spend | Consultancy spend |
The spend on programme staff costs include staff salaries, expenses and costs for staff seconded in from other organisations.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what role the Homes and Communities Agency has had in the delivery of (a) the Mortgage Rescue scheme and (b) the National Clearing House. [300594]
John Healey:
Since the Mortgage Rescue scheme's inception, the HCA has worked with the Government to ensure support is available for the most vulnerable
households to avoid repossession and remain in their home by taking a lead role in working with and monitoring the performance of those RSLs delivering the scheme.
In May 2008, the Government announced a plan to take advantage of market opportunities to bring private sector developer stock into the affordable housing sector by earmarking £200 million of funding through the Housing Corporation (the Homes and Communities Agency's predecessor) National Affordable Housing programme (NAHP) budget for the purchase of homes from house builders.
To help facilitate the scheme, the Corporation set up the National Clearing House to streamline initial assessment of national packages of at least 250 units from private sector house builders. The Housing Corporation's Investment partners, mainly Registered Social Landlords, wishing to buy smaller numbers of units from developers could bid for funding directly to the Corporation in the normal way.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what target was set for the Homes and Communities Agency in relation to private sector investment in its property and regeneration programme in 2008-09; and what such target has been set for 2009-10. [300595]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the 2009-2011 Homes and Communities Agency Corporate plan, which is available at:
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Homes and Communities Agency has spent (a) in total and (b) on each housing association (i) shared ownership product and (ii) try before you buy home scheme in the latest year for which figures are available. [300602]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him by my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby South on 21 May 2009, Official Report, column 1540-42W.
Allocations by housing associations are published on the Homes and Communities Agency website. Details of historic allocations can be found on the Housing Corporation website.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average per household entitlement to the proceeds of future sales of properties owned by the Homes and Communities Agency is under each HomeBuy scheme. [300612]
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |