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9 Dec 2009 : Column 395W—continued
Housing: Rural Areas
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has made an estimate of the number of homes in rural areas which have changed ownership in each year since 1997. [305354]
Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 8 December 2009]: We have assumed that the number of homes in rural areas which have changed ownership is made up of private sector sales and LA and RSL dwellings that have been sold to sitting tenants.
The estimated number of homes in rural areas which have changed ownership in each year since 1997 is presented as follows:
| Private sector sales | Social homes sold by LAs and RSLs to sitting tenants | |
Figures on private sector sales are from Land Registry data, and are based on changes of ownership of properties at market value price. Sales below market value (such as right to buy) are excluded from the private sector sales. Sales at under £1,000 and sales above £20 million have been excluded. Some properties may have been sold more than once during the period.
Figures on social homes sold are from quarterly P1B returns to CLG from local authorities, and from regulatory and statistical returns (RSR) to the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) from registered social landlords. They include sales to sitting tenants through right to buy, preserved right to buy, right to acquire, rent to mortgage, and voluntary purchase grant. Large-scale voluntary transfers (LSVTs) of local authority stock to RSLs are not included in the figures.
Local authorities that are classed as rural under the DEFRA rural codes have been included and local authorities classed as urban by DEFRA have been filtered out. Some 178 local authorities have been defined as rural by the DEFRA rural definition (2004).
Local Government Finance
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the effect of cancellation of property developments on revenue from rates in the latest period for which figures are available. [302309]
Barbara Follett: No estimate of the effect of cancellation of property developments on revenue from non-domestic business rates has been made.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much of the £250 million local government efficiency savings referred to in the Department of Health consultation document on Personal Care at Home he expects to be made from each budget of each local authority. [304698]
Barbara Follett:
The commitment to offer free personal care at home to those with highest needs is expected to cost up to £670 million per full year. The Government, through the Department of Health, will provide the bulk of this funding (£420 million per full year). It is right that councils play their part, and the remainder of the funding will come from efficiencies in local government. However, it is not for central Government to micro-manage the budgets of local authorities. They are best placed to make decisions on how to fund this important commitment. It is for this reason that the additional funding being
provided by central Government will be distributed on a non-ringfenced basis. The Department of Health is consulting separately on the formulae that will be used for distributing the grant to councils.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to ensure the delivery of the £250 million local government efficiency savings referred to in the Department of Health consultation document on Personal Care at Home. [304699]
Barbara Follett: The Government are investing an unprecedented £450 million in supporting local government to deliver transformation, improvement and efficiency in the three years to 2010-11. With this support, local government has shown the capacity to generate significant levels of efficiency. Since 2004-05, local government has delivered £4.5 billion in efficiency savings. Last year alone, as part of the Government's efficiency drive, local authorities reported a £1.7 billion saving on their £5.5 billion target between 2008-09 and 2010-11. Work is already under way through Total Place and Smarter Government to identify new ways of maintaining high quality local services in a time of public expenditure constraint. And at a time when prices are falling everywhere, local government will be given a 4 per cent. increase in total government grant next year.
Local Government Finance: Chorley
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding Chorley borough council received from the rate support grant in each year since 1997. [305344]
Barbara Follett: The following table shows the increases for Chorley borough council in formula grant for each year from 1998-99 onwards on a like-for-like basis-i.e. after adjusting for changes in function and funding.
| Prior years adjusted formula grant( 1) (£ million) | Current year's formula grant( 2) (£ million) | Change (£ million) | Percentage Change | |
| (1) The prior year's formula grant is adjusted for changes in function and funding to enable a like-for-like comparison. (2) Formula Grant comprises Revenue Support Grant, redistributed business rates, principal formula Police Grant, SSA Reduction Grant (SSA Review), SSA Reduction Grant (Police Funding Review) and Central Support Protection Grant where appropriate. (3) Prior to 2006-07 support for schools was paid through formula grant. In 2006-07 funding for schools transferred to the Dedicated Schools Grant. | ||||
The amount of formula grant an authority receives each year is not directly comparable due to changes in funding and functions. For example, prior to 2006-07 funding for schools was included within formula grant; from 2006-07 onwards funding for schools was provided by the dedicated schools grant. For this reason, we adjust the prior year's formula grant, for comparison purposes only, so that it reflects the notional amount of formula grant an authority would have received in that year had we been financing the same services as in the current year.
The Department only holds data on year-on-year changes in formula grant on a like-for-like basis from 1997-98. This is because it only became necessary to make these calculations when guarantees were introduced that formula grant would not go down from one year to the next.
Mersey Coastal Park
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assistance his Department has made available for the implementation of the Mersey Coastal Park Strategy; and if he will make a statement. [304834]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Mersey Coastal Park strategy has yet to be finalised and I can confirm that the Department has not provided any direct support. The Northwest Regional Development Agency are in discussion with partners in order to ensure the strategy builds on previous funding and maximises the potential for private sector investment.
Multiple Occupation
Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to announce his conclusions on his Department's review of the planning rules for houses in multiple occupation. [305567]
Mr. Ian Austin: We are currently considering the responses to the consultation on houses in multiple occupation and possible planning responses. We aim to make an announcement on the way forward shortly.
Non-Domestic Rates
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) small business multiplier and (b) national non-domestic multiplier was in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10; and what the provisional multipliers are for 2010-11. [304889]
Barbara Follett: Details of the small business rate multiplier and the national non-domestic rates multipliers for 2007-08 to 2009-10 are shown in the following table:
| Pence | ||
| Small business rate multiplier | National non-domestic rates multiplier | |
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was collected in business rates after the deduction of reliefs in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent figures in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11. [304890]
Barbara Follett: Details of the amount of non-domestic rates collected, after the deduction of reliefs, but before the deduction of the cost of collection or losses, in 2007-08 and 2008-09 and corresponding estimates for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are given in the following table.
| £ million | |
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