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5 Jan 2010 : Column 239W—continued
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of their property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Ratepayers occupying over a million properties-60 per cent. of total properties-will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government's £2 billion transitional relief scheme will limit the impact on the minority with bill increases, ensuring that in 2010-11 no small property will see an increase of more than 3.5 per cent. as a result of revaluation, with increases capped at 11 per cent. for larger properties. This is on top of the wider support available as part of Real Help Now to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Offenders
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many employees of his Department and its agencies have been convicted of a criminal offence of each type in each year since 1997. [308508]
Barbara Follett: Less than five employees of Communities and Local Government have been convicted of a criminal offence in total since 1997. Publication of further details could breach our rules of confidentiality and are thus not provided.
Oneplace
Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to his Department was of building the Oneplace web portal was; what budget he has allocated for the purpose of advertising the launch of Oneplace; and what estimate he has made of the cost of maintaining Oneplace in its first year of operation. [306384]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission, and I will ask the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 5 January 2009:
Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me to reply.
The cost incurred by the Audit Commission of building the Oneplace web portal is £484,000. This includes an estimated £220,000 on design and consultation with members of the public to ensure that the site meets their needs. The Audit Commission has spent £9,000 advertising the launch of this new service. The cost of maintaining Oneplace in the first year of operation is estimated to be £120,000.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Parking
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of each research project commissioned by his Department on residential car parking in the last five years. [308267]
Barbara Follett: A copy of the report, 'Residential Car Parking Report', from 9 May 2007 has been deposited in the Library. The report is also available at:
Parking: Fees and Charges
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 21 October 2009, Official Report, column 1509W, on parking: fees and charges, how much revenue was raised by local authorities from on-street parking (a) penalty charge notices and (b) charges in each year since 1997-98. [308983]
Barbara Follett: The information on the revenue raised by local authorities in England on penalty charge notice income and other sales, fees and charges from on-street parking from 2005-06 is tabled as follows.
| £ million | ||
| Penalty c harge n otice income | Other sales, fees and charges | |
Information for earlier years is not available.
Planning Permission
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to allocate funding to local authorities in respect of their new duties consequent on the creation of the Infrastructure Planning Commission. [307841]
Barbara Follett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson) on 28 October 2009, Official Report, columns 476-77W.
Regeneration: Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which regeneration schemes funded by his Department are delivered through the regional development agencies. [307834]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department for Communities and Local Government contributes funding to the Regional Development Agencies' Single Budget. However, it is the responsibility of individual RDA boards to determine how this resource is best utilised and which, if any, regeneration programmes are supported within each region.
Regional Government
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on elected regional government in England outside London. [308620]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Government have no plans to introduce elected regional government in England outside London.
Urban Areas: Regeneration
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to provide assistance to the accelerated development zones pilot schemes run by local authorities. [308596]
Barbara Follett: There are currently no active accelerated development zones pilot schemes. In December's pre-Budget report, the Government gave an update on work initiated in the April 2009 Budget, saying that it
"will continue to examine the framework that would be needed to implement tax increment financing and consider the primary legislation that would be needed if schemes were to be introduced".
"Accelerated Development Zones" are the geographical areas within which tax incremental financing, if introduced, would operate.
Waste Disposal: Fees and Charges
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any local authorities have reported efficiencies relating to the introduction of wheeled refuse containers in their most recent annual efficiency report to his Department. [308600]
Barbara Follett: The Department does not collect information from councils on the value of efficiencies broken down by individual service sectors. Councils are required to report only the total net value of ongoing cash-releasing value for money gains that have impacted since the start of the 2008-09 financial year.
Business, Innovation and Skills
Apprentices
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeship vacancies have been (a) advertised and (b) filled through the National Apprenticeship Service online vacancy system in each month since it was established. [304160]
Kevin Brennan: The information is as follows:
(a) The following table gives the number of new apprenticeship vacancies advertised each month (rounded to the nearest 10):
| Number | |
(b) The number of vacancies filled through the apprenticeship vacancies system each month since launch is as follows (rounded to the nearest 10):
| Number | |
The figures provided above are the number of candidates who have been recorded as successful in securing an apprenticeship opportunity through apprenticeship vacancies online.
These figures will significantly underestimate the number of apprentices who found positions through apprenticeship vacancies online. This is because some of the advertisements, particularly for large employers, will lead candidates to the employer's own on-line vacancies and the recording of successful candidates through this route can take longer.
Apprentices: Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) how many apprenticeships there were in Leeds in each year since 1997; [306592]
(2) how many apprenticeships there were in Leeds, West constituency in each year since 1997. [306587]
Kevin Brennan: Information on the number of apprenticeship starts are published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 22 October at:
Supplementary table 6.1 shows apprenticeship starts by region, local authority and parliamentary constituency from 2003/04, the earliest year for which we have comparable data.
Bankruptcy
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many bankruptcies of (a) individuals in each age group resident in and (b) businesses based in (i) Lewes constituency and (ii) East Sussex there have been in (A) 2008 and (B) 2009 to date. [308456]
Ian Lucas: Figures for bankrupts in East Sussex and Lewes constituency in 2008 are shown in table 1.
| Table 1: Bankruptcies in 2008 | |||||||
| Age Group( 1) | |||||||
| Area( 2) | Under 25 | 25-34 | 35-44 | 45-54 | 55-64 | 65+ | Unknown |
| (1) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid date of birth (93.4 per cent. in 2008). (2) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (96.9 per cent. in 2008). | |||||||
Self-employed traders may be declared bankrupt (or enter into an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA)), however, registered companies are the subject of liquidation (compulsory liquidation or creditors voluntary liquidation (CVL)).
Table 2 shows the number of self-employed traders who were declared bankrupt in 2008.
| Table 2: Bankruptcies among sole traders in 2008 | |
| Area( 1) | Number |
| (1) Where the bankrupt has provided a valid postcode (96.9 per cent. in 2008). | |
Regional figures for 2009 are not currently available for bankruptcies, as they are compiled on an annual basis.
Statistics covering corporate insolvencies are not currently available at a sub-national level within England and Wales.
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