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7 Jan 2010 : Column 505W—continued
Home Information Packs
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the level of compliance of (a) estate agents and (b) home-sellers with requirements relating to home information packs. [308256]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 8 July 2009, Official Report, columns 902-03W, to the hon. Member for Peterborough (Mr. Jackson).
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 18 May 2009, Official Report, column 1211W, on home information packs, (1) whether rules on misleading omissions apply to property information questionnaires constituting a marketing communication between a home seller and a home buyer; [308603]
(2) whether estate agents are liable for misleading omissions made by a home seller producing a property information questionnaire; and what obligations estate agents have to check the (a) accuracy and (b) truthfulness of property information questionnaires. [308604]
John Healey: Section 155 of the Housing Act 2004 provides that the person responsible for marketing is under a duty to have a Home Information Pack (HIP) in his possession which complies with the Home Information Pack (No. 2) Regulations 2007. Where the person responsible for marketing is an estate agent, Regulation 36 provides that he cannot be held in breach where a document (other than the Index and Sale Statement) fails to comply with the Regulations and the agent believed on reasonable grounds that it did comply.
Estate agents are under a duty under the Home Information Pack (No. 2) Regulations 2007 to ensure that the HIP includes a completed Property Information Questionnaire (PIQ) but are not under a duty to ensure that the answers given by the seller are accurate and truthful. An estate agent could be in breach of the Consumer Protection Regulations (CPRs) if he failed to act on information in the PIQ which he knew to be inaccurate or untruthful, because they are required by the CPRs to act in accordance with honest market practice and good faith.
Local Government and Housing Act 1989
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many individuals were found guilty of breaching section 19(2) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 from its commencement to its repeal. [308733]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department does not have information about the number of local authority members who have not complied with section 19(2) of the Local Government and Housing Act.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the monetary value is of the area-based grant to be allocated in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12; and what criteria are used to allocate that grant to local authorities. [307833]
Barbara Follett: The monetary value of area based grant (ABG) for 2010-11 is £5,028,317,187. The allocation for 2011-12 has yet to be announced. Decisions on future public spending plans will be a matter for the next spending review.
The criteria used to allocate departmental contributions to ABG are decided by the respective Departments, and will reflect factors such as relative need for the services covered by each contribution to the Grant. For example, the distribution of money for schools intervention will take account of the number of maintained schools in the area.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the central Government grant per capita was to each local authority, including police and fire authorities in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [308654]
Barbara Follett: I have placed in the Library of the House tables showing central Government grant per capita by local authority for 2008-09 and 2009-10. However, it should be noted that figures between the two years are not directly comparable because the 2008-09 figures are based on outturn information whereas those for 2009-10 are based on budget information. It should also be borne in mind that local authorities may not have complete information about all central Government grants at the time they completed the budget returns.
The definition of central Government grant used here is the sum of formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed non-domestic rates and police grant), Greater London authority grant, specific grants inside
Aggregate External Finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services and Area Based Grant (ABG).
Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities' core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Mid-year 2008 population estimates are used to calculate per capita information. 2009 figures are not yet available. For National Parks mid-year 2007 estimates are used because they are the most recent available.
Local Government Finance: Lancashire
Mr. Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding the Government provided to (a) Lancashire county council and (b) Preston city council in real terms in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2009. [308652]
Barbara Follett: The following table shows central Government funding provided to Lancashire county council and Preston city council in real terms at 2008-09 prices. Figures between the two years are not directly comparable because those for 1997-98 are based on outturn information whereas those for 2009-10 are based on budget information. In addition, local authorities may not have had complete information about all central Government grants at the time of completing the budget returns.
| £ million | ||
| 1997-98 | 2009-10 | |
| Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns for 1997-98 and 2009-10. | ||
The definition of central Government grant used here is the sum of formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed non-domestic rates and police grant) and specific grants inside aggregate external finance (AEF), i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services. In 2009-10 figures include area-based grant (ABG).
Figures exclude grants outside AEF (i.e. where funding is not for authorities' core services, but is passed to a third party, for example, rent allowances and rebates), capital grants, funding for the local authorities' housing management responsibilities and those grant programmes (such as European funding) where authorities are simply one of the recipients of funding paid towards an area.
Local Government: Accountability
John Hemming: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received on accountability mechanisms for local authority (a) strategic partnerships, (b) safeguarding boards and (c) partnership bodies. [306352]
Barbara Follett:
Chapter 1 of the Strengthening Local Democracy consultation sought views on the extension of scrutiny powers of Local Area Agreement partners
and whether these should be made more explicit in relation to the wider delivery of local public services in an area. The consultation also asked whether the structure of local partnerships should be reviewed in order to identify unhelpful overlap and duplication and whether these were particular issues on which such a review should focus. Over 1,400 responses were received to this consultation and I will be publishing the formal response to it in due course.
In addition, on 23 December, I received the formal shortlist of 199 proposals from the Local Government Association in its role as the Selector under the provisions of the Sustainable Communities Act, and a number of these make suggestions about accountability mechanisms for local authorities and other bodies.
Local Government: Contracts
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has plans to update the publication Guidance on contracting for Services in the light of the Human Rights Act 1998, to take account of recent judgments relating to the scope of that Act. [308266]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IdeA) have commissioned the British Institute of Human Rights to carry out a project looking at the relevance of a human rights approach to local government and service delivery. We will consider the need for any revised guidance in light of the outcome of this project.
Local Government: Elections
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance (a) his Department and (b) the Standards Board for England has issued on whether local authority (i) buildings and (ii) equipment provided for councillors to carry out their representative role may be used for the production of political campaigning literature. [308638]
Ms Rosie Winterton: As made clear in the statutory Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity issued by my Department, section 2 of the Local Government Act 1986 provides that council resources should never be used for purely political purposes.
Standards for England have published guidance on the use of local authority resource for political campaigning, both in their guide to the local authority members' code of conduct and in their 'Case Review' for 2007. Both publications are available from Standards for England's website at:
Local Government: Insurance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether an impact assessment was undertaken in respect of proposals to enable local authorities to set up mutual insurance schemes in the Economic Development, Local Democracy and Construction Bill; and what assessment has been made of the level of compliance of those proposals with competition rules. [309005]
Ms Rosie Winterton: An impact assessment reporting on the impact of providing powers for local authorities to enter into mutual insurance arrangements was published on 13 October 2009. This is accessible at:
Companies through which authorities are required to operate when exercising the power to form and participate in mutual insurance bodies, as set out in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, will be required to comply with competition law.
Local Government: Public Consultation
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse was of the redress review; and which of its recommendations have been implemented. [308589]
Barbara Follett: In addition to staff time, the Department for Communities and Local Government spent £113,781 on the redress review.
The Department accepted the recommendation to run a series of pilots for local authorities and partnerships to test and develop the Practitioner's Toolkit produced by the review when it was presented with the review in June 2009. Nine local authorities are piloting the toolkit, and further information is available on our website at:
One of these pilots is looking at how best partners could come together to deliver better services and remedies for people recently made redundant. The pilots also include elements as the sharing of learning at regional events, all of which were also recommendations of the review.
The Government will be making a formal response to the review shortly.
Local Government: Publicity
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding his Department has given to the Local Government Information Unit to conduct research in relation to the revised draft Code on Local Authority Publicity. [309002]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has given no funding to the Local Government Information Unit to conduct research in relation to any revised draft of the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity.
Mortgages
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has made an assessment of the variation between mortgage rates offered to homebuyers who wish to purchase a new-build home and those who wish to buy homes which have previously been owned and occupied. [307829]
John Healey: Communities and Local Government is working closely with HMT, FSA and all those involved in the sale of new homes to support a sustainable and transparent mortgage market.
According to the CML Regulated Mortgage Survey, the average initial mortgage rate on new build was 4.63 per cent. in October 2009, compared to 4.42 per cent. on other properties.
Non-Domestic Rates
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average business rate bill was in (a) cash and (b) real terms based on 2009 prices in each year since 1997-98. [307845]
Barbara Follett: The average non-domestic rates bill (in £s) in England in each year since 1997-98, including the estimated average figures for 2009-10, both in cash and in real terms based on 2009 prices, is shown in the following table.
| Average non-domestic rates bill England | ||
| £ | ||
| Cash | Real terms | |
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