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20 Jan 2010 : Column 379W—continued
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 22 October 2009, Official Report, column 1650W, on domestic waste: waste disposal, how much and what proportion of the formula grant given to local authorities in the most recent year for which figures are available related to (a) waste collection and (b) waste disposal duties. [311527]
Barbara Follett: Formula grant, which comprises revenue support grant, redistributed business rates and principal formula police grant where appropriate is an unhypothecated block grant, i.e. councils are free to spend it on any service provided that they meet their statutory duties. For this reason, and due to the method of calculating formula grant, particularly floor damping, it is not possible to say how much grant has been allocated for any particular service.
Fire Services: Disadvantaged
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 11 November 2009, Official Report, column 378W, on the Equality Bill, what assessment has been made of the likely effect of a duty to tackle socio-economic disadvantage of the effectiveness of the Fire and Rescue Service in (a) preventing and (b) tackling fires. [311784]
Michael Jabez Foster: I have been asked to reply.
Where the socio-economic duty applies to fire and rescue authorities, it will ensure that they continue to focus their preventative work on the households and areas that are most at risk of fire, and encourage and support their joint working on this with key partners. The duty will not affect the work of fire and rescue services in tackling fires.
Government Departments: Energy
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment he has made of the level of compliance with the requirement to provide energy performance certificates in respect of the sale of buildings in the commercial property sector; and if he will make a statement. [310629]
John Healey: The 29 March 2007 "Regulatory Impact Assessment Energy Performance of Buildings Directive Articles 7-10" estimated that there was likely to be a need for approximately 216,000 non-domestic EPCs to be prepared per annum following the coming into force of the Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/991).
Up to and including 13 January 2010, the latest date for which figures are available, the total number of non-domestic EPCs that has been prepared since the regulations came into force in relation to non-domestic buildings in April 2008 is 141,339.
We recognise that non-compliance is a cause for concern in the non-domestic sector, although these requirements were only extended to include all non-domestic buildings from October 2008. From April 2008, only buildings with a total floor area greater than 10,000 square metres required an EPC and from July 2008 only those with a total floor area greater than 2,500 square metres. It is also important to note that the estimates included in the impact assessment pre-dated the economic downturn, which is likely to have had a negative impact on demand.
The regulations stipulate that local weights and measures authorities are responsible for enforcement. We have taken a number of steps to assist them in this task, including providing advice and guidance to trading standards officers (TSOs) about what is required and who is responsible, and providing them with full access to the EPC Register for enforcement purposes.
We are also considering what more might be done through the regulations themselves in order to clarify when the need for an EPC for non-domestic buildings is triggered and whether to bring forward elements of the recast of the EPBD once it has been adopted by the European Union to make it easier for TSOs to identify the person responsible for making that an EPC is made available to prospective buyers and tenants can more readily be identified and targeted for enforcement action.
Local Government Services: Complaints
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department plans to make a formal response to the report of the independent review on redress for citizens chaired by David Cook. [312030]
Barbara Follett: We are currently discussing the recommendations made in the review team's report, "Getting it Right and Righting the Wrongs", with colleagues across Whitehall, and will be issuing a formal Government response shortly. A number of the report's recommendations are already being taken forward by the programme of pilots currently under way to explore the use of the practitioners' toolkit produced by the review.
Local Government: Cornwall
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his latest estimate is of the gross costs consequent on local government restructuring in Cornwall since 2007. [311666]
Barbara Follett: Cornwall council's latest estimate of the gross costs of setting up the new unitary council is £19 million. This year the council has budgeted to make savings of some £15.64 million in 2009-10 of which 87 per cent. are already delivered. In addition the council is investing a further £23.6 million in its transformation programme which will deliver additional savings and service improvements.
Local Government: Cost Effectiveness
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who the members are of his local government task force on value for money efficiencies; which members represent trade unions; what private sector representation there will be on that task force; and whether members of that task force have made a declaration of political activity. [312033]
Barbara Follett: The members of the "Putting the Frontline First" Task Force are:
Sir Steve Bullock-Mayor of LB Lewisham and chair of LGA HR panel (co-chair)
Sir Richard Leese-Leader, Manchester city council (co-chair)
John Ransford-LGA
Jan Parkinson-LGE
Steve Bundred-Audit Commission
Steve Freer-CIPFA
Heather Wakefield-Unison
Joyce Redfearn-Chief executive, Wigan council and national chair of RIEPs
Nicola Bulbeck-Chief executive, Teignbridge district council, and interim chief executive, Torridge district council
Andrew Kerr-Chief executive, North Tyneside
Chris Bull-Chief executive, Herefordshire council and Herefordshire PCT
The task force has a Unison representative on the membership, and does not include any private sector representation. The task force members have not made a declaration of political activity.
Local Government: Elections
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has given to local authorities on whether funding under the Connecting Communities programme may be spent during a regulated election period. [311534]
Barbara Follett: Communities and Local Government has given no advice to local authorities on whether funding under the Connecting Communities programme may be spent during the pre-election period of local elections. There are specific codes of conduct, guidance and legal requirements regarding the activities of local authorities during this period.
In particular, local authorities must have regard to the specific guidance, contained in the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity issued under section 4 of the Local Government Act 1985. Paragraphs 41 and 43 contain the guidance to councils about publicity between the notice of an election and the election itself. It is up to local authorities, having regard to this guidance, to decide what they deem appropriate activity during this period.
Local Government: Publicity
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what timetable he has set for the publication of a revised Code of Conduct on Local Authority Publicity. [312006]
Ms Rosie Winterton: We will be publishing our response to the over 300 representations we received on our consultation about possible revisions to the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity shortly.
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what evaluation work his Department has undertaken on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. [312028]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department published an evaluation report on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund in November 2008 entitled 'Impacts and Outcomes of the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund'. The report can be accessed via the CLG website at:
Non-domestic Rates
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of businesses were participating in the business rate deferral scheme on the latest date for which figures are available. [312035]
Barbara Follett: Our priority is to give businesses real help now so that they are able to manage in the current economic climate. The deferral scheme is part of a wide package of support the Government have put in place, and it was up to businesses to decide whether to use this option depending on their individual circumstances. We have asked local authorities to collect figures on the total number of deferrals granted and the total amount deferred and we intend to publish that data after the end of the billing year.
Non-domestic Rates: Garages and Petrol Stations
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what average catalyst price per litre of unleaded fuel was used to calculate the business rate for (a) non-supermarket and (b) supermarket petrol retail outlets in the year to 1 April 2009. [311044]
Barbara Follett: An overall 'average' Catalist price per litre of unleaded fuel for (a) non-supermarket and (b) supermarket retail outlets was not used to assess rateable values for the draft 2010 Rating Lists.
Individual site average prices per litre were obtained for the calendar years 2005-07 from Experian Catalist. Individual site 2007 figures, where supplied, were used together with the fair maintainable throughput of the site to arrive at a value per 1,000 litres of maintainable throughput.
The average 2007 price per litre of unleaded fuel for England and Wales, as supplied by Catalist was 94.99 pence per litre (ppl). On the information supplied, the average for all non-supermarket sites was 95.27ppl, while the average for all supermarket sites was 93.50ppl.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what ceiling applied to (a) non-supermarket and (b) supermarket
petrol retail outlet shop sales in assessing rateable values for the purpose of calculating the business rate to come into effect from 1 April 2010. [311045]
Barbara Follett: The value of the forecourt shop, forming part of either (a) non-supermarket or (b) supermarket petrol filling stations, has been capped at £110,000 rateable value.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what methodology will be used to rate (a) supermarket petrol retail outlets and (b) non-supermarket petrol retail outlets for their new rateable value for the purpose of calculating the business rate to come into effect on 1 April 2010. [311047]
Barbara Follett: The rental comparative method of valuation has been used to value both (a) supermarket and (b) non-supermarket petrol filling stations.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what relative changes in property values have been taken into account in assessing the rateable values of petrol retail outlets for the purpose of calculating the business rate to come into effect on 1 April 2010. [311051]
Barbara Follett: The relative change in the rental value of petrol filling stations between 1 April 2003 and 1 April 2008 have been taken into account in assessing the rateable values of petrol retail outlets for the 2010 revaluation, which comes into effect on 1 April 2010.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers
this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information was used to reach the assessment of the new rateable values for petrol retail outlets prior to the business rate to come into effect on 1 April 2010. [311055]
Barbara Follett: Rental evidence obtained from petrol filling station operators forms the primary information base used to reach rateable values. Additionally, information gained from discussions with industry representatives and anecdotal evidence from surveyors working in the specific rental market have been used.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the date was of the revaluation of petrol retail outlets used for the purpose of calculating the current business rate for such outlets. [311080]
Barbara Follett: The Antecedent Valuation Date (AVD) for the current Rating Lists, for all non-domestic hereditements, including petrol retail outlets, is 1 April 2003. The equivalent date for the revaluation due to come into force on 1 April 2010 is l April 2008. Physical changes affecting the property or its locality are usually included in the valuation, or altered valuation, as at the date of the change.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government and over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation.
In the last five years, alongside rising petrol prices and increasing turnover, the rents paid on many petrol filling stations has grown. It is only fair to all ratepayers this is reflected in rate bills. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on business properties facing increases.
Sir Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government over what period the assessment took place of rateable values of petrol retail outlets for the purpose of calculating the business rate to come into effect on 1 April 2010; and what information has become available to his Department on (a) the volume of forecourt petrol sales and (b) levels of revenue from forecourt (i) shops and (ii) car washes since the end of that period. [311083]
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