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3 Feb 2010 : Column 361W—continued
Housing Corporation and English Partnerships: Redundancy Pay
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which (a) board members and (b) directors employed by (i) the Housing Corporation and (ii) English Partnerships received payments due to the closure of the organisations following the coming into effect of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008; how much was paid; and how much each board member received. [315196]
John Healey: In respect of the Housing Corporation, no termination payments were made to any of the chief executive, senior managements or board members. Neither were termination payments made to the board members of English Partnerships.
Termination payments were made to the chief executive and two directors of English Partnerships. These were set out in its Financial Statements 2008-09.
Housing: Construction
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of each substantive response to his Department's review into the development on garden land. [314970]
Mr. Ian Austin: 127 responses were received from local authorities to the review of evidence into development on garden land. A copy of each response was placed in the Library of the House on 19 January 2010.
Housing: Parking
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will commission research into the proportion of domestic garages used for (a) parking cars and (b) storage. [312883]
Mr. Ian Austin: Local authorities are encouraged by PPS 3 to consider their local circumstances when setting levels of parking for residential development, but it is not a matter for the Government what people choose to keep in their garages.
Housing: Sales
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of first-time buyers purchased a home at a price of under £250,000 in 2009. [314978]
Mr. Ian Austin: Data are only available for January to November 2009. In this period, the Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that there were 171,300 loans to first time buyers in the UK. Of these, CLG estimate that 90 per cent. (154,000) were for properties purchased for £250,000 or less.
Local Government Finance
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much non-Housing Revenue Account (a) debt and (b) interest was paid by local authorities in each year since 2000; and how much outstanding debt there was in each local authority on 31 December in each such year. [315352]
Barbara Follett: Information on non-Housing Revenue Account debt is not held centrally.
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) revenue from business rates was redistributed to each local authority and (b) each local authority received in revenue support grant through the formula grant in (i) 2007-08 and (ii) 2008-09; and what estimate he has made of such receipts by each local authority in (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11. [315353]
Barbara Follett: The amount of (a) redistributed business rates and (b) revenue support grant allocated to each authority for each of the years 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 is available from the departmental website.
The allocations for 2007-08 can be found at:
The allocations for 2008-09 can be found at:
The allocations for 2009-10 can be found at:
The allocations for 2010-11 can be found at:
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding has been granted under the (a) Working Neighbourhoods Fund, (b) Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, (c) Deprived Area Fund, (d) Local Enterprise Growth Initiative, (e) New Deal for Communities, (f) Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders, (g) New Communities Fund, (h) European Regional Development Fund, (i) Inspiring Communities Grant, (j) Connecting Communities Programme, (k) Single Regeneration Budget and (l) Land and Property Programme to each local authority in each year since 2000. [315354]
Barbara Follett: The data requested are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost
Planning Permission
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons his Department decided not to accept the recommendation of respondees to the consultation on the Draft Regulations on Infrastructure Planning (Decisions) 2010 that decision-makers should have regard to the pre-application consultation and the consultation report. [315091]
John Healey: The pre-application consultation report must be submitted to the IPC as part of the application for an order granting development consent. Section 37(3)(c) of the Planning Act 2008 refers. Therefore, the IPC will have the report before them when considering an application.
Recreation Spaces
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his Department's report of 18 February 2008, on Trees in Towns II, what assessment he has made of the average cost to his Department of planting a tree as part of a municipal tree planting programme; and whether his Department plans to commission follow-up research. [314976]
Mr. Ian Austin: "Trees in Towns II" did not assess the cost of planting trees. The planting of trees is a matter for each local and highway authority. There are no plans to commission follow-up research.
Regional Planning and Development: South East
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1139W, on regional planning and development: South East, what the status of the South East Regional Spatial Strategy is; and whether there are plans to (a) revise the Strategy and (b) undertake further environmental assessments. [315042]
Mr. Ian Austin: The South East Regional Spatial Strategy, published in May 2009, is part of the development plan under section 38 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 with the exception of Policy H2(i) which was quashed by the High Court.
There are a number of outstanding legal challenges to the specific elements of the South East Regional Spatial Strategy which relate to the adequacy of the strategic environmental assessment that was undertaken and we are currently in legal negotiations with those who have challenged it. Pending the conclusion of these negotiations, we will consider the way forward including the strategic environmental assessment.
Sleeping Rough: Ex-servicemen
Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of ex-service personnel in the number of street homeless people in England. [314024]
Mr. Ian Austin: The annual headline figure for rough sleeping, based on local authority street counts, does not include information such as whether a rough sleeper is a former member of the armed forces. However, there is specific data for London provided under the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) recording system.
Rough sleeping among ex-armed forces personnel has dropped and earlier surveys found that around a quarter had been in the armed services at some stage and in 2002 this figure was 14 per cent. Better accommodation advice for those leaving the armed forces and closer working between Government and the charitable sector, including provision of supported housing ventures, has helped reduce the numbers. As a result, in 2008-09, for those rough sleepers in London contacted by services 5 per cent. of rough sleepers were ex-service personnel.
Urban Development Corporations
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his Department's press release of 14 January 2010 on urban development corporations, whether any changes are to be made to levels of regeneration funding as a consequence of the merger or closure of the Development Corporations; whether he expects any staff to be made redundant; and what estimate he has made of the gross monetary value of the savings from such changes. [314993]
Mr. Ian Austin: In consequence of the outcome of the Quinquennial Review no changes to funding in the current or next financial year are being made, while funding for subsequent years will be decided in the next spending review. We do not expect the urban development corporations to make any redundancies as a result of the review.
All three development corporations are already participating in the Government's operational efficiency programme, which could yield cumulative savings across their operating costs of £8 million in the period to 2013-14. Increased joint working, delivery and shared services with partners in west Northamptonshire should achieve additional cumulative savings of at least £1 million by 2013-14. Further savings will arise in due course from the transfer of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation to the HCA but it is too early to estimate what these will be as it will depend upon when, for example, operating systems can be harmonised.
Waste Management: Planning Permission
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many planning applications for waste treatment plants have been granted in each of the last three months. [314368]
Mr. Ian Austin: The most recent statistics available are for the period July-September 2009. During this time, waste planning authorities granted permission for 89 major and 128 minor waste applications. We do not hold information on the number of permissions granted on a month-by-month basis.
Treasury
Debts: Developing Countries
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with his G8 counterparts to discuss progress towards reducing the debts of developing countries; and if he will make a statement. [315200]
Mr. Timms: The Government have regular conversations with their G8 partners on a range of subjects: including development. Good progress is being made to deliver debt relief to the world's poorest countries through the internationally agreed heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) initiative and the multilateral debt relief initiative (MDRI). 35 out of 40 eligible countries are now receiving debt relief worth $117 billion, freeing up resources for poverty reduction. Of these, 28 have completed the HIPC initiative and received irrevocable debt cancellation, including Haiti, Central African Republic, Afghanistan, Republic of Congo and Burundi in the past year.
Departmental Carbon Emissions
John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) associated non-departmental public bodies plan to sign up to the 10:10 campaign for cutting carbon usage in 2010; and if he will publish the (i) criteria and (ii) research upon which such a decision will be taken. [312112]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Treasury Group and other Chancellor's Departments are committed to seeking year-on-year improvements in their environmental performance. HM Treasury was the first central Government Department to receive the Carbon Trust's 'Carbon Standard' for all operations, including official transport, in March 2009. HM Treasury has recently been rated the best performing department in Whitehall by the independent Sustainable Development Commission.
In 2009 the Chancellor of the Exchequer asked each of his departments to consider what more they would be able to do to achieve the minimum standards proposed by the 10:10 campaign, where possible aiming for a 10 per cent. reduction in carbon emissions in 2010.
Details of performance against a range of environmental indicators, including carbon emissions, are published by the Treasury Group and other Chancellor's departments in their annual reports.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change also publishes progress against carbon reduction targets for all Government Departments on its website at:
Departmental Contracts
Mr. Leech: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many jobs formerly undertaken by staff of his Department have been outsourced to external companies in each of the last five years; and to which companies. [314633]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: HM Treasury has outsourced in total forty-two posts in the last five years. In 2005 three were transferred to Logica CMG for provision of payroll services. In December 2009 thirty-nine posts were transferred to the Fujitsu Group, thirty-six of which had staff in post at the time.
National Income
Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what headline workplace-based gross value was added per head at current basic prices in each NUTS 1 region in each year since 2005; and what the percentage change was from each year to the next. [313759]
Angela E. Smith: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated 28 January 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning headline workplace-based gross value added per head at current basic prices in each NUTS1 region in each year since 2005; and what the percentage change was from each year to the next (313759).
The latest year for which NUTS1 data are available is 2008. Headline gross value added (GVA) per head figures for each NUTS1 region, calculated on a workplace basis are shown in annex A for the years 2005 to 2008. Data on GVA per head percentage changes for each NUTS1 region can be found in annex B.
| Annex A: GVA per head | ||||
| £ per head | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| Source: Table 1.1, Regional GVA, ONS, available on the National Statistics website at | ||||
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