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23 Feb 2010 : Column 492W—continued
Local Government: Pensions
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average employer contribution rate to each fund of the Local Government Pension Scheme is. [317806]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally. A summary of the 2007 triennial valuation exercises, prepared by the Society of County Treasurers, can be found at:
Individual scheme administering authorities can provide details of contribution levels of all fund employers and fund average contribution data.
Robert Neill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 26 January 2010, Official Report, column 770W, on
local government and fire services: pensions, what the level is at which employer pension contributions to the local government pension scheme will be (a) capped and (b) shared. [317876]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Discussions are continuing with stakeholders about the final terms for cap and share to apply within the Local Government Pension Scheme having regard to the outcome of the 2010 actuarial valuation exercise.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to change the employee contribution rate for the Local Government Pension Scheme. [317986]
Ms Rosie Winterton: There are no current plans to amend the Local Government Pension Scheme employee contribution tariff.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners are in receipt of assistance under the Homeowner Mortgage Protection Scheme. [317344]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 16 December 2009, Official Report, column 1297W.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households have been refused assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme because the value of the property exceeded the eligibility criteria. [317863]
John Healey: Regional property price caps for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme have been in place since the scheme was launched in January 2009. They reflect the aim of the scheme to provide targeted support for vulnerable households at risk of homelessness.
The level of the caps was increased on 1 May and is now at least 150 per cent. of lower quartile property prices in each region. In addition, housing associations have flexibility to consider applications which exceed the cap if appropriate depending on household's individual circumstances.
During 2009 fewer than 5 per cent. of applications were deemed ineligible for support because their property exceeded the regional price cap.
Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many applications were made to the Homeowner Mortgage Protection Scheme from homeowners in Moray constituency in 2009; and how many of these met the eligibility criteria; [317971]
(2) how many homeowners are in receipt of help under the Homeowner Mortgage Protection Scheme in Moray constituency. [318002]
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications were made to the Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme by homeowners in Angus constituency in 2009; and how many of these met the eligibility criteria. [318068]
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners in Perth and North Perthshire constituency are in receipt of help under the Homeowner Mortgage Protection Scheme. [317922]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Members to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 16 December 2009, Official Report, column 1297W. This information is not collected at constituency level.
Non-Domestic Rates
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of eligible small firms which do not claim small business rate relief. [317807]
Barbara Follett: New work by CLG analysts, published on 9 December 2009, shows that take-up of small business rate relief (SBRR) is much better than some have previously claimed. The report "Small business rate relief-improving evidence on eligibility and take-up: Methodology" is available at:
and estimates that, of the around 1.2 million business properties in England below the current rateable value (RV) thresholds for SBRR, around 575,000 are occupied by eligible small businesses; and around 68 per cent. of those eligible were actually claiming the relief at 31 December 2006, the latest date for which we have information on the number of claimants.
This estimate of the number of properties claiming the relief will be updated for 2008-09 following the issue of the statistical release "Number of hereditaments benefiting from Small Business Rate Relief and the number of empty hereditaments: experimental statistics" that will be published on the Communities and Local Government website at the end of February.
This means that an estimated 32 per cent. of properties occupied by eligible small businesses were not claiming the relief as at December 31 2006. The total amount of relief granted to small businesses has increased by 34 per cent. in real terms since we introduced the scheme- rising from £202 million in 2005-06 to £298 million in 2008-09. The new analysis estimates that in 2008-09, of the £325 million total relief that would be granted if all 575,000 eligible properties had claimed, 92 per cent. was actually paid out.
We have taken action to make it as easy as possible for eligible small businesses to access the relief and so improve take-up. In 2007 we removed the requirement for claimants to re-apply each year, so that a small business only had to apply once in each revaluation period. And on December 9 2009 we laid before Parliament an Order to remove the requirement to re-apply for SBRR at revaluation in 2010, a move which has been welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the levy charged on the business rate multiplier to offset estimated losses in revenue due to rating appeals was in each year since 2005-06. [317984]
Barbara Follett: There is no additional levy added to the business rate multiplier to take account of estimated losses for appeal for each individual year. The business rate multiplier is calculated in a revaluation year according to the formula at schedule 7 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
The formula allows for the total rateable value of the ratings lists to be adjusted to take account of estimated losses in appeals. The subsequent multiplier for each year of the 2005 ratings list following the 2005-06 revaluation year was adjusted just by the RPI inflation.
The calculation of the 2005-06 multiplier including an adjustment for estimated losses in appeals is set out in the Business Rates Information letter that I have put in the House Library.
The five-yearly business rates revaluations make sure each business pays its fair contribution and no more by ensuring that the share of the national rates bill paid by any one business reflects changes over time in the value of its property relative to others. The 2010 revaluation will not raise a single extra penny for Government.
Over a million properties will see their business rate liabilities come down as a result of revaluation. The Government have put in place a £2 billion relief scheme to limit the impact on the minority with bill increases, which in 2010-11 will ensure no business property sees its rates bill increase by more than 11 per cent. as a result of the revaluation, with maximum increases capped at just 3.5 per cent. for small properties. That is on top of the wider support available to help ease business pressures including discounted rate bills for small businesses and deferring tax payments.
Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property
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 16 October 2009, Official Report, column 1132W, on non-domestic rates: empty properties, if he will place in the Library a copy of the data on empty properties provided by each local authority as part of the most recent national non-domestic rates return. [317599]
Barbara Follett: Valid data at individual local authority level will be available following the issue of the statistical release "Number of hereditaments benefiting from Small Business Rate Relief and the number of empty hereditaments: experimental statistics" that will be published on the Communities and Local Government website at the end of February.
Non-Domestic Rates: Ports
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the correspondence received from GEFCO UK in relation to the new business rate regime affecting port businesses. [317801]
Barbara Follett: As explained to the hon. Member on 20 July 2009, it would be inappropriate for Ministers to release correspondence they receive without authority.
Parish Councils: Council Tax
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which parish councils levy a precept on council tax. [317854]
Barbara Follett: This information is not held centrally.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the gross revenue raised from parish precepts was on council tax in England in each year since 1997-98; and what the average parish precept on a Band D bill was in each such year. [317857]
Barbara Follett: Details of the gross revenue raised from parish precepts on council tax and the average parish precept on a band D bill in England since 2000-01 are published in table A3c of "Local Government Financial Statistics England No. 19 2009" that was published in May 2009.
A copy of this publication is available in the Library of the House and a copy is also available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Private Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate he has made of the (a) start-up and (b) ongoing costs of his Department's telephone helpline for tenants in the private rented sector; [317543]
(2) how much his Department plans to allocate to its new telephone helpline for tenants in the private rented sector. [317544]
Mr. Ian Austin: Our policy statement on the private rented sector published on 3 February included, as part of a package of measures designed to help tenants, landlords and letting agents, a commitment to set up a dedicated telephone helpline for private sector tenants by the summer of this year.
As the statement makes clear, we are discussing the details of how this proposal will be implemented with stakeholders in the voluntary sector.
Private Rented Housing: Planning Permission
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the written ministerial statement of 27 January 2010, Official Report, columns 54-6WS, on planning, what estimate has been made of the increase in the number of planning applications likely to result from the proposed changes. [317875]
Mr. Ian Austin: An estimate of the increase in the number of planning applications as a result of the proposed changes will be set out in the final impact assessment which is being produced in association with the implementing legislation.
Regional Planning and Development
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many core strategies have been approved by the relevant local planning authority to date; and how many Local Development Frameworks include a full set of documentation as required under the Local Development Scheme. [317855]
Mr. Ian Austin: Development Plan Documents are approved by local planning authorities at different stages: at publication; at submission of the strategy to the Secretary of State for an independent Examination in Public; and at adoption. The following table sets out the latest position for core strategies.
Local Development Schemes are a forward look setting out the timetables for the Development Plan Documents that local authorities intend to prepare or review. These are subject to ongoing change as new circumstances and requirements arise. The LDS should therefore rarely if ever be completed.
| Adopted | Submitted to SoS but not yet adopted | Published but not yet submitted | |
Social Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many registered social landlords there were in 2009; and how many properties were owned by them. [316809]
Mr. Ian Austin: On 31 March 2009 there were 1,830 landlords registered with the Tenant Services Authority and they owned a total of 2,379,728 units of housing.
A unit of housing is a single family home; a bedsit, flat, family house or a bedspace(1) in a hostel.
(1) Individuals placed in a hostel will occupy a bedspace in either a private room or a shared dormitory.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research his Department has conducted into the income of households in the social rented sector. [316818]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Survey of English Housing (SEH) has been the Department's main source of information on income by housing tenure up to 2007-08. From 2008-09 estimates will be mainly derived from the new English Housing Survey (EHS). An additional source is DWP's Family Resources Survey (FRS).
The most recently published annual report, Housing in England 2007-08, contains tables derived from both the SEH and the FRS. The report can be accessed at:
Tenant Services Authority
Robert Neill:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the (a) communications audit, (b) campaign book, (c) communications plan and
(d) political and key stakeholder outreach plan provided to the Tenant Services Authority under its contract with APCO Worldwide. [317869]
John Healey: No such documentation exists. A copy of the contract briefs is available in the Library of the House.
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