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1 Mar 2010 : Column 955W—continued
Departmental Marketing
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) his Department and its agencies and (b) companies contracted by his Department and its agencies have spent on celebrity endorsements and appearances relating to projects sponsored by his Department in each of the last three years. [319126]
Barbara Follett: The Department's central Communication Directorate incurred the following fees for the use of celebrities over the last three financial years, either directly or through contracted companies:
2007-08: £200,000 for work on the Fire Kills public safety campaign
2008-09: £211,500 for work on the Fire Kills public safety campaign and the REACH BME role models campaign
2009-10: (To February 2010) - £27,500 for work on the Fire Kills public safety campaign and the Ordinary People, Extraordinary Career Fire and Rescue Service recruitment campaign
These costs exclude fees paid to celebrities or other publicly known individuals, who worked for the Department as voice over artists or in another capacity to which their celebrity status was not relevant to the work conducted.
They include fees paid to celebrities or other publicly known individuals for a range of activity not strictly defined as 'endorsements or appearances' where the individual's public status was of perceived benefit to the Department.
Information relating to use of celebrities by the Department's agencies could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Paper
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) suppliers and (b) brands of (i) paper and (ii) paper products his Department uses; and what his Department's policy is on the procurement of those materials. [320033]
Barbara Follett: Suppliers are appointed through our stationery contract with Banner Business Services and the Buying solutions paper framework contract-Antalis, Ebb, Howard Smith, McNaughton, Premier Paper, Robert Home, The Paper Company, Xerox.
Brands currently used-9 Lives, Revive, Greencoat, Cocoon, Oxygen, Evolve Business, and Cyclus. Some of these are common products, available under different brand names from different suppliers.
Within those brands it is our policy to only use products which are 100 per cent. post consumer waste if uncoated, or 75 per cent. post consumer waste if coated in line with DEFRA policy guidelines.
Departmental Pay
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Weybridge of 29 January 2010, Official Report, columns 1136-37W, on departmental manpower, what the average salary is of an employee in each of the pay ranges between 3(EO) and Director. [319321]
Barbara Follett: In Communities and Local Government the average salary in each pay range from pay range 3 (EO) to director is shown in the following table:
| Pay range | Average salary (£) |
Departmental Plants
David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies has spent on pot plants in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09 and (iii) 2009-10. [319198]
Barbara Follett: The maintenance of pot plants for the Department for Communities and Local Government and its agencies is contained within the overall scope of existing Integrated Facilities Management contracts and therefore not separately identifiable.
The cost of pot plants procured within the specified period is:
| £ | |
Departmental Sick Leave
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department have had five or more periods of sickness absence of less than five days since its inception. [316468]
Barbara Follett: Information on sickness absence for 2004, 2005, 2006-07 for the Department for Communities and Local Government can be found on the civil service website:
For the periods 2008-09 and 2009-10, Communities and Local Government has been monitoring absence figures on a quarterly basis and details will be published shortly on the Department's external website and as annual figures in our forthcoming departmental report.
Departmental Temporary Employment
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which companies were contracted by his Department for the provision of temporary staff in each of the last three years; how many temporary staff were employed by his Department in each such year; and what the monetary value was of contracts with each such company in each such year. [317994]
Barbara Follett [holding answer 22 February 2010]: The Department has used several suppliers over the last three years for the provision of temporary and agency staff. The monetary value of individual contracts could be disaggregated only at a disproportionate cost.
Details of the Department's staffing levels are published each year in its annual report and resource accounts, copies of which can be found on the Department's external website:
Departmental Training
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent under each budgetary heading on the seminar held at the City Inn, Westminster on An Introduction to Strategic Communications; which (a) Ministers, (b) officials and (c) guests attended; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the agenda and each handout from the meeting. [318749]
Barbara Follett: The training course in question was part of the current learning and development programme for junior members of the Communication Directorate in this Department. There was no ministerial involvement in this training module. The costs associated with obtaining the training from the provider are commercially confidential, as are the materials used for the module. The cost of accommodating the two training modules was £2,000 excluding VAT.
Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
Mr. Stewart Jackson: 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, columns 737W, on domestic waste, whether his Department has issued guidance to local authorities on the counting of efficiency savings made as a consequence of moving from weekly to alternate weekly collections of household waste. [319108]
Barbara Follett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (John Healey) the then Minister for Local Government on 14 January 2009, Official Report, column 779W, to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles).
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2010, Official Report, column 290W, on local government: cost effectiveness, what proportion of the £550 million of efficiency savings he expects to come from more efficient waste collection. [319214]
Barbara Follett: The pre-Budget report sets out a number of areas where local government will be able to find significant efficiencies by 2012-13. It is for individual local authorities to make efficiencies based on local priorities and use of resources. Waste collection is an example of how they may do this.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities had reported the implementation of alternate weekly collection of household waste as the source of an efficiency saving in the annual efficiency returns submitted to his Department on the latest date for which figures are available. [319233]
Barbara Follett: The Department does not collect information from councils about the value of efficiencies broken down by individual service sectors. Since 2008, councils have been required to report only the net total of current cash-releasing value for money gains that have been in effect since the start of the 2008-09 financial period.
In the 2004 spending review period which ended in 2007-08, councils were required to submit Annual Efficiency Statements, which included a breakdown by service area of efficiency savings. These categories included waste.
The most recent information available from Annual Efficiency Statements is for 2007-08 and I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (John Healey) the then Minister for Local Government to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 29 October 2008, Official Report, column 1155W, on waste disposal.
Government Office for London: Buildings
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 7 January 2010, Official Report, column 505W, on Government Office for London: location, what the cost to his Department will be of (a) surrendering the lease on Riverwalk House before it expires in 2011 and (b) any empty property rates owed on Riverwalk House. [318325]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department for Communities and Local Government do not intend to surrender the lease at Riverwalk House prior to the lease expiry. There are no empty property rates owing for the facility.
Homes and Communities Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the job title is of each head of functions at the Homes and Communities Agency. [318750]
John Healey: The following list gives the job title of each head of function at the Homes and Communities Agency:
Head of Corporate Performance and Programme Management
Head of Corporate Assurance
Head of Finance
Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development
Head of Information Technology
Head of Legal Services
Head of Investment Analysis
Head of Investment Programmes
Head of Markets and Renewal
Head of New Business and Economics
Head of Private Finance
Company Secretary
Head of Communications
Head of Policy and Performance
Head of Academy Operations
Head of Strategy and External Relations.
Homes and Communities Agency Academy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) training schemes and (b) courses the Homes and Communities Agency Academy provides. [319688]
Mr. Ian Austin: Continually updated information on the range of training schemes and courses offered by the Homes and Communities Agency skills and knowledge team is available on the website at this address:
Training schemes and courses are only developed in response to market demand, and where it is evident that a gap in the market exists in relation to other service providers.
Homes and Communities Agency: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) with reference to page 27 of the Homes and Communities Agency's Corporate Plan for 2009, from which programmes he expects the Agency to make capital efficiencies; how much will be saved from each programme; and if he will make a statement; [319258]
(2) with reference to page 28 of the Homes and Communities Agency's Corporate Plan 2009, from which programme the Agency expects to make programme efficiencies; how much will be saved from each programme; and if he will make a statement. [319204]
John Healey: Of the £108 million reprioritisation in 2009-10, £50 million is being found from making efficiencies within the national affordable housing programme, and £30 million comes from the Community Infrastructure Fund. £2 million is being found from the Property and Regeneration programme and £26 million comes from recycled receipts from the former Derelict Land Grant programme.
For 2010-11, a further £50 million will be found from efficiencies within the national affordable housing programme. The remaining £25 million of efficiencies will be identified at a later stage, following an assessment of performance and delivery options for 2010-11.
Housing: Construction
Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to increase the environmental standards to which new houses are built. [319453]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Government have taken a number of steps to increase the environmental standards of new homes by reducing carbon emissions, the risk of flooding from surface water run-off and improving water efficiency. Specific measures include:
1. Setting a target for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016 by raising energy efficiency standards under Part L of the Building Regulations with interim steps in 2010 and 2013. This regulatory approach to achieving a step change in the carbon footprint is supported by other, non-regulatory measures including:
The Code for Sustainable Homes-a voluntary set of standards for assessing the sustainability of new homes and whose highest level (level 6) requires zero carbon;
Exemplar programmes, including zero carbon Eco towns and also the Homes and Communities Agency's Carbon Challenge which is taking forward developments built to level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes;
Financial support for the Zero Carbon Hub, a delivery body established by industry to overcome the practical barriers to delivery of zero carbon homes;
Stamp duty land tax exemption for zero carbon homes.
Clarifying the role of local planning in supporting the zero carbon policy through the Planning Policy Statement on climate change.
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