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2 Mar 2010 : Column 1146W—continued
Local Government: Pensions
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the speech made by the Minister for Local Government on 27 January 2010, how much and what proportion of the £1 billion a year savings to public service pension schemes from 2012-13 will accrue as a result of changes to the scope of the Local Government Pension Scheme. [319119]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The pre-Budget report estimated public service pension schemes will save £1 billion a year from 2012-13, and at least twice this amount over the long-term as part of reforms across public service pension schemes. These savings will flow from cap and share reforms impacting on the four main public service pension schemes provided for teachers, local authority employees, the NHS and the Civil Service. The proportion of savings to accrue to the Local Government Pension Scheme will reflect the results of its cap and share process programmed to follow the next Scheme-wide actuarial valuation exercise due on 31 March 2010.
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment has been made of the effect of stock market movements between March 2007 and March 2010 on
the employee contributions towards the Local Government Pension Scheme to be required from local authorities from March 2011. [319304]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The next scheme actuarial valuation exercise takes place on 31 March 2010. It will assess all the relevant factors influencing the stability and solvency of the scheme, including the effect of recent stock market conditions and trends. New employer contribution rates to be determined by the valuation will apply from 1 April 2011 until 31 March 2014. Employee contributions are set separately by the relevant Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations.
Local Government: Redundancy Pay
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 19 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1312-13W, on local government: redundancy pay, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the non-confidential written responses, including the record of the verbal briefing by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. [319320]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Audit Commission plans to publish its report on severance pay made to local authority chief executives in mid-March. The consultation responses from organisations will be placed on the Commission's website when the report is published. Copies of all non-confidential responses will be placed in the Library of the House.
Local Government: Reorganisation
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what account his Department takes of the level of support from the relevant local authorities in considering the creation of a new unitary authority. [314985]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Secretary of State is now carefully considering the Boundary Committee's advice, all the representations he has received, including those of affected local authorities, and all other relevant information, before taking his statutory decisions about whether, to implement any of the unitary proposals before him, with or without modification, or to take no action on them.
Local Government: Statistics
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what datasets not in the National Indicator dataset are collected from local authorities by his Department's Executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies. [319245]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has three executive agencies; the Planning Inspectorate, Fire Service College, and Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. None of these agencies collects datasets outside the national indicator dataset.
The Department does not hold information on datasets collected from local authorities by the Department's twenty associated non-departmental public bodies. Given
the wide range of responsibilities and interactions those bodies have with local authorities, obtaining this information could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Local Government: Trespass
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his latest estimate is of the number of (a) squatters, (b) trespassers and (c) other unauthorised occupiers of local authority properties. [319110]
Mr. Ian Austin: No data are available centrally on the total number of squatters, trespassers or other unauthorised occupiers in local authority properties.
Migration Impact Fund
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) amount, (b) date of issuing and (c) purpose has been of each grant made under the Migration Impact Fund. [319035]
Mr. Malik: The Migration Impacts Fund is a UK-wide £35 million fund for each of the years 2009-10 and 2010-11. The overall purpose of the fund is to reduce the short term pressure of migration on local public services. Councils and other frontline services were asked through their local strategic partnerships to identify projects in their areas.
On the 9 July 2009 the Secretary of State announced the successful proposals for England. The specific purpose of each grant, the amount granted and the local services being supported are shown in the table which has been placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have received funding from the Migration Impact Fund; how much each has received; and what methodology was used to allocate the funding. [319036]
Mr. Malik: The Migration Impacts Fund is allocated regionally; the amount each region receives is weighted towards the areas where international migration has had the greatest short-term impact. Local Strategic Partnerships in each region were invited to bid for projects the Migration Impacts Fund could support and these were assessed by their regional Government Office. The final decision was made by the Secretary of State.
The allocations to each local authority (per year) are set out in the following table:
| Migration Impacts Fund-Local authority funding 2009-10 and 2010-11 | ||
| Authority | Total 2009-10 | Total 2010-11 |
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