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23 Mar 2010 : Column 261W—continued
Affordable Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many new (a) low cost home ownership and (b) social homes were (i) flats and (ii) houses in each local authority area in each year since 1997; [323840]
(2) how many new (a) low cost home ownership and (b) social homes had (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three and (iv) four or more bedrooms in each local authority area in each year since 1997. [323814]
Mr. Ian Austin: Tables will be placed in the Library of the House which shows the number of low-cost home ownership and social rented homes delivered through the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Housing Programme by the number of bedrooms and by houses or flats for each local authority area. These figures are only available from the Homes and Communities Agency's Investment Management System, so will not cover the total number of affordable homes.
Allotments
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Colchester of 9 September 2009, Official Report, columns 2003-4W, on allotments, if he will place in the Library a copy of the letter from his Department to the Government Office responsible for determining applications for consent for disposal of statutory allotments in England. [323144]
Barbara Follett: A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library of the House.
Audit Commission: Consolidated Communications
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2010, Official Report, column 474W, on Consolidated Communications, if he will place in the Library a copy of each of the briefing notes on legislative issues and policy announcements produced by Consolidated Communications for the Audit Commission. [323108]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I have asked the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.
Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 23 March 2010:
The Audit Commission ceased its contract with Consolidated Communications in October 2008. All retained briefing notes have been placed in the Library as below:
Pre-Budget 2006 report
Budget 2006 briefing
Overview of the London Assembly's Audit and Inspection Committee
Distribution of reports to Parliamentarians
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the new inspection arrangements for local government
Biography of the Children's Commissioner
Background information on healthy eating campaigns
Calendar of housing events
List of housing stakeholders
Briefing note on the Department for Communities and Local Government
Biography of Liam Byrne MP
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Council Tax
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 23 February 2010, Official Report, column 475W, on council tax, how much gross council tax revenue in (a) cash terms and (b) real terms in 2008-09 prices was raised by each local billing authority in (i) 1997-98 and (ii) 2008-09. [323109]
Barbara Follett: I have today placed in the Library of the House a table containing details of the amount of gross council tax revenue in (a) cash and (b) real terms at 2008-09 prices raised in each local authority area in England in (i) 1997-98 and (ii) 2008-09.
The data are taken from the Quarterly Return of Council Tax and Non-domestic rates (QRC4) forms completed annually by all billing authorities in England and the real terms data are given at 2008-09 prices using the retail price index.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 15 December 2009, Official Report, column 985W, on council tax: billing, what the cost was of each of the two telephone surveys. [323187]
Barbara Follett: The telephone surveys undertaken as part of the review of the operation of the 2008 regulations governing the inclusion of efficiency information on and with council tax bills were carried out by existing members of staff in the Department in the course of their normal activities; no additional costs were incurred by the Department.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations his Department has received from trade unions on proposals for a council tax freeze in the last 12 months. [323309]
Barbara Follett: The Department has received no such representations.
Council Tax: Greater London
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average band D council tax was in each London borough in each year from 1997 to 2010. [323822]
Barbara Follett: Details of the average band D council tax in each London borough in each year from 1997-98 to 2009-10 are available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Data for 2010-11 will be available from 24 March.
Council Tax: Yorkshire and the Humber
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what level of council tax was set for a band D property, including all precepts apart from parish council precepts, in each (a) district council and (b) unitary authority in Yorkshire and the Humber in each year from 2002-03 to 2010-11. [323367]
Barbara Follett: Details of the level of the band D council tax, including all precepts apart from parish council precepts, in each (a) district council and (b) unitary authority in Yorkshire and the Humber region in each year from 2002-03 to 2009-10 are available on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Data for 2010-11 will be available from 24 March.
Councillors: Codes of Practice
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons the secondary legislation required to bring into force the new councillor code of conduct will not be considered in accordance with the originally planned timetable. [323161]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The priorities for Government at this time are the economy and actions to support a sustainable recovery. We must make the best use of parliamentary time and, while I recognise the importance of conduct matters, there is a robust code of conduct for local authority members already in place which is being used very successfully by local authority members and conduct regime practitioners.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance the Standards Board for England has issued to local authorities on the employment of external investigators to conduct investigations into alleged breaches of the code of conduct for councillors. [323162]
Ms Rosie Winterton: General guidance on the delegation of investigations is included in the 'Local investigations guidance' issued by the Standards Board for England, and specific guidance on outsourcing investigations to another organisation or individual is included in their guidance 'How to conduct an investigation guide'. Both sets of guidance are available on the Standards Board's website at:
Departmental Internet
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 March 2010, Official Report, column 1498W, on departmental internet, what the cost was of the website redesign. [321934]
Barbara Follett: The Department spent £90,650 on redesigning its corporate website in 2005.
For information relating to the redesign of the Department's corporate website in August 2007, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) on 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 264W.
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many designs for its (a) internal website and (b) intranet his Department and its predecessor have commissioned since 2005; and what the cost was of each such design. [321996]
Barbara Follett: The Department's intranet was redesigned in 2007 as part of a Government-led project to review, rationalise and converge its websites. For information relating to the costs of the redesign, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda) on 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 264W. As design costs were shared across three sites; the corporate website, intranet and Info41ocol, we are unable to report intranet costs alone.
Departmental Manpower
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the Career Transition Centre (CTC) was established in his Department's headquarters; how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time staff of each (i) grade, (ii) ethnicity and (iii) disability have registered with the CTC; and for how long on average members of each category of staff have been registered with the CTC since it was established. [322708]
Barbara Follett: The Department's redeployment pool, known as the Career Transition Centre (CTC), was established in central Communities and Local Government in April 2008. It includes staff returning from loans, secondments, and career breaks, as well as those currently without permanent posts due to restructuring.
210 staff have registered with the CTC, 189 of which were (a) full-time and 21 were (b) part-time staff. The following table shows the breakdown of these figures in terms of (i) grade (ii) ethnicity and (iii) disability, and the average length of time staff in each category were registered with the CTC. The numbers are small enough in a range of grades for individual staff to be potentially identifiable by their grade and ethnic background. The breakdown is therefore set out in a range of grades.
| Number of CTC registered staff | ||||
| (a) Full-time staff | (b) Part-time staff | Total | Average length of time registered with the CTC in weeks | |
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