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25 Mar 2010 : Column 554W—continued
Local Government: Devon and Norfolk
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his plans are for the implementation of (a) the draft Exeter and Devon (Structural Changes) Order 2010 and (b) the draft Norwich and Norfolk (Structural Changes) Order 2010. [323092]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Following the approval by this House and the other place of the draft orders implementing unitary councils for Exeter and Norwich, I informed the House yesterday, Official Report, columns 38-41WS, that the Government had concluded it was right to proceed in making those orders, and that we intended to do so as soon as practicable. The orders were subsequently made yesterday and have come into force today.
Local Government: Translation Services
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on translation services by local authorities in (a) Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England in each of the last five years. [324420]
Barbara Follett: The information is not collected centrally.
Non-Domestic Rates
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his Department's publication of February 2010, Number of hereditaments benefiting from Small Business Rate Relief and the number of empty hereditaments, what his latest estimate is of the number and proportion of eligible small firms who do not claim small business rate relief. [323186]
Barbara Follett:
Local authorities estimated that 462,000 hereditaments were benefiting from Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) on December 2008. By applying that figure to the eligibility estimates made for the 2005 rating list it is estimated that around 80 per cent. of
eligible hereditaments were claiming SBRR in 2008-09 - see table 1. This estimate suggests that around 20 per cent. or 113,000 of eligible hereditaments are not claiming SBRR. However, relief granted to small businesses has been increasing since SBRR was introduced-from £202 million in 2005-06 to £298 million in 2008-09. This represents a real terms increase of 34 per cent. Furthermore in 2008-09, 92 per cent. of the total relief that would be paid if all those estimated to be eligible were to claim, was actually being paid - see table 2.
| Table 1: Take-up of SBRR - numbers claiming | |||
| 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | |
|
Number of hereditaments estimated to be occupied by eligible small businesses (thousand) | |||
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hereditaments are (a) above the rateable value threshold for small business rate relief, (b) below the rateable value for small business rate relief but not occupied by eligible small businesses, (c) below the rateable value threshold for small business rate relief and occupied by an eligible small business claiming the relief and (d) below the rateable value threshold for small business rate relief and occupied by a eligible small business not claiming relief in each region; what estimate he has made of the monetary value of small business rate relief available to each eligible firm claiming the relief in each region; and how much has been claimed in small business rate relief by businesses in each region in 2009-10 to date. [323817]
Barbara Follett: The information is as follows:
(a) The number of hereditaments above the rateable value threshold for Small Business Rate Relief by region on the 2005 Rating List are shown in the following table. These numbers are consistent with the statistical release titled "Non-domestic rateable values: 2010 Local Ratings Lists-England and Wales" published on 18 December 2009.
| Government office region | Number of hereditaments above the rateable value threshold( 1) for SBRR on 2005 Rating List |
| (1) Hereditaments with a rateable value over £15,000 or £21,500 in London | |
(b), (c) and (d) The report "Small Business Rate Relief-improving evidence on eligibility and take-up was published on 9 December 2009 and it estimates that of the approximately 1.2 million non-domestic properties in England which fall below the current rateable value (RV) thresholds for SBRR, around 575,000 are occupied by eligible small businesses. This report has been validated by an independent peer review and is available at
This methodology can only be applied nationally for England as a whole. Therefore it is not possible to calculate an estimate of eligibility of small business rate relief by region.
No estimate has been made of the monetary value of small business rate relief in each eligible firm in each region claiming the relief.
The amount of small business rate relief is collected from local authorities on a financial year basis. Therefore it is not possible to provide figures on how much small business rate relief has been claimed in 2009-10 to date. The amount of small business rate relief claimed by businesses in each region in 2009-10 will be available following the publication of the Statistical Release on "National non-domestic rates collected by local authorities in England 2009-10" later this year.
Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate has been made of the number of properties on which empty property business rate relief was claimed in each region in 2009. [323821]
Barbara Follett: Details of the number of properties on which empty property business rate relief was claimed in each region in England as at 31 December 2008, the latest date for which data are available, are given in the following table:
| Number of properties claiming empty property relief as at 31 December 2008 (Thousand) | |
Data as at 31 December 2009 will be available later in 2010.
Planning Permission
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will end the requirements made by the density targets in Planning Policy Statement 3. [324002]
Mr. Ian Austin: The density target in Planning Policy Statement 3 is an indicative target rather than a prescriptive one and it allows for flexibility where needed. PPS3 states that local planning authorities may wish to set out a range of densities across the plan area rather than one broad density range although 30 dwellings per hectare net should be used as a national indicative minimum to guide policy development and decision-making, until local density policies are in place. PPS3 goes on to say that where local authorities wish to plan for, or agree to, densities below this minimum, this will need to be justified.
Recycling: Conferences
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the speaking notes and accompanying materials used by the Audit Commission speaker at the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee Conference in 2008. [323986]
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 25 March 2010:
Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me to reply.
A copy of the information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Library. The presentation referred to the Audit Commission report Well Disposed, which can be found on our website at:
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Right to Buy Scheme
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average right to buy discount was (a) in cash terms, (b) in real terms in 2010 prices and (c) as a proportion of the market value of the property in (i) England and (ii) each Government Office Region in England in each year since 1996-97. [319311]
Mr. Ian Austin:
The average right to buy discount in cash terms and real term and as a proportion of the
market value of the property in England and its regions are shown in the table. Figures are not available prior to 1998-09 and the discounts in real terms are presented in 2008-09 prices in line with the latest GDP deflator series.
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