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6 Apr 2010 : Column 1301W—continued
Government Departments: Pay
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the policy of approving bonus payments of over £50,000 will apply to all staff. [323580]
Mr. Byrne: The 2009 pre-Budget report announced a set of fundamental reforms to pay-setting for senior staff, as part of this, I will approve all bonus payments of over £50,000 where ministerial sign-off is needed. For public sector bodies where ministerial approval is not required, the Government expect all organisations making any bonus payments in excess of £50,000, to publicly justify this level to the relevant Secretary of State.
Government: Cost Effectiveness
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the right hon. Member for Horsham of 26 February 2010, Official Report, column 806W, on public expenditure, whether the £500 million of savings by reducing duplication between organisations will include savings delivered by the Total Place initiative; and whether Total Place savings will be allocated to (a) central and (b) local government. [324121]
Mr. Byrne: The Government announced in pre-Budget report 2009 that at least £500 million would be saved by 2012-13 by reducing duplication between organisations and streamlining arm's length bodies. Budget 2010 gives further detail on how these savings will be achieved.
These savings are being delivered as part of the Government's commitment to deliver £11 billion of savings by 2012-13, set out in "Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government" and are separate from any savings identified through Total Place. The Total Place report, published on 25 March 2010, set out further details of how savings will be achieved.
Infrastructure: Expenditure
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what budget has been allocated for the work to be undertaken by Infrastructure UK in its investigation into the cost of delivering major infrastructure projects in the UK referred to in paragraph 4.4 of the report on Strategy for National Infrastructure. [325102]
Mr. Byrne: Infrastructure UK is setting up a steering group for the investigation into the cost of delivery, initially with the Government's chief construction adviser and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Office of Government Commerce and the Department for Transport. A budget for the investigation has not yet been agreed between Infrastructure UK and these organisations.
Local Government: Cost Effectiveness
Robert Neill: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Meriden of 25 January 2010, Official Report, column 598W, on local government: cost effectiveness, what methodology was used to identify £550 million as the expected figure for savings from local government; and what arrangements will be made for local authorities unable to reach their targets for efficiency savings. [323201]
Mr. Byrne: The 2009 pre-Budget report sets out a number of areas where local government will be able to find efficiency savings over the next spending period, of £550 million per year by 2012-13.
Departments have worked closely to explore potential savings across the different functions and service areas of local authorities, and the scope for local initiatives that have delivered savings to be taken up more widely. It is for individual local authorities to make efficiencies based on local priorities and use of resources.
During the CSR 2007 period, local authorities have been free to use savings to hold down council tax or reinvest in other services. Councils do not have individual targets, but where a council is failing to deliver the level of efficiencies expected of the sector as a whole, we would expect the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnership and local government office to play an active role in supporting the council.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the working estimate is of the cash value of local government's contribution to the Operational Efficiency Programme's target of £8 billion of efficiency savings by 2012-13; and whether the £8 billion of annual savings are cumulative by 2012-13. [323578]
Mr. Byrne: Budget 2010 provided an update on the £8 billion of Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) savings and the £3 billion cross-cutting savings by 2012-13. Details of the proportion of these savings contributed by local government are available at:
The £8 billion annual OEP savings are savings to be delivered by 2012-13, against a baseline year of 2010-11.
These are not cumulative savings. More detail on OEP savings numbers is available at:
Non-domestic Rates
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what notification to the Valuation Office Agency is required of business rate payers when a hereditament is split; and how many such notifications were made in each year since 2000. [320065]
Ian Pearson: Ratepayers may make a formal proposal to the local Valuation Officer asking that a hereditament be treated as more than one hereditament (split) but there is no legal requirement to advise the Valuation Officer of this. The number of rating proposals made from 2000 in England and Wales to split is shown in the following table:
| Number of rating proposals | |
| Note: Figures rounded to nearest ten. | |
Rating list entries are also split as a direct result of information being supplied to the valuation officer by either the respective billing authority or by the valuation officer becoming aware of the need to alter an entry in the rating list. The number of reports made since 2000 in England and Wales by billing authorities is shown in the following table:
| Number of billing a uthority and VO reports to split | |
| Note: Figures rounded to the nearest ten. | |
Non-domestic Rates: Ports
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Valuation Office Agency spent on administering the separate rating of port companies in each year since 1999; and how many of the agency's staff worked on such rating in each of those years. [325560]
Ian Pearson: The VOA does not keep records of expenditure on or the number of staff involved in the assessment of separate hereditaments within statutory ports going back to 1999. Staff involved in work on the ports undertake general rating work in other locations and work in other business streams.
Non-domestic Rates: Valuation
Justine Greening: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer with reference to the answer of 6 July 2009, Official Report, column 605W, on non-domestic rates, what the change in rateable value on the ratings list resulting from rateable value appeals was in each year from 2004-05 to 2008-09. [321344]
Ian Pearson: To correspond with the answer of 6 July 2009, Official Report, column 605W, the information provided is in respect of valid rating appeals received 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2009 and settled as at 30 June 2009.
2000 Rating Lists-effective 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2005
2005 Rating Lists-effective 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2010
The compiled list statistics shows overall reduction in rateable value resulting from appeals against the compiled rating list entries, i.e. appeals challenging the original entries in the rating lists, effective from either 1 April 2000 or 1 April 2005.
The column labelled "others" shows the reduction in rateable value resulting from all other appeals. These are appeals where circumstances have changed since the lists were compiled and the rating assessment requires amendment.
| Compiled List | Others | ||
| Appeals r eceived in: | RV c hange (£000) | RV c hange (£000) | |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
The above figures were extracted from the Valuation Office Agency operational database.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many hereditaments with rateable values over £50,000 in each local authority area are on the 2010 Rating List. [323440]
Ian Pearson: I have placed a table in the Library which sets out how many hereditaments in each local authority have a rateable value over £50,000.
These data are consistent with the statistical release titled "Non-domestic rateable values: 2010 Local Ratings Lists-England and Wales" published on 18 December 2009.
A copy of this statistical release is available at the following link:
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average rateable value of hereditaments is in each local authority area. [323526]
Ian Pearson: I have placed a table in the Library which sets out the average rateable value in each local authority.
These data are consistent with the statistical release titled "Non-domestic rateable values: 2010 Local Ratings Lists-England and Wales" published on 18 December 2009.
A copy of this statistical release is available at the following link:
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