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3 Jun 2010 : Column 89W—continued
Planning Permission
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to allow local authorities not to implement the requirements of Local Development Frameworks and Supplementary Planning Documents covering land for which detailed planning consents have not been granted; and if he will make a statement. [351]
Robert Neill: The new Government are already taking steps to abolish Regional Strategies and give councils more power and discretion to determine their own planning policies. The Secretary of State has recently written to local authorities on this issue and a copy of the letter is available in the Library of the House. A more detailed planning statement, including addressing the issues of the revision of Local Development Frameworks, will be published in due course.
Regional Planning and Development
Mr Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will take steps to remove regional housing targets in advance of the introduction of primary legislation on regional spatial strategies. [839]
Robert Neill: We are absolutely committed to abolishing Regional Strategies, including regional housing targets. The Secretary of State has written to all local authority chief planning officers confirming this. This constitutes a material consideration in planning terms as emerging policy. We are keen to move in advance of legislation and are currently considering revoking Regional Strategies ahead of taking legislation through Parliament. We will make a statement in due course.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what timetable he has set for the ending of regional spatial strategies; and if he will make a statement. [860]
Robert Neill: We are absolutely committed to abolishing Regional Strategies and are very keen to move in advance of legislation. The Secretary of State has written to all local authority chief planning officers confirming this. This constitutes a material consideration in planning terms as emerging policy. We are currently considering revoking Regional Strategies ahead of taking legislation through Parliament.
Sleeping Rough
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of people sleeping rough; and if he will make a statement. [244]
Grant Shapps: We will implement a range of measures to address the problems of the homeless, including addressing more widespread concerns on the current street count methodology.
Business, Innovation and Skills
University Funding
19. Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has for funding universities in (a) 2010-11 and (b) future years. [000787]
Mr Willetts: Universities will receive a total of £7.3 billion from the Higher Education Funding Council for 2010, including £5.1 billion for teaching and £1.6 billion for research. This includes an increase of £70 million since the December 2009 grant letter. We are funding 10,000 extra university places in 2010-11 on the back of the coalition agreement to widen educational opportunities.
This Department will make future funding decisions in the light of the Browne review on student finance, which was established by the last Government and which will report later this year.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, and I have recently written to all universities and have reminded them of the tight fiscal constraints that we are all operating under.
Business Failures (Nottingham)
20. Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the prospects for a reduction in the number of business failures in the city of Nottingham in 2010. [000788]
Mr Prisk: The most recent figures show there were 835 businesses that ceased to trade(1) in Nottingham in 2008 compared to 14,760 in the East Midlands as a whole.
This Department is committed to help the economy grow by creating the right business environment that will keep the number of business failures to a minimum.
(1) In addition to business bankruptcies, ceasing to trade data captures businesses simply ceasing to trade due to other reasons such as retirement of owners. Latest data 2008. This is the latest and only data available.
Apprenticeships
21. Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many advanced apprenticeships in the engineering and technology green industries will be funded by his Department in 2010-11; and how many of those apprenticeships he expects to be located in the north-east. [000789]
Mr Hayes: This Department is committed to increasing the number of apprenticeships, in particular, advanced apprenticeships that confer technician status. Many low carbon and green technology apprenticeships will be delivered within existing apprenticeship frameworks such as engineering and we are also committed to ensuring, through Sector Skills Councils, that all apprenticeship frameworks meet the needs of the real economy. Last year 37,000 people started an apprenticeship in engineering and manufacturing technologies in England, including 2,600 in the North East.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of new apprenticeships to be created in the next 12 months. [887]
Mr Hayes: Apprenticeships are funded by both this Department and the Department for Education. 131,000 16 to 18-year-olds and 167,000 adult apprenticeship starts are planned in the 2010/11 academic year. The Government's decision to redeploy £150 million of our savings for 2010-11, creating an additional 50,000 places, demonstrates our commitment to high-quality employer owned apprenticeships.
Science Research Funding
22. Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much he plans to spend on support for science research in (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12. [000790]
Mr Willetts: This Department will provide £5.7 billion of ring-fenced Science and Research funding this year. It is made up of the Science and Research budget of £3.9 billion, principally to the Research Councils and £1.8 billion of research funding distributed by the university funding Council in England.
Because the last Government cancelled the Comprehensive Spending Review, budgets have not been set for future years. They will be decided this autumn as part of the Spending Review.
Beer: Competition
Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to review the operation of the exclusive beer supply obligation for the purposes of assessing its effect on competition. [752]
Mr Davey: The Business Innovation and Skills Committee (BISC) follow-up report on pub companies proposes that they should be allowed one final opportunity to reform, by June 2011. If they fail to do this, the Committee reflected that legislation should be considered. I will be monitoring the industry's progress closely over the coming months.
Building Colleges for the Future Programme
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he made of the average cost of re-building a further education college under his Department's Building Colleges for the Future in the latest period for which figures are available. [505]
Mr Hayes: In 2008-09 the LSC funded 74 projects at an average cost of £21 million of which an average of £15.3 million came from FE Capital Grant funding (73%). However, it is not possible to give the average cost of rebuilding a further education college as this depends on the size and condition of the existing estate. For example the largest funded project in 2008-09 was £101.9 million of which £87.7million was capital grant funded (86%) and the smallest was £537,000 of which £53,700 was grant-funded (10%).
Business: Regulation
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to introduce his Department's proposed one in-one out rule for business regulations. [865]
Mr Prisk: The "one-in, one-out" approach set out in the Coalition's Programme for Government will be overseen by the new Cabinet subcommittee for reducing regulation.
Further details will be announced shortly.
Further Education: Departmental Co-ordination
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to ensure effective co-ordination between Departments on matters affecting further education policy. [916]
Mr Hayes: The Department has a strong track record of working effectively with other Departments on further education policy including with Department for Education, Department for Communities and Local Government and Department for Work and Pensions and maintains excellent communications across Whitehall at both ministerial and official level on matters affecting further education.
This approach is supported by a number of mechanisms including joint policy units, joint stakeholder engagement and joint programme management, where that is appropriate.
My ministerial colleagues and I at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills are committed to excellent working relationships across Government and are currently considering the best ways to achieve this. Effective co-ordination with other Departments over matters affecting further education policy will be given the priority it warrants.
Future Jobs Fund: Leeds
Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people in (a) Leeds West constituency and (b) Leeds have received assistance from the Future Jobs Fund. [759]
Chris Grayling: I have been asked to reply.
The information requested is not available.
Local Enterprise Partnerships
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take to support the creation of local enterprise partnerships. [859]
Mr Prisk: The Government will bring forward proposals in the summer that set out our approach to creating Local Enterprise Partnerships. We will introduce legislation to implement the proposed changes during the current session of Parliament.
One NorthEast
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what changes are planned in each budget heading of One NorthEast for 2010-11. [878]
Mr Prisk: No decisions have been made on how projects/programmes currently delivered by ONE will be affected by the £270 million savings from the RDA budget. We are working closely with ONE and the rest of the RDA network to minimise the impact on priority programmes in line with Government priorities. Stakeholders and delivery partners involved in affected programmes and projects will be kept fully informed as specific decisions are made and plans are developed.
Post Offices: Bank Services
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he expects post offices to offer a wider range of services; and if he will make a statement. [861]
Mr Davey: As set out in "The Coalition: our programme for government" we will ensure that post offices are allowed to offer a wide range of services in order to sustain the network, and we will be working with Post Office Ltd to develop new sources of revenue, including considering the case for a Post Office Bank.
Bookshops
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (1) what estimate he has made of the change in the number of bookshops in each of the last five years; [587]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of store closures and openings of bookshops for (a) independent single-store businesses and (b) large multi-store businesses in each of the last five years. [754]
Mr Prisk: Up until 2007, the Office of National Statistics included book retailers in the same category (Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) no. 52.47) as newspaper and stationery retailers. The number of enterprises recorded under SIC 52.47 for the years 2004 to 2007 is as follows:
| Number | |
However in 2007 the Office of National Statistics re-organised the Standard Industrial Classification system which resulted in book retailers being identified under a standalone category (SIC no. 47.61). The number of book retailers in 2008, the most recent year for which data are available, was 1,317.
The Booksellers Association also collects annual data on the number of independent book retailer openings and closures. However these data are based on the Association's membership and therefore do not represent a complete picture for the sector as a whole.
| Independent book shop openings and closures | ||
| Openings | Closures | |
| Note: Total number of independents at end of 2009 = 1,289. Source: Booksellers Association | ||
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of book retailers that have filed for insolvency for each of the last five years. [755]
Mr Davey: The industry classifications that The Insolvency Service compiles do not separately identify book retailers. The following table shows insolvencies in England and Wales for retail trade, except of motor vehicles; repair of personal and household goods as a whole, within which book retail is included.
| Insolvencies in England and Wales | ||||||
| Compulsory liquidations | Creditors' voluntary liquidations | Receiverships | Administrations | Company voluntary arrangements | Bankruptcy orders-self-employed individuals | |
| n/a = not available 1 Data only available for Q1-Q3 2006 due to a change in industry classification. 2 Data only available for Q3-Q4 2007 due to a change in industry classification. | ||||||
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