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9 Jun 2010 : Column 172W—continued
Seaham School of Technology
Grahame M. Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will ensure that planned funding for Seaham School of Technology under the Building Schools for the Future programme is maintained. [876]
Mr Gibb: The Department is reviewing the Building Schools for the Future programme to ensure that when we build schools for the future, we do so in a more cost-effective and efficient fashion.
Trade Unions
Mr Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to consult trade unions in his Department on cost reduction plans. [603]
Michael Gove: Officials and Ministers meet regularly with the recognised trade unions to discuss a variety of issues including Machinery of Government changes. I hold meetings with the recognised trade unions on a six-monthly basis and informal meetings are taking place with the Department's Head of Employee Relations and the Trade Union Side Chair.
The trade unions met the permanent secretary on 24 May to discuss current plans and another meeting has been offered before the start of the summer recess.
Communities and Local Government
Departmental Manpower
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers are employed by his Department at each Civil Service pay grade. [1273]
Robert Neill: With regard to special advisers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Prime Minister on 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 99W.
The total number of press officers and their civil service pay grades are set out in the following table:
| Pay grade | Number of officers |
Departmental Mobile Phones
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which Ministers in his Department have been issued with (a) a BlackBerry, (b) an iPhone, (c) another make of mobile telephone and (d) a personal digital assistant supplied by the Department. [1436]
Robert Neill: Since the arrival of the new Government, this Department has issued a total of five BlackBerrys to the following Ministers:
Mr Eric Pickles;
Mr Andrew Stunell;
Mr Bob Neill;
Baroness Hanham; and
Mr Grant Shapps.
To date no other mobile device has been issued to CLG ministers.
Derelict Land and Green Belt
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to publish separate guidance on the preservation of green belts in local plans; and against what criteria local authorities should make decisions affecting the Green Belt before such guidance is published. [968]
Robert Neill: Policy on Green Belt is currently set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2, "Green Belts" (PPG2), published in 1995. Local planning authorities must have regard to PPG2 when preparing local plans. PPG2 also establishes a presumption against inappropriate development on green belt. If a proposal for such development is received, the local planning authority should consider whether any harm to the green belt would be outweighed by other considerations, and whether very special circumstances exist to justify planning permission.
In the Coalition Agreement the Government stated that they will publish and present to Parliament a simple and consolidated national planning framework covering all forms of development. Announcements on the future of planning policy will be made in due course. However, the agreement also undertakes to ensure that the protection of green belt by local planning authorities is maintained.
We have also effectively suspended the operation of regional spatial strategies and their associated housing targets, which created top-down pressure to review green belt boundaries. We will now move to formally abolish RSS.
Local Government Finance
Mr Blunkett:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on
24 May 2010 on spending announcements, for which local authority in England (a) what is the amount in pounds sterling of the authority's aggregate external finance which is liable to be reduced and (b) what percentage of aggregate external finance this represents in the case of each such local authority. [1523]
Robert Neill: An announcement on the specific grant streams that will be reduced in 2010-11 will be made shortly.
Local Government Finance: North East
Mr Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government by how much and in what proportion he expects to amend the grant from his Department to each local authority in the North East in order to contribute to the projected reduction in his Department's expenditure in 2010-11. [1394]
Robert Neill: An announcement on the specific grant streams that will be reduced in 2010-11 will be made shortly.
Local Government: Public Consultation
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what mechanism will be used to enable people in a local authority area to veto a proposed rise in council tax above a defined level. [1631]
Robert Neill: We will give residents the power to veto excessive council tax rises that go above a set threshold. We will set out our proposals on the threshold and the mechanism for initiating a referendum in a consultation document later this year.
Mayors
Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects each planned city referendum on elected mayoral authorities to take place. [1069]
Robert Neill: We are committed to implementing as soon as practicable our programme for Government which we published on 20 May, including our commitment that we will create directly elected mayors in the 12 largest cities in England, subject to confirmatory referendums.
Ordnance Survey
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has for the future ownership of Ordnance Survey. [995]
Robert Neill: Ordnance Survey is Great Britain's national mapping agency and its data underpin the delivery of many vital public services. I am not considering changes to the ownership of Ordnance Survey.
Planning Obligations
Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he plans to review the operation of section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. [1760]
Robert Neill: The Government are currently consulting on a policy document concerning the operation of section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, which closes on 21 June 2010. Announcements on the future of the related Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) will be made in due course.
Second Homes and Holiday Accommodation
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will review the (a) planning and (b) taxation rules in respect of (i) second and (ii) holiday homes to control the prevalence of such properties. [991]
Robert Neill: My Department has no current plans to review the (a) planning (b) taxation rules in respect of (i) second homes and (ii) holiday homes.
Standards Board for England
Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what timetable he has set for his plans to abolish the Standards Board for England. [1469]
Robert Neill: We will implement our commitment in our Programme for Government to abolish the Standards Board regime as soon as practicable, and hence intend to include provisions in the Bill which will devolve greater powers to councils, announced in the Queen's Speech for this parliamentary session, to repeal the provisions of the Local Government Act 2000 which established the Standards Board for England.
Prime Minister
Sovereignty
Chris Leslie: To ask the Prime Minister which Minister is responsible for examining the case for a UK Sovereignty Bill. [1077]
The Prime Minister: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Hague) is the Minister responsible.
Scotland
Departmental Manpower
Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) special advisers and (b) press officers are employed by his Department; and at what Civil Service pay grade in each such case. [1285]
David Mundell: In terms of special advisers, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 3 June 2010, Official Report, column 99W, to the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman). The Scotland Office currently has two permanent Press Office staff; one at the former Grade 7 level and one equivalent to Higher Executive Officer level.
Energy and Climate Change
National Grid
Dr Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the distribution losses of electricity over the National Grid in each of the last five years. [718]
Charles Hendry: According to Ofgem, the estimated losses over the electricity distribution network for the last five years were as follows:
| Percentage | |
Ofgem sets an output-based incentive in order to encourage Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) to manage losses both through low-loss technology but also through network operations or network users as well as incentivising them to identify ways to tackle the issue of theft.
National Grid estimates that the proportion of electricity generated lost over the GB transmission network is 2% of the total energy transferred across the network.
Defence
Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations
Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what definition his Department uses of a successful completion of the armed forces' operations in Afghanistan. [1501]
Dr Fox: We will have successfully completed our military operations when Afghanistan is stable enough to manage its own internal and external security without the support of the international community. Only when Afghanistan can prevent itself from reverting to a base from which terrorists can threaten us will our mission be complete and our troops will be able to come home.
Armed Forces: Recruitment
Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many service personnel have been recruited into the (a) Royal Air Force, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Army in (i) England, (ii) Scotland, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) Wales in each of the last five years. [668]
Mr Robathan: The numbers of personnel recruited into the armed forces in each of the last five years are as follows:
| Royal Air Force | |||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
| Royal Navy/Royal Marines | |||||
| 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | |
| Notes: 1. Officers are recruited through six Regional Officer Careers Liaison Centres (OCLC) in Rosyth, Peterborough, Plymouth, London, Manchester and Belfast. Candidates will normally be sent to the OCLC nearest to them, therefore officer candidates from Wales would normally be processed through OCLC Manchester and cannot, therefore be separated from the candidates from England processed through that OCLC. 2. 'Centrally recruited' refers to specialist officer candidates who are processed centrally i.e. doctors, dentists, chaplains and QARNNS officer. | |||||
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