Communities and Local Government

Carbon Emissions

David T. C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent by his Department on offsetting costs for energy-related carbon dioxide in the last year for which figures are available. [169504]

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Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not offset its energy-related carbon emissions.

However, the Department has, since 2009-10, saved the tax payer approximately £4.7 million per year through reduced energy consumption, lowering its operational greenhouse gas emissions by 41% or 9,798 tonnes.

Council Tax

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were in arrears with their council tax in April (a) 2012 and (b) 2013. [171258]

Brandon Lewis: The Department does not collect data on the number of people who are in arrears with their council tax. For information on the value of uncollected council tax, I refer the right hon. Member to my answer of 10 October 2013, Official Report, columns 391-93W.

I would observe, as I have pointed out to the right hon. Member in correspondence, that the most recent official statistics published on 26 June show that in-year council tax arrears improved slightly in 2012-13 as a proportion of total council tax collectable in the year, by 0.03 percentage points. Collection rates in England increased in the last year from 97.3%, to 97.4%.

For the current financial year, council tax collection is on the up. Official statistics published on 21 August show that £6.9 billion of council tax was collected in England over the first three months of 2013-14, This is 3.5% more than in the same period of the previous year, at a time when average Band D council tax rose by just 0.8%. It is also a larger percentage increase in the amount collected than in the same quarter from 2011-12 to 2012-13.

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people who are (a) paying council tax for the first time and (b) paying higher council tax as a result of the changes to council tax benefit introduced in April 2013 have received a court summons for non-payment to date. [171259]

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collect figures on the number of people who have been issued with court summonses by local authorities for non-payment of council tax.

I would observe that according to figures collated by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 3.0 million summons were issued for unpaid council tax across England in 2009-10; their most recent figures for 2011-12 published in August 2013 show that this figure has fallen slightly.

I also refer the right hon. Member to the written statement of 18 June 2013, Official Report, column 27WS, which outlines how the coalition Government have tackled unreasonable and aggressive collection practices and which notes how the last Government broke their promises on taking action.

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Council Tax Reduction Schemes

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what data arising from the changes to council tax benefit he has decided to collect to carry out the review of their effect as required by section 9 of the Local Government Finance Act 2012. [171239]

Brandon Lewis: We are currently working with local authorities to identify appropriate data sources for the review.

Housing

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in (a) Ribble Valley constituency, (b) Lancashire and (c) the UK are housed in (i) local authority or housing association-owned property, (ii) privately rented property, (iii) shared ownership property and (iv) privately owned property. [170895]

Kris Hopkins: The Department publishes estimates each year on the number of households by tenure in England, through its annual English Housing Survey, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/english-housing-survey-2011-to-2012-household-report

In 2011-12. 3.8 million households in England were in the social rented sector (local authority or housing association); 3.8 million were in the private rented sector; and 14.4 million were owner occupied; this includes around 125,000 shared ownership properties. The Department does not produce parliamentary constituency or county estimates for England or United Kingdom figures.

The Office for National Statistics publishes estimates from the 2011 Census for the number of households by tenure for local authority districts and counties in England and Wales, which are available online in table KS402EW at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html

Estimates from the 2011 Census for the number of households by tenure for parliamentary constituencies in England and Wales can be found here:

http://data.parliament.uk/resources/constituencystatistics/census2011/Census2011-ConstituencyProfile.xlsx

These figures are only available for England and Wales.

Housing: Taxation

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will issue guidance to local authorities on exemptions from the (a) community infrastructure levy and (b) affordable housing levy for self-builders. [170596]

Nick Boles: Yes. Revised guidance on the community infrastructure levy will be published alongside the enactment of legislation amending the levy to make it a fairer and more transparent system, including exempting self-build developments from the levy.

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The Government are currently considering how best to implement an exemption for self build in respect of Section 106 agreements (such as those for affordable housing contributions) and will make a further announcement in due course.

Local Government Finance

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to ensure that local authorities do not overspend budgets. [170911]

Brandon Lewis: Councils are under a statutory duty to balance their budgets. They have a duty under section 28 of the Local Government Act 2003 to consider what action to take to remedy a budget overspend.

Satellite Broadcasting

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what subscriptions his Department has for premium satellite television channels; and what the cost of each such subscription was in the most recent year for which figures are available. [168640]

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not currently subscribe to any premium satellite television channels.

By contrast, the Department under the last Administration spent £5,594 on premium Sky channels, which included television for the (now closed) Darts Bar.

Social Rented Housing

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on new social housing for rent in (a) the City of York and (b) England in 2011-12; and how much it expects to spend for such purposes in each year of the Comprehensive Spending Review period. [163878]

Kris Hopkins: The Department's spending, through the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Homes Programme, on new affordable housing for rent in the city of York council's area was £2.3 million in 2011-12 and £4 million in 2012-13. This includes spending on new build and on acquisition and refurbishment.

The Department's capital spending on housing, including new affordable housing in England in 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 is set out in its published Estimates at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/205103/Main_parliamentary_supply_estimates_2011-12.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/205092/Main_parliamentary_supply_estimates_2012-13.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/197752/dclg_mainsupplyestimates_201314.pdf

Spending in 2014-15 will be set out in future published Estimates.

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£19.5 billion of public and private investment in affordable homes will deliver 170,000 homes in the four years to 2015 and up to a further 30,000 will be delivered by March 2017, supported by a share of the £10 billion Housing Guarantees and grant of £450 million.

The spending round announced a further £3.3 billion of Government money, which, together with receipts from right to buy sales, will help lever up to £20 billion of private finance on top. This will provide a further 165,000 homes in the three years from 2015 to 2018.

Temporary Accommodation

Mr Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he

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has made of the number of families with children living in temporary accommodation in

(a)

Coventry,

(b)

the West Midlands and

(c)

England in each of the last three years. [170885]

Kris Hopkins [holding answer 15 October 2013]: The information requested for Coventry and England is set out in the following table.

As outlined in the written ministerial statement of 18 September 2012, Official Report, column 32WS, my Department no longer publishes statistics by Government Office region. Local authority figures from which regional estimates for the former West Midlands Government Office region can be calculated are also included in the table.

We want families with children to be able to live in secure and settled homes. That is why we have taken action to help local authorities move families quickly into settled accommodation. From 9 November 2012, local authorities have had a new power under the Localism Act 2011 to use good quality private rented sector accommodation to end the main homelessness duty. Families will no longer need to be placed in temporary accommodation while they wait for social housing to become available.

At the same time, we have also put in place extra protection for the most vulnerable. The Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2012

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helps prevent the use of temporary accommodation which is a long distance from the family's previous home and community.

For households already in temporary accommodation the local authority has a duty (under section 193 of the Housing Act 2004) to find that family settled accommodation. Local authorities should continue to work with these households to discuss alternative housing options as they become available.

We are investing £470 million in homelessness prevention over four years of the spending review period—funding going to local authorities and the voluntary sector. We are continuing to support local authorities to raise their game with an additional £1.7 million for a new Gold Standard support and training scheme across the country

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to deliver the best possible service to those that are at risk of homelessness. This includes a commitment not to use Bed and Breakfast as a form of temporary accommodation for families.

Town and Country Planning Act 1990

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many Article 25 directions have been issued under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 in each month of the last year for which figures are available. [170824]

Nick Boles: The information requested is not available centrally.