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  • Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Peter Aldous – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of supported housing in helping people to make the transition from rough sleeping back to independent living.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness. We announced at Budget an additional £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living.

    The supported housing sector provides valuable support to some of our country’s most vulnerable people. It helps many people to lead independent lives or turn their lives around and is an investment which brings savings to other parts of the public sector – such as health and social care.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.

    Mr Mark Francois

    The number of a) resignations and b) proportion of officials resigning in my department in each of the last 6 years was as follows:

    2010-11
    a) 53
    b) 2.7%

    2011-12
    a) 39
    b) 2.1%

    2012-13
    a) 37
    b) 2.1%

    2013-14
    a) 44
    b) 2.6%

    2014-15
    a) 42
    b) 2.5%

    2015-16
    a) 44
    b) 2.6%

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, in how many public private partnerships in (a) the UK and (b) Birmingham the Government is involved as a (i) party to the contract and (ii) statutory actor.

    Greg Hands

    HM Treasury collects and publishes data on centrally supported PFI and PF2 (the UK Government’s main form of PPPs) projects. The most recent collection recorded projects as at 31st March 2015. This can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-and-private-finance-2-projects-2015-summary-data. This publication has the information requested on projects in the UK and Birmingham.

    HM Treasury does not hold information on ‘statutory actors’ in PFI and PF2 projects, however the published data does show the contracting parties, equity holders and special purpose vehicle responsible for managing the project.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what powers he has to intervene with under-performing housing associations.

    Brandon Lewis

    If the Housing Association is in England and registered with the Homes and Community Agency (HCA), they would have to ensure that they meet the regulatory Standards. However, the Secretary of State has no statutory power to intervene with under-performing Housing Associations.

    If the Social Housing Regulator finds that a registered provider has failed to comply with the Standards, it has enforcement powers to ensure compliance with the standards.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 31226, how his Department monitors local authorities for compliance with their obligation under the (a) Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and (b) Local Government Transparency Code 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My Department has recently completed compliance testing of local authorities with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, which entailed checking the websites of 103 authorities, a 25% sample of authorities to which the Transparency Code applies, for the data they are required to publish. We are currently analysing the initial results, including to ascertain whether where expected information has not been found on an authority’s website this is an accurate reflection of the authority’s circumstances or due to non-compliance.

    Principal local authorities will not be required to comply with the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act until 1 April 2018 [and Health and smaller bodies from 1 April 2017]. Compliance is currently monitored by Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd, a transitional body appointed to manage existing audit arrangements until they expire.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2016 to Question 31226, on how many occasions his Department has found a local authority to be non-compliant with (a) the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and (b) the Local Government Transparency Code 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My Department has recently completed compliance testing of local authorities with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, which entailed checking the websites of 103 authorities, a 25% sample of authorities to which the Transparency Code applies, for the data they are required to publish. We are currently analysing the initial results, including to ascertain whether where expected information has not been found on an authority’s website this is an accurate reflection of the authority’s circumstances or due to non-compliance.

    Principal local authorities will not be required to comply with the provisions of the Local Audit and Accountability Act until 1 April 2018 [and Health and smaller bodies from 1 April 2017]. Compliance is currently monitored by Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd, a transitional body appointed to manage existing audit arrangements until they expire.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make plans to provide the Housing Ombudsman service with greater powers to deal with complaints from members of the public.

    Brandon Lewis

    There are no current plans to provide the Housing Ombudsman Service with greater powers.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with television channel and radio station providers on inclusion and the representation of disability in mainstream media.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The government is encouraging the industry to be proactive in increasing diversity on and off screen – including in the representation of disabled people. I have hosted a number of roundtables that have addressed this issue, including a conference in January, which raised the wider issue of lack of representation of disabled people in the creative industries.

  • Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Richard Arkless – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage music venues to improve ticket and seating arrangements for disabled people.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    We believe that everyone should have access to arts and culture – having a disability should not be a barrier to enjoying Britain’s awe-inspiring cultural treasures. That is why we are working with venues and organisations representing disabled people to identify barriers to access, while at the same time seeing how we can share examples of best practice and what more cultural venues need to do to be accessible to people with disabilities. Our recently published Culture White Paper makes a specific commitment to work with the cultural sector to improve physical access to venues.

    We support the work of Attitude is Everything, which works with audiences, artists, and the music industry to improve deaf and disabled people’s access to live events. My ministerial colleague Ed Vaizey also held a roundtable meeting with Justin Tomlinson, Minister for Disabled People to look at access to cultural venues and events for disabled people. Additionally, provisions in the Equality Act 2010 require providers of services to the public (for example music venues), to make a ‘reasonable adjustment’ so that disabled people are not placed at a “substantial disadvantage” to non-disabled people.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of officials of his Department resigned in each of the last six years.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    2015-16

    Resignations (FTE)

    10

    30

    18

    15

    21

    Payroll Employees (FTE)

    457

    376

    381

    461

    517

    Proportion

    2%

    8%

    5%

    3%

    4%

    The data for resignations has been sourced from the HR Management System Leavers Reports for each financial year. Data is recorded from 2011 onwards and records prior to this data cannot be provided.

    The Total headcount figures have been sourced from the DCMS Annual Accounts and only employees who were on DCMS payroll at the point they left the department are included in the data above.