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  • Julian Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Julian Knight – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy that affordable rent to buy housing is included as an option for developers in the Housing and Planning Bill’s general duty on all planning authorities in order to promote the supply of starter homes.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Housing and Planning Bill will support our manifesto commitment to build 200,000 Starter Homes to help more young people into home ownership. Like other valuable products which support access to home ownership, affordable rent-to-buy, can be considered by councils as part of their wider affordable housing requirements for their area.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the representation of Muslims on elected bodies.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government believes that democratic institutions make the best decisions when they have a mix of people with different skills, backgrounds and experiences, from right across the country. The Government implemented section 106 of the Equality Act, which makes it possible to require registered political parties to publish anonymised data relating to the diversity of their candidate selection. This is a voluntary approach, which provides greater transparency over candidate selection. It is for political parties to ensure that they have a wide range of candidates to stand for elections.

    We have supported and promoted mentoring schemes and internships at local and national Government level to open up political life to black, Asian and minority women and disabled people. Schemes such as the ‘Be a Councillor Campaign’ run by the Local Government Association encourage candidates from all walks of life to come forward and represent their local community.

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department has taken in response to the recommendations and key findings of the National Audit Office’s report, Financial sustainability by local authorities 2014, published in November 2014; and what work his Department has carried out on improving its understanding of the financial stability of local authorities.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The National Audit Office report, Financial Sustainability of Local Authorities made four key recommendations.

    In line with my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State’s (Greg Clark) statement to the House on 17 December, Official Report, Columns 1722-1724, we have noted the criticism of the Public Accounts Committee and the DCLG select committee about previous inclusions of the existing Better Care Fund and the Public Health Grant in councils’ spending power. So we will follow their advice, and henceforth report only resources over which councils have discretion.

    In relation to transformation projects, the overall local government finance system sets the conditions to achieve value for money through strong pressure to improve outcomes, whilst delivering services more efficiently

    We have learnt from previous spending reviews. In preparation for the Spending Review 2015 officials had early and extensive engagement with all departments that rely on local government to deliver services. This enabled the department to build up a clear picture of whether local authorities core funding was sufficient to deliver their statutory services.

    The Department monitors the financial stability of local authorities as part of its oversight of local government expenditure. Officials use the detailed data returns that provided by local authorities throughout the year and they gather intelligence through routine interactions with local authorities, representative bodies and other departments. This helps them to anticipate and act on potential problems.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what special measures he has taken to provide assistance to rough sleepers in areas affected by floods in Lancashire and Cumbria.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    My rt. hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) announced on 9 December that the Government has made £51 million available through the Communities and Business Recovery Scheme to help local authorities impacted by Storm Desmond to recover. The Scheme is designed to provide ready support to those local authorities to, in turn, help individuals, businesses and communities return to normality. Where local authorities judge that rough sleepers are in need of assistance, they can use the funding for that purpose. The funding can also be used to provide temporary accommodation for any family made homeless.

    The Government remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. That is why since 2010 we’ve invested more than £500 million to prevent and tackle homelessness in England. But even one person without a home is one too many, which is why we have committed in the Spending Review to increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. We are also maintaining and protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what special support his Department is providing to rough sleepers over the Christmas period.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. That is why since 2010 we have invested more than £500 million to prevent and tackle homelessness in England. But even one person without a home is one too many, which is why we have committed in the Spending Review to increase central investment over the next four years to £139 million for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. We are also maintaining and protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20.

    Severe weather emergency provision for rough sleepers is of the utmost importance. Local authorities, with their voluntary sector partners, have arrangements in place to move rough sleepers indoors during periods of severe cold weather.

  • Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Christopher Chope – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Housing and Planning of 14 December 2015, Official Report, column 1278, if he will call in for his determination the application by Dorset County Council to grant itself planning permission for a new school on land in the green belt adjoining Marsh Lane, Christchurch, on grounds of its departing from the recently approved Local Development Plan.

    Brandon Lewis

    The County Council intends to consider the application at its planning committee on 28 January. Should it be minded to approve the proposal, the Council would then refer the application to the Secretary of State due to the scale and location of the development proposed in the Green Belt. If the application is referred, the Secretary of State would then consider whether to call in the application.

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of (a) the level of funding required to cover local authority spending on social care in the period to 2020 and (b) how much the proposed two per cent increase in council tax intended for the social care levy will have raised in funding by 2020 if every authority implements that proposal to the full.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Ahead of the Spending Review, the Local Government Association estimated the gap in adult social care funding to be £2.9 billion – arising from a growing elderly population and introduction of the National Living Wage.

    At Spending Review the Government outlined a package of support worth up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their older and most vulnerable residents. That included giving authorities with social care responsibilities the flexibility to raise council tax in their area by up to 2% above the referendum threshold for each year between 2016-17 and 2019-20, to fund adult social care services. It is also providing £1500 million additional funding for local authorities to spend on adult social care by 2019-20, to be included in an improved Better Care Fund. Taken together, these measures provide significant resources to address the demographic pressures facing the social care system.

    In terms of what the social care flexibility could raise, I refer the hon. Member to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark), announced to the House on 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

    “

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how his Department plans to monitor whether income from the proposed two per cent rise in council tax intended to contribute to the social care levy is being spent on social care.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    I refer the hon. Members to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which was announced by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark) 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722.

    This is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

    “

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how his Department plans to enable the sharing of best practice from current and completed devolution deals.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Government is pleased to have reached agreement on devolution deals with seven local areas during 2015 which will enable local people to make decisions on the priorities and investments which will best help local areas to succeed and grow. We are now focused on implementation of these deals, and as part of this process monitoring and evaluation will be crucial.

  • Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Emma Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what UK projects received funding under the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013; what the location of each such project was; and what the amount received in funding was for each such project.

    James Wharton

    In the 2007-13 programmes, the grant recipients of the European Regional Development Fund generally had to deliver the projects across the region covered by that programme; location details for those grant recipients have been provided and are shown in the attached table.