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  • Oliver Heald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Oliver Heald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Heald on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 5 January 2015 to Question 218966, whether he plans to publish financial data on national non-domestic rates before 12 February 2015.

    Kris Hopkins

    Financial data on national non-domestic rates to be collected by councils in England in 2015-16 will be published on 18 February 2015. The data will be available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/national-non-domestic-rates-to-be-collected-by-councils-in-engalnd-2015-to-2016.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to compensate (a) Newham, (b) other councils in East London and (c) other areas in the UK where population growth is above average for the increased demand for council services resulting from population growth.

    Kris Hopkins

    Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Report for 2015-16 on 10 February 2015. The settlement is fair to all; councils with the highest needs have higher spending power per household than those with lower needs.

    The focus of the settlement has deliberately changed away from keeping authorities dependent on grant, to providing them with the tools they need to grow their economies. As a result, although we took into account relative needs when setting the baseline for the new system, we have frozen this to maximise the incentive effect. All councils can benefit from the incentives for growth we have put in place – the New Homes Bonus and business rates retention.

    For example Newham’s retained income from Business Rates in 2013-14 was just under £7 million above its baseline funding level; and the authority’s own forecasts suggest it will be over £10 million above its baseline funding level in 2014-15. In addition Newham’s housing stock has increased by over 8,000 units over the period of the New Homes bonus scheme, providing a further £28 million of funding to the Borough in the years to 2015-16.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to link local government finance settlements to ONS population growth figures.

    Kris Hopkins

    Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Report for 2015-16 on 10 February 2015. The settlement is fair to all; councils with the highest needs have higher spending power per household than those with lower needs.

    The focus of the settlement has deliberately changed away from keeping authorities dependent on grant, to providing them with the tools they need to grow their economies. As a result, although we took into account relative needs when setting the baseline for the new system, we have frozen this to maximise the incentive effect. All councils can benefit from the incentives for growth we have put in place – the New Homes Bonus and business rates retention.

    For example Newham’s retained income from Business Rates in 2013-14 was just under £7 million above its baseline funding level; and the authority’s own forecasts suggest it will be over £10 million above its baseline funding level in 2014-15. In addition Newham’s housing stock has increased by over 8,000 units over the period of the New Homes bonus scheme, providing a further £28 million of funding to the Borough in the years to 2015-16.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of population growth on local government finance needs.

    Kris Hopkins

    Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Report for 2015-16 on 10 February 2015. The settlement is fair to all; councils with the highest needs have higher spending power per household than those with lower needs.

    The focus of the settlement has deliberately changed away from keeping authorities dependent on grant, to providing them with the tools they need to grow their economies. As a result, although we took into account relative needs when setting the baseline for the new system, we have frozen this to maximise the incentive effect. All councils can benefit from the incentives for growth we have put in place – the New Homes Bonus and business rates retention.

    For example Newham’s retained income from Business Rates in 2013-14 was just under £7 million above its baseline funding level; and the authority’s own forecasts suggest it will be over £10 million above its baseline funding level in 2014-15. In addition Newham’s housing stock has increased by over 8,000 units over the period of the New Homes bonus scheme, providing a further £28 million of funding to the Borough in the years to 2015-16.

  • John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which coastal resorts have received support in more than (a) one round and (b) two rounds of coastal communities funding awards.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Coastal Communities Fund has had three bidding rounds to date. A table has been placed in the Library of the House giving details of 164 coastal communities across the UK that have received grants from the Fund in one, two or three bidding rounds. The table covers all grants awarded in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to date.

    In addition to the coastal communities in the table, 22 grants were awarded to projects in local authority areas, and a further five grants awarded to cross local authority projects including two long distance coastal footpaths, where we do not have details of the individual coastal communities they will help.

    Ministers are not involved in the grant application or assessment process. The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for inviting and assessing applications to the Fund and makes recommendations to Ministers on which projects should be supported.

    The Coastal Communities Fund is currently closed for further applications. No decisions have been taken yet on whether there will be further bidding rounds. This will be a matter for the next Spending Review. However, I hope there will be further opportunities to support local schemes which have not benefitted from Government support to date.

  • John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Pugh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have bid for each round of the Coastal Communities Fund but have so far received no funding.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Coastal Communities Fund has had three bidding rounds to date, across the United Kingdom. My answer of 9 February 2015, PQ 223748, provided a list of areas which had received grants. I have placed in the Library of the House, a table listing the local authority areas from which bids have been received.

    Ministers are not involved in the grant application or assessment process. The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for inviting and assessing applications to the Fund and makes recommendations to Ministers on which projects should be supported.

    Whilst the Coastal Communities Fund is currently closed for further applications, I hope there will be further opportunities to support local schemes which have not benefitted from Government support to date.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015 to Question 222916, what the total cost to Birmingham City Council will be of funding the Independent Improvement Panel.

    Kris Hopkins

    As indicated in the Panel’s Terms of Reference agreed with the City Council, it will be supported by a secretariat provided jointly by Birmingham City Council and the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the expenses it incurs will be shared equally by the City Council and the Department.

  • Tom Watson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Watson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance he has issued to local authorities about the use of (a) Twitter and (b) other social media to communicate with the public.

    Kris Hopkins

    Digital and social media are an effective and low-cost way of communicating with the public.

    This Government has amended the law to strengthen the rights of the press and public to report and film council meetings using digital and social media. In August 2014, we published a plain English guide to help councils, the press and the public with these new rights.

    We made clear that there is no prohibition on councillors from tweeting and blogging at meetings, and they should be able to do so provided it is not disruptive and does not detract from the proper conduct of the meeting.

    Local authorities should have regard to the local government Publicity Code, which seeks to prevent the misuse of taxpayer-funded resources, including social media.

    Notwithstanding, last June, Ministers challenged and criticised guidance to parish councils issued by the National Association of Local Councils (NALC) that sought to prevent elected councillors from issuing media comments without prior written permission of the council. NALC has now produced a new Media Policy Example that takes into account the new national rules on filming and recording at parish and town council meetings.

    In December, we invited bids for local pilots to bring statutory notices into the 21st Century. This could include supporting the increased use of digital and social media by councils and commercial partners, as one of the ways that such notices could be improved and reformed.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many basic rate taxpayers there are in each parliamentary constituency in the UK.

    Mr David Gauke

    The information requested will be deposited in the Library of the House.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gregory Campbell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2015-02-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the number of people currently paying income tax who would not pay that tax if the threshold at which it begins to be payable were to be raised to £15,000 per annum.

    Mr David Gauke

    It is estimated that raising the personal tax allowance to £15,000 in the year 2015-16 would take 6.2 million individuals out of income tax liability at a cost of £26 billion to the Exchequer.

    These estimates are based on the 2011-12 Survey of Personal Incomes projected forward to 2015-16 using economic assumptions consistent with the OBR’s December 2014 economic and fiscal outlook.