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  • Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Kerry McCarthy – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people of no faith are consulted and listened to when formulating policy on faith and communities.

    Stephen Williams

    The ‘Creating the Conditions for Integration’ paper sets out the Government’s approach to achieving a more integrated society, for everyone of faith and of no faith to live and work successfully alongside each other. In September 2012 my rt. hon. Friend the Prime Minister appointed my noble Friend, Baroness Warsi as Minister for Faith and Communities. Along with colleagues, such as myself, the Minister has worked closely with faith and non-faith groups on an approach to integration.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Rushanara Ali – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate has he made of the proportion of youth services commissioned by local authorities from (a) in-house bids from directly-funded providers, (b) voluntary organisation and (c) private-sector companies in each year since 2010.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Local authorities are expected to make arrangements for continuity of provision of services and activities to young people throughout any commissioning activity. Statutory guidance on this duty was issued by the Department for Education in July 2012.

    Local authorities are required to submit to Government separate budget and outturn statements outlining planned and actual expenditure for their education and children’s social care functions annually. This includes spend information on youth work and youth services, however this information does not allow a complete breakdown by different categories of organisation to be calculated.

  • Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Hilary Benn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes have been self-built in each of the last eight years.

    Kris Hopkins

    The Department does not hold official statistics.

    To assist the preparation and implementation of policy to support self-builders, the Department is examining how best the take-up of self-build can be quantified.

  • Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Matthew Offord – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the planning system gives priority to creating additional school places.

    Nick Boles

    The Government recognises the importance of building new schools. The National Planning Policy Framework therefore makes clear the importance of planning for new school development in order to ensure that a sufficient choice of school places is available. The Government has also introduced additional permitted development rights to allow the change of use from some existing buildings to a state funded school.

  • Rushanara Ali – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Rushanara Ali – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rushanara Ali on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure continuity in local authority provision of youth services during commissioning processes to tender those services.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Local authorities are expected to make arrangements for continuity of provision of services and activities to young people throughout any commissioning activity. Statutory guidance on this duty was issued by the Department for Education in July 2012.

    Local authorities are required to submit to Government separate budget and outturn statements outlining planned and actual expenditure for their education and children’s social care functions annually. This includes spend information on youth work and youth services, however this information does not allow a complete breakdown by different categories of organisation to be calculated.

  • John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what levels of stock his Department holds of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables.

    Brandon Lewis

    My Department does not routinely record this information in the format requested. However, this Administration has cut spending significantly on office supplies, cutting expenditure from £480,180 (inc VAT) in 2009-10 to £73,738 in 2013-14.

    In 2010, we conducted an internal review of the Department’s spend on office supplies which highlighted several opportunities to achieve savings. A rationalised list of stationery items was created which:

    · reduced the available catalogue of items from around 3,500 to approximately 220;

    · replaced higher value branded items, with non-branded equivalents; and

    · adopted recycled printer toners and copier paper.

    Significant savings were also achieved by aggregating the spend of all Departments and awarding a single Cabinet Office contract for stationery items and one for electronic office supplies (printer toners and other consumables). These contracts were awarded in September 2011 and DCLG were among the first departments to adopt them in November 2011.

    As part of our planned move of office accommodation this summer (to share with the Home Office to save taxpayers’ money), stationery across the department will be surrendered and pooled, with the potential to save money by not ordering items locally and preventing a build-up of surplus stationery stock.

    I hope this illustrates how every bit of the public sector has the potential to deliver sensible savings on back office costs.

  • John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    John Redwood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Church Commissioners

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Redwood on 2014-04-10.

    To ask the right hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what levels of stock the Church Commissioners hold of (a) stationery, (b) printer cartridges, (c) treasury tags and other fasteners and (d) other office consumables.

    Sir Tony Baldry

    The Church Commissioners do not keep inventories of stationery items and office consumables, to calculate the stock levels held would incur a disproportionate cost. The level of stock is monitored regularly, and replenished as necessary to meet staff needs.

  • Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Lavery – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Lavery on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average annual (a) cost of employing HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) debt management collectors and (b) value of interventions undertaken by individual HMRC debt management collectors are in (i) debt management telephony centres, (ii) field force, (iii) debt collection intervention teams, (iv) debt technical offices and (v) late stage intervention.

    Mr David Gauke

    Staff numbers fluctuate throughout the year but the following numbers of staff were in post at 31 March for each of the last three years:

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    DMTC/DCIT

    1,276

    1,194

    1,336

    Field Force

    631

    601

    531

    DTO

    1,012

    1,223

    1,113

    LAST

    242

    277

    Total

    2,919

    3,260

    3,257

    · HMRC uses an appropriate mix of interventions to recover outstanding debt based on assessments of previous behaviour, [credit] risk and likely ability to pay. The allocation of various activities to specific debts is not mutually exclusive – some debtors may experience multiple contacts if they do not respond to initial attempts at recovery.

    · The table below shows the overall annual amounts of debts which HMRC has pursued and cleared in recent years.

    £billion

    2010/11

    2011/12

    2012/13

    2013/14

    Total Debt processed

    51

    53

    47

    59

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the value of Landfill Community Fund grants to projects in (a) Dudley North constituency, (b) Dudley Borough, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

    Nicky Morgan

    ENTRUST, the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF), has provided the value of the LCF in Dudley, the West Midlands and England from the inception of the fund to date and for the last financial year. This is set out in the table below. ENTRUST does not have this information broken down by constituency.

    Dudley

    West Midlands (includes Dudley)

    England

    £m

    £m

    £m

    2013-14

    0.142

    2.17

    67

    1996 to date

    2.3

    24

    987

    Given the level of unspent funds that the LCF continues to hold, reducing the value of the fund by less than 10% is not expected to impact on communities’ ability to receive LCF funding.

  • Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Austin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2014-04-10.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the performance of projects funded by the Landfill Communities Fund; what plans he has for the future of the fund; and if he will make a statement.

    Nicky Morgan

    The Government regularly meets a range of stakeholders on the Landfill Communities Fund.

    The LCF makes a valuable contribution to local communities. All projects have to be approved by ENTRUST as meeting specific criteria, to ensure the project benefits the wider community.The value of the landfill communities fund for 2014-15 will be reduced to £71 million. This reduction takes account of progress that environmental bodies have made to address the government’s challenge to reduce unspent funds. The saving will be used to fund an equivalent one-off increase in Defra’s budget to address waste crime. The government intends that environmental bodies’ performance against the challenge is published once the final information is available later this year.