Tag: Clive Betts

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what further steps he plans to take to ensure that local government pension scheme members are consulted on proposed guidance on the ability of local government to account for non-financial factors in pension scheme investment decisions; and what steps he plans to take to ensure that that proposed guidance will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government’s response to the consultation, which will set out our next steps in relation to these issues, will be published shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many new homes of each type of tenure he plans will be funded by measures announced in the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015.

Brandon Lewis

The Spending Review and Autumn Statement made last week reaffirmed this Government’s commitment to keeping the country building, to delivering the homes communities want and supporting hard-working people who aspire to own their own home to be able to do so.

Over £20 billion was secured for housing from the Spending Review. This includes £8 billion to deliver over 400,000 affordable starts, and a further £12 billion of housing investment which will support our 1 million homes ambition by 2020/21.

The Spending Review package announced last week supports a variety of tenures, including affordable homes for rent, shared ownership schemes and starter homes. It also supports home ownership through supporting custom build, the extension of Help to Buy, and extending the Right to Buy to tenants of housing associations.

Precise splits between differing types of tenure will depend on the nature and quality of bids recieved for new funding programmes, and on the type of sites coming forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the responses to the non-financial factors section of the recent consultation on revoking and replacing the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government’s response to the consultation, which will set out our next steps in relation to these issues, will be published shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which charities have used government grants to pay for campaigns in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 to date; what the nature of each such campaign was; what estimate he has made of the amount of government funding used for each such campaign; and which such charities have been asked to repay part of their grant on the grounds that such expenditure was outwith the terms and conditions of that grant.

Matthew Hancock

The information requested is not held centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of his Department’s progress on improving municipal statutory notices since his Department’s press release, Councils and media invited to bring statutory notices into 21st century, published on 23rd December 2014.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Statutory Notices Pilots project is now complete. We are currently in the process of giving careful consideration to the findings of the final reports of the 24 pilots, before drawing any conclusions and deciding what action, if any, to take.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many public libraries have (a) closed and (b) opened in England since May 2010; and how many libraries which were previously run by professionally-qualified staff are now run by volunteers.

Mr Edward Vaizey

While the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not commission specific information relating to the closure or opening of public libraries, or of libraries run entirely by volunteers, the Department does monitor closely proposed changes to library service provision throughout England. Based on desk research undertaken by the Department, we estimate that from January 2010 to January 2016 approximately 110 static public libraries in England closed and at least 77 new public libraries have opened, including relocations to new buildings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-06-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment the Government has made of the contribution of the work of the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield to breaking down distinctions between sport and wider physical activity.

David Evennett

Government is committed to increasing physical activity as set out in our sport strategy, ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ published late last year. That strategy removed the artificial barriers between sport and wider physical activity, broadening Sport England’s remit to include cycling, dancing and walking. The recently published Sport England strategy, ‘Towards an Active Nation’, sets out their plans to implement this new approach.

I recognise that creating a more active society will require action by a range of bodies working together over a significant period of time. I therefore welcome the work of Legacy Park Ltd in Sheffield in bringing together partners across local government, the health sector, academia, elite and community sport and the private sector. I look forward to seeing their ambitious plans to establish sport facilities for elite and community use and an Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre that would work with the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine to provide health and wellbeing research and learning.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have (a) an adopted local plan in place, (b) a local plan found sound by the planning inspectorate but not yet adopted, (c) a plan that has been submitted but not yet assessed by the planning inspectorate and (d) a plan published but not yet submitted for inspection.

Brandon Lewis

As of 29 February 2016 (a) 237 authorities had an adopted local plan in place, (b) 1 authority had a local plan that had been found sound by the planning inspectorate but not yet adopted, (c) 29 authorities had plans that have been submitted but not yet assessed by the planning inspectorate and (d) 17 authorities had published a plan but not yet submitted it for inspection.

We have committed to publishing league tables, setting out local authorities’ progress on providing a plan for the jobs and homes needed locally. Last month we set out our intention to publish this information from summer 2016, on a six monthly basis, further details of our proposals can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementation-of-planning-changes-technical-consultation.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will publish the review carried out by McKinsey and Company into his Department’s budget.

Joseph Johnson

The Department will not be publishing the McKinsey work on the grounds that to do so would be likely to reduce the Government’s ability to protect the policy-making process and maintain the delivery of effective Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-03-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2016 to Question 29982, on local plans, which local authorities fall into each of the four categories of authority.

Brandon Lewis

The Planning Inspectorate publishes this information for all authorities across England, available at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/local-plans.

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