The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in shire county council bus subsidies on the opportunities for social interaction of elderly and disabled people.
Brandon Lewis
The Department for Transport is the lead Department on policy and funding for buses.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-30.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2014, Official Report, column 677W, on VAT, how many VAT431C claims have been submitted in each of the (a) last eight years and (b) smallest time periods by which data is kept over the last eight years.
Mr David Gauke
VAT 431NB New House Build Claims and VAT431C Conversion claims forms have only been in use in their current form since September 2009.
Data on these forms is kept on an annual calendar year basis.
|
Type of claim |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
New Build/from 2009 VAT431NB |
6818 |
6441 |
6183 |
5303 |
|
Conversion/from 2009 VAT431C |
1155 |
1107 |
1251 |
999 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the number of households with children in the private rented sector in England.
Kris Hopkins
[Holding Reply: Wednesday 18 June 2014]
According to the English Housing Survey, in 2011-12, there were 3.9 million households in the owner occupied sector with dependent children, 1.3 million in the private rented sector and 1.2 million in the social rented sector.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) his Department and (b) any executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies of his Department in the current financial year.
Francis Maude
At the time of the last General Election the central Government estate was far larger than required and taxpayers were paying to maintain, run and rent properties which were under-occupied while other part of the freehold estate remained vacant.
The Government Property Unit has been supporting departments to rationalise rapidly the Government’s estate including by taking a whole of Government view of property. Since the 2010 General Election over £1.25 billion has been raised by selling surplus freehold properties. Through the exiting of property across the central civil estate, we have also delivered cumulative, gross run rate savings of over £454 million per annum.
Where surplus property is awaiting disposal or lease end, the government looks to explore all disposal options, including commercially sub-letting all or part of the space. Surplus property is listed on gov.uk
There is no liability at taxpayers’ expense for business rates on any vacant Cabinet Office properties in the current financial year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to answer question No. 191956 tabled by the Rt hon. Member for Leeds Central on 13 March 2014.
Stephen Williams
I will provide a comprehensive answer to the rt. hon. Member in due course. We are currently gathering historic files, given some of the information requested predates the establishment of the National Planning Casework Unit in 2011.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-30.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2014, Official Report, column 677W, on VAT, how many VAT431NB claims have been submitted in each of the (a) last eight years and (b) smallest time periods by which data is kept over the last eight years.
Mr David Gauke
VAT 431NB New House Build Claims and VAT431C Conversion claims forms have only been in use in their current form since September 2009.
Data on these forms is kept on an annual calendar year basis.
|
Type of claim |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
New Build/from 2009 VAT431NB |
6818 |
6441 |
6183 |
5303 |
|
Conversion/from 2009 VAT431C |
1155 |
1107 |
1251 |
999 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of brownfield land in England is covered by a Local Development Order.
Nick Boles
At this point in time, this information is not centrally held.
However, I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 16 June 2014, Official Report, Column 71-72WS, on the steps we are taking to promote the use of Local Development Orders on brownfield land.
In addition, the Written Ministerial Statement of 10 June 2014, Official Report, Column 33WS, provides a broader summary of steps we have taken to facilitate empty and redundant land and property being brought back into productive use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-03-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the empty property business rates for the vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS database owned by (a) his Department and (b) any executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies of his Department in the current financial year.
Elizabeth Truss
Since May 2010 the Department for Education has reduced the size of its estate from 30 properties, at a cost of circa £51 million per annum, to 11 properties costing circa £34 million per annum. This is a saving of circa £17 million per annum. The Department is planning to further reduce the size of the estate to 6 properties. This will achieve further annual savings to the Department of circa £2.5 million. The Department also plans to vacate Sanctuary Buildings at lease expiry in 2017.
The Department for Education, including the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), has the following vacant properties recorded on the e-PIMS property database.
|
Number of properties |
Business Rates 13-14 |
|
|
Department for Education |
3 |
£79,010.25 |
|
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service |
1 |
£9,222.00 |
The Department for Education properties are legacy Training and Enterprise Council (TEC) properties which became the Department’s responsibility following the closure of the TEC in the early 2000s. The Department had successfully sub-let a number of facilities, although over the last three years some of the sub-tenants have operated lease break options and the properties are again vacant.
These properties are advertised on the Government Property Unit’s e-PIMS property database for use by other Government Departments and we are also marketing these facilities to the private sector, via letting agents, to secure new sub-tenants in order to mitigate costs, including business rates. The Department has offered all vacant properties listed above to the Government business incubator initiative and for free schools.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-04-10.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many VAT431NB claims have been submitted in each of the last 32 quarters.
Mr David Gauke
Data on these forms is not kept on a quarterly basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-05-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what research her Department has undertaken on the relationship between levels of street lighting and the incidence of (a) burglaries, (b) offences against the person and (c) other crimes.
Norman Baker
The Home Office has not undertaken any recent research into the relationship
between levels of street lighting and the incidence of crimes.