Tag: Lord Porter of Spalding

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the emerging findings of the Local Government Association’s Housing Commission report Building our Homes: communities and the future.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

We welcome the work which the Local Government Association is doing to meet our shared aims of delivering the homes which communities need, and creating a housing market that works for everyone. Many of our existing measures will help to achieve those aims.

The government has already doubled the housing budget to help deliver a million homes and double the number of first time buyers. We have allocated £8 billion to deliver 400,000 affordable homes, including shared ownership, starter homes and homes for affordable rent. This government and its predecessor have pursued a wide range of actions to improve the speed of the planning process, and we are taking steps to diversify the market.

We look forward to reading the full report, and engaging with the Local Government Association on existing and future policies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-09-06.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of extending the council tax referendum provisions introduced by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to include levying bodies such as Internal Drainage Boards on (1) the ability of local authorities to raise revenue through council tax or the delivery of their statutory functions, and (2) the ability of Internal Drainage Boards to deliver flood defence and land drainage activities.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The referendum threshold is not a cap – councils can set any council tax increase they like provided they obtain the consent of their local electorate in a referendum. Including levying bodies in the council tax referendum legislation increases the transparency and accountability of public bodies for their tax-raising and spending decisions. Local authorities and their levying bodies had shown that they can work together to cut costs and improve services, and this measure placed all local authorities on a common footing when setting council tax.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the cost pressures on local authorities, and whether in the light of that assessment they have plans to give local authorities greater freedoms to raise income locally by removing the requirement to hold referendums before raising Council Tax above two per cent.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

Councils account for around a quarter of all public spending and have an important role to play in tackling the deficit. The 2015 Spending Review looked across all local government spending and as a result the Government provided a £3.5 billion package to tackle the pressures of adult social care. This included giving councils the additional freedom to introduce an adult social care precept worth 2 per cent, which could raise nearly £2billion by 2019-20. The Government remains committed to working with local authorities to keep council tax low for hard-working families and set out its proposals for council tax referendum principles for 2017-18 in the Local Government Finance Settlement Technical Consultation, published on 15 September 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-09-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, in the light of their proposal to allow local government to retain 100 per cent of the business rates raised locally, they have plans to allow local government to determine the business rates multiplier.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

The Government has previously announced that combined authority mayors will in future be allowed to levy a 2p in the pound supplement on business rates bills to fund infrastructure projects; and that all authorities will be able to reduce the business rates tax rate, thereby allowing them to tailor their local tax regime to local economic circumstances. We are currently consulting on the detail of both proposals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-10-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what funding has been allocated to local authorities to support unaccompanied children being resettled in the UK beyond 31 March 2017.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

In July 2016, we increased the national rate of funding to local authorities taking responsibility for unaccompanied asylum seeking children, from £34,675 to £41,610 a year for those aged under 16 and from £25,915 to £33,215 a year for those aged 16 or 17. We will keep these arrangements under review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the publication of Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, whether they intend to publish a national Mental Health Strategy.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government welcomed the independent taskforce’s recommendations for mental health and fully endorses the report. We continue to work across Government departments to progress taking the taskforce recommendations forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Porter of Spalding on 2016-10-20.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in creating parity of esteem between mental and physical health and how they are currently measuring this.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government is committed to achieving parity of esteem for mental and physical health. The Government welcomed the publication of The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health and Future in Mind: Promoting, protecting and improving our children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing to transform mental health services by 2020, which is a significant step forward in achieving parity of esteem between mental and physical health. We continue to work with NHS England and other arm’s length bodies to embed the recommendations set out in these reports into our national policies and we are committed to reporting regularly and transparently on our progress. Copies of both reports are attached.

We will be holding NHS England to account through the NHS Mandate to ensure that we deliver the commitments set out in these reports.