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4 Feb 2009 : Column 1276W—continued
Coastal Areas
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of levels of migration of young people out of coastal towns; and what steps her Department has taken to mitigate the effects of this migration. [252931]
John Healey: “England's Seaside Towns: a benchmarking study”, published by the Department in November 2008, includes an assessment of the demographic profile of the principal seaside towns. The report notes that the population of seaside towns is skewed towards older age groups, with a correspondingly lower proportion of working age and young people, although there are some exceptions. Most seaside towns have attracted fewer international migrant workers than the national average. No specific assessment has been made of the levels of migration of young people from coastal towns.
The Government's local area agreement framework is enabling local authorities in coastal towns and other areas, alongside key partners, to develop local solutions to the social and demographic challenges they face. This can include responding to the effects of outward migration of young people, where there are local concerns. In addition, the Review of Sub National Economic Development and Regeneration proposals for a new statutory duty on local authorities to carry out a statutory local economic assessment of their area, and to form sub regional partnerships, will empower coastal and other local authorities to drive local prosperity, regeneration and economic growth for the benefit of the local population, including young people.
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made towards implementing the recommendations of the Communities and Local Government Committee in its report on coastal towns, that the Government undertakes further research into the challenges facing coastal communities; and what timetable she has set for undertaking research in each policy area. [253613]
Mr. Iain Wright: In response to the conclusions and recommendations made in Communities and Local Government Select Committee on coastal towns, the Department commissioned a comprehensive benchmarking study to determine the socio-economic conditions in the 37 largest seaside towns in England. This research was specifically carried out to fill the evidence gap that existed on seaside towns and will help inform future policy development in these areas.
The report was published in November 2008 and can be found at:
Community Relations: Finance
Mr. Paul Goodman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how the
additional £5 million in funding for local authorities, Government offices and police in support of work in schools, colleges and universities which she announced on 10 December 2008 will be allocated between the three groups in 2009-10 and 2010-11; on what basis the allocations will be made; how the effectiveness of the funding will be evaluated; and if she will make a statement. [249589]
Mr. Coaker: I have been asked to reply.
The additional £5 million was announced in the Home Secretary’s speech of 10 December at the national Prevent conference and supports activity this financial year (2008-09). The announcement relates to a joint funding package from the Home Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The funding is allocated as follows:
£1.68 million to all local authorities to help with the local roll-out of the published schools toolkit “Learning Together to be Safe”. Funding levels reflect the number of schools and include a boost for those areas that receive Prevent funding to reflect the scale of the challenge.
£3 million for 24 priority police forces to work with Government offices and other partners to support Prevent work in schools and education institutions including higher and further education. The distribution of this allocation was based on the Association of Chief Police Officers guidance criteria which included an assessment of population vulnerability and evaluated intelligence.
£480,000 to buy the copyright to provide free access for schools and colleges to the Kids Taskforce’s “Watch Over Me” DVD for three years supplemented by 60 training days on the product for teachers and local partners.
Any additional allocations for 2009-10 and 2010-11 are yet to be finalised.
Government offices are providing monthly updates to the Home Office through the Government Prevent Progress tracker and the police are submitting six weekly returns to the Association of Chief Police Officers. In addition, we will conduct a ‘lessons learned’ exercise at the end of 2008-09 to produce a document for partners outlining the hallmarks for effective police prevent activity in the education world.
Compulsory Purchase: Travelling People
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her Department’s policy is on the compulsory purchase of land to provide for Traveller encampments; and what guidance her Department has issued to local authorities on the matter. [252751]
Mr. Iain Wright: Guidance on the compulsory purchase of land is contained in ODPM Circular 06/04 “Compulsory Purchase and the Crichel Down Rules”. The use of compulsory purchase powers is entirely a matter for the local authority. If a local authority wished to compulsorily purchase any land, it would have to demonstrate that there is a compelling case in the public interest before any compulsory purchase order could be confirmed. This is true for the purchase of land to provide Traveller sites as in any other circumstance. Planning advice for Gypsies and Travellers is contained in ODPM Circular 1/06 “Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites”.
Council Housing: Crosby
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many non-decent council homes there are in Crosby constituency; and how many there were in (a) 1997, (b) 2001 and (c) 2005. [253409]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data on levels of non-decency are collected at local authority level and was not collected prior to 2001. In 2001 Sefton borough council reported that 9,715 of the homes they managed failed the decent homes standard, in 2005 it was 7,500.
Council Housing: Greater London
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in each category of housing need were on local authority waiting lists in each London borough in each of the last 10 years. [253861]
Mr. Iain Wright: This information is not held centrally.
Council Tax
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy to issue guidance to local authorities to prevent the incorrect issuing of court summonses for non-payment of council tax; and if she will make a statement. [251332]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 2 February 2009, Official Report, column 946W.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make it her policy to enable people incorrectly issued with a court summons for non-payment of council tax to make a claim for compensation against the local authority which issued that summons; and if will make a statement. [252618]
Councillors: Allowances
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) statutory and (b) other changes have been made to the rules relating to allowances and pensions for councillors since May 1997; and what the date of each change was. [252633]
John Healey: From 1 May 2003, changes were introduced to the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations which allow authorities to permit their elected members to access the local government pension scheme. The provisions were subsequently amended as follows: on 1 October 2003 by SI 2003/2240; 1 April 2004 by SI 2004/573; 10 June 2004 by SI 2004/928; 5 December 2005 by SI 2005/3069; 6 April 2006 by SI 2006/966; and 1 October 2006 by SI 2006/2008. These changes are available in a composite form at:
Section 18 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 provides that the Secretary of State may by
regulation authorise or require a local authority to make a scheme of allowances for councillors. The above provision was amended by section 99 of the Local Government Act 2000, which requires local authorities to establish and have regard to the recommendations of an independent remuneration panel before making or amending their schemes of allowances. Since May 1997, the rules relating to the payment of allowances to councillors in England has been amended as follows: on 1 April 1998 by SI 1998/556; on 30 April 1999 by SI 1999/1086; on 1 April 2000 by SI 2000/622 and SI 2000/623; on 1 May 2003 by SI 2003/1021; on 31 July 2003 by SI 2003/1692 and on 3 November 2004 by SI 2004/2596.
Departmental Procurement
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 304W, on departmental procurement, what the purpose of the expenditure on Info Terra Ltd was; and what goods or services were purchased. [251954]
Mr. Khan: Of the £125,409.81 paid to Info Terra Ltd in 2007-2008, £85,410.16 was made in connection with a series of contracts let by the Department to provide a digital mapping service. The remainder, £39,999.65 was paid for Phase 2 of the Green Spaces Database, which comprised web mapping, data migration and green space quality indicators.
Departmental Recycling
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) paper, (b) plastic and (c) other waste was produced by her Department in each of the last three years; and what proportion of such waste was recycled. [252697]
Mr. Khan: The quantity of paper, plastic and other waste, and the proportion recycled by Communities and Local Government in each of the last three years is shown in the following table:
| Central Department | Executive Agencies | |||||
| (1 )The data for paper include cardboard as these materials are often mixed for recycling (2 )These data include composted material and materials separated and sent for external reuse by other organisations Note: These figures do not include data from the Government Offices for the Regions | ||||||
Departmental Training
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which external organisations her Department has engaged to provide training for fast stream civil service staff in the last three years; and how many civil servants in her Department have participated in provision of training for external organisations in that period. [252230]
Mr. Khan: Over the last three years CLG have engaged with 13 different training providers for the Fast Stream. The full list is as follows:
Alpha, Atkins, Birkbeck University, Brunel University, Capital, Hemsley Fraser, Illumine Training, Indigo, National School of Government, Scope IXL Group, Southampton University, UCL, and Westminster Explained.
We do not centrally hold details of civil servants within the Department that have participated in provision of training for external organisations during this period. The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Derelict Land
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) terms of reference and (b) timetable are for the review of the brownfield designation of garden land; and if she will make a statement. [253900]
Mr. Iain Wright: We are committed to a review of the evidence on the extent of development on back gardens to establish whether or not there is a clear and genuine problem. If there is a problem, we will consider action to remedy the situation. The terms of reference for the review are due to be decided shortly and will be published.
Eco-Towns: Public Consultation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people have (a) written to her Department and (b) used her Department’s online consultation to express their views about eco-towns; and how many representations by each method have been (i) favourable and (ii) not favourable to the Government's proposals. [254129]
Margaret Beckett: As part of the first stage of consultation on “Eco-towns—living a greener future”, we received over 12,000 responses, providing a wide range of views on the principles of eco-towns and the shortlisted locations. A summary report of the responses received, is available on my Department’s website.
The online consultation is part of our second stage consultation, covering the draft eco-towns planning policy statement and sustainability appraisal. This began in November 2008 and runs to March 2009. A summary report of the responses and comments received will be published following the end of consultation in the usual way.
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