Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the level of interest rates on local authority debt repayments.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Councils are ultimately responsible for their own finances, including decisions on the timing of borrowing, and the type and length of loan to manage interest rate risks. The effect of interest rates will vary significantly between councils depending on individual circumstances and financing needs, and the government does not collect this level of data. Under the Prudential Framework, authorities must, however, ensure all debt is affordable and capital investments are prudent and sustainable.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made with the Office for Local Government of the cost to the public purse for (a) setting up and (b) running the Local Authority Data Explorer.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government committed to Oflog’s independence in the Levelling Up White Paper, and Oflog has been instructed to act with a spirit of independence. Oflog is currently an Office within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and therefore its expenditure is part of the Departmental accounts. After the 2024-25 financial year, Oflog will produce its own Annual Report which will include details of its expenditure.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) establishing and (b) running the Office of Local Government.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government committed to Oflog’s independence in the Levelling Up White Paper, and Oflog has been instructed to act with a spirit of independence. Oflog is currently an Office within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and therefore its expenditure is part of the Departmental accounts. After the 2024-25 financial year, Oflog will produce its own Annual Report which will include details of its expenditure.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many best value inspections have been carried out in each year since 2010; and how many minded to notices have been issued in that period.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The following table has been drawn from publicly available data. Officials have taken “minded to notices” to mean seeking representations on using best value powers from the Local Government Act 1999 to issue directions to a council that the Secretary of State considers is failing its duty of best value. Note that the table includes extensions and reductions to existing notices as well as new interventions and therefore there is some ‘double counting’.
| Best Value Inspection | Sought representations on intervening using Best Value powers |
2010 | 0 | 1 |
2011 | 0 | 0 |
2012 | 0 | 0 |
2013 | 0 | 0 |
2014 | 2 | 1 |
2015 | 0 | 2 |
2016 | 0 | 2 |
2017 | 0 | 3 |
2018 | 1 | 2 |
2019 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 0 | 0 |
2021 | 1 | 2 |
2022 |
| 4 |
2023 | 1 | 5 |
2024 | 0 | 0 |
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the size of the local government workforce in each year from 2010 to 2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Office for National publishes workforce data at the following link.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many local authority accounts (a) were submitted on time and (b) remained outstanding after (i) 6, (ii) 12 and (iii) 24 months in each year from 2010 to 2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Public Sector Audit Appointments Ltd was created in 2014, and collects data on the proportion of local authority account audit opinions issued by the deadline each year.
This information is publicly available for example, 2014-15 to 2019-20 statistics are available at the following link; 2020-21 to 2021-22 statistics at the following link; and 2022-23 statistics at the following link.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the licensing fees paid by XL Bully dog owners will cover the cost of preparing the certificate of exemption.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The application fee paid by XL bully owners on registering an XL Bully covers the cost of processing the application and preparing the certificate of exemption.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of replacing the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in Royal Oldham Hospital.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), including significant funding worth £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures. NHS England is working closely with all affected trusts, including Royal Oldham, to develop and deliver plans to remove all identified RAAC. Royal Oldham Hospital has so far received £125,000 in funding to deal with RAAC mitigation. Funding allocations are made on an annual basis and funding for RAAC remediation works beyond 2025 will be considered in the next spending review.
The Government has committed to eradicating RAAC from the publicly owned NHS estate by 2035, including Royal Oldham Hospital.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her Department's timescale is for removing the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in Royal Oldham Hospital.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has a comprehensive mitigation plan in place for hospital buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), including significant funding worth £698 million from 2021 to 2025 for trusts to put in place necessary remediation and failsafe measures. NHS England is working closely with all affected trusts, including Royal Oldham, to develop and deliver plans to remove all identified RAAC. Royal Oldham Hospital has so far received £125,000 in funding to deal with RAAC mitigation. Funding allocations are made on an annual basis and funding for RAAC remediation works beyond 2025 will be considered in the next spending review.
The Government has committed to eradicating RAAC from the publicly owned NHS estate by 2035, including Royal Oldham Hospital.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West and Royton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of the number of councils at risk of issuing Section 114 notices between 4 December 2023 and the Final Local Government Finance Settlement in February 2024.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
As the Secretary of State explained before the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee on Wednesday 6 December, the Government monitors the financial health of local authorities on a regular basis using a wide range of data as well as through extensive direct engagement with councils.