Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the reason is for the time taken to publish the terms of reference of the review of the localisation of council tax benefit.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The details of the Chair and terms of reference for the independent review of local council tax support schemes will be published in due course. A Review team comprising four full-time equivalents staff has been set up to provide project and analytical support to the Chair.
The Review will be completed by the end of March 2016.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff are currently working on the review of the localisation of council tax benefit; and whether he plans for further appointments to be made to this team.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The details of the Chair and terms of reference for the independent review of local council tax support schemes will be published in due course. A Review team comprising four full-time equivalents staff has been set up to provide project and analytical support to the Chair.
The Review will be completed by the end of March 2016.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will place in the Library a copy of the terms of reference of the Council Tax Partnership Forum.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
I have arranged for the Terms of Reference of the Council Tax Partnership Forum to be placed in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the proportion of local authority temporary accommodation that was procured on a nightly booked basis in (a) England and (b) London in each of the last three years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Statistics on households by types of temporary accommodation (incuding bed and breakfast hotels) in England and London are published in Live Table 775 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have (a) applied and (b) been granted approval for permission to use housing revenue account funds to assist with the costs of welfare reform.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
All requests from local authorities seeking clarification that they can use their housing revenue account to provide financial assistance in relation to housing costs related to welfare reform have been approved and directions issued. This affects the following local authorities:
Ashfield District Council
Basildon Borough Council
Birmingham City Council
Brighton and Hove City Council
Canterbury City Council
Crawley Borough Council
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
Gateshead Council
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council
Hull City Council
Ipswich Borough Council
Kettering Borough Council
Leeds City Council
Lewes District Council
London Borough of Brent
London Borough of Croydon
London Borough of Hackney
London Borough of Lewisham
London Borough of Newham
London Borough of Redbridge
London Borough of Southwark
London Borough of Wandsworth
Manchester City Council
Melton Borough Council
Milton Keynes Council
Nottingham City Council
North West Leicestershire District Council
Oxford City Council
Poole Borough Council
Reading Borough Council
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council
Runnymede Borough Council
Sandwell Council
Selby Borough Council
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council
South Cambridgeshire District Council
South Tyneside Council
Swindon Borough Council
Waveney District Council
Wealden District Council
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
West Lancashire Borough Council
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the (a) absolute and (b) proportionate change in per capita funding allocated to sports and leisure was between 2010-11 and 2013-14 in each local authority area.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Data on the expenditure on Recreation and Sport by local authorities are published online in the Revenue Outturn Cultural, Environmental, Regulatory and Planning Services (RO5), which are available at the following link:
http://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-revenue-expenditure-and-financing
Recreation and Sport is amongst the services supported through the Business Rates Retention Scheme. Both retained business rates and revenue support grant, together with council tax, are unringfenced funding streams meaning that authorities can use them on any service. It is not, therefore, possible to say how much funding has been provided for these services.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities operate selective or additional licensing schemes under the terms of the Housing Act 2004.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Department does not collect data on the number of additional and selective licensing schemes operated by local authorities.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many properties became vacant in the social housing stock in each local authority area in 2013-14.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The numbers of vacant local authority and private registered provider dwellings in each local authority district in England are published in the Department’s live table 615 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
The table includes estimates of vacants at the end of 2013/14 and not the number becoming vacant during the year.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the (a) actual and (b) percentage change in the number of homelessness applications was in each English local authority between April 2010 and the latest date for which figures are available.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Current and historic financial year statistics for decisions taken on homelessness applications and acceptances, by local authority area, are published in Live Table 784, and are readily accessible for further scrutiny and analysis. A direct comparison cannot be made between different quarters due to seasonal fluctuations. The data is available online at:
www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-homelessness
This Government have invested over £500 million to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness and rough sleeping since 2010. The homelessness legislation in England provides one of the strongest safety nets in the world for families with children and vulnerable people who become homeless through no fault of their own.
Homelessness acceptances remain lower than in 27 of the last 30 years, and homelessness is around half the average level it was under the previous Administration. Households now spend on average seven months less in temporary accommodation than at the start of 2010.
Asked by: Karen Buck (Labour - Westminster North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the (a) actual and (b) percentage change in expenditure on young people's services (i) in total and (ii) per head of, population was in each English local authority between 2009-10 and 2013-14.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Figures between 2009-10 and 2013-14 are simply not comparative at a local authority level, due to changes in local authority responsibilities, as well as the shift to Academy status away from Local Education Authorities.
Raw Revenue Outturn data is available on our website. Mid-year population statistic s are published by the Office for National Statistics.