Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which parliamentary constituencies he has visited in an official capacity in 2014.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore) on 24 February, Question 208006.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which local authorities he has written to about the frequency of their publications since entry into force of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Coalition Agreement outlined this Government's clear intention to protect the independent free press by tackling unfair competition from local authority newspapers, reflecting the manifesto commitments of both Coalition parties.
Localism needs robust and independent scrutiny by the press and public.
The Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 gives the Secretary of State the power to direct compliance with the provisions in the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity ('the Publicity Code'). Ministers have clearly stated that they are prepared to use those powers, if necessary, where local authorities are failing to comply with the provisions in the Code.
In March 2014, Ministers wrote to Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Nottingham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest councils requesting that they take steps to ensure their councils comply with the Publicity Code.
In April 2014, formal notice that the Secretary of State was minded to direct compliance with the provisions in Code were served on Greenwich, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest councils. In August 2014, Ministers wrote to Enfield, Hillingdon, Lambeth, Luton, Medway, Mid Devon and North Somerset Councils, requesting they comply with the Publicity Code.
In September 2014, further formal notice that the Secretary of State was minded to direct compliance with the provisions in the Publicity Code was served on Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hillingdon, Lambeth, Luton, Newham, North Somerset, Medway, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest councils.
In October 2014, North Somerset Council wrote to confirm that they would be complying with the Code, terminating contracts for printing and distribution.
This illustrates that we have taken extensive steps to encourage councils to review their practices, given that central intervention is the last resort. Subsequently, I can tell the House:
As stated in the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December 2014 (Official Report, Column 91WS), in December 2014, the Secretary of State has issued a direction against the London Borough of Tower Hamlets and appointed Commissioners. The intervention package includes steps to ensure the Council's publicity functions are properly exercised and ensure compliance with the Code.
As stated in my Written Ministerial Statement of 3 March 2015 (Official Report, Column 49WS), the Secretary of State issued a direction to the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
As stated in my Written Ministerial Statement of 10 March 2015 (Official Report, Column 6WS), the Secretary of State has published notices of directions that he proposes to issue to the London Boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Waltham Forest.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the formula grant allocation was in each local authority in each year since 2010-11; and what the planned such allocations are for 2015-16.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Formula grant has not existed since 2012-13, as a consequence of the introduction of the local retention of business rates.
Historic figures can be found in the local government finance settlements, presented to the House each year, which are also available on the National Archives website.
The hon. Member may wish to refresh himself with our introductory guides to local government finance, which can be found online at:
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish data on the Government's calculation of spending power for each local authority area in each financial year between 2010-11 and 2015-16.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Government has published Spending Power figures since they were introduced in 2011-12 as shown below.
2011-12: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140110170414/http:/www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/1112/spannexas.xls
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by both the under-occupancy penalty and the introduction of council tax reduction schemes.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
There are 4.6 million households in England who are in receipt of local council tax support, as of October 2014.
Housing benefit statistics are produced by the Department for Work and Pensions, and can be found online at:
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on works to, and refurbishment of, offices allocated to Ministers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
There was necessary move and building works to relocate the Department from Eland House to 2 Marsham Street. This will reduce the Department's running costs by £9 million a year from 2015-16, and save taxpayers £220 million over the lifetime of the building's lease commitments.
I also refer the hon. Member to my answer of 18 November 2014, Official Report, PQ 213772, on the broader savings we have made from the retionalisation of the departmental estate.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will publish an analysis of the savings from local authorities' transformational schemes set against the timescales involved.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
My Department is supporting transformational schemes across local authorities in England and has published the projected savings from schemes funded through the Transformation Challenge Award.
In September 2014, 32 local authorities were awarded £8.6 million to deliver transformational projects with projected savings of up to £100 million over the next 10 years. In November 2014, 73 local authorities, working in partnership with other parts of the public sector were awarded £89.4 million to deliver large scale transformational projects, with projected savings estimated to be over £900 million over the next 10 years. On-going monitoring and accountability for these savings will be the responsibility of individual authorities and their partners.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will discuss with his Ministerial colleagues measures to ensure that, where practical, analysis submitted by other government departments at future spending reviews includes sub-national analysis by individual local authority or local authority type.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Robust analysis, at an appropriate spatial scale, is an important part of the policy making and delivery process.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the National Audit Office report, Financial sustainability of local authorities, published on 19 November 2014.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Account Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in due course.
Asked by: Andy Sawford (Labour (Co-op) - Corby)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish a real-terms time series of change in individual local authority income since 2010-11.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Account Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in due course.