Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to improve the transparency of operation of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs); and what his policy is on increasing the powers made available to BIDs.
Answered by Marcus Jones
We are currently consulting to improve the transparency of the operation of Business Improvement Districts. The consultation also includes proposals to increase powers available to them including simplifying the Neighbourhood Planning process and giving them the power to use the Community Right to Challenge.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what projects in the City of Bristol have been supported by the Near Neighbours fund in each year since that fund was established; and how much that fund has awarded in total.
Answered by Stephen Williams
The Near Neighbours programme does not operate in the City of Bristol. The programme operates in eight hubs around England and includes a small grants element alongside other activities aimed at building productive working relationships between people of different faiths. In total, since the programme was established in 2011, the Government has invested over £8 million with Church Urban Fund match-funding of £600,000. More information on the programme can be found here: http://www.cuf.org.uk/how-we-help/near-neighbours.The Church Urban Fund also offers funding through the Together Grants programme, supporting faith based organisations to engage in social action, by supporting them to initiate or develop community work. The Church Urban Fund has made nearly two hundred grants in the Diocese of Bristol (including the city of Bristol and the surrounding areas), totalling more than £2.1 million.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
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 the costed potential changes to firefighter pensions.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Earlier this year I met with the Union leadership and agreed to their request for the Government Actuary's Department to cost alternative pension scheme designs for them. Emails received from the Union's consulting actuary set out a range of alternative scheme designs to be costed on behalf of the Union. Each of these alternative scheme designs concerned variations on the early retirement factors for firefighters who retired before age 60. In each instance the Department provided the letters from the Government Actuary's Department to the Union at the earliest possible point in time. No other proposals were costed by the Government Actuary's Department and the Union did not request the preparation of any other costings.
These costings were conducted during a period of constructive discussion and the Union leadership knew we were considering these proposals. I had been clear that it was only possible to consider such proposals during a period when strike action was in abeyance. Rather than continue and finalise that constructive process the Union leadership chose to call a halt to them prematurely by announcing further unnecessary strike action.
The Fire Brigades Union has launched a correspondence campaign to release this information, which is odd given that it is information that they already hold. To provide transparency over the process, I am publishing copies of the relevant papers on the firefighter pensions webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms and will place copies in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
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 the costed potential changes to firefighter pensions.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Earlier this year I met with the Union leadership and agreed to their request for the Government Actuary's Department to cost alternative pension scheme designs for them. Emails received from the Union's consulting actuary set out a range of alternative scheme designs to be costed on behalf of the Union. Each of these alternative scheme designs concerned variations on the early retirement factors for firefighters who retired before age 60. In each instance the Department provided the letters from the Government Actuary's Department to the Union at the earliest possible point in time. No other proposals were costed by the Government Actuary's Department and the Union did not request the preparation of any other costings.
These costings were conducted during a period of constructive discussion and the Union leadership knew we were considering these proposals. I had been clear that it was only possible to consider such proposals during a period when strike action was in abeyance. Rather than continue and finalise that constructive process the Union leadership chose to call a halt to them prematurely by announcing further unnecessary strike action.
The Fire Brigades Union has launched a correspondence campaign to release this information, which is odd given that it is information that they already hold. To provide transparency over the process, I am publishing copies of the relevant papers on the firefighter pensions webpage at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms and will place copies in the Library of the House.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities take into account the effect of planning decisions on neighbouring authorities when making those decisions.
Answered by Nick Boles
The Government's reforms enshrine the Local Plan as the cornerstone of the planning system. We have confidence that local authorities will show the leadership necessary to work together in order to produce Local Plans that are effective and deliverable on important cross-boundary matters. My Department has also published an on-line set of planning guidance, which includes new advice to local authorities on the Duty to Co-operate across local authority boundaries. Furthermore, adjacent authorities are consulted on planning applications which are likely to affect land in their area, and in making its decision, the determining authority must consider all representations made.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
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 empty properties in (a) Bristol North West constituency and (b) Bristol.
Answered by Stephen Williams
Statistics on vacant dwellings in England and in each local authority district, including Bristol, are published in the Department's live table 615 which is available at the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
This table shows the annual total numbers of empty homes and those vacant longer than six months and also vacant in the local authority, housing association and other public sector tenures:
Data is collected only at local authority district level and is not available by parliamentary constituency.
The number of vacant dwellings and long-term dwellings, for the City of Bristol and England, are shown in Tables 1 and 2.
Table 1: All vacant dwellings, City of Bristol and England, 5 Oct 2009 to 7 Oct 2013
5 Oct 2009 | 4 Oct 2010 | 3 Oct 2011 | 1 Oct 2012 | 7 Oct 2013 | |
City of Bristol | 4,890 | 5,069 | 4,519 | 4,294 | 3,583 |
England | 770,496 | 737,147 | 719,352 | 704,357 | 635,127 |
Table 2: All long-term vacant dwellings, City of Bristol and England, 5 Oct 2009 to 7 Oct 2013
5 Oct 2009 | 4 Oct 2010 | 3 Oct 2011 | 1 Oct 2012 | 7 Oct 2013 | |
City of Bristol | 2,034 | 1,929 | 1,968 | 1,780 | 1,283 |
England | 316,251 | 299,999 | 277,529 | 254,059 | 216,050 |
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
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 effect on the viability of public houses of the method by which business rates are currently calculated.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Decisions on rateable values are made independently of Ministers by the Valuation Office Agency. All rateable values are based on the rental value of the property and for public houses rates are based on actual rents paid by tenants. Ratepayers should contact the Valuation Office Agency if they are concerned about their rateable value and may appeal to the independent Valuation Tribunal if their dispute cannot be resolved.
As part of our review of business rates administration, the Government will consider options for arriving at a rental based assessment for non-domestic properties including public houses and the discussion paper, published last month, invites views on this issue.
Asked by: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative - Bristol North West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department gives local authorities on considering the potential flooding risks to land in neighbouring local authorities when making planning decisions.
Answered by Nick Boles
In the new planning guidance, launched on 6 March, we have made it crystal clear that councils need to consider the strict tests set out in national policy and, where these are not met new development should not be allowed. These tests, set out in the National Planning Policy Framework, include ensuring new development does not increase flood risk elsewhere. The tests are designed to protect people and property from flooding and give councils the robust ability to reject unacceptable planning applications.
We also expect Strategic Flood Risk Assessments, prepared by local councils to inform Local Plans, to consider flood risks to and from surrounding areas in the same flood catchment.