Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken to ensure that the Supported People programme funding to local authorities reaches vulnerable people in Devon.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Funding for the Supporting People Grant was rolled into the local government finance settlement in 2011-12. Decisions on how money should be spent are best made by local authorities. Local authorities have the freedom and flexibility to prioritise and make their own decisions on how they spend their budgets.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to announce a decision on the planning appeal submitted by the Route 39 free school in Torridge.
Answered by Marcus Jones
This decision has now been announced. The announcement was made on Thursday 18 February.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the post-construction obligations on large volume housing developers in enforcing compliance with building regulations.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
It is the responsibility of the housing developer to ensure that work is compliant with the building regulations both during construction and post-construction. During the construction period, the building control body would be responsible for checking compliance. Post-construction, where there is a new home warranty in place, the warranty provider provides cover for up to ten years after construction and can include compliance with aspects of the building regulations.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
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 of the Openness of Local Bodies Regulations 2014 on bureaucracy and the cost of services provided by town councils.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Council meetings are public meetings, open to both the press and public. We have updated analogue access rules, originally introduced by Margaret Thatcher in a Private Members’ Bill in 1960, for a digital age.
Legislation now allows for the press and public to report such meetings through digital and social media, including allowing the filming of council meetings.
As the Explanatory Memorandum to the statutory instrument explains, we do not envisage any substantive cost or burden on local authorities from this. There is no new requirement for councils to film or audio record meetings; rather, legislation has been amended to allow the press and public to make their own reports of a public meeting, if they wish.
These reforms will help bring greater awareness of the good work that councillors do for their local communities, and increase reporting and scrutiny of the local democratic process, ultimately saving taxpayers’ money by reducing waste and inefficiency.
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received from town councils regarding paragraph 7(2) of the draft Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
A summary of the representations received can be found in the Explanatory Memorandum to the statutory instrument (SI 2014 No. 2095).
Paragraph 7 of the statutory instrument relates to the recording of delegated decisions. Paragraph 8.5 of the Explanatory Memorandum explains the drafting and policy improvements we made to the draft text following feedback from local authorities, including representatives of town and parish councils.
We have also published a plain English guide to the new rules, to help both the public and local councils, including a section for town and parish councils. This can be found online:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-and-accountable-local-government-plain-english-guide
Asked by: Geoffrey Cox (Conservative - Torridge and Tavistock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, against what criteria he will consider the recovery of an appeal against the refusal of an application for planning permission for a wind turbine.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
I refer my hon. Friend to the Written Ministerial Statement of 9 April, Official Report, Column 12-13WS.