Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the level of change in median monthly rents in the private sector in Ashfield constituency for (a) one, (b) two and (c) three-bedroom flats in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Statistics on the private rental market in England and in each local authority district, including Ashfield, are published by the Valuation Office Agency and are available at the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/private-rental-market-statistics-may-2015
Statistics are not available at the level of parliamentary constituency.
The Valuation Office Agency advises that because the composition of this sample changes over time, it is not possible to compare median rents provided in this publication with statistics in previous publications to infer trends in the rental market over time. The statistics therefore provide a snapshot that shows the range of rents across England.
The official source on change over time in cost of renting is the Office for National Statistics Index of Private Housing Rental Prices available at the following link.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many homes were bought in Ashfield constituency under the Right to Buy scheme in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Statistics on annual Right to Buy sales for each local authority district in England are published in the Department’s table 685 which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales
Quarterly data for 2014/15 for each local authority district in England will be published in Live Table 691 on 25 June 2015.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
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 average cost of homes sold to first-time buyers under the Help to Buy scheme in (a) England, (b) the East Midlands and (c) Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 17 June, PQ 2345.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many properties were bought in Ashfield under the Right-to-Buy Scheme in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Statistics on annual Right to Buy sales for each local authority district in England are published in the Department’s Live Table 685 which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales
Quarterly data for 2014/15 for each local authority district in England will be published in Live Table 691 on 25 June 2015.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
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 average cost of properties sold to first-time buyers under the Help to Buy scheme in (a) England, (b) East Midlands and (c) Ashfield.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Information on the average cost of homes sold to first time buyers under Help to Buy is not currently published. However figures are available on the average cost of all homes sold under the Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee scheme for England (£163,921). Available figures for the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme show the average cost of all homes was £212,932 in England.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in each parliamentary constituency have benefitted from the Help to Buy scheme in each year since the launch of that scheme.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
This Government is committed to supporting people’s aspirations to own their own home.
By 31 March 2015, almost 100,000 families have bought a home with the assistance of the Help to Buy schemes in the UK.
Official statistics on Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme sales, at 31 March in England, broken down by constituency, local authority and postcode, is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics
Official statistics on Help to Buy: Mortgage Guarantee sales, at 31 March, broken down by constituency, local authority and postcode is available at: www.gov.uk/government/statistics/help-to-buy-mortgage-guarantee-scheme-quarterly-statistics-october-2013-to-september-2014
Official statistics on Help to Buy: New Buy sales, at 31 March, broken down by local authority is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/help-to-buy-equity-loan-scheme-monthly-statistics.
Figures are not available by constituency.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average hourly pay is of employees at each grade within his Department identified as (a) White or White British and (b) from a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic group.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The information requested is shown in the attached table.
Averages and headcount figures have been calculated against staff included in the Department headcount under the Office of National Statistics definition as of 28 February 2015. This includes all staff paid via the Department’s payroll and employed on either a permanent, fixed term or interchange basis.
Department employees that did not provide or consent to the disclosure of their diversity information have not been included in the staff numbers or salary averages.
Until recent reform staff below the Senior Civil Service in DCLG had contractual pay progression, this linked increases in pay to length of service and it is this factor that is likely to underpin any differences in hourly rate, length of service, rather than ethnicity itself is the causal factor.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of employees in his Department identify as (a) white or white British, (b) Asian or Asian British, (c) Black or Black British, (d) mixed or multiple ethnic group and (e) another ethnicity.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Numbers and proportions quoted in this response are taken from the Department’s HR database as of 28th February 2015. Figures are based on the Office of National Statistics definition of headcount which includes all staff employed by and paid via the Department’s payroll. Staff that did not provide or consent to disclose their diversity information are not included in the headcount totals or proportions.
(a) White or white British
1122 (79.6%) of employees identified themselves as White or White British.
(b) Asian or Asian British,
124 (8.8%) of employees identified themselves as Asian or Asian British. In order to keep with the question, employees who identified themselves as Chinese are included in the total number and proportion.
(c) Black or Black British
112 (7.9%) of employees identified themselves as Black or Black British.
(d) Mixed or multiple ethnic group
27 (1.9%) of employees identified themselves as Mixed or multiple ethnic group.
(e) another ethnicity
25 (1.8%) of employees identified themselves as another ethnicity.
269 employees did not provide or consent to disclosure of their diversity information.
As of 28th February 2015 the Department had a total Black and Minority Ethnic rate of 20% which is higher than the current Civil Service rate of 10% for 2014. The Department’s declaration rate of 84% as of 28th February 2015 is also higher than the current Civil Service declaration rate of 79%.*
*Civil Service Black and Minority Ethnic rates taken from 2014 Office of National Statistics statistical bulletin.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of (a) women and (b) men have made a statutory application to request flexible working in his Department; and how many of those applications have been granted to date.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department for Communities and Local Government offers a range of flexible working patterns and other combinations of working patterns that allow employees to maintain a good work/life balance.
At the 31 October 2014 the working pattern breakdown of DCLG staff is shown in the table below:
* | Total Staff | % | Female | Male | ||
No of Staff | 1677 | 100% | 850 | 50.7% | 827 | 49.3% |
No of Staff on Flexible Working Patterns (including Part Time) | 262 | 15.6% | 222 | 84.7% | 40 | 15.3% |
No of Staff on Part Time Hours | 205 | 12.2% | 179 | 87.3% | 26 | 12.7% |
No of Full Time Staff on Flexible Working Hours | 57 | 3.4% | 43 | 75.4% | 14 | 24.6% |
* Data as at 31/10/2014
An application would only be rejected where there is a clear business case that shows granting the application would be impracticable and inefficient. The specific grounds of the rejection would be stated with an explanation of how it applies to the applicant’s circumstances.
Asked by: Gloria De Piero (Labour - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many affordable homes have been built in (a) Ashfield constituency and (b) each borough in Nottinghamshire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Statistics on additional affordable housing delivery are not available by constituency but are available for each local authority area in England. These are published in the Department's live 1008, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
These figures include both newly built housing and acquisitions.
Almost 200,000 affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010. A further £23 billion public and private investment will help ensure another 165,000 new affordable homes are provided between 2015 and 2018. More council housing has been built in the four years of this Government than in all the 13 years of the last Government combined.