Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
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 potential effect on Copeland Borough Council's spending power of reforms to business rates announced in the Summer Budget 2015.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government has announced reforms to the business rates retention scheme which mean that, by the end of this Parliament, local government will keep 100% of locally raised business rates and 100% of the growth generated by new development. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.
Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact of the reforms will be on individual areas' spending power.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy that business rates generated by new nuclear development in Copeland will be retained by the billing authority.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Government has announced reforms to the business rates retention scheme which mean that, by the end of this Parliament, local government will keep 100% of locally raised business rates and 100% of the growth generated by new development. Over the coming months we will be working with local government on the details of the scheme.
Ahead of final decisions, it is too early to assess what the impact of the reforms will be on individual areas' spending power.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to provide relief funding to allow local authorities to reduce business rates for businesses affected by flooding.
Answered by Marcus Jones
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 December, HCWS442, which can be found at the following link:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm151217/wmstext/151217m0001.htm#15121732000005
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what support the Government will give communities hosting (a) new nuclear power stations and (b) other nationally significant infrastructure projects (i) during and (ii) after construction, to ensure that they have the infrastructure necessary to support the development.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The potential impacts on communities, including infrastructure, are examined through the process for obtaining development consent for nationally significant infrastructure projects under the 2008 Planning Act, which includes consent for new nuclear power stations.
In particular, the local planning authority is expected to produce a local impact report to outline the effects of the infrastructure on the local community and any mitigation that may be required. This mitigation may relate to infrastructure needed to support the development and may be monetary, secured through a section 106 agreement between the developer and other parties or a unilateral undertaking by the developer; or it may be physical changes to the application scheme.
In addition, the Department of Energy and Climate Change and other Government departments hold regular meetings with key stakeholders from local communities that are affected by proposed new nuclear projects. These meetings consider and address issues raised by the community, including infrastructure where appropriate.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
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 cumulative effect of the extension of Right to Buy to housing association tenants and the reduction in rent levels for social tenants on the financial viability of small-scale housing associations.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The development of the policy is ongoing, and details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
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 encourage young people to stand for local elections.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Strong and effective democratic local governance requires the best possible candidate, irrespective of age, to stand for election. Whilst these issues are largely not matters for Government, we have provided support for improving graduate programmes for developing councillors and local leaders, and the Local Government Association will recruit at least 100 high calibre graduates in to local government in 2015-16.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what investment in infrastructure the Government plans to make in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria as part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The Government has provided several economic tools to help drive forward economic growth in Copeland and the wider Cumbria local enterprise partnership including:
The Department for Transport have also allocated £83.6 million to Cumbria County Council as the highway authority for infrastructure investment across the whole of Cumbria. The strategy for transport infrastructure investment in the North, including Cumbria, as part of the Northern Powerhouse, is still being developed by Transport for the North – and Government has committed £30 million over three years towards the running costs of Transport for the North, which will be set up as a statutory body.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Public Health Funerals have been conducted in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria in each of the last 20 years.
Answered by Marcus Jones
This information is not held by my Department or the Department of Health which leads on public health issues.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) homes and (b) affordable homes have been built in each local authority area in Cumbria in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Statistics on house building completions by tenure in each local authority district are published in the Department's live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link.
http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
More comprehensive statistics on affordable housing completions are published in the Department’s live tables 1006, 1006a, 1007 and 1008, which are available at the following link:
http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
These statistics include both newly built housing and acquisitions.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 28 November 2014, Official Report, column 54WS, on small-scale developers, what estimate his Department has made of the financial effect on (a) Cumbria County Council and (b) Copeland Borough Council of financial credit being deducted from affordable housing contributions for vacant buildings brought into lawful use.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 12 February 2015, Questions UIN 223585, 223172, 223173, 223583 and 223584.