Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department spent on first class train travel for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in (i) 2020, (i) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Lee Rowley
There are important official reasons for ministers and civil servants to travel across the country. Reflecting this department’s responsibilities for local government, housing, planning, and communities across England, and our wider responsibilities across the whole of the United Kingdom, our work inevitably involves staff travelling to different parts of the country.
Further to a written answer given by this department in 2015, in 2009-10 this department spent over £216,000 on first class rail travel.
A yearly breakdown of first class train travel spend is below. There will be business cases for such travel, including on occasion security, but we have significantly reduced costs compared to the last Labour Government. For example the 2022 level was well below 10% of the 2009-10 level in cash terms.
2020 - Civil Servants £9,735
2020 - Ministers £1,135
2021 - Civil Servants £4,731
2021 - Ministers £1,132
2022 - Civil Servants £12,135
2022 - Ministers £3,119
Figures are likely reduced in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since 2010, the Department has taken on responsibility for residual functions of the Government Offices for the Regions, and other agencies. As these business functions relate to work in areas outside London, this may have increased the business need for travel. Overall, we have still managed to reduce travel costs through better procurement and tighter management controls on costs, and reduced overall costs through closing unnecessary public bodies.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what impact assessments the Government has undertaken on potential impact of free enterprise zones on the local environment in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Investment Zones will not be imposed on places, rather we want local leaders to work with local and wider stakeholders to deliver proposals that are right for them. The recently closed EOI process required places to have the support of the Local Planning Authority. Without this, sites would not be taken forward.
DLUHC is currently assessing all sites received and will have further detail once this has been completed.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, who he has consulted on the Government’s plans for free enterprise investment zones in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Investment Zones will not be imposed on places, rather we want local leaders to work with local and wider stakeholders to deliver proposals that are right for them. The recently closed EOI process required places to have the support of the Local Planning Authority. Without this, sites would not be taken forward.
DLUHC is currently assessing all sites received and will have further detail once this has been completed.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department spent on taxi cabs for (a) ministers and (b) civil servants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Lee Rowley
Records show the department spent the following on taxi cabs:
2020 Civil Servants £298.81
2020 Minsters £0
2021 Civil Servants £81.22
2021 Ministers £0
2022 Civil Servants £109.91
2022 Ministers £0
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on (a) agency workers and (b) agency retainer fees in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Please see below the figures for Agency staff spend
2020 - £4,203,377.57
2021 - £7,785,868.09
2022 - £2,369,262.08
We have interpreted your reference to agency retainer fees as the fees charged at the commencement of the provision of a search recruitment service; this is only applicable when recruiting for a permanent or fixed term post. Agency retainer fees are not applicable to the contingent labour market.
The department does not separate the costs of agency workers, contingent labour, or associated agency retainer fees in our accounts. A breakdown could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Marcus Jones
Commercial ministerial air travel is captured in the department’s quarterly returns and published on: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dluhc-departmental-spending-over-250.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much their Department has spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Spend on campaigns is published regularly on the gov.uk website as part of the department's transparency data: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dluhc-departmental-spending-over-250
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much his Department has spent on consultancy fees in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022; and what the name is of each consultancy contracted.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Figures for consultancy spend are included each year in the Department's annual report. The corresponding figure for FY2021-22 is expected to be published by the end of July 2022.
Details of contracts awarded valued at £10,000 (inc VAT) or more are published on: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder.
Information on our spending, including consultancy, is published regularly as part of our transparency information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dluhc-spending-over-250-march-2022.
Asked by: Jon Trickett (Labour - Normanton and Hemsworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The department only holds data on the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, the Planning Inspectorate and Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. The below is spend on litigation, employment and commercial cases managed for the department by the Government Legal Department (GLD).
Sum of Total invoiced (INC VAT) | Year billed |
|
|
| |
Trimmed Client code | Client description | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 (to 30 th June) | Total |
MHCLG/DLUHC | MHCLG & DLUHC | £1,334,235 | £1,584,449 | £1,124,398 | £4,043,081 |
PINS | PLANNING INSPECTORATE | £1,583,987 | £1,538,819 | £700,167 | £3,822,973 |
QECC | THE Q.E.II CONFERENCE CENTRE | £4,868 | £1,439 | £1,572 | £7,878 |