Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars his Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The answer can be found by using the publicly available filters on GOV.UK:
The Department has published 2,111 publications. Details, with full titles of each publication, can be viewed at:
The Department has published 189 consultations. Details can be viewed at:
The Department has published 44 circulars. Details can be viewed at:
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Special Advisers have not undertaken any overseas trips with Ministers since May 2015.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department's advertising and communications expenditure was in each month since September 2014; and what that expenditure is forecast to be in March 2015.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
DCLG has cut spending on marketing and advertising from £9.9 million in 2009-10 to £2.0 million in 2013-14. We anticipate that spending in 2014-15 will be broadly in line with 2013-14.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the ethnic composition is of staff working in the Ministerial office of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in his Department, the hon. Member for Keighley.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
My Ministerial office is staffed by four full time employees of the Department, two of whom are male and two female. With regard to ethnicity, three of my office are White British and one is British Asian Indian.
As the hon. Member will be aware from his time as a special adviser in the Treasury, ministerial private offices are a key link in handling ministerial correspondance, organising the ministerial diaries, supporting ministers on external engagements and visits, conveying Minister's views to officials and overseeing the provision of advice to Ministers, handling communications and policy discussions with other Government Departments, and providing Ministers with general information and views from their Departments.
We have cut the administrative costs of private offices by 30% compared to the last administration. The cost of ministerial private offices represents just 0.4% of the Department's overall running costs.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the gender balance is of staff working in the Ministerial office of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in his Department, the hon. Member for Keighley.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
My Ministerial office is staffed by four full time employees of the Department, two of whom are male and two female. With regard to ethnicity, three of my office are White British and one is British Asian Indian.
As the hon. Member will be aware from his time as a special adviser in the Treasury, ministerial private offices are a key link in handling ministerial correspondance, organising the ministerial diaries, supporting ministers on external engagements and visits, conveying Minister's views to officials and overseeing the provision of advice to Ministers, handling communications and policy discussions with other Government Departments, and providing Ministers with general information and views from their Departments.
We have cut the administrative costs of private offices by 30% compared to the last administration. The cost of ministerial private offices represents just 0.4% of the Department's overall running costs.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with the London Borough of Redbridge on gravel extraction in Aldborough Hatch.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Officials have had one recent conversation with the London Borough of Redbridge to obtain information for a correspondence reply to an hon. Member, on gravel extraction in the area.
At that point in time, there was no planning application for gravel extraction under consideration by the Council.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
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 carbon emissions of officials cars used by Ministers in his Department since May 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
This information is not centrally recorded.
However, given this Government has cut Ministerial car use by two-thirds since 2010 compared to the last Administration, we would expect the reduction in emissions to be of a similar magnitude.
In due course, my Department will be supporting the Government Car Service’s project to switch to ultra-low emission vehicles.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what newspapers, periodicals and magazines his Department purchases for the use of Ministers.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
In 2010, we consolidated the seven separate sets of newspapers previously ordered by the Ministerial group under the last Administration, into one single shared set of newspapers and periodicals for Ministers and special advisers. This has reduced spending from £23,000 in 2009-10 to £2,700 in 2013-14.
The consolidated set now covers the Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, Local Government Chronicle, Municipal Journal, Planning, PR Week, Spectator, Sun and The Times.
I also refer the hon. Member to the answer of 13 June 2013, Official Report, columns 386-7W which outlines the significant savings delivered on spending on press cuttings, and to the answer of 15 July 2013, Official Report, column 501W, on the savings we have made across departmental periodicals as a whole.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many departmental sports days have been attended by Ministers in his Department since May 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Ministers from my Department have not attended any sports days organised by the Sports and Recreational Association.
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff away days have been attended by Ministers in his Department since October 2013.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Ministers from my Department have not attended any away days.
I also refer the hon. Member to my answer of 16 December 2014, to Question, UIN 205289, on how we have cut the cost of Departmental away days from £196,585 in 2008-09 and £137, 678 in 2009-10 to zero in 2014.