Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued on interaction between concurrent local government boundary reviews and ongoing parliamentary boundary reviews.
Answered by Marcus Jones
The Department has not issued any such guidance.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress the North East Local Enterprise Partnership has made on each of its principal functions since its formation.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
Reporting on the progress made by the North East Local Enterprise Partnership on delivering their Strategic Economic Plan is a matter for the Local Enterprise Partnership and they published a review in March 2015 which is available at: http://nelep.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/North-East-LEP-Annual-Review-2014-to-2015lr.pdf
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what geographic area is covered by the Government's Northern Powerhouse initiative.
Answered by Lord Wharton of Yarm
The exact extent of the North in the context of the Northern Powerhouse is not prescribed by the Government.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the key functions and responsibilities of metro mayors will be.
Answered by Mark Francois - Shadow Minister (Defence)
There is no rigid template as all metro mayors will be part of bespoke devolution deals.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many tenants exercised the right to buy in each local authority in Northumberland, Durham and Tyne and Wear in each of the last five years.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The number of Right to Buy sales made by each local authority can found in Table 685 at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-social-housing-sales
Figures for sales by Private Registered Providers (Housing Associations) are not available at a local authority level.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to announce a final decision on the Regulation 7 application by Newcastle City Council for the removal of deemed consent to to-let boards.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
A hearing into this proposal was held on 20 May 2014 and we expect to receive an Inspector's Report shortly. A final decision will be issued as soon as possible following careful consideration of the Inspector's Report.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities currently operate restrictions on the display of to-let boards in all or part of their areas; how many applications he has received from local authorities for the removal of deemed consent to to-let boards since 2010; and how many of these applications he has approved.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
A sensible balance needs to be struck between letting people advertise their home for sale and allowing forests of boards which disfigure the street scene. Councils have powers to tackle the proliferation of such boards where it is an acute local problem.
Ten local authorities are known to operate restrictions on the display of to-let boards. Eight applications have been received since 2010 of which two were to renew previous Secretary of State Directions. All applications have been approved either in full or with modifications.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the average level of local authority debt is per capita.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
I have today placed in the Library of the House a table showing, for each local authority in England, the total external debt and the debt per capita as at 31 March 2014. The average debt per capita for all local authorities in England is £1,530.
The debt figures are collected on the capital payments and receipts (CPR4) provisional outturn form completed by each local authority in England and published at the following location;
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which organisations collect subscriptions through the employers' payroll service in his Department and its agencies.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The following organisations collect subscriptions through the Department's payroll service:
Civil Service Club, SPARTA (Civil Service Sports and Recreation Association), Civil Service Retirement Fellowship, Civil Service Benevolent Fund, Civil Service Sports Council, Minerva Sport & Social, PCS Union, First Division Association, Prospect.
Additionally, the following organisations collect subscriptions through The Planning Inspectorate and QEII's payroll service.
QEII: Charity for Civil Servants, PCS Union.
The Planning Inspectorate: SPARTA, NAW Welfare Fund, Civil Service Benevolent Fund, Civil Service Sports Council, PCS Union, Prospect.
Currently, the Department offers a check off system where union subscriptions can be deducted from an individual's pay and transferred to the appropriate trade union. The Department believes it is no longer appropriate for public funds or resources to be used in this way. We will therefore seek to end these arrangements and have strongly encouraged Executive Agencies to also pursue this objective.
Asked by: Nicholas Brown (Independent - Newcastle upon Tyne East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to exercise his oversight role in relation to the North East Combined Authority and its scrutiny arrangements; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Order setting up the combined authority requires that authority to have one or more overview and scrutiny committees.
We have written to the councils concerned making clear we expect their combined authority to follow best practice on scrutiny, including that the membership of scrutiny committees should reflect the political balance of the councils. The letter can be found online at:
We have also consulted recently on proposals to make it a legislative requirement for a combined authority's scrutiny committee to be balanced in this way. The consultation closed on 24 June and we are now considering the responses. The consultation is available at: