Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many dwellings were exempt from council tax in 2016-17 under the class V exemption of occupied for diplomats.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
Data on the number of dwellings exempt from council tax by each class of exemption is published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659435/Table_5.xlsx
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much money his Department has raised from the sale of (a) assets, (b) land and (c) buildings in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jake Berry
The Department publishes Annual Report and Accounts each year. In the accounts, the Cashflow Statement provides figures against the following lines for the Departmental Group:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dclg-annual-reports-and-accounts
Disaggregating these figures for each of MHCLG's Arm's Length Bodies could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government if he will publish the (a) pay and (b) other benefits of the (i) chair, (ii) vice chair, (iii) non-executive and (i) executive directors of each Local Government Pension Scheme pool.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The pay and benefits of directors of the pool operating companies established to manage local government pension scheme assets are a matter for the participating funds as shareholders. However the Government expects that publicly-owned pool operating companies will provide full disclosure of directors’ remuneration in their annual reports.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish the evidence used to calculate the minimum threshold for pooling assets under the local government pension scheme.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government 's expectations for the minimum threshold for the pooling assets under the local government pension scheme, and a summary of the evidence taken into account when setting that threshold, are set out in the 'Local Government Pension Scheme: Investment reform criteria and guidance' (November 2015).
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government for what reasons the scale criteria of £25 billion for pooling local government pension scheme assets has been dropped; and what evidence was used to inform the lowering of that threshold.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government continues to believe that investment pools of at least £25 billion are required to deliver the full potential for reduced costs in the local government pension scheme. However, the Government has accepted that the Welsh pool, established by, and for the Welsh pension funds, is in a special position, taking account of the possibility of eventual devolution.
Asked by: Peter Dowd (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse of establishing each local government pension scheme pool has been to date; and what costs to the public purse his Department has forecast for each local government pension scheme pool in each year until 2020.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The final proposals for the development of the pools in July 2016 estimated set up costs excluding transition of assets of around £20 million, and initial running costs of around £11 million per annum, in order to achieve estimated total net savings of £1-2 billion by 2033. The costs of establishing each pool in the local government pension scheme, and future costs, will be met by the participating funds and will be published in the annual reports of the pools.