Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will require all local authorities to publish a transcript of full council meetings.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has no plans to require local authorities to publish a transcript of full council meetings. Government does not regulate the content of councils’ minutes or decision notices; this is a matter for individual local authorities.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will detail the losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for his departmental group as defined by section A4.10.7 in HM Treasury's Managing Public Money for (a) 2018-19, (b) 2019-20 and (c) 2020-21.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The losses and special payments valued at under £300,000 for the main department for the years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 as already held on the record of losses for the public sector organisations within the departmental group, in accordance with Managing Public Money (Annex A4.10.7), or as otherwise held for the purposes of special payment disclosures, are set out below. These disclosures are consistent with the organisations’ obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.
(a) 2018-19 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 33 with a combined value of £1,191,342.49. These relates to write offs on the ERDF and Regional Growth Fund Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 66 with a combined value of £1,987,285.56. These relates to annual payments for historic personal injury claims.
(b) 2019-20 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 43 with a combined value of £555,063.05. These relates to write offs on the ERDF, Great Britain High Streets and Regional Growth Fund Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 60 with a combined value of £1,934,852.67. These relate to annual payments for historic personal injury claims and payments to local authorities related to NNDR guidance on the business rates retention scheme.
(c) 2020-21 Total individual losses recorded for core department under £300,000 were 10 with a combined value of £294,350.00. These relates to write offs on the ERDF Programmes and losses of IT equipment. Total individual special payments recorded for core department under £300,000 were 44 with a combined value of £981,366.53. These relates to annual payments for historic personal injury claims.
Due to the number of payments made, the full breakdown is in the attached excel file. Losses and Special Payments registers for Arm’s Length Bodies are not held centrally, and are excluded from the numbers above. The data for the wider department will be provided in follow up to this initial response.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when his Department expects the planning inspector to announce his decision following the public inquiry into West Cumbria coal mine planning application; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The date for the Secretary of State’s decision on this case will be set when the independent planning inspector’s report and recommendation is submitted to the Department, and will be 13 weeks after the date of that submission. The Inspector’s report has not yet been received.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to ensure that his Department and its agencies remove all internal covid-19 related policies, restrictions and mask mandates.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
Throughout the pandemic, the Department and all Civil Service employers have followed government guidance in setting out their internal COVID-19 related policies. This includes complying with the Working Safely during Coronavirus (COVID-19): Guidance which sets out the key actions organisations should take to protect employees and customers in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading in workplaces, along with carrying out health and safety risk assessments that include the ongoing risk from COVID-19.
On 21 February 2022, the Government published their COVID-19 Response: Living with COVID-19. This document sets out how and when the remaining restrictions will be lifted in England. Government guidance was subsequently amended, including the Working Safely guidance.
The Government's Working Safely guidance, which was last updated on 24 February, continues to require organisations to carry out a risk assessment which includes the risk from COVID-19. It also sets out additional actions organisations can take to protect employees and customers in the workplace, such as ensuring adequate ventilation, frequent cleaning, asking people to wash their hands frequently and asking people with COVID-19 to stay away. The guidance advises that people continue to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed settings where they come into contact with people they do not normally meet, when rates of transmission are high. The Department will continue to follow this guidance and align its policies accordingly.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what his current policy is on the wearing of face coverings in his (a) Department, (b) departmental agencies and (c) related bodies during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Eddie Hughes
The Department makes the wearing of face coverings in its offices optional other than when using the security access pods in 2 Marsham Street where one must be worn. We encourage people to wear face coverings in particular situations such as being in crowded or enclosed spaces or if asked to by a competent authority. Individual Arm’s Length Bodies determine their own policy with regard to wearing face coverings.
The QEII Conference Centre requires staff to wear face coverings in public areas of the building whilst all other bodies make wearing face coverings optional. The Department’s staff and those of our ALBs also follow the requirements of Landlords with regard to wearing face coverings in those buildings where they are a minor tenant.