Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the local government finance settlement on the ability of local authorities to meet their statutory responsibilities.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The Government periodically assesses resourcing requirements for local government as part of each spending review, ensuring a sustainable basis for local authorities to discharge their functions.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the proportion of time spent dealing with individual local authority matters and combined authority matters by (a) all chief executives of local authorities which are part of a combined authority and (b) the Chief Executive of Walsall Council.
Answered by Rishi Sunak - Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union
The working patterns of council Chief Executives are entirely local matters which are the responsibility of the council concerned.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department received in business rates for each local authority area in 2015-16; and what estimate his Department has made of the amount which each local authority in England will retain from the business rate levy in each of the next five years.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Data on each authority's contribution to the central share in 2015-16 are available at the following link:
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if his Department will make an assessment of the effect of the increase in rateable values of premises that do not fall under the £12,000 threshold on (a) riding schools and (b) other businesses.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The business rates revaluation is undertaken independently of Ministers by the Valuation Office Agency. Information on changes in rateable values at the revaluation has been published by the Valuation Office Agency. We have put in place a £3.6 billion transitional relief scheme for England to ensure that no ratepayer is unfairly penalised by the 2017 revaluation.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the staff time of Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council involved in setting up the combined authority.
Answered by Andrew Percy
We have made no such estimates. Whether, and how, councils approach setting up a combined authority is wholly a local matter for them. Creation of combined authorities is central to devolving power to local communities to ensure decisions are made locally.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many buildings owned by his Department have been sold in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department’s estate largely consists of leasehold properties. Since 2010 the Department has surrendered the following leasehold facilities, reducing the annual cost of the civil estate by around £38.5 million:
Building surrendered | Location |
Cunard | Liverpool |
Belgrave Centre | Nottingham |
Sheffield House | Stevenage |
Mast House | Plymouth |
Riverwalk | London |
Westbrook | Cambridge |
City Tower | Manchester |
Lysnoweth | Truro |
Piccadilly Gate | Manchester |
Bridge House | Guildford |
Queen Street | Leeds |
Eland House | London |
The move of my Department's main building from Eland House to Marsham Street, to share with the Home Office, will reduce our Department's running costs by £9 million a year from 2015-16, and save taxpayers a total of £220 million over the lifetime of the building's lease commitments.
The table below indicates the number of buildings sold in each calendar year:
Calendar Year | Buildings sold |
2010 | Nil |
2011 | Nil |
2012 | Nil |
2013 | 34 |
2014 | 23 |
The Department did hold one freehold land asset, the Fire Service College which has now been sold. In March 2013, the sale of the 365 acre Fire Service College estate, comprising 34 buildings, other non-habitable structures and land was sold for £10 million. The land was covered by an overage clause meaning the Department will share in any profits from future development of the College site. In addition this has generated savings of £3.9 million in running costs per year.
Following the College sale the Department is currently disposing of 33 houses in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, which were formerly part of the Fire Service College but were not sold with the main Fire Service College estate. So far this year 23 of these houses have been sold generating a receipt of £5,163,100, and a further 2 houses are under offer. The market value of the properties upon which sales have been agreed range from £215,000 to £250,000 and the total expected income from the sale of the 33 houses and linked development land is around £7,500,000.
The Department holds 10 remaining residential houses at the site, which will be sold during 2015/2016.