Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many officials in his Department, of each grade, have remained at that grade since 2010 but received a pay rise; and how much of a rise each such person at each such grade has received.

The information requested has been placed in the Library of the House. The figures reflect the historic regime of contractual binding pay progression; we intend to end this by December 2014 and replace it with a fairer system which allows greater control over future pay awards.

More broadly, our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £95 million in 2013-14, a reduction of 56% in cash terms, or a saving of £121 million a year.