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44977

	registered interest
	date	25/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many and what proportion of local authorities which registered for emergency financial assistance under the Bellwin Scheme as a result of recent flooding have received payment within 15 working days.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	193630
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Monday 31 March 2014]</em></p><p>Bellwin provides emergency financial assistance to local authorities to help them meet uninsurable costs they incur when responding to a major emergency in their area. The level of funding over time is casually linked to the scale of flooding or other emergency. It operates by local authorities retrospectively claiming spending back.</p><p>As at 27 March 2014, only five local authorities have submitted Bellwin claims in respect of the recent flooding. One of these claims was paid within 15 days. The other four claims have only been received in the last few days and should also be paid within 15 days. Local authorities have until the end of June 2014 to apply.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 03/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

45872

	registered interest
	date	31/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities affected by flooding can claim under the Bellwin scheme for the cost of disposing of sandbags that have been contaminated with sewage.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194489
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Thursday 3 April 2014]</em></p><p>Local authorities can claim the costs of removing sandbags used during the flooding emergency, under the Bellwin scheme. This includes sandbags that have been contaminated with sewage.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 4499 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

45873

	registered interest
	date	31/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities affected by the recent floods are offering council tax discounts to flooded-out householders under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194492
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Thursday 3 April 2014]</em></p><p>My rt. hon. Friend, the PrimeMinister announced on 19 February 2014 that Government will reimburse local authorities for providing council tax discounts for flooded homes. 48 local authorities have reported that they had already offered discounts by 17 March, with a further 63 planning to do so in using their discretionary powers under section 13A of the Local Government Finance Act 1992. It is for local authorities to determine whether they wish to take up the Government's offer of funding, depending on the precise scale and extent of local flooding.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 09/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 4501 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46050

	registered interest
	date	31/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his Department's (a) catering and (b) hospitality budget was in (i) 2012 and (ii) 2013.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194474
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>My Department has no separate budget for catering and hospitality in 2012 and 2013.</p><p>To assist the rt. hon. Member, I would note that this Government has dramatically cut spending compared to the last Labour Government and put in place far tighter rules and restrictions on spending.</p><p>· The Department spent £553,230 on catering and hospitality in 2008-09, and £456,142 in 2009-10.</p><p>· By 2012-13, spending had been reduced to £58,882 (plus £16,727 of delayed billing from the year before).</p><p>· We anticipate spending in the region of £36,000 in the year 2013-14 (the precise figure will be audited at financial year end).</p><p>The expenditure undertaken is essentially for light refreshments for a large number of small official events such as:</p><p>· European Regional Development Fund events (meetings with external visitors and Local Management Committee meetings);</p><p>· Conferences and workshops with representatives of local government, housing, planning and local communities;</p><p>· Public roadshows and Portas Pilot events;</p><p>· All-day recruitment assessment centres, training and induction courses.</p><p>We do not routinely incur any expenditure on refreshments for Ministers other than <em>de minimis </em>expenditure on tea and coffee for Ministers' meetings with external visitors, or on the rare occasion when Ministers undertake overnight stays on official business outside London.</p><p>Our Departmental savings has also been assisted by terminating Ministerial group spending on Government Procurement Cards, as practiced by the Labour Government at taxpayers' expense at the likes of Sky City Casino, the Cinnamon Club, the Wolseley, Brasserie 44, Boisdales, Inn the Park, Mango Tree, Shepherds, Incognico, Buffalo Bar, Mr Chu's China Palace, Tantric Jazz and Fat Tuesdays.</p><p>We have showed that there is considerable scope for the public sector to generate significant savings in this area, as evident from the ongoing saving of up to half a million pounds a year.</p><p>To place our savings in context, as noted in the answer of 8 April 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, House of Lords, Column 270WA, when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State, he spent £444,891 on catering, hospitality and refreshments in 2008-09 and £552,367 in 2009-10.</p><p>I know that the rt. hon. Member has a particular interest in biscuits, so to help quantify this amount, his spending in his last year in office is equivalent today to buying 720,479 packets of Jamie Dodgers from Waitrose (albeit, with a free cup of coffee thrown in).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 09/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46057

	registered interest
	date	31/03/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the status is of the ICT Relet Project; what costs his Department has incurred; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194510
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>As I outlined to the rt. hon. Member in my answer to him of 29 January 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 600W, the programme replaces computers which are seven years old, and also upgrades the systems from Windows XP which is no longer being formally supported by Microsoft with security patches.</p><p>The last Administration failed to get value for taxpayers' money due to poor management of IT contracts. Indeed, the Department published a contract tender in December 2009 for a desktop IT programme costing up to £160 million. This was subsequently cancelled under this Government as part of our wider reduction in departmental spending and reconfiguration of IT procurement policy.</p><p>The fact that we have delivered a 40 per cent saving on our IT costs is an example of how all parts of the public sector can deliver sensible savings through better procurement.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46475

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff have (a) taken voluntary redundancy or (b) been made compulsorily redundant from his Department since May 2010; and how many of these (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194883
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Monday 7 April 2014]</em></p><p>The number of staff that left the Department on (a) voluntary redundancy and (b) compulsory redundancy terms from May 2010 to March 2014 is set out below.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p> </p></td><td><p>May 2010 to March 2014</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Compulsory Redundancy</p></td><td><p>8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Voluntary Severance or Redundancy</p></td><td><p>522</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Total</p></td><td><p>530</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>None of these staff (i) received special severance payments or (ii) were subject to compromise agreements.</p><p>Exit figures through 2010 – 2012 reflect the completion of the Department's major restructuring programme. Our departmental audited annual accounts for the core Department show that total staff costs fell from £216 million in 2009-10 to £99 million in 2012-13, a reduction of 54% in cash terms, or a saving of £117 million a year. The number of staff has been reduced from 3,781 full-time equivalent in 2009-10 to 1,681 in 2012-13, a reduction of 56%.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 09/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 5030 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46476

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, to which local authorities he has written about their compliance with the Publicity Code asking them to take steps to ensure complete compliance with that Code; and whether each of these letters was copied to the Leader of the Opposition of the local authority.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194880
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p><em>[Holding Reply: Monday 7 April 2014]</em></p><p>On 25 March, Departmental officials wrote to the Chief Executives of every principal local authority in England, advising how the Secretary of State is minded to exercise his powers to direct compliance with the Code of Recommended Practice on local Authority Publicity. On the same day, I wrote individually to the Leaders of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London Borough of Hackney, Newham Council, Nottingham City Council, Tower Hamlets Council and the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Without prejudicing any formal consideration by the Secretary of State, I observed that there were suggestions that those councils in particular might not be complying with the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity. I suggested that prior to the Secretary of State's new powers for directing compliance with the Code on publicity coming on-stream at the end of March, they take steps to ensure that their council is in complete compliance with the provisions of the Code. Those letters were copied where applicable to the Leaders of the opposition in those authorities.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 09/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 5032 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46477

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the use of public money by the Mayor of Tower Hamlets to fund third sector organisations; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194881
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made today by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Eric Pickles).</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46482

	registered interest
	date	02/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effects of reductions in shire county council bus subsidies on the opportunities for social interaction of elderly and disabled people.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	194924
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Department for Transport is the lead Department on policy and funding for buses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 07/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

46867

	registered interest
	date	03/04/2014
	answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
	answering dept id	7
	answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
	answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he expects to answer question number 193630 tabled on 25 March 2014 for Answer on 31 March.
	tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
	tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
	uin	195275
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/04/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Question number 193630 was answered on 3 April, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 776W.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 08/04/2014 12:00:00 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn