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229348

registered interest
date	24/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 March 2015, HCWS 438, on unpublished research reports commissioned by the last Administration, what the evidential basis is for the assertion that his Department commissions research better than did previous administrations.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough
tabling member printed	Mr David Blunkett
uin	228868
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>Since 2010 the Department’s processes for commissioning research from external organisations have been strengthened. All research proposals must meet a set of criteria agreed with Ministers before they can go to tender. These are:</p><ol><li>Is the project endorsed by Ministers or senior officials or is the proposal something the Department needs to or is reasonably expected to do?</li><li>Does the project need to be commissioned now or can the work be deferred to a later date?</li><li>What is the justification for this work?</li><li>Is the project value for money and is the Department’s share of the cost reasonable?</li></ol><p> </p><p>Ministers scrutinise prospective research proposals at an early stage which allows them to influence the research proposal and ensure external commissions meet the Department’s priorities and provide value for money.<br><br></p><p> </p><p>Fully-developed research proposals are scrutinised by the Department’s Research Gateway panel – which comprises the Heads of Analytical Profession and senior representatives from Finance and Procurement. This panel reviews the proposed research methodologies, costs and procurement strategy to ensure these are necessary and the commission will deliver robust results at reasonable cost to the tax-payer.<br><br></p><p> </p><p>Project officers are challenged by the panel to justify the need for the work, the proposed cost and the expected outputs. The panel routinely encourages the use of innovative research methods to drive costs down. Opportunities for co-funding are routinely investigated before research contracts are procured.<br><br></p><p> </p><p>Following approval by the Research Gateway, research proposals are then sent to Ministers for final approval to proceed to procurement. This offers Ministers a further opportunity to ensure that external research commissions are meeting their criteria to deliver robust and cost-effective results.<br><br></p><p> </p><p>I would add that the last Administration spent £25.6 million on research projects that were commissioned but not published before May 2010, and many of those projects did not represent value for money for taxpayers - as evident by the fact that many were unpublished for years.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 11:46:50 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	395 label Biography information for Lord Blunkett

229350

registered interest
date	24/03/2015
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
hansard heading	EU Grants and Loans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2015 to Question 226590, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that all local European Structural and Investment Fund Subcommittees reflect the views of small businesses.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne North
tabling member printed	Catherine McKinnell
uin	228881
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>The Government has set out clear expectations for strong business representation in local European Structural and Investment Fund sub-committees. Business groups on local sub-committees will represent the interests of small and medium sized businesses as appropriate to the local area.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 11:34:51 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4125 label Biography information for Catherine McKinnell

229085

registered interest
date	23/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Public Expenditure
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for which spending announcements made by him or his Ministers since 1 September 2014 the relevant business case has not been made public; and for what reason each such case has not been published.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield South East
tabling member printed	Mr Clive Betts
uin	228812
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>We do not routinely publish internal business cases; this has been the practice under current and previous Administrations. We do publish Impact Assessment where appropriate.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 08:39:30 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	394 label Biography information for Mr Clive Betts

229249

registered interest
date	23/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what research reports his Department has commissioned from external bodies between September 2010 and December 2014 has not been published; when each such report was commissioned; what the nature of the research commissioned for each such report was; from whom each such research report was commissioned; what the value of each such commission was; on what date each such report was received by his Department; for what reason each such research report has not yet been published; and when he plans to publish each such report.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield South East
tabling member printed	Mr Clive Betts
uin	228840
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 08:34:13 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	394 label Biography information for Mr Clive Betts

229250

registered interest
date	23/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Research
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 March 2014, HCWS438, on what date each of the reports listed was received by his Department; on what date the last payment was made to each research organisation commissioned to produce each of those reports; and for what reason each of those reports had not previously been published.
tabling member constituency	Sheffield South East
tabling member printed	Mr Clive Betts
uin	228830
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>The attached table shows the details of the last payment dates for the reports listed in the Written Ministerial Statement of 20 March 2014, HCWS438.</p><p> </p><p>Final payments are associated with the receipt of draft final outputs from research projects. These reports are from research commissioned under the previous administration, and have continued under the current administration. Reports are not published until the research work is complete and final checks are made. This includes quality assurance and in some cases peer review of the final research outputs which inevitably delays the publication process.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As I explained in my Statement, this Government inherited £26 million of unpublished research reports from the last Administration. I do not have access to Ministerial papers of the last Administration to ascertain the rationale for this.</p><p><br></p><p>Since 2010 in the interests of transparency, we have been working through the backlog of over 150 unpublished research reports commissioned under the previous Administration. These have been published in groups over this period.<br><br></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 11:22:32 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins attachment 1 file name 228830 Betts.xlsx title Reports Data
tabling member	394 label Biography information for Mr Clive Betts

228857

registered interest
date	20/03/2015
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
hansard heading	York
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to visit York before the General Election.
tabling member constituency	York Central
tabling member printed	Sir Hugh Bayley
uin	228607
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>Since 2010, Coalition Ministers have undertaken regular visits to a wide variety of local authority areas in England, whilst balancing their Parliamentary work, internal Ministerial meetings in London and meetings of Cabinet Committees. Ministers also regularly host delegations from local authorities for meetings in Westminster.</p><p> </p><p>York's historic city, the traditional county town of Yorkshire, has a rich tapestry of cultural attractions and a thriving economy, including a particularly strong service industry sector and a fine university. I fear it is unlikely that Ministers will be able to visit this week before the dissolution of Parliament, but this will be our loss at not being able to see what York has to offer first hand.</p><p> </p><p>My Department does not centrally hold information on political visits that will take place after dissolution, but I understand the my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) will be seeking to visit a wide number of places across the country.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 25/03/2015 11:10:08 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	385 label Biography information for Sir Hugh Bayley

228505

registered interest
date	19/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Pay
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 average hourly pay is of employees at each grade within his Department identified as (a) White or White British and (b) from a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic group.
tabling member constituency	Ashfield
tabling member printed	Gloria De Piero
uin	228306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>The information requested is shown in the attached table.<br><br>Averages and headcount figures have been calculated against staff included in the Department headcount under the Office of National Statistics definition as of 28 February 2015. This includes all staff paid via the Department’s payroll and employed on either a permanent, fixed term or interchange basis.</p><p> </p><p>Department employees that did not provide or consent to the disclosure of their diversity information have not been included in the staff numbers or salary averages.</p><p> </p><p>Until recent reform staff below the Senior Civil Service in DCLG had contractual pay progression, this linked increases in pay to length of service and it is this factor that is likely to underpin any differences in hourly rate, length of service, rather than ethnicity itself is the causal factor.<br><br></p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 26/03/2015 14:01:39 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	3915 label Biography information for Gloria De Piero

228506

registered interest
date	19/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Recycling: Lancashire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much waste was recycled in (a) Pendle constituency and (b) Lancashire in 2009-10 and each subsequent year.
tabling member constituency	Pendle
tabling member printed	Andrew Stephenson
uin	228349
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/03/2015 answer text <p>The levels of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting in a) Pendle Borough Council and b) Lancashire County Council in those years is set out in the table below:<br><br></p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td>2009/10</td><td>2010/11</td><td>2011/12</td><td>2012/13</td><td>2013/14</td></tr><tr><td>Pendle</td><td>35.6%</td><td>38.0%</td><td>37.6%</td><td>35.9%</td><td>36.7%</td></tr><tr><td>Lancashire</td><td>44.9%</td><td>46.0%</td><td>46.8%</td><td>47.6%</td><td>47.4%</td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 23/03/2015 14:38:49 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4044 label Biography information for Andrew Stephenson

228517

registered interest
date	19/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Armed Forces Covenant
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 effect of changes in funding to local authorities on their ability to support Armed Forces Community Covenants.
tabling member constituency	Barnsley Central
tabling member printed	Dan Jarvis
uin	228485
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>Local authorities share in our national commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, and have signed Community Covenants committing to support the Armed Forces community in their area and promote understanding amongst local people. Local councils and residents will know the needs of their communities and can decide their spending priorities appropriately.<br><br>We have introduced a number of measures over the last few years as contribution towards meeting the objectives of the Armed Forces Covenant to ensure that the Armed Forces Community does not face disadvantage, patricularly in housing. This includes:<br><br><strong>Funding for local authorities</strong><br><br>We have set aside £200,000 in 2014/15 from the annual Disabled Facilities Grant funding for local authorities to fund home adaptations (eg ramps, walk-in showers, stairlifts) to meet the needs of disabled ex-service personnel who wish to live independently in their homes.<br><br>We have provided grants (totalling over £1 million) with MOD, to a small number of local authorities in 2011 and 2012 to support the successful integration of retired Gurkha soldiers who wished to settle in the UK.<br><br><strong>Improved access to social housing</strong><br><br>We have introduced protection to ensure that former and current Service personnel are not disadvantaged in accessing social housing because of the disadvantages of military life. We have made sure that seriously injured personnel and former members of the Armed Forces with urgent housing needs are always given high priority for social housing, and that serving personnel and those who have recently been discharged do not lose their qualification rights because of the requirement to move from base to base.<br><br>We have also encouraged local authorities to, in general, give sympathetic consideration to the housing needs of family members of serving or former Service personnel.<br><br><strong>Preventing homelessness</strong><br><br>We have introduced measures to provide support for specialist accommodation for veterans, and work with councils to prevent homelessness. We have also introduced initiatives such as Streetlink and No Second Night Out which ensure that when veterans end up sleeping rough they are offered care and support from local services.<br><br><strong>Access to home ownership</strong><br><br>Members of the Armed Forces have been given priority for Government-funded shared ownership schemes and are able to access Help to Buy: equity loan scheme. The priority status can be transferred to bereaved spouses or civil partners. We have also worked with MOD, credit reference agencies, and Royal Mail to standardise Forces' Post Office addresses so personnel are not disadvantaged when applying for mortgages.<br><br></p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 24/03/2015 12:04:46 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4243 label Biography information for Dan Jarvis

228082

registered interest
date	18/03/2015
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
hansard heading	Social Services: Hampshire
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of spending on adult social care in (a) Portsmouth and (b) Southampton local authority areas in each year since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Mr John Denham
uin	228169
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/03/2015 answer text <p>Spending figures can be found in the revenue outturn returns published on the Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing tables on gov.uk.</p><p> </p><p>Despite the need to pay off the deficit left by the last Labour Government, net current expenditure on social care has increased from £20.962 billion in 2009-10 to £22.089 billion in 2014-15 (budget).</p><p> </p><p>Government initiatives like the Better Care Fund are joining up the NHS and social care, so savings can be delivered through joint working and outcomes improved.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 227764 question first answered 25/03/2015 17:40:41 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins previous answer version 52140 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	61 label Biography information for Mr John Denham