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89515

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will introduce transitional protection in the proposed 2015 pension scheme for those firefighters who joined the service and the pension scheme at age 18 years, and will have made a full contribution before the earliest age at which they could retire within the scheme.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	207279
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p>The Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 does not have a cap on the amount of pension that a firefighter can earn. This means that every year that the firefighter pays employee contributions into the 2015 scheme, they will earn more pension. This is the case whatever age the firefighter joined the 2015 scheme, including if they transferred across from the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 1992 after joining at age 18.</p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 05/09/2014 13:32:12 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

89516

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy that the firefighters' pension scheme be subject to a formal actuarial evaluation every three years.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	207278
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/09/2014 answer text <p>Valuations of the Firefighters' Pension Schemes in England are undertaken in accordance with Directions issued by the Treasury under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. The Directions ensure that valuations of the Firefighters' Pension Schemes are carried out every four years and that there is a transparent and consistent approach to valuations across public service pension schemes.</p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 05/09/2014 13:34:06 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

89518

registered interest
date	29/08/2014
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
hansard heading	Piers: Eastbourne
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, under what cost heading Eastbourne Pier has been granted money to help in its reconstruction.
tabling member constituency	Isle of Wight
tabling member printed	Mr Andrew Turner
uin	207426
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/09/2014 answer text <p>The Government announced that up to £2 million will be made available to Eastbourne Council to help them recover from the fire at Eastbourne Pier. HM Treasury will provide additional funding as required and this will be agreed as part of the 2014-15 Supplementary Estimates. The £2 million funding to Easbourne Council will be used to support local businesses and traders. None of the funding will be provided for the rebuilding of the pier itself, which, I understand is covered by the Pier owner's insurance.</p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 09/09/2014 14:31:53 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1426 label Biography information for Mr Andrew Turner

78653

registered interest
date	17/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Coastal Areas
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 responsibilities of the Parlimentary Under-Secretary for Coastal Communities will be; and whether Hull will be classed as a coastal community for this purpose.
tabling member constituency	Kingston upon Hull North
tabling member printed	Diana Johnson
uin	206520
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>My responsibilities are on the DCLG website and can be found at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/people/penny-mordaunt" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/people/penny-mordaunt</a></p><p> </p><p>Hull is classed as a coastal community under the Government’s Coastal Communities Fund which covers both coastal and estuarine settlements. It has received two grant awards from the Fund to date totalling over £700,000 to support projects promoting growth and jobs in the city.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 22/07/2014 15:30:51 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1533 label Biography information for Dame Diana Johnson

78376

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
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
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, with reference to the Answer of 3 December 2013, Official Report, column 630W, on EU grants and loans, how much and what proportion of 2007 to 2013 European Regional Development Fund monies allocated to the UK with match-funding in place have been (a) contractually committed and (b) drawn down in (i) each English region and (ii) in total to date.
tabling member constituency	Streatham
tabling member printed	Mr Chuka Umunna
uin	206317
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/11/2014 answer text <p>The information requested is provided in the attached table (1). The “contractually committed” figures are up to 30 September 2014. All contractually committed funding has had match funding identified, so no separate figures are shown for this.</p><p>Across the programme, an average of 100% of the programme is now contractually committed. All spending of taxpayers’ money must ensure value for money; and money should not be spent on poor quality projects just for the sake of it. Spending must also comply with complex and bureaucratic EU rules, or else risk “financial corrections” down the line.</p><p>Where the contractually committed figure is slightly less than the total allocation, this reflects the restrictive, bureaucratic rules associated with the whole programme, and the lack of flexibility in the rules.</p><p>To place this in context, I attach with this answer a table (2) showing the allocations in the 2000-06 programme under the last Labour Government: only 93% of the allocation was ever committed, leaving £392 million of uncommitted resources; of which £48 million was uncommitted in the West Midlands Objective 2 area, £64 million uncommitted in the North West Objective 2 area, and £38 million uncommitted in the Yorkshire and the Humber Objective 2 area.</p><p>In this context, despite the complexities, the 2007-13 programme has been far better administered under this Government than the 2000-06 programme under the last Administration.</p><p>The European Regional Development Fund is a circular programme. UK taxpayers’ money is given to the European Union budget. Under the Fund, a local project receives a contract, spends money and then claims from DCLG. DCLG then claims funds back from the European Commission. The whole process goes through a complex auditing process involving DCLG auditors and then European Union auditors. After a period of time, the majority of unspent funding is returned to the UK Government by the European Commission. We continue to have concerns over the bureaucratic and time consuming nature of the processes involved in the programme, as a consequence of rules imposed by the European Commission.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt attachment 1 file name 206317 Umunna - Table 1.docx title Table 1 2 file name 206317 Umunna - Table 2.pdf title Table 2 question first answered 26/11/2014 16:11:42 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	4128 label Biography information for Chuka Umunna

78388

registered interest
date	16/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Pensions
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 potential liability to Government should the take-up rate in the proposed 2015 firefighters' pension scheme be lower than anticipated.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	206187
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/08/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government is committed to providing good quality public service pension schemes and encouraging saving for retirement. Firefighters will continue to get one of the most generous public service pensions available – over £19,000 at age 60 after a full career (based on a firefighters’ salary of £29,000). Many firefighters who transfer to the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015 will see a reduction in their employee contribution rate of around 2 percentage points in 2015-16.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>If a firefighter opts out of the pension scheme, this reduces the long term liability for the taxpayer but increases the short term top-up grant paid by the Department to fund the shortfall in scheme income. Overall, this would be likely to result in a long-term net saving for taxpayers, but we have not undertaken the actuarial work to calculate a precise assessment. This is because we would encourage firefighters to remain in the scheme, given it remains an extremely good defined benefit scheme – an equivalent private pension pot would need over half a million pounds of funding and require firefighters to contribute twice as much.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 21/08/2014 12:08:26 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

77873

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Housing: Telford
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions have taken place on the future of sites in Telford as part of the Building for the Future programme.
tabling member constituency	Telford
tabling member printed	David Wright
uin	205800
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>There have been no explicit discussions abut a ‘Building for the Future’ programme.</p><p> </p><p>However as part of the recently announced Growth Deal with The Marches Local Enterprise Partnership my officials are in regular discussion with both the Partnership and Telford and Wrekin Council about the use of land assets in Telford managed by the Homes and Communities Agency and the joint stewardship arrangements.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 21/07/2014 15:00:06 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1461 label Biography information for David Wright

77875

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons the actuarial reduction for a firefighter who retires earlier than normal pension age under the proposed new pension scheme for firefighters is calculated from the state pension age and not the scheme's normal pension age.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	205715
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Under the terms of the Proposed Final Agreement for the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015 in England the actuarial reduction for a firefighter who retired earlier than the scheme’s Normal Pension Age but at the age of 57 or above would have been calculated from the Normal Pension Age. The actuarial reduction for a firefighter who retired between the ages of 55 and 57 would have been calculated from their state pension age. However, in the light of responses received to the second consultation on the firefighters’ pension scheme 2015, the Government decided to reinstate its offer, first made in June 2013, under which all actuarial reductions in the case of early retirement are calculated from the Normal Pension Age. This decision was communicated in a letter to Chief Fire Officers and Chairs of fire authorities on 9 July 2014. The letter can be found at</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/firefighters-pension-scheme-reforms</a> and I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 21/07/2014 15:17:59 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

77876

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Pensions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether a formal valuation of the existing firefighters' pensions schemes has been carried out since the Government Actuary's Department published its formal valuation in 2009.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	205716
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Government Actuary’s Department is currently undertaking a valuation of the firefighters’ pension schemes in England as at 31 March 2012, which is expected to report later this year. There have been no other valuations of the schemes since 2009.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 21/07/2014 15:20:23 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

77877

registered interest
date	15/07/2014
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
hansard heading	Fire Services: Northern Ireland
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 terms are of the firefighter pensions offer agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	205751
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/07/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The pension arrangements to apply to firefighters in Northern Ireland are a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive. Northern Ireland is not covered by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 which requires a Normal Pension Age of 60 to apply to firefighters in England, Scotland and Wales.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt grouped question UIN 205752 205937 question first answered 21/07/2014 15:19:32 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown