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168852

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Staff
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 his Department has spent on (a) consultants, (b) temporary staff and (c) contingent labour in each of the last five years; how many people have been so employed; what the length of contract of each such person was; and what equivalent civil service salary band each was on.
tabling member constituency	Manchester Central
tabling member printed	Lucy Powell
uin	217771
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/02/2015 answer text <p>My Department has made significant reductions to spending on consultancy, as the table below illustrates:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p><em> £ million</em></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>36.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>13.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>4.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>1.1</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>0.5</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The bulk of the 2010-11 spending was contractually committed under the last Administration, including consultancy on the last Administration’s failed FireControl programme.</p><p>In answering the question on temporary staff and contingent labour, we have used the Cabinet Office definition for contingent labour (temporary staff) which includes administration and clerical agency staff, interim managers and specialist contractors. The use of such staff for short-term or specialist work can be better value for money than hiring staff on a permanent contract.</p><p>My Department has spent the following on contingent labour:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>£ million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>14.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>4.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>2.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>4.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>3.3</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>My Department has cut spending significantly on contingent labour as a result of the tightening of its internal management controls, institutionalising these in its systems and adhering to Treasury and Cabinet Office spending rules. The saving in 2013-14 compared to 2009-10 is £11.1 million – a reduction of 77%.</p><p>Details of the number of consultancy and temporary staff that have been employed, the length of contracts of each and their equivalent civil service salary can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p><p>I would also observe that my Department has reduced total staffing costs from £218 million a year in 2009-10 to £95 million in 2013-14.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 06/02/2015 16:31:40 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4263 label Biography information for Lucy Powell

168853

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Public Sector: Mutual Societies
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 in England have allowed staff-led mutuals to run services; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	217788
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>This data is not held centrally.<br><br>Information from the Community Rights Support Programme suggests that 30 groups of local authority employees have been helped to explore use of the Community Right to Challenge to help them mutualise a service and 10 local authorities have been provided with advice on the issue.<br><br>The Cabinet Office has engaged with around 200 emerging and established public service mutuals across multiple sectors, ranging from social care and integrated health to libraries and youth services. Over 100 are live and trading, employing more than 35,000 people and delivering well over £1.5 billion of public services. In England today there are now over 100 live public services mutuals, employing more than 35,000 people and delivering well over £1.5 billion worth of services.</p><p> </p><p>The Local Government Association carries out research for the local government sector on workforce matters. The latest Local Government Association’s Workforce Survey for 2012/13 includes information collected on staff–led organisations and can be found at:<br><br>http://www.local.gov.uk/research-pay-and-workforce/-/journal_content/56/10180/6033972/ARTICLE</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 15:50:11 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

168854

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Public Sector: Mutual Societies
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 assess the effectiveness of staff-led mutuals in providing value for money for local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	217789
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>It is for locally elected council leaders to decide how best to deliver the services that their communities rely upon. If council leaders decide to deliver services using staff–led mutuals or other staff-led initiatives than they must ensure they clearly demonstrate that they offer good value for local taxpayers and provide the best outcomes for services users.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is encouraging the development of public service mutuals because of the benefits they bring to public sector staff, local commissioners and service users. By freeing employees to deliver and improve their services as they know best, mutuals enable innovation and because they feel more engaged, staff are likely to stay longer with the organisation and miss fewer days of work. Research shows that absenteeism and staff turnover fall 20% and 16% respectively after an organisation has spun out.</p><p> </p><p>Mutuals are proving successful at generating new business, expanding into more areas and winning additional contracts, acting as engines for small business growth in their local communities. Our latest data shows that mutuals have average projected revenue growth of 10% over the next year.</p><p> </p><p>The Community Right to Challenge complements the work to support formation of new staff-led mutuals in local government by providing a mechanism for local authority employees to set out their proposals for delivering services as a mutual or other service spin–outs. Information from the Programme suggests it has helped 30 groups of local authority employees to explore using the Community Right to Challenge to help them mutualise a service and has given advice to 10 local authorities.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 15:48:05 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

168855

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Recycling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of the rate of recycling household waste by (a) Brighton and Hove City Council and (b) other local authorities; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	217790
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>Recycling statistics are collected by DEFRA. In 2013-14, Brighton and Hove Council had a recycling rate (percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling or composting) of 26 per cent. This is amongst the lowest 25 councils in England.<br><br>To place this in context and to compare with similar, coastal towns, I would note that Bournemouth Borough Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council are recycling roughly half their household waste, and are providing a weekly collection of residual waste. This illustrates the scope for councils to have high recycling rates and still provide a weekly service for local taxpayers.</p><p> </p><p>Brighton and Hove Council has received financial support from my Department to help increase recycling, so we will want to see progress in these rates being improved. If the Council has failed to do so, then the ruling administration on the Council should rightly be held to account.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 23/02/2015 16:59:04 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

168856

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Older Workers
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 people working in his Department are over 65 years old; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Kemptown
tabling member printed	Simon Kirby
uin	217824
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/12/2014 answer text <p>The Department had a total of 16 employees aged 65 and above as of 30 November 2014.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 16/12/2014 15:02:18 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	3929 label Biography information for Simon Kirby

168857

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Written Questions
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 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering named day written questions on time.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	217959
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>We are committed to providing clear and accurate answers with, where relevant, appropriate information to allow the response to be seen in the right context for both the MP and others seeing the answer. We do not consider it right or helpful to provide answers until we able to do this.<br><br>62% of named day answers were answered on the named day in 2013-14. I observe that this compares with the annual rate of 52% when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State under the last Administration (as stated in the answer of 11 January 2010, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 682W).<br><br>We have recently introduced a new IT system for processing Parliamentary Questions to replace the dated and inflexible system that had been in use for more than 10 years. This supports fully electronic processing and significant additional facilities for monitoring and reporting on the progress in responding to questions.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 217957 217958 217960 217961 question first answered 18/12/2014 14:56:24 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins previous answer version 33665 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

168860

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	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 resources his Department has allocated to local authorities to meet their obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant.
tabling member constituency	West Dunbartonshire
tabling member printed	Gemma Doyle
uin	217899
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/12/2014 answer text <p>Local authorities share in our national commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant and should meet their obligations from own resources. Though 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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>We have also introduced a number of measures over the last few years as a contribution towards meeting the objectives of the Armed Forces Covenant to ensure that the Armed Forces Community do not face disadvantage, particularly in housing. This includes:</p><p> </p><p><strong>Improved Access to Social Housing </strong></p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p><br><strong>Preventing Homelessness </strong></p><p> </p><p>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.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Access to home ownership</strong></p><p> </p><p>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 also be transferred to bereaved spouses or civil partners.</p><p> </p><p>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.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 15/12/2014 15:37:51 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	4063 label Biography information for Gemma Doyle

168861

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Written Questions
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 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering named day written questions very late.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	217957
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>We are committed to providing clear and accurate answers with, where relevant, appropriate information to allow the response to be seen in the right context for both the MP and others seeing the answer. We do not consider it right or helpful to provide answers until we able to do this.<br><br>62% of named day answers were answered on the named day in 2013-14. I observe that this compares with the annual rate of 52% when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State under the last Administration (as stated in the answer of 11 January 2010, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 682W).<br><br>We have recently introduced a new IT system for processing Parliamentary Questions to replace the dated and inflexible system that had been in use for more than 10 years. This supports fully electronic processing and significant additional facilities for monitoring and reporting on the progress in responding to questions.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 217958 217959 217960 217961 question first answered 18/12/2014 14:56:23 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins previous answer version 33612 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

168862

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Written Questions
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 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the third worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering ordinary written questions on time.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	217958
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>We are committed to providing clear and accurate answers with, where relevant, appropriate information to allow the response to be seen in the right context for both the MP and others seeing the answer. We do not consider it right or helpful to provide answers until we able to do this.<br><br>62% of named day answers were answered on the named day in 2013-14. I observe that this compares with the annual rate of 52% when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State under the last Administration (as stated in the answer of 11 January 2010, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 682W).<br><br>We have recently introduced a new IT system for processing Parliamentary Questions to replace the dated and inflexible system that had been in use for more than 10 years. This supports fully electronic processing and significant additional facilities for monitoring and reporting on the progress in responding to questions.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 217957 217959 217960 217961 question first answered 18/12/2014 14:56:24 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins previous answer version 33649 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

168863

registered interest
date	09/12/2014
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	Written Questions
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 12 September 2014 to Question 208443 and to the Procedure Committee memorandum, Written parliamentary question answering performance in 2013-14, published on 11 September 2014, what assessment he has made of the reasons why his Department was the second worst performing department in 2013-14 for answering ordinary written questions very late.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	217960
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>We are committed to providing clear and accurate answers with, where relevant, appropriate information to allow the response to be seen in the right context for both the MP and others seeing the answer. We do not consider it right or helpful to provide answers until we able to do this.<br><br>62% of named day answers were answered on the named day in 2013-14. I observe that this compares with the annual rate of 52% when the rt. hon. Member was Secretary of State under the last Administration (as stated in the answer of 11 January 2010, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 682W).<br><br>We have recently introduced a new IT system for processing Parliamentary Questions to replace the dated and inflexible system that had been in use for more than 10 years. This supports fully electronic processing and significant additional facilities for monitoring and reporting on the progress in responding to questions.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 217957 217958 217959 217961 question first answered 18/12/2014 14:56:24 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins previous answer version 33676 answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn