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170328

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department from the Q&A system in the (a) 12 months and (b) five years since 4 June 2014; what additional ICT systems or improvements to existing systems his Department has introduced or plans to introduce that would not have been feasible without the Q&A system; and what assessment he has made of the extent to which the system has made it easier to answer questions from hon. Members on time.
tabling member constituency	Newcastle upon Tyne Central
tabling member printed	Chi Onwurah
uin	218774
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/01/2015 answer text <p>The establishment of the House’s new Q&amp;A system for processing Parliamentary Questions overlapped with the introduction of a new IT system within DCLG, which covers correspondence and Freedom of Information requests as well as Parliamentary Questions. This uses an ‘off-the-shelf’ package; this involved considerably less cost than would have been the case with development of a bespoke system.</p><p> </p><p>Our system has been developed to enable electronic transfer of questions and answers between the two systems. Both systems offer some opportunities for speeding up processing and improved monitoring facilities. The most immediate impact of the introduction of the Q&amp;A system has been the ending of the need to subscribe to the daily House of Commons question feed service provided by The Stationary Office. This saves around £5,000 a year.</p><p> </p><p>The Department’s system has been in use since the beginning of September and work is continuing to develop its configuration to improve the way parliamentary questions are handled. When the new system has bedded in we will review processing arrangements to assess their effectiveness and explore whether further improvements can be made.</p><p> </p><p>It will be for the Procedure Committee to evaluate the effectiveness of the new system in improving performance when it assesses the evidence following the end of the session.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 06/01/2015 16:37:18 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4124 label Biography information for Chi Onwurah

170329

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Council Tax
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, which councils have signed up to his Department's offer of additional funding to freeze council tax in 2014-15.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	218809
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>In total 251 authorities in England froze or reduced their band D council tax in 2014-15, which is 60% of those eligible. A list of authorities which met the criteria of the 2014-15 council tax freeze scheme and therefore received the additional funding is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/317658/140415_312335_Council_Tax_Freeze__Revenue__Grant_Determination_2014-15.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/317658/140415_312335_Council_Tax_Freeze__Revenue__Grant_Determination_2014-15.pdf</a></p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 16:07:08 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

170330

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Non-domestic Rates: Worcestershire
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 his Department has made of the number of businesses in Worcester that have received (a) small business rate relief and (b) the High Street Discount on business rates.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	218800
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices in 2015-16 to £1.4 billion. Autumn Statement 2014 help includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>doubling small business rate relief for a further year. In England, this means an estimated 385,000 properties will pay no rates at all, while a further 190,000 properties will benefit from tapered relief.</li><li>a 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier. This is a continuation of the 2% cap introduced in 2014-15 as part of Autumn Statement 2013 measures;</li><li>increasing the temporary £1,000 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16, benefitting an estimated 300,000 properties in England and;</li><li>extending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000.</li></ul><p>These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:</p><ul><li>a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops;</li><li>allowing businesses to keep their small business rate relief for a year where they take on an additional property; and</li><li>business rates relief for empty new builds.</li></ul><p>Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.</p><p>The attached table shows the number of properties in 2014-15 within the Worcester City Council boundary that have benefitted from business rates measures in the previous Autumn Statement, including those that have received small business rates relief and the high street discount on business rates.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 16:26:04 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins attachment 1 file name 218800 Walker - Table.docx title Table
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

170331

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Non-domestic Rates: Barnet
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 the Department has made of the number of small firms and shops in (a) the London borough of Barnet and (b) Hendon constituency which will have a reduction in business rates in 2015-16.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	218808
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Chancellor announced at the 2014 Autumn Statement an extra £650 million of support for 2015-16 business rates bills, bringing the total support from 2013 and 2014 Autumn Statement polices in 2015-16 to £1.4 billion. Autumn Statement 2014 help includes:</p><p> </p><ul><li>doubling small business rate relief for a further year. In England, this means an estimated 385,000 properties will pay no rates at all, while a further 190,000 properties will benefit from tapered relief.</li><li>a 2% cap on the increase of the small business rates multiplier. This is a continuation of the 2% cap introduced in 2014-15 as part of Autumn Statement 2013 measures;</li><li>increasing the temporary £1,000 discount for shops, pubs and restaurants with rateable values below £50,000 to £1,500 for 2015-16, benefitting an estimated 300,000 properties in England; and</li><li>extending the existing transitional relief scheme for two years for properties with a rateable value up to and including £50,000.</li></ul><p> </p><p>These policies are in addition to previous Autumn Statement measures that continue into 2015-16, including:</p><p> </p><ul><li>a 50 per cent discount for 18 months to new occupants of vacant shops;</li><li>allowing businesses to keep their small business rate relief for a year where they take on an additional property; and</li><li>business rates relief for empty new builds.</li></ul><p> </p><p>Central Government also now funds 50% of any local discount granted.</p><p> </p><p>The Department does not collect data on a constituency basis, but Hendon constituency lies entirely within the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet. In addition to this, local authority level data is not yet available for the number of properties that will benefit from Autumn Statement 2014 measures in 2015-16. The attached table shows the number of properties in 2014-15 within the boundary of the London Borough of Barnet that benefit from business rates measures extended in this year’s Autumn Statement.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 16:23:33 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins attachment 1 file name 218808 Offord - Table.docx title Table
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

170332

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Non-domestic Rates: Worcestershire
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 was paid in business rates in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Worcester
tabling member printed	Mr Robin Walker
uin	218749
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>Details of the amount of non-domestic rates that were collected in (a) Worcester and (b) Worcestershire in each of the last 5 years are shown in the table below. The data are the amount that was collected in the year, irrespective of the year to which it relates before the deduction of any allowances for the cost of collection or losses in collection.</p><p> </p><p>The data for Worcestershire is made up from the data for Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Wychavon, Wyre Forest and Worcester.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>Worcester</p><p>£million</p></td><td><p>Worcestershire</p><p>£million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>35.0</p></td><td><p>163.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>35.7</p></td><td><p>165.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>37.6</p></td><td><p>176.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>39.2</p></td><td><p>179.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>40.1</p></td><td><p>182.3</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>Data were collected on auditor certified national non-domestic rates (NNDR3) outturn forms completed annually by all billing authorities in England.</p><p> </p><p>These figures will reflect changes to the overall size and valuation of hereditaments, new buildings and the change in the multiplier, as well as changes to different types of rate relief.</p><p> </p><p>These data are available on the gov.uk website at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/national-non-domestic-rates-local-authority-level-data" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/national-non-domestic-rates-local-authority-level-data</a></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 18/12/2014 15:44:50 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	4091 label Biography information for Mr Robin Walker

170333

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Local Government Finance
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 recommendation (a) of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, if his Department will publish a real-terms series of change in individual local authority income since 2010-11.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	218730
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Accounts Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in the New Year.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 218732 218733 218734 question first answered 18/12/2014 15:34:12 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

170334

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Shared Ownership Schemes
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 paragraph 2.42 of the Autumn Statement 2014, when he plans to launch the consultation on options for streamlining the process for selling on shared ownership properties.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	218731
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>We will be seeking views on streamlining the process for selling on shared ownership properties early in 2015.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 18/12/2014 14:57:23 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

170335

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Local Government Finance
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 recommendation (c) of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to develop a clearer understanding of whether local authorities' funding is sufficient to support their core services.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	218732
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Accounts Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in the New Year.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 218730 218733 218734 question first answered 18/12/2014 15:34:12 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

170336

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Local Government Finance
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 paragraphs 3.5 to 3.11 of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to improve understanding of the financial sustainability of local authorities and the extent to which they may be at risk of financial failure.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	218733
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Accounts Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in the New Year.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 218730 218732 218734 question first answered 18/12/2014 15:34:12 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

170337

registered interest
date	15/12/2014
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	Local Government Finance
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 paragraphs 3.13 to 3.20 of the report of the National Audit Office entitled Financial sustainability of local authorities 2014, published in November 2014, what steps he is taking to monitor the impact of funding decisions on local services in a co-ordinated way.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	218734
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government will publish a formal response to the Public Accounts Committee's consideration of the National Audit Office report; this will be presented to Parliament in the New Year.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins grouped question UIN 218730 218732 218733 question first answered 18/12/2014 15:34:12 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn