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229345

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	Parks
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 he has had with the National Trust on the preservation of public parks.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	228925
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/03/2015 answer text <p>Details of Ministers’ meetings with external organisations are published on-line as part of our transparency agenda. They are available at:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-communities-and-local-government&amp;publication_type=transparency-data" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-for-communities-and-local-government&amp;publication_type=transparency-data</a><br><br></p><p> </p><p>Through the Community Right to Bid, introduced as part of the Localism Act 2011, communities and local groups can protect local assets, such as parks, playing fields and allotments, by nominating them to be listed by the local authority as an Asset of Community Value. If the listed asset comes up for sale, local community groups can ‘pause’ the sale for a period of time in order to raise the finance to make a bid to buy it.</p><p> </p><p>In February, the Department held a green spaces seminar to explore barriers to pursuing innovative solutions to protecting green spaces and to consider what actions central government might usefully take to help remove some of these. The National Trust attended this seminar and presented the approach they are exploring in partnership with Sheffield City Council to create an endowment fund for the city’s parks. This work is being pursued as part of the £1 million Rethinking Parks project initiated by Nesta, Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 26/03/2015 08:50:59 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

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

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

228784

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	Neighbourhood Plans
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 neighbourhood forums have been established under the Localism Act 2011.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	228567
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>The Department does not hold official statistics on the number of neighbourhood forums established under the Localism Act. However from our informal monitoring we are aware that of the 1,400 communities who have started the process of neighbourhood planning, around 190 are non-parished areas, and will therefore be led by neighbourhood forums.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 24/03/2015 12:16:12 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

228835

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	Parking Offences
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to prevent illegal parking on private property and land.
tabling member constituency	Hendon
tabling member printed	Dr Matthew Offord
uin	228561
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/03/2015 answer text <p>On 12 March 2015, the Department for Communities and Local Government took on the policy responsibility for off-street parking, both municipal and on private land. We expect to consult shortly on areas where we can intervene to tackle unfair practices.<br><br></p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 24/03/2015 12:21:12 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	4006 label Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord

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

227703

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
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 Rented Housing: Blackpool
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 households in Blackpool South constituency were on local authority housing waiting lists in (a) May 2010 and (b) February 2015.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Mr Gordon Marsden
uin	227928
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2015 answer text <p>Statistics on the numbers of households on local authorities' housing waiting lists in each local authority district, including Blackpool, are published in the Department's live table 600, which is available at the following link:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-rents-lettings-and-tenancies" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-rents-lettings-and-tenancies</a><br><br>These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.<br><br>In the Blackpool local authority area, housing waiting lists under the last Labour Government rose from 4,159 in April 1997 to 6,769 in April 2010. Under this Government, they have fallen to 4,843 as of April 2014.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 20/03/2015 12:38:59 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

227735

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
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	Housing: Blackpool
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 families were recorded as living in overcrowded conditions in Blackpool South constituency in (a) 2010 and (b) the most recent date for which data is available.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Mr Gordon Marsden
uin	227930
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2015 answer text <p>The social housing reforms in the Localism Act have given local authorities and social landlords the tools they need to tackle overcrowding; while retaining the reasonable preference provisions in the allocation legislation which ensure that overcrowded families continue to get priority for social housing. HomeSwap Direct is there to make it easier for overcrowded social tenants to swap with those who want to downsize. The removal of the spare room subsidy also encourages the more effective use of social housing, by addressing the under-occupation of family homes.</p><p> </p><p>Our Affordable Homes Programme is on track to deliver 170,000 new affordable homes between 2011 and 2015, with £19.5 billion of public and private funding. A further £38 billion public and private investment will help ensure 275,000 new affordable homes are provided between 2015 and 2020.</p><p> </p><p><br><br>Data on occupancy at the local authority level from the 2011 Census is published at:</p><p><a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-and-quick-statistics-for-wards-and-output-areas-in-england-and-wales/rft-qs412ew.xls" target="_blank">http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/census/2011-census/key-statistics-and-quick-statistics-for-wards-and-output-areas-in-england-and-wales/rft-qs412ew.xls</a></p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 20/03/2015 12:54:27 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden

227736

registered interest
date	17/03/2015
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	Affordable Housing: Blackpool
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 affordable homes were built (a) for rent and (b) for purchase in Blackpool South constituency in each year from 2010 to 2015.
tabling member constituency	Blackpool South
tabling member printed	Mr Gordon Marsden
uin	227929
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/03/2015 answer text <p>From April 2010 to September 2014, 400 affordable homes have been delivered in Blackpool.<br><br>Statistics on total additional affordable housing provided in England and in each local authority district , including Blackpool, are published in the Department’s live table 1008, which is available at:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply<br><br></a>They include both newly built housing and acquisitions and do not show separate figures for rent and purchase.</p><p>These statistics are not available by parliamentary constituency.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 20/03/2015 12:35:56 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	465 label Biography information for Gordon Marsden