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176040

registered interest
date	27/01/2015
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	Community Relations
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 15 January 2015 to Question 219487, what funding was provided in financial year 2010-11 for the integration projects and activities listed in the Answer.
tabling member constituency	West Ham
tabling member printed	Lyn Brown
uin	222232
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/02/2015 answer text <p>There was no explicit integration programme in 2010/11. However, the following projects and activities received funding in 2010-11:<br /><br /><br /></p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Contextualising Islam</p></td><td><p>£65,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Cornish Language</p></td><td><p>£150,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Faith-based Regeneration Network</p></td><td><p>£130,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Holocaust Memorial Day</p></td><td><p>£750,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>INFORM</p></td><td><p>£140,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Inter Faith Network</p></td><td><p>£<ins class="ministerial">327</ins><del class="ministerial">535</del>,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Inter Faith Week</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">£76,000</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>National Citizens Service - Young Advisers</p></td><td><p>£133,500</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>National Community Tensions Team</p></td><td><p>£96,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Post-Holocaust Issues Envoy</p></td><td><p>£20,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><br />None of the other projects listed in the previous answer received funding that year.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 02/02/2015 16:43:02 question first ministerially corrected 25/03/2015 12:13:26 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams previous answer version 42216 answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	1583 label Biography information for Ms Lyn Brown

175778

registered interest
date	26/01/2015
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Undocumented Workers: Fines
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many companies were fined for employing illegal immigrants in each of the last five years.
tabling member constituency	Delyn
tabling member printed	Mr David Hanson
uin	222054
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/02/2015 answer text <p>The information requested is <ins class="ministerial">shown</ins> in the following table. The figures are based on the number of civil penalties issued to individual employers during each of the last five complete financial years. This includes public and private limited <br />companies, sole traders, partnerships and franchises. <br /><br />The government is committed to taking effective action against employers of illegal workers. Illegal working drives illegal immigration which leads to exploitation of workers and is also linked to non payment of the national <br />minimum wage, harmful working conditions and tax evasion. Illegal working also undercuts legitimate businesses and adversely impacts on the employment of people who are lawfully resident in the UK.<br /><br />The government has therefore taken measures to strengthen our approach to rogue employers. In 2014, we doubled the maximum civil penalty that can be levied against an employer to £20,000 per illegal worker and we used the Immigration Act 2014 to make it easier to enforce unpaid penalties in the courts. We have also extended our enforcement reach by working more closely across government departments to identify where illegal working is taking place and to enforce a range of sanctions against employers of illegal workers.</p><table><tbody><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">Financial year </ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">Civil penalties issued </ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">Employers issued with civil penalties </ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2009-10</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,339</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,254</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2010-11</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,899</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,849</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2011-12</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,341</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,317</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2012-13</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,270</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">1,247</ins></td></tr><tr><td><ins class="ministerial">2013-14</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,150</ins></td><td><ins class="ministerial">2,090</ins></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning question first answered 04/02/2015 12:43:46 question first ministerially corrected 06/02/2015 10:41:06 answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning previous answer version 42849 answering member constituency Hemel Hempstead answering member printed Mike Penning answering member 1528 label Biography information for Sir Mike Penning
tabling member	533 label Biography information for David Hanson

175823

registered interest
date	26/01/2015
answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
answering dept id	29
answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
hansard heading	Offshore Industry: Safety
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many improvement notices were issued to oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea by the Health and Safety Executive in the period from 1 January 2014 to date; and in how many such cases the company has yet to comply with the improvement notice.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	221934
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/01/2015 answer text <p>Since January 2014<ins class="ministerial">, in relation to oil and gas extraction operations in the North Sea,</ins> <del class="ministerial">HSE has served 64</del><ins class="ministerial">36</ins> Improvement Notices <ins class="ministerial">have been served.</ins><del class="ministerial">relating to oil and gas extraction on the UK Continental Shelf.</del></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">Of these, </ins><del class="ministerial">The period for compliance has expired for 40</del><ins class="ministerial">21</ins><del class="ministerial"> of these</del> notices <del class="ministerial">and all</del> have been complied with. <ins class="ministerial">10 have not yet expired, and five</ins><del class="ministerial">Four</del> notices are subject to appeal and so are suspended until the appeal process is complete.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper question first answered 29/01/2015 14:32:34 question first ministerially corrected 25/03/2015 17:43:45 answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper previous answer version 41785 answering member constituency Forest of Dean answering member printed Mr Mark Harper answering member 1520 label Biography information for Mr Mark Harper
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

175097

registered interest
date	21/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Hospital Beds: North West
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many delayed discharges there were from (a) St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals Trust and (b) Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in each month since January 2014.
tabling member constituency	Halton
tabling member printed	Derek Twigg
uin	221512
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2015 answer text <p>Information is not available in the format requested. The data that is available is shown in the following tables.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Table 1: St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Patients</p></td><td><p>Days</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2014</p></td><td><p>8</p></td><td><p>282</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2014</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>233</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2014</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>253</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2014</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>186</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>188</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>7</p></td><td><p>158</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>227</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2014</p></td><td><p>4</p></td><td><p>155</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>166</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2014</p></td><td><p>5</p></td><td><p>186</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2014</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>143</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2014</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>149</p></td><td> </td></tr><tr><td> </td><td colspan="3"> </td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>Source</em>: NHS England</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Notes:</em></p><p> </p><ol start="1" type="1"><li>Patients: The number of patients whose transfer is delayed at midnight on the last Thursday of the month.</li><li>Days: The number of days delayed within the month for all patients delayed throughout the month.</li></ol><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Table 2: Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr><tr><td><p>Month</p></td><td><p>Patients</p></td><td><p>Days</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>January 2014</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>407</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>February 2014</p></td><td><p>19</p></td><td><p>591</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>March 2014</p></td><td><p>16</p></td><td><p>535</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>April 2014</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>513</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>May 2014</p></td><td><p>24</p></td><td><p>548</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>June 2014</p></td><td><p>14</p></td><td><p>537</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>July 2014</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>688</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>August 2014</p></td><td><p>26</p></td><td><p>880</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>September 2014</p></td><td><p>24</p></td><td><p>576</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>October 2014</p></td><td><p>20</p></td><td><p>458</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>November 2014</p></td><td><p>9</p></td><td><p>425</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>December 2014</p></td><td><p>11</p></td><td><p>222</p></td></tr><tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><em>Source</em>: NHS England</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Notes:</em></p><p> </p><ol start="1" type="1"><li>Patients: The number of patients whose transfer is delayed at midnight on the last Thursday of the month.</li><li>Days: The number of days delayed within the month for all patients delayed throughout the month.</li></ol><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 26/01/2015 16:57:42 question first ministerially corrected 26/01/2015 17:14:04 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb previous answer version 41239 answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison
tabling member	429 label Biography information for Derek Twigg

174220

registered interest
date	16/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater Manchester
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that hospitals in Greater Manchester meet the Government's A&E waiting time target.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	221094
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2015 answer text <p>My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets NHS England on a weekly basis and discusses a wide range of topics, including accident and emergency (A&amp;E) performance data. Monitor, the Care Quality Commission, and the NHS Trust Development Authority also have oversight of trust A&amp;E performance, and are involved in these meetings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On the back of a strong economy the Government has made £700 million – the highest ever figure – available to the NHS specifically to help with winter pressures. The first tranche of this money was made available earlier than ever.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Local plans to spend this money provide for nearly 8,800 extra staff and almost 6,500 extra beds. Over £25 million is going towards increasing access to general practitioners (GPs), including later and weekend appointments. £50 million will help ambulance services meet rising demand for emergency cases and a separate fund of £250 million will support an extra 100,000 operations so people can be seen quicker and before they need to be admitted as an emergency case.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This money will also support a range of local initiatives to improve urgent and emergency care including seven day pharmacy services, improvements to NHS 111 and GP out of hours services, short stay units for elderly patients and improvements to hospital discharge processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Across Greater Manchester £30 million has been provided with local plans for this to fund over 70 doctors, 300 nurses and 200 extra beds. Clinical commissioning groups in Greater Manchester, as system leaders, are working with NHS England and local partners including local authorities to implement local winter initiatives.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison question first answered 23/01/2015 13:51:02 question first ministerially corrected 23/01/2015 14:02:22 answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison previous answer version 39987 answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

174221

registered interest
date	16/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater Manchester
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with local authorities in Greater Manchester on increased attendances in A&E over the winter and delayed discharges.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	221095
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2015 answer text <p>My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets NHS England on a weekly basis and discusses a wide range of topics, including accident and emergency (A&amp;E) performance data. Monitor, the Care Quality Commission, and the NHS Trust Development Authority also have oversight of trust A&amp;E performance, and are involved in these meetings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On the back of a strong economy the Government has made £700 million – the highest ever figure – available to the NHS specifically to help with winter pressures. The first tranche of this money was made available earlier than ever.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Local plans to spend this money provide for nearly 8,800 extra staff and almost 6,500 extra beds. Over £25 million is going towards increasing access to general practitioners (GPs), including later and weekend appointments. £50 million will help ambulance services meet rising demand for emergency cases and a separate fund of £250 million will support an extra 100,000 operations so people can be seen quicker and before they need to be admitted as an emergency case.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This money will also support a range of local initiatives to improve urgent and emergency care including seven day pharmacy services, improvements to NHS 111 and GP out of hours services, short stay units for elderly patients and improvements to hospital discharge processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Across Greater Manchester £30 million has been provided with local plans for this to fund over 70 doctors, 300 nurses and 200 extra beds. Clinical commissioning groups in Greater Manchester, as system leaders, are working with NHS England and local partners including local authorities to implement local winter initiatives.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison question first answered 23/01/2015 13:51:02 question first ministerially corrected 23/01/2015 14:02:55 answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison previous answer version 39989 answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

174223

registered interest
date	16/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments: Greater Manchester
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with Monitor, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England on hospitals in Greater Manchester which have not met the Government's A&E waiting time target.
tabling member constituency	Denton and Reddish
tabling member printed	Andrew Gwynne
uin	221081
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/01/2015 answer text <p>My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets NHS England on a weekly basis and discusses a wide range of topics, including accident and emergency (A&amp;E) performance data. Monitor, the Care Quality Commission, and the NHS Trust Development Authority also have oversight of trust A&amp;E performance, and are involved in these meetings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On the back of a strong economy the Government has made £700 million – the highest ever figure – available to the NHS specifically to help with winter pressures. The first tranche of this money was made available earlier than ever.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Local plans to spend this money provide for nearly 8,800 extra staff and almost 6,500 extra beds. Over £25 million is going towards increasing access to general practitioners (GPs), including later and weekend appointments. £50 million will help ambulance services meet rising demand for emergency cases and a separate fund of £250 million will support an extra 100,000 operations so people can be seen quicker and before they need to be admitted as an emergency case.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This money will also support a range of local initiatives to improve urgent and emergency care including seven day pharmacy services, improvements to NHS 111 and GP out of hours services, short stay units for elderly patients and improvements to hospital discharge processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Across Greater Manchester £30 million has been provided with local plans for this to fund over 70 doctors, 300 nurses and 200 extra beds. Clinical commissioning groups in Greater Manchester, as system leaders, are working with NHS England and local partners including local authorities to implement local winter initiatives.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Battersea answering member printed Jane Ellison question first answered 23/01/2015 13:51:02 question first ministerially corrected 23/01/2015 14:02:44 answering member 3918 label Biography information for Jane Ellison previous answer version 39988 answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1506 label Biography information for Andrew Gwynne

173929

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there were in the NHS excluding London (a) on the most recent date for which figures are available and (b) in each of the previous six years.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Dame Tessa Jowell
uin	220878
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 20/01/2015 16:08:26 question first ministerially corrected 20/01/2015 16:16:23 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter attachment 1 file name Table PQ220878 Vacancy data.xlsx title Vacancy data 2009-10 A&E Consultants previous answer version 39309 answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	159 label Biography information for Baroness Jowell

173930

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Accident and Emergency Departments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many vacant A&E consultant posts there are in (a) London and (b) England; and how many such vacant posts there are in each category in each of the last six years.
tabling member constituency	Dulwich and West Norwood
tabling member printed	Dame Tessa Jowell
uin	220879
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/01/2015 answer text <p>Information on vacancies is not collected by the Department. The last annual National Health Service vacancy survey in England was undertaken by the Health and Social Care Information Centre in 2010. The survey was suspended in 2011 and then discontinued in 2013 following the publication of the Fundamental Review of Data Returns, which aimed to reduce the burden of the collection of data from NHS organisations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The attached table provides vacancy data for 2009 and 2010, the only two years within the last six years for which data is available.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 20/01/2015 16:08:26 question first ministerially corrected 20/01/2015 16:55:53 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter attachment 1 file name Table PQ220878 Vacancy data.xlsx title Vacancy data 2009-10 A&E Consultants previous answer version 39310 answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
tabling member	159 label Biography information for Baroness Jowell

174084

registered interest
date	15/01/2015
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	Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authorities in England have taken part in the Weekly Collection Support Scheme; how many authorities took part in the expression of interest process; which have subsequently received financial support, and how much; and of those, which have reinstated weekly collections of general (“grey” or “residual”) waste, which have used the support to collect food waste separately, and which have used it in other ways.
tabling member printed	Lord Greaves
uin	HL4187
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/02/2015 answer text <p>In March 2012, my Department received initial expressions of interest from 151 lead local authorities, which resulted in bids from 113 local authorities. Some local authorities submitted multiple expressions of interest which were consolidated before final bid stage. The final bids were then assessed in line with the published criteria, and recipients then awarded funding.</p><p>A detailed table listing the schemes that are being supported is attached and on my Department’s website.</p><p> </p><p>It may be helpful to the noble Lord to outline what this Government has delivered since 2010:</p><p> </p><ul><li>Safeguarded weekly collections for 6 million households through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme as well as championing innovation and best practice; the answer of 14 May 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, House of Commons 646W, outlined how 14 million households in England have some form of weekly collection of smelly rubbish.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Issued the first ever Whitehall guidance on weekly bin collections, demolishing the myths that fortnightly bin collections are needed to save money or increase recycling. This best practice was directly informed by the Weekly Collections Support Scheme;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Supported over 40 innovative reward schemes to back recycling through the Weekly Collection Support Scheme (as pledged in the Coalition Agreement); the winning bids for a further Recycling Rewards Scheme for 2015-16 will be announced shortly;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Stopped the Audit Commission inspections which marked down councils who do not adopt fortnightly rubbish collections, and rejected the Audit Commission guidance which advocated fortnightly collections (“Waste Management: The Strategic Challenge and Waste Management Quick Guide”);</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Abolished the Local Area Agreements and National Indicator 191 imposed by Whitehall which created perverse incentives to downgrade waste collection services;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Scrapped the Whitehall requirement for municipal Annual Efficiency Statements, which allowed a reduction in the frequency of a household rubbish collection service to qualify as a “valid efficiency” and allowed revenue from bin fines to classed as a “cashable efficiency gain”;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Scrapped the imposition of eco-towns which would have had fortnightly bin collections and/or bin taxes as part of the “eco-standards”;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Through the Localism Act, revoked the 2008 legislation that allowed for the imposition of new bin taxes;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Issued guidance to stop the imposition of illegal ‘backdoor bin charging’ on households bins;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Stopped funding the ‘Waste Improvement Network’ which told councils to adopt fortnightly collections as best practice;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Challenged the incorrect interpretation by some bodies that European Union directives require fortnightly collections, and resisted the imposition of bin taxes by the European Union;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Removing powers of entry and snooping powers from bin inspectors and scrapped guidance telling councils to rifle through families’ bins;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Changed building regulations and planning guidance to tackle ‘bin blight’, and worked with the NHBC Foundation to produce new best practice guidance for house builders;</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><ul><li>Changing the law through the Deregulation Bill to scrap unfair bin fines.</li></ul><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Without our active support, Ministers are clear that weekly collections would have disappeared across England. This Government’s approach can be contrasted with the devolved Labour-led Administration in Wales, where fortnightly bin collections are official policy, and pilots of monthly bin collections are being actively encouraged.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmed question first answered 12/02/2015 14:39:13 question first ministerially corrected 16/02/2015 17:33:13 answering member 3470 label Biography information for Lord Ahmed attachment 1 file name PQ HL4187 List of successful bidders to the Weekly Collection Support Scheme.xls title List of Supported Schemes previous answer version 45064 answering member printed Lord Ahmed answering member 3470 label Biography information for Lord Ahmed attachment 1 file name 150203 PQ677818 Lord Greaves - Attachment.pdf title List of Supported Schemes
tabling member	2569 label Biography information for Lord Greaves