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143456

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2014
	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	Politics and Government: Greater London
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the effectiveness of the current structures of governance in London.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2741
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p>Since 2010, the Coalition Government has made a series of reforms which have decentralised power down to local government and down to local communities below it.</p><p> </p><p>This has included strengthening the governance structures in London at a variety of levels: by devolving power and funding over housing, economic development and the Olympic legacy to the Mayor and Assembly through the Localism Act 2011; by abolishing unelected bodies such as the Government Office for London and London Development Agency; supporting the creation of a London-wide economic partnership; and delivering a broader set of reforms to local government transparency, accountability, housing finance and local government finance which the London Boroughs in particular have benefited from.</p><p> </p><p>The London Enterprise Panel was established by the Mayor in 2012 in response to the Government’s invitation to areas to form Local Enterprise Partnerships. It provides a forum which enables the Mayor, London Boroughs and the private sector to work together to take a strategic view of regeneration, employment and skills in the capital. The Panel has successfully negotiated a growth deal which includes delivering £120 million of investment in London’s Further Education colleges and work to develop new ways to help those furthest from the labour market into work.</p><p> </p><p>As set out in the Government response to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report: <em>Post-Legislative Scrutiny of the Greater London Authority Act 2007 and the London Assembly</em> (Cm 8761), the Government believes there is scope for governance reform in the relation to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.</p><p> </p><p>Ministers have serious concerns about the governance in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets following an independent inspection report, and are consulting the council on the report and a proposed package of interventions as outlined in the Oral Statement of 4 November 2014, <em>Official Report</em>, House of Commons, Column 663.</p><p> </p><p>The Coalition Government considers that power should be devolved to the lowest appropriate level including to communities and individuals. For instance, we have introduced powers for local communities in London to establish neighbourhood forums to take forward neighbourhood planning and introduced a range of ‘community rights’ such as the Community Right to Challenge and the Community Right to Bid for Assets of Community Value.</p><p> </p><p>Parish councils can also provide communities with a democratically accountable voice and a structure for taking community action. London saw its first parish council in decades have its first elections in May 2014, in Queens Park, Westminster. A number of other local communities in London are now campaigning for parish councils to be set up. The Government is also making it easier to set up new town and parish councils where they do not currently exist and is seeking to amend legislation to do so.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 20/11/2014 15:18:11 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

143457

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2014
	answering body	Department for Transport
	answering dept id	27
	answering dept short name	Transport
	answering dept sort name	Transport
	hansard heading	Utilities: Road Works
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the way in which utility companies work with local authorities to minimise disruption to residents as a result of works they have to undertake.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2742
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2014 answer text <p>The Government has made no specific assessment, although under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991, the street authority has a duty to co-ordinate all works on its road network in order to minimise inconvenience to road users, and utilities have a duty to co-operate with them in doing that. Utility companies have statutory powers to carry out works to maintain or install their apparatus in the street to provide the services that we all rely on. The Government works closely with both local highway authorities and utilities to help them deliver those duties effectively.</p><p> </p><p>The Traffic Management Act 2004 also places a 'Network Management Duty' on authorities to keep traffic moving as far as practical and enables authorities to introduce permit schemes for street works to help them to do that. In 2012, the Government increased the penalties that local authorities can impose where street works by utility companies overrun their agreed duration, up to a maximum charge of £10,000 a day. We are also carrying out a trial of ‘Lane Rental’ on Transport for London and Kent County Council’s networks. This allows authorities to charge utilities to work on the busiest roads at the busiest times. We are currently looking at the impacts of those schemes.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Kramer question first answered 19/11/2014 14:21:36 answering member 1557 label Biography information for Baroness Kramer
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

143459

	registered interest
	date	07/11/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Migrants: Local Government Services
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they provide to local authorities in dealing with families which have no recourse to public funds.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2744
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p>The Home Office works closely with local authorities in dealing with families with no recourse to public funds, in particular through the No Recourse to Public Funds Connect database. Where the immigration status of such families is unresolved, the Home Office will seek to conclude all outstanding applications as quickly as possible. Where such families have no right to remain in the UK, the Home Office will seek to secure their return to their country of origin.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates question first answered 20/11/2014 14:50:28 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

147396

	registered interest
	date	10/11/2014
	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 Housing
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action are they taking to support council tenants who want to form housing cooperatives.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL2800
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/11/2014 answer text <p>We encourage local authorities to work closely with their communities to look at the range of options open to them. This may include forming community led groups, such as co-operatives, Community Land Trusts or Tenant Management Organisations. My officials continue to discuss issues affecting co-operative housing more generally with the co-operative sector.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Council tenants have the Right to Manage, which enables them to set up a Tenant Management Organisation (a management co-operative) to manage the homes in their area, with a management allowance from the Council. The Tenant Empowerment Programme, £2 million in 2014/15 and £1 million in 2015/16, supports social housing tenants to engage in, manage and/or take control of their housing services. This includes training, support and funding to enable tenant groups to take up their Right to Manage. There are currently over 200 Tenant Management Organisations across England, managing around 80,000 homes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In October 2012, we funded the Co-operatives UK to establish and run the Community Shares Unit to grow a sustainable market and promote the long term success of the community shares model, as a means to raising equity finance and increasing participation in community enterprises and projects. Community-led housing is one of the areas identified as requiring development.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are also encouraging community led organisations, including co-operatives, to apply for funding through the 2015-18 Affordable Homes Programme. The Homes and Communities Agency has held back over 25% of their £1.7 billion budget, for which it is now inviting bids. This should be of particular help to smaller community-led organisations.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 20/11/2014 15:55:45 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

169348

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Energy
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of local authorities setting up energy companies to provide cheaper energy to their residents.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL3634
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>This Government is keen to understand the re-emergence of local authorities as energy companies and the potential benefits to their residents. In order to tackle the barriers surrounding this we launched the UK’s first Community Energy Strategy in January 2014 and we take views from a Local Supply Working Group.</p><p>Our Strategy recognises that local authorities are crucial to community energy activities and sets out how Government intends to help communities build strong and productive partnerships with the public sector. One of the commitments is to carry out a sector survey in 2016, including a local authority section.</p><p>We welcome recent developments in local authority engagement in the energy sector, for example, Cheshire East Council is the first local authority to have entered into a partnership with Ovo Energy under their new ‘Communities’ tariff. It is too early to make an assessment of these developments as the details are still being finalised.</p><p>In addition we expect to know the outcome early next year of the application by the Greater London Authority for a “Licence Lite”– if successful, the GLA will be the first authority to take advantage of Ofgem’s streamlined arrangements for supplying electricity.</p> answering member printed Baroness Verma question first answered 18/12/2014 14:52:49 answering member 3790 label Biography information for Baroness Verma
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

169349

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Mutual Societies
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration have they given to moving the legislative function for co-operative and community benefit societies from HM Treasury to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL3635
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government does not hold official statistics on co-operatives. Relevant data is held by the Financial Conduct Authority, some of which they publish online.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The legislative function for co-operative and community benefit societies resides with HM Treasury; there are currently no plans to change this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Financial Conduct Authority is the registrar for co-operatives and community benefit societies. It has no regulatory functions over societies which are not also authorised to carry out financial services activities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is content that the legislative framework in place supports innovation in co-operative capital. The government has implemented a package of measures this year to strengthen the co-operative sector. This includes increasing the amount of withdrawable share capital an individual can invest in a society from £20,000 to £100,000, making it easier and cheaper for co-operative societies to raise capital.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton grouped question UIN HL3636 HL3637 question first answered 19/12/2014 12:52:34 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

169350

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Cooperatives
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the quality of and ease of access to official data on co-operatives.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL3636
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government does not hold official statistics on co-operatives. Relevant data is held by the Financial Conduct Authority, some of which they publish online.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The legislative function for co-operative and community benefit societies resides with HM Treasury; there are currently no plans to change this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Financial Conduct Authority is the registrar for co-operatives and community benefit societies. It has no regulatory functions over societies which are not also authorised to carry out financial services activities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is content that the legislative framework in place supports innovation in co-operative capital. The government has implemented a package of measures this year to strengthen the co-operative sector. This includes increasing the amount of withdrawable share capital an individual can invest in a society from £20,000 to £100,000, making it easier and cheaper for co-operative societies to raise capital.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton grouped question UIN HL3635 HL3637 question first answered 19/12/2014 12:52:34 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

169351

	registered interest
	date	10/12/2014
	answering body	HM Treasury
	answering dept id	14
	answering dept short name	Treasury
	answering dept sort name	Treasury
	hansard heading	Cooperatives
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the legal and regulatory frameworks in supporting innovation in co-operative capital.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL3637
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/12/2014 answer text <p>The Government does not hold official statistics on co-operatives. Relevant data is held by the Financial Conduct Authority, some of which they publish online.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The legislative function for co-operative and community benefit societies resides with HM Treasury; there are currently no plans to change this.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Financial Conduct Authority is the registrar for co-operatives and community benefit societies. It has no regulatory functions over societies which are not also authorised to carry out financial services activities.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is content that the legislative framework in place supports innovation in co-operative capital. The government has implemented a package of measures this year to strengthen the co-operative sector. This includes increasing the amount of withdrawable share capital an individual can invest in a society from £20,000 to £100,000, making it easier and cheaper for co-operative societies to raise capital.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Deighton grouped question UIN HL3635 HL3636 question first answered 19/12/2014 12:52:34 answering member 4262 label Biography information for Lord Deighton
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

224255

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2015
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Charities
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of charity law in the United Kingdom and the case for reform.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL5308
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>The Government published its response to Lord Hodgson’s statutory review of the Charities Act 2006, and the Public Administration Select Committee’s review of the regulation of charities on the legal and regulatory framework for charities in England and Wales in September 2013. Most of the reports’ recommendations were accepted and these are currently being taken forward.</p><p>The Joint Committee on the Draft Protection of Charities Bill published its report into its scrutiny of the Draft Protection of Charities Bill on 25 February 2015. The Draft bill would give the Charity Commission more powers to tackle mismanagement and abuse in charities. The Government will respond shortly.</p><p> </p><p>Charity law is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland.</p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 13/03/2015 13:33:17 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark

224256

	registered interest
	date	27/02/2015
	answering body	Cabinet Office
	answering dept id	53
	answering dept short name	Cabinet Office
	answering dept sort name	Cabinet Office
	hansard heading	Almshouses
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of almshouses.
	tabling member printed	Lord Kennedy of Southwark
	uin	HL5309
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/03/2015 answer text <p>Almshouses continue to play an important role today in providing accommodation for those in need throughout the United Kingdom and have a role in responding to the huge national challenge of creating more housing specially designed for older people. Almshouses have been part of this country's life for many generations and also make a valuable contribution to our national heritage by maintaining many fine, historic buildings.</p> answering member printed Lord Wallace of Saltaire question first answered 13/03/2015 13:12:26 answering member 1816 label Biography information for Lord Wallace of Saltaire
	tabling member	4153 label Biography information for Lord Kennedy of Southwark