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101051

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Business: Loans
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on each of the six actions outlined in his Department's report, Ethnic Minority Businesses and Access to Finance, published in June 2013; what external meetings Ministers have had to discuss (a) those actions and (b) the issues raised in the report in each month since the report; and if he will make a statement.
tabling member constituency	Streatham
tabling member printed	Mr Chuka Umunna
uin	211994
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/11/2014 answer text <p>The Ethnic Minority Business and Access to Finance review has raised awareness and encouraged engagement between the banking community and ethnic minority businesses. The report was published in July 2013 with a plan for action. <br><br>The actions were addressed primarily at the industry, British Bankers' Association and others including Local Enterprise Partnerships, supported by Government. Progress against the actions is set out below. <br><br>Action 1: Spreading the Word<br><br>The banking community continues to work with accountants, business groups and specialist business networks through the Enterprise Diversity Alliance and other forums such as the National Black Women's Network and the Yorkshire Asian Business Association, to raise awareness of the range of support available. This has included developing finance guides, refreshing the Better Business Finance website to make it more friendly, and running a national campaign aimed at all SMEs to inform them of the support available, including the appeals process if rejected for finance. <br><br>These details have been made available to ethnic minority businesses through key regional events, newsletters, and the various partners and networks that sit on the British Bankers' Association Diversity and Inclusion Business Council launched in 2014. The Authority also sits on the advisory group of the Enterprise Diversity Alliance, with a number of banks who also run specific Enterprise Diversity Alliance business support and finance work-streams.<br><br>Action 2: Making support easier to access<br><br>The British Bankers' Association, with banks, has run a series of mentoring workshops and because of these, and follow up bank support, some ethnic minority businesses have created their own mentoring networks and many of these businesses have taken up mentoring support. Events are held in areas with a high concentration of ethnic minority businesses notably Leicester, London, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, to raise awareness, understanding and build confidence in accessing finance. <br><br>Specialist mentoring is offered to ethnic minority businesses through mentoring organisations such as Business in the Community, Capital Enterprises and SCA Management Consulting Ltd. If a mentee wishes to specify a particular ethnicity for their mentor they can do so at the matching stage. <br><br>Action 3: Promote the alternatives<br><br>The Government is legislating through the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill to require large banks to refer declined small business finance applications to online platforms, who will seek to match businesses seeking finance to alternative lenders. Community Development Finance Institutions will be able to access these platforms alongside a range of other lenders, including challenger banks and peer-to-peer lenders. This proposal will help put small businesses seeking finance in touch with lenders who may be able to help them.<br><br>Action 4: Use Local Enterprise Partnerships to best advantage<br><br>Local Enterprise Partnerships have been established as voluntary partnerships and are encouraged by Government to ensure that their boards are representative of the businesses in their locality, and are not dominated by a single group or organisation.<br><br>Action 5: Expanding our understanding<br><br>The 2013 Ethnic Minority Business report http://www.sme-finance-monitor.co.uk/ was published earlier this year. The 2014 report is due to be published in January 2015. This work, coupled with that of the bank and BIS supported Enterprise Research Centre, is being used by the British Bankers' Association's Diversity and Inclusion Business Council to determine policy actions to take forward.<br><br>Action 6: Supporting the dialogue<br><br>The Ethnic Moinority Business representation at the Business Finance Roundtable is through Professor Monder Ram of Birmingham University who runs the Enterprise Diversity Alliance, co-leads the Enterprise Research Centre diversity work and is a member of DWP's Ethnic Minority Employment Stakeholder Group. Alongside this sits the British Bankers' Association Diversity and Inclusion Business Council launched in 2014 which includes the leading Ethnic Minority Business experts and networks. <br><br>As actions have been progressing since 2013, no further Ministerial meetings have taken place.<br><br></p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 11/11/2014 16:36:37 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams previous answer version 25357 answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4128 label Biography information for Chuka Umunna

101053

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Department for Communities and Local Government: 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, when he expects to answer Question 210273, tabled by the right hon. Member for Leeds Central on 13 October 2014.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	212000
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/01/2015 answer text <p>Question 210273 was answered on 18 December 2014.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 07/01/2015 17:21:11 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams previous answer version 25354 answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

101058

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Big Society Network
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the value was of contracts awarded by his-her= Department to the Big Society Network since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	211933
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>My Department has not awarded any contract or provided any office space to the Big Society Network.</p><p> </p><p>Five members of staff were informally seconded to the Network during the summer/autumn of 2010, assisting with projects such as participatory budgeting and the Big Lunch. There was no direct cost to the Department of these placements; the notional value of the staff time in 2010 was in the region of £25,000 to £30,000.</p><p> </p><p>Secondments help staff get experience of outside sectors, bringing back new knowledge and skills to the Department. We have seconded staff to similar organisations on a temporary basis, such as Barnados, the Children's Society and the Prince's Trust.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams grouped question UIN 211934 211935 211938 question first answered 17/11/2014 11:39:50 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

101059

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Big Society Network
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 value of (a) financial and (n) non-financial support provided by his-her= Department to the Big Society Network since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	211934
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>My Department has not awarded any contract or provided any office space to the Big Society Network.</p><p> </p><p>Five members of staff were informally seconded to the Network during the summer/autumn of 2010, assisting with projects such as participatory budgeting and the Big Lunch. There was no direct cost to the Department of these placements; the notional value of the staff time in 2010 was in the region of £25,000 to £30,000.</p><p> </p><p>Secondments help staff get experience of outside sectors, bringing back new knowledge and skills to the Department. We have seconded staff to similar organisations on a temporary basis, such as Barnados, the Children's Society and the Prince's Trust.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams grouped question UIN 211933 211935 211938 question first answered 17/11/2014 11:39:50 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

101060

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Big Society Network
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has provided office space to the Big Society Network since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	211935
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>My Department has not awarded any contract or provided any office space to the Big Society Network.</p><p> </p><p>Five members of staff were informally seconded to the Network during the summer/autumn of 2010, assisting with projects such as participatory budgeting and the Big Lunch. There was no direct cost to the Department of these placements; the notional value of the staff time in 2010 was in the region of £25,000 to £30,000.</p><p> </p><p>Secondments help staff get experience of outside sectors, bringing back new knowledge and skills to the Department. We have seconded staff to similar organisations on a temporary basis, such as Barnados, the Children's Society and the Prince's Trust.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams grouped question UIN 211933 211934 211938 question first answered 17/11/2014 11:39:50 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

101063

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	Big Society Network
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has seconded any officials or special advisers to the Big Society Network since 2010.
tabling member constituency	Wigan
tabling member printed	Lisa Nandy
uin	211938
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/11/2014 answer text <p>My Department has not awarded any contract or provided any office space to the Big Society Network.</p><p> </p><p>Five members of staff were informally seconded to the Network during the summer/autumn of 2010, assisting with projects such as participatory budgeting and the Big Lunch. There was no direct cost to the Department of these placements; the notional value of the staff time in 2010 was in the region of £25,000 to £30,000.</p><p> </p><p>Secondments help staff get experience of outside sectors, bringing back new knowledge and skills to the Department. We have seconded staff to similar organisations on a temporary basis, such as Barnados, the Children's Society and the Prince's Trust.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams grouped question UIN 211933 211934 211935 question first answered 17/11/2014 11:39:50 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	4082 label Biography information for Lisa Nandy

101070

registered interest
date	27/10/2014
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	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, with reference to his Department's Bringing people together in strong, united communities policy webpage, if he will list all the projects aimed at tackling extremism and intolerance.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	212001
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/12/2014 answer text <p>I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement on integration made by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) today.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 18/12/2014 15:11:28 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams previous answer version 25367 answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

100320

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
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	Social Rented Housing
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what was spent on the Decent Homes Programme in each year since 2005.
tabling member constituency	Bethnal Green and Bow
tabling member printed	Rushanara Ali
uin	211623
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2015 answer text <p>The last Administration failed to meet its Decent Homes target. It pledged in 2000 that: “We... are committed to ensuring that all social housing is of a decent standard within 10 years” (DETR, <em>Quality and Choice: A Decent Home for All: The Housing Green Paper</em>, April 2000, p.11). But 16 per cent of local authority homes were not decent by 2010.</p><p>That last Government also cut the Decent Homes programme by £150 million in July 2009, cannibalising the housing programme to pay for other policies. I also observe the last Prime Minister planned to cut back housing investment, remarking before the general election: “Housing is essentially a private sector activity. Let's be honest about this... I don't see a need for us to continue with such a big renovation programme” (<em>BBC Newsnight</em>, 30 April 2010).</p><p>However, the Coalition Government is investing £2.3 billion from 2011 to 2016 to improve the quality of existing social housing through the Decent Homes programme and large-scale voluntary transfer gap funding The funding is for clearing the backlog, and therefore is less than under the last Administration – as by intention, there should be an increasingly smaller number of homes to pay to refurbish.</p><p>The table below shows spending since 2005.</p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td><p>£ million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2004-05</p></td><td><p>£578</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2005-06</p></td><td><p>£864</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2006-07</p></td><td><p>£814</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2007-08</p></td><td><p>£1,005</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2008-09</p></td><td><p>£1,017</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009-10</p></td><td><p>£1,079</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010-11</p></td><td><p>£756</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011-12</p></td><td><p>£494</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>£563</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>£631</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15</p></td><td><p>est. £532</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>NB. The figure for 14-15 contains £15 million funding for South Tyneside which was brought forward from the 2015-16 allocation.</p><p>The number of non-decent local authority dwellings across England has fallen from 292,000 in 1 April 2010 to 146,000 in April 2014, with a forecast of a further fall to 113,000 by April 2015. This shows clear progress in refurbishing these homes.</p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 23/02/2015 16:51:14 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 24440 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	4138 label Biography information for Rushanara Ali

100564

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
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 Benefits
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish the detailed terms of reference for the review of the impact of abolishing Council Tax Benefit.
tabling member printed	Baroness King of Bow
uin	HL2301
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/11/2014 answer text <p>The Department is currently working with the Council Tax Partnership Forum and local authorities to identify appropriate and proportionate data for the independent three-year review of the local council tax support policy.</p><p> </p><p>The timetable, coverage, process for data collection and detailed terms of reference for the review will be agreed and published in due course.</p><p> </p><p>Spending on council tax benefit doubled under the last Government, costing taxpayers £4 billion a year—equivalent to almost £180 a year per household. Welfare reform is vital to tackle the budget deficit by the last Administration.</p><p> </p><p>Our reforms to localise council tax support now give councils stronger incentives to support local firms, cut fraud, promote local enterprise and get people to into work. We are ending the last Administration's 'something for nothing' culture and making work pay.</p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon question first answered 06/11/2014 17:48:45 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	143 label Biography information for Baroness King of Bow

100565

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
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	Housing Revenue Accounts: Tower Hamlets
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 October (HL1902), whether they will place in the Library of the House copies of the correspondence encouraging the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to revise its bid for funding from the Local Growth Fund Housing Revenue Account Borrowing Programme 2015–17.
tabling member printed	Baroness King of Bow
uin	HL2302
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/11/2014 answer text <p>I have today placed copies of the relevant letters - a letter from the Minister for Housing to all stock holding local authorities dated 7 July 2014; a letter from officials to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets also dated 7 July 2014; and a second letter to the authority dated 5 August 2014 - in the Library of the House.</p><p> </p><p>The Greater London Authority, which has an operational involvement in the programme in London, also had discussions with the Council, but such correspondence/information is not held by my Department.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon attachment 1 file name PQ428929 HL2302 - Letter1_Redacted.pdf title Minister of Housing 7 July 2014 2 file name PQ428929 HL2302 - Letter2_Redacted.pdf title London Borough of Tower Hamlets 7 July 2014 3 file name PQ428929 HL2302 - Letter3_Redacted.pdf title London Borough of Tower Hamlets 5 August 2014 question first answered 19/11/2014 14:48:36 answering member 4210 label Biography information for Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
tabling member	143 label Biography information for Baroness King of Bow