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90808

registered interest
date	05/09/2014
answering body	Attorney General
answering dept id	88
answering dept short name	Attorney General
answering dept sort name	Attorney General
hansard heading	Written Questions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of named day written questions were answered by the Law Officers' Departments within the prescribed period in the (a) 2012-13 session, (b) 2013-14 session and (c) 2014-15 session to date.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208417
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The information requested is contained in the following table.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><strong>Year</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Number</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Proportion answered on the named day </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012-13</p></td><td><p>116</p></td><td><p>99%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013-14</p></td><td><p>129</p></td><td><p>91%</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014-15 (To date)</p></td><td><p>30</p></td><td><p>90%</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p>Departmental performance information, for ordinary and named day Parliamentary Questions, is collated by the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons and submitted to the Procedure Committee. This is published on a sessional basis by the committee, and includes evidence regarding departmental performance. The monitoring report relating to the 2012-13 session was published on 13 February 2014 as HC1046. The report covering statistics relating to performance during the 2013-14 session will be published very shortly by the Procedure Committee.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Mr Robert Buckland question first answered 10/09/2014 13:34:33 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90620

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Property Searches: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to local authorities to date of claims made by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 European Directive on public access to environmental information and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208276
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The Ministry of Justice, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government are considering a submission prepared by the Local Government Association that the new burden assessment carried out in 2010 in respect of the revocation of the fee payable for a personal search of the local land charges register should be re-opened.</p><p> </p><p>Any costs properly incurred by local authorities in England in dealing with claims for refunds of local land charge search fees will be taken into account by the departments should it be decided to re-open the assessment. No decision has yet been taken.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 208157 question first answered 11/09/2014 13:57:58 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90622

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
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	Enterprise Zones
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 the report by the National Audit Office, Funding and structures for local economic growth, HC 542, published on 6 December 2013, what steps he has taken to implement recommendation 22f on page 13 of the report.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208306
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/09/2014 answer text <p>As Enterprise Zones are a long term intervention (25 years in total) and the programme is still at an early stage, an evaluation of impact at this point would be premature. This reflects the practice of the previous evaluation which was commissioned in 1995 to assess the performance of Enterprise Zones that had been designated between 1981 and 1984. <br><br>However, the Department is looking at options now for a robust evaluation in the future, taking into account recent National Audit Office work on evaluation of spatial programmes, and lessons that can be learnt from the evaluations that are underway on other local growth programmes such as the Regional Growth Fund.</p> answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 24/09/2014 15:19:18 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt previous answer version 19171 answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90623

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
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	Enterprise Zones
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 number of new jobs that will be created by enterprise zones by 2015.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208307
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/09/2014 answer text <p>Enterprise Zones are about delivering long term, locally-led, sustainable growth. Since they started in April 2012, they have laid down the foundations for their success and report that they have so far created over 10,000 jobs and attracted 377 businesses, bringing in £1.9 billion pounds of private sector investment.</p><p /> <p>We do not collect data on forecast job numbers by 2015, nor are we imposing Whitehall targets; the jobs to be created in each individual Enterprise Zone will reflect the type of commerce or industry supported on the sites (some sectors are more labour-intensive than others), the local priorities of the Enterprise Zone, the size and context of the zone’s sites and the broader local economy.</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 Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt question first answered 24/09/2014 15:16:00 answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt previous answer version 19172 answering member constituency Portsmouth North answering member printed Penny Mordaunt answering member 4017 label Biography information for Penny Mordaunt
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90628

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Property Searches: Fees and Charges
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to make further financial payments to local authorities in respect of claims made against them by property search companies for refunds of local land charges search fees as a result of the implementation of the 2003 EC directive on freedom of information and the 2004 environmental information regulations.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208157
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p /> <p /> <p>The Ministry of Justice, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government are considering a submission prepared by the Local Government Association that the new burden assessment carried out in 2010 in respect of the revocation of the fee payable for a personal search of the local land charges register should be re-opened.</p><p> </p><p>Any costs properly incurred by local authorities in England in dealing with claims for refunds of local land charge search fees will be taken into account by the departments should it be decided to re-open the assessment. No decision has yet been taken.</p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara grouped question UIN 208276 question first answered 11/09/2014 13:57:58 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90629

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
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	Parish and Town Councils: Kent
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 plans to respond to the proposal submitted by Tenterden Town Council and Sevenoaks Town Council in February 2014 in relation to the Sustainable Communities Act 2007.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208158
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/09/2014 answer text <p>I responded to the proposal on 1 September. Sevenoaks Town Council, and others, wished to receive a share of the tax revenue raised from business rates.</p><p> </p><p>This Government is committed to supporting local town and parish councils. However, it is a zero sum game. At present, town and parish councils do not receive central government funding. Under the local retention of business rates, half of the revenue raised from business rates is retained by local government and half by central government.</p><p> </p><p>If part of this local share was diverted to town and parish councils away from principal local authorities and major precepting authorities, this would result in less spending on local services or an increase in council tax, or potentially a combination of both.</p><p> </p><p>Similarly, a reduction in the national share would reduce the funding available to central government to fund revenue support grant for principal authorities, thereby impacting on service delivery or council tax; or it would require cuts to other central government spending outside local government; or it would necessitate increases in national taxation.</p><p> </p><p>For these reasons, the Government does not support the proposal; I would add that these issues were carefully considered earlier in this Parliament when the new regime of local retention was established through the Local Government Finance Act 2012.</p><p> </p><p>Notwithstanding, our broader reforms to local finance are already helping town and parish councils to benefit from local economic growth. Where a local planning authorities implements Community Infrastructure Levy, 15 per cent of Levy receipts from a development must be passed to the town or parish council where development has taken place. To encourage local communities to be proactive in planning for their area, this rises to 25 per cent where a neighbourhood plan is in place. Where there is no town or parish council, the local planning authority will retain these funds to spend in consultation with the community.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 11/09/2014 16:02:37 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90630

registered interest
date	04/09/2014
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	Trade Unions
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish the representations he has received on his proposal to end check-off for trade union subscriptions for staff working in his Department.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208160
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/09/2014 answer text <p>As was the case under previous Administrations, we do not publish internal correspondence with our trade unions.</p><p> </p><p>Notwithstanding, as my hon. Friend, the hon. Member for Great Yarmouth (Brandon Lewis), stated in his answer to the rt. hon. Member of 13 September 2013, <em>Official Report</em>, Column 882W, the subsidies and support given to the trade unions by the public sector are poor value for money and represent an unhealthy relationship between the state and voluntary sector. Trade union activities and campaigning in local government, and indeed our Department, should be funded by members' subscriptions, not bankrolled by the taxpayer. Greater freedom from state dependency will help ensure that trade union bosses better reflect and respond to the wishes and views of the grassroots members who pay the bill.</p><p> </p><p>As the previous answer stated, our reforms to trade union facility time are estimated to save up to £400,000 a year of taxpayers’ money.</p><p> </p><p>In the age of direct debits, it is not appropriate or necessary for public resources to be used to support the collection and administration of trade union membership subscriptions. It is also unsatisfactory that trade unions like PCS continue to collect a political levy, but make no attempt to inform would-be members that the political levy exists, that it is optional or mention the right to opt out on their membership forms. This is a misleading and dubious marketing practice through omission.</p><p> </p><p>The decision by the last Labour Government to embed check-off in contracts has acted as an obstacle to ending this outdated practice. But I can confirm that my Department has ended the check off facility to new employees as the first step in phasing it out.</p><p> </p><p>We have also recently suspended check-off for all staff during the current industrial action by PCS. In turn, PCS have asked their union members to switch to Direct Debit noting in their literature “the process takes less than five minutes” and is “very simple”. This somewhat proves our point.</p> answering member constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 12/09/2014 13:23:41 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90431

registered interest
date	03/09/2014
answering body	Department for Communities and Local Government
answering dept id	7
answering dept short name	Communities and Local Government
answering dept sort name	Communities and Local Government
hansard heading	Council Tax
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many people in receipt of (a) war disablement pension, (b) war widows pension, (c) war widowers pension, (d) guaranteed income payments, (e) survivor's guaranteed income payments he estimates pay increased council tax bills as a result of recent changes to council tax support in England.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208028
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/09/2014 answer text <p>The Department does not collect data about individual claimants and has no plans to do so. These are local schemes, and it is for local authorities to ensure that the effect on specific groups of council tax payers is proportionate and fair. We made a £100 million transition grant available in 2013-14 to help councils develop well-designed schemes and maintain incentives to work.</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 left 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 constituency Keighley answering member printed Kris Hopkins question first answered 08/09/2014 15:47:25 answering member 4043 label Biography information for Kris Hopkins
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn

90432

registered interest
date	03/09/2014
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: Energy
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 average standard assessment procedure energy rating score of new build homes was in each quarter for which figures are available since April 2010.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	208029
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2014 answer text <p>The table below lists the average energy rating scores for new dwellings in England over time:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Average</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009 Q1</p></td><td><p>78.6</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009 Q2</p></td><td><p>79.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009 Q3</p></td><td><p>79.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2009 Q4</p></td><td><p>80.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010 Q1</p></td><td><p>80.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010 Q2</p></td><td><p>80.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010 Q3</p></td><td><p>80.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2010 Q4</p></td><td><p>81.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011 Q1</p></td><td><p>82.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011 Q2</p></td><td><p>80.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011 Q3</p></td><td><p>80.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2011 Q4</p></td><td><p>80.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012 Q1</p></td><td><p>80.8</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012 Q2</p></td><td><p>80.7</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012 Q3</p></td><td><p>80.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2012 Q4</p></td><td><p>80.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013 Q1</p></td><td><p>80.9</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013 Q2</p></td><td><p>81.2</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013 Q3</p></td><td><p>81.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013 Q4</p></td><td><p>81.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q1</p></td><td><p>81.4</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><sup>Note: ‘New dwellings’ will include conversions and change of use, as well as new build.</sup></p><p>The average scores will fluctuate by quarter, as they will be skewed by the profile of the particular housing stock being developed in that quarter, for example, the relative proportion of new build vs. conversions; the relative sizes of the dwellings; relative structures; differences in construction materials; types of design and the individual heating/lighting/windows in each dwelling. Notwithstanding those quarterly fluctuations, there is clear long-term trend of improving energy efficiency.</p> answering member constituency Bristol West answering member printed Stephen Williams question first answered 18/09/2014 16:28:59 answering member 1492 label Biography information for Stephen Williams previous answer version 18917 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

90289

registered interest
date	02/09/2014
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	Garden Communities
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 expressions of interest were (a) received and (b) considered by his Department in response to the locally-led Garden Cities Prospectus before 1 September 2014.
tabling member constituency	Leeds Central
tabling member printed	Hilary Benn
uin	207857
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2014 answer text <p>In contrast to the Labour Government’s failed top-down policy to impose eco-towns on local communities, this Government’s approach is to work closely with areas that wish to bring forward locally supported large scale development. Our locally-led garden cities prospectus sought expressions of interest from local areas interested in delivering a new garden city. We want to work closely with areas which bring forward strong, locally supported expressions of interest to help them deliver their proposals, and will make further announcements in due course following ongoing discussions.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis grouped question UIN 207858 question first answered 23/10/2014 15:43:16 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis previous answer version 18489 answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
tabling member	413 label Biography information for Hilary Benn