Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which, if any, local authorities in Cumbria requested a delay to county council elections this year prior to the announcement of a delay in such elections to 2022.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
Cumbria County Council made a request to the Secretary of State to postpone its May 2021 local elections, following the Government’s Written Ministerial Statement of 12 October 2020 (UIN - HLWS496). As explained in the Explanatory Memorandum to the secondary legislation (SI 2021 No. 174) which was laid before Parliament on 24 February, the Government has decided to reschedule from May 2021 to May 2022 local elections to Carlisle City Council, Cumbria County Council, and South Lakeland District Council.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what weighting system, if any, will be used to assess responses from different stakeholders to the public consultation on local government reorganisation in Cumbria.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government welcomes the views of all those interested in the proposals for local government reorganisation in Cumbria, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector. Once the consultation is concluded, the Government will decide, subject to parliamentary approval, which, if any, proposals are to be implemented, with or without modification. In taking these decisions it will have regard to all the representations it has received, including those from the consultation, and all other relevant information available to it, and reach a balanced judgement assessing the proposals against criteria, including on local support which will be assessed in the round across the whole area of the proposal.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what criteria they will use to assess local support in the public consultation on local government reorganisation in Cumbria, published on 22 February.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Government welcomes the views of all those interested in the proposals for local government reorganisation in Cumbria, including local residents, town and parish councils, businesses and the voluntary sector. Once the consultation is concluded, the Government will decide, subject to parliamentary approval, which, if any, proposals are to be implemented, with or without modification. In taking these decisions it will have regard to all the representations it has received, including those from the consultation, and all other relevant information available to it, and reach a balanced judgement assessing the proposals against criteria, including on local support which will be assessed in the round across the whole area of the proposal.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Invitation for Proposals for a Single Tier of Local Government issued to principal authorities in Cumbria by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 9 October, what plans they have to consider proposals that cross existing county boundaries.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Secretary of State will carefully consider any proposal for single tier local government received in response to the invitation issued on 9 October 2020 on the basis of the longstanding criteria for establishing unitary councils, namely that, if implemented, it must be likely to improve local government in the area, commands a good deal of local support overall across the area, and lead to unitary councils covering a credible geography.
The statutory Guidance accompanying the invitation states that in formulating a proposal an authority should take into account the impact of any proposed unitary authorities on other local boundaries and geographies; if the area of any proposed unitary authority crosses existing police force and fire and rescue authority boundaries, the proposal should include an assessment of what the impact would be on the police forces and/or fire and rescue authorities and include the views of the relevant Police and Crime Commissioners and Fire and Rescue Authorities.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what purposes his Department has funded travel by Eurostar in 2014 to date.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The information requested is not routinely recorded and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The Department's work which relates to the European Union, such as the European Development Fund, and the Council of Europe, necessitates overseas travel.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, on how many occasions his Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
My Department recruits on the basis of fair and open competition, with candidates being appointed on the basis of merit.
There are a very small number of exceptions, which are recognised by the Civil Service Commission; in our Department’s case, this is generally due to facilitate specific secondments from external organisations (for example, there were a series of fire secondments to provide support for the Olympics fire and security team), or to allow for appointments of individuals with specialised skillsets (for example, local audit) or for a time-limited project.
The attached table gives a breakdown for each year since 2010-11, and to facilitate scrutiny, I have included 2009-10 to enable comparison with the use of exceptions under the last Administration.
Figures for 2014-15 will be submitted in due course. Due to Data Protection obligations, it is not appropriate to disclose the identity of the individual staff concerned.
More information on the civil Service Commission's guidance on recruitment exceptions can be found online at:
More broadly, my Department has taken steps to open up job vacancies in the Department to a wider audience.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to his Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Department has reduced staffing costs from £218 million a year in 2009-10 to £95 million in 2013-14. We have also completely overhauled and reformed the system of bonuses, in turn, reducing spending from £1.3 million in financial year 2008-09 and £1.2 million in financial year 2009-10 (£1.0 million in performance year 2009-10) to £440,000 in performance year 2013-14.
For staff who are not Senior Civil Service, this included replacing the Annual Performance Bonus Scheme and the in-year Special Bonus Scheme, with an Exceptional Performance Scheme and in-year Instant Voucher Reward Scheme. The latter is designed to enable managers to provide immediate acknowledgment of exceptional performance for smaller scale achievements over a short period of time. Vouchers are given in values of £10 to £50.
The types of work that may qualify for a nomination include:
From the scheme’s launch in June 2013 to December 2013, 360 staff received a reward with an average payment of £34. From January 2014 to September 2014, 285 staff received a reward with an average payment of £30.
I am unsure of whether the hon. Member wishes to disparage such small-scale bonuses because they may involve giving out shopping vouchers, yet we believe that they are a cost-effective way of improving staff performance within Whitehall and delivering a better service to the public.
Indeed, the vouchers given for saving taxpayers’ money have delivered at least £40,000 of quantifiable savings and further efficiency improvements on top. Under the Labour Government, the state congratulated those that regulated more, spent more and taxed more. We want to reward those who regulate less, spend less and tax less.
I would hope the hon. Member, as a Co-operative Party MP, supports the underlying principles of staff involvement, economic participation and self-improvement which we are embracing.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Nothing.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many Freedom of Information requests his Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
The Ministry of Justice publishes annual statistical reports on the handling of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for central government. These reports include statistics on the numbers of requests granted in full and those where information was partially or fully withheld. These reports can be accessed on the following webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
I refer the hon. Member to to my answer to him of 22 July 2014, PQ 204271.