Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bob Russell and Stephen Williams
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
2. If he will estimate the potential energy and financial savings which could be made through local authorities installing LED street lighting.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Stephen Williams)
We do not collect this information centrally. However, we know that two-thirds of councils have already switched to low-energy street lighting. That will save council tax payers’ money and have the double benefit of reducing carbon emissions.
Sir Bob Russell
I thank the Minister for that very thoughtful reply, which I am sure will be listened to with great interest at County Hall in Chelmsford, where the county council has had a blackout policy from midnight. Will the Minister agree to meet me and a company near Colchester that is in the market of producing LED lights that would be of financial benefit to the taxpayer?
Stephen Williams
I am always delighted to meet my hon. Friend. If he wants to bring someone along to meet me I would be happy to accommodate him. However, I am advised that Essex county council is about to embark on a £1 million pilot scheme to introduce energy-saving LED streetlights in six areas of the council. I am sure my hon. Friend will be pleased to hear that, as a result, I am sure, of his campaigning, that includes Colchester.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Bob Russell and Stephen Williams
Stephen Williams
Each circumstance is different. As I said to the hon. Lady’s London colleague, the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch (Meg Hillier)—I am sure this is also true in West Ham—there may be people living in overcrowded conditions in the private sector who desperately want bigger accommodation that is available only in the public sector. That is the housing casework that has come to me over the past eight and a half years of representing an inner-city constituency. We are spending huge amounts supporting people in overcrowded conditions, and across the private and public sectors we are not making best use of the housing stock available.
Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)
19. If he will make it his policy that planning authorities ensure that section 106 agreements produce adequate funds to finance the building of schools forming part of the planning approval when granting consents for major residential developments.
Parliamentary Standards Act 2009
Debate between Bob Russell and Stephen Williams(13 years ago)
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Stephen Williams (Bristol West) (LD)
As a member of the Committee, I would like to put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friend for his patience in trying to reconcile the views of the Committee. On the point he is making, in addition to the separation of IPSA’s regulatory and administrative functions, was not another stark factor presented to the Committee the extraordinarily expensive way IPSA administered a relatively small number of transactions and the fact that many other organisations, whether inside the House of Commons or elsewhere, could do that for much better value for money for the taxpayer?