Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what reports he has received of levels of council tax set by Lancaster District Council for 2014-15.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
[Holding Reply: Thursday 3 April 2014]
I refer my hon. Friend to my answer of Monday 7 April 2014, Official Report, Column 66W.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities who will hold a referendum as a result of raising council tax by two per cent or more for 2014-15.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
[Holding Reply: Thursday 3 April 2014]
The DCLG statistical release of 26 March 2014 showing the levels of council tax set by local authorities in England for 2014-2015 is available at:
It shows that no local authority in England is required to hold a council tax referendum in 2014-15 (table 11).
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many first time buyers have been helped by the Government's Help to Buy scheme (a) nationally and (b) in Morecambe and Lunesdale constituency.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
This Government is committed to supporting people's aspirations to own their own home.
In the first eleven months of the scheme, 16,465 households purchased a new build home with the support of the Help to Buy: Equity Loan scheme.
By January 2014, the time of the last quarterly statistical release, first time buyers accounted for 89% of sales nationally. In Lancaster there were 16 sales by the end of January and first-time buyers accounted for 88% of all Help to Buy: equity loan sales in the area.
Home owners will also have been supported by the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme, which is overseen by HM Treasury.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what reports he has received of levels of council tax set by Lancashire County Council for 2014-15.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The DCLG statistical release of 26 March 2014 showing the levels of council tax set by local authorities in England for 2014-2015 is available here and shows council tax levels down to local authority level:
The average council tax for Lancashire County Council and Lancaster District Council excluding parish precepts (Band D) are shown below.
Average Council Tax Band D (excluding parish precepts), 2014-15 | ||
|
|
|
| £ | % change on 2013-14 |
Lancashire County Council | 1,107.74 | 1.99 |
Lancaster District Council | 199.99 | 1.99 |
Source: Council Tax Requirement forms | ||
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many council houses or social housing new builds have been built by Lancaster District Council, and in which areas, since 1997.
Answered by Kris Hopkins
Statistics on house building completions by tenure in each local authority district are published in the Department's live tables 253 (annual) and 253a (quarterly), which are available at the following link:
http://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-house-building
Taken together, the Private Registered Provider (housing association) and local authority tenures provide estimates of total social housing completions, but these figures understate total affordable supply. This is because the house building figures are categorised by the type of developer rather than the intended final tenure, leading to under recording of affordable housing, and a corresponding over recording of private enterprise figures.
More comprehensive statistics on affordable housing completions funded by the Homes and Communities Agency since 2009-10 by local authority district are available at the following link:
http://www.homesandcommunities.co.uk/housing-statistics
These statistics include both newly built housing and acquisitions but exclude delivery of affordable housing not funded by Homes and Communities Agency programmes that are reported in local authority returns to the Department. A fuller picture of all affordable housing completions is published in the Department's live tables 1006, 1006a, 1007 and 1008, which are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
There is no data source that provides information on affordable homes delivery at any geography smaller than local authority district.
Over 170,000 new affordable homes have been delivered in England since April 2010 (to the end of September 2013). Our Affordable Homes Programme will lever in £19.5 billion of public and private investment over the current spending review period. Over 2015-18, we will be investing a further £23 billion in public and private funding for affordable housing.
Asked by: David Morris (Conservative - Morecambe and Lunesdale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to lift people over 75 years of age out of council tax.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Low-income pensioners are already protected under the nationally set council tax support scheme for pensioners, and do not have to pay any council tax. They have saved and worked hard all their lives, and deserve security in retirement.