Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
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 cost of using external agencies for recruitment to senior Civil Service posts in his Department in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The total sums spent on using external agencies for recruitment to senior civil service posts in DCLG are as follows:
2010-2011 - £16,448.38
2011-12 - £10,950
2012-13 - Nil
2013-14 - £14,200
2014-15 - Nil
2015-date - Nil
These figures exclude Public Appointments and Cabinet Office recruitment but are inclusive of VAT.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what average time his Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Government publishes statistics on the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 within central government, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
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 efficiency savings arising from his Department's digital strategies in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
As a result of cross-Government digital and technology strategies, £1.7 billion was saved in 2014/15. This sum was audited against a 2009/10 baseline.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the level of staff turnover was in (a) his Department and (b) his Department's digital team in each of the last 12 months for which data is available.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The turnover figures requested are as follows:
Month | DCLG | DCLG Digital team |
October 2014 | 0.8% | 0.0% |
November 2014 | 1.0% | 0.0% |
December 2014 | 0.6% | 0.0% |
January 2015 | 0.8% | 0.0% |
February 2015 | 0.5% | 0.0% |
March 2015 | 2.5% | 0.0% |
April 2015 | 4.6% | 0.0% |
May 2015 | 1.0% | 11.1% |
June 2015 | 0.4% | 0.0% |
July 2015 | 0.6% | 0.0% |
August 2015 | 1.0% | 0.0% |
September 2015 | 1.4% | 0.0% |
The overall turnover rates in the 2014-15 financial year were 12.8% and 11.1% respectively. The turnover figures include all staff leaving the organisation, including those who transferred to another Government Department but remained in Civil Service employment, including those that transferred as a result of machinery of government changes. The Department’s Digital team is only made up of 9 staff, therefore small numbers of leavers heavily skew the turnover figures.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effect of the public sector pay freeze on the recruitment and retention of staff by local authorities.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
Every part of the public sector has played a role in helping to lower the deficit. Councils, as independent employers, take local decisions about pay and consider how these decisions impact on their workforces.
At the Budget, the my rt. hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (George Osborne) announced the introduction of a new National Living Wage of over £9 by 2020. The National Living Wage is expected to benefit around 6 million low paid people across the country.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the extension of right to buy on the availability of (a) social housing and (b) affordable housing.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Details will be set out in the impact assessment when the Housing Bill is published.
It has been made clear that every additional home sold under the extended Right to Buy would be replaced with a new affordable home.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed extension of right to buy on public finances.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Details will be set out in the impact assessment when the Housing Bill is published.
It has been made clear that every additional home sold under the extended Right to Buy would be replaced with a new affordable home.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the impact on housing developments of delayed negotiations over section 106 agreements under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Information on affordable housing built under section 106 agreements in England is collected from individual local planning authorities on an annual basis and is published in the Department’s live tables which are available at the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
Data is not collected on the number of housing developments delayed by section106 negotiations.
Asked by: Louise Haigh (Labour - Sheffield, Heeley)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what monitoring is undertaken of the numbers of affordable houses built per region under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
Information on affordable housing built under section 106 agreements in England is collected from individual local planning authorities on an annual basis and is published in the Department’s live tables which are available at the following link.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply
Data is not collected on the number of housing developments delayed by section106 negotiations.