Page:Hansard (UK) - Vol 566 No. 40 August 29th 2013.pdf/91

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Brandon Lewis: The information requested is set out in the following table: Since January 2011, central Government Departments have been required to publish on Contracts Finder information on the contracts they award at:

In addition, my Department publishes details of spend over £250 at the following website:

Across Whitehall in 2012-13, in taking stronger control of the consulting and temporary labour bills, this Government has saved over £1.6 billion of taxpayers’ money.

Nick Boles: The coalition agreement explicitly states that we will maintain green belt protection. The green belt has a valuable role protecting against urban sprawl and providing a green lung round our towns and cities. The National Planning Policy Framework, which safeguards national green belt protection, explains how the green belt serves to:

This Government has abolished the last Administration’s top-down regional strategies which sought to delete or undermine green belt protection in 30 towns and cities across England.

As outlined in the written statement of 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 24WS, our planning policy on traveller sites states that both temporary and permanent traveller sites are inappropriate development in green belt. In some cases, the green belt is not given sufficient protection in this context. Accordingly the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, my right hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr Pickles), will give particular scrutiny to traveller site appeals in green belt, so that he can consider the extent to which this Government’s clear policy intentions are being fulfilled.

In addition, as explained in the written statement of 29 July 2013, Official Report, House of Lords, column 162WS, we are proposing a further strengthening of green belt protection by deleting the current policy requirement to give special consideration to the need for waste management facilities in the green belt.

Mr Prisk There is no compiled list of “housing initiatives”. Rather I refer the hon. Member to the Government’s comprehensive and detailed Housing Strategy, published in November 2011, a copy of which is in the Library of the House and online at:

This clearly lays out the different steps we are taking on housing.

More broadly, the Government’s ongoing key policies are clearly laid out on my Department’s website at:

under the following four themes:

Mr Prisk: Such a policy change (not discounting demolitions) would introduce a new financial incentive for councils to demolish homes.

It would entail a relative redistribution in local authority funding towards councils which demolished more homes, away from those which did not. This is not a change that I am considering. As I outlined in my written statement of 10 May 2013, Official Report, columns 13-14WS, this Government has placed a greater emphasis on refurbishment and getting empty homes back into productive use, in contrast to the last Administration’s obsession with demolition.

Annette Brooke To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of (a) planning permissions given for new homes, (b) enactment on planning