Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q1/

14-15

Mr Williams

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Unspent capital receipts from the sale of Council housing properties

What happened to the unspent capital receipts from the sale of Council housing properties under the Thatcher Government’s “Right To Buy Act, 1980”, upon transfer of the housing stock to Plymouth Community Homes?  Were the monies retained by the authority, or transferred to the new registered social landlord? 

Response:

Prior to the ‘Right to Buy Act 1980, local authorities already had powers to sell their houses to eligible tenants, although such cases were extremely rare.  As a local authority, Plymouth City Council transferred ownership in November 2008 to the new organisation: Plymouth Community Homes. Under the terms of Council house sales, 75 per cent of any sales receipt was passed directly to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Therefore in the period post the new legislation and the stock transfer, the City Council received £2 million from the sale of houses of which only £0.5 million could be legally retained in the city. There have been no transfers of these receipts made to Plymouth Community Homes. This money was retained by the authority, and treated in the same way as all other capital receipts from the sale of any asset. However, there has been significant expenditure by Plymouth City Council on refurbishment and enhancements through use of our disabled facilities grant, in excess of £1 million each year, and on Home Improvement Assistance Schemes which can be up to £5,000 per scheme, easing the demand on social housing.

The City is investing significantly in new housing through its Get Plymouth Building and Plan for Homes initiatives.  We have secured £10.1 million for affordable housing schemes and a further £666,000 from the Empty Homes Fund. Seven bids amounting to £18.4 million have been made to the 2015-2018 Affordable Housing Programme. A submission has been made, to the £1 billion Large Sites Infrastructure Fund, to support housing growth in Derriford and three submissions have been made to the £525 million Builder’s Finance Fund.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q2/14-15

Mr Morris

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Collection of monies on behalf of political parties

What arrangement(s) exist within the City Council administration for the collection of monies on behalf of political parties and how much has been paid over to which political parties in each of the past five years?

Response:

There are no arrangements in place within the City Council administration for the collection of monies on behalf of any political party.

Our Payroll Department do actively promote collection of monies on behalf of its employee and councillors for a number of arrangements, such as payment to charities, donations, child care payments, travel permits and credit arrangements in relation to cycle purchase schemes.

Question No

Question By

Cabinet Member

Subject

Q3/14-15

Mr Aldred

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance)

Privatisation of services

Is this Council willing to admit that the transformation agenda is basically a step towards privatisation of local services?

Response:

This Council is a co-operative council and will be bringing in the necessary changes to deal with Government cuts, in ways in which we retain quality services and provide value for money.  As we have demonstrated we are introducing new co-operative ways to run Council services – not a privatisation agenda.