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Mr. Robin Squire : This is a matter for the Local Government Commission and I have asked the chairman to write to the hon. Member.
Housing Corporation
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will list the expenditure by the Housing Corporation on administration and accommodation in each year since 1964 ; (2) how many staff were employed by the Housing Corporation in each year since 1964.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is as follows :
Year ending 31 March |Accommodation costs |Administration costs|Number of staff --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1965 |4.9 |16.0 |- 1966 |14.9 |101.1 |- 1967 |45.5 |155.8 |- 1968 |40.0 |211.2 |- 1969 |60.7 |267.1 |- 1970 |61.0 |262.2 |- 1971 |62.8 |314.6 |- 1972 |71.1 |421.9 |- 1973 |100.8 |553.0 |- 1974 |139.6 |791.3 |180 1975 |163.0 |1,216.5 |240 1976 |307.6 |1,919.8 |363 1977 |600.7 |2,760.1 |401 1978 |873.7 |3,405.1 |452 1979 |1,019.0 |4,344.0 |550 1980 |1,457.0 |6,413.0 |649 1981 |1,879.0 |9,096.0 |780 1982 |2,522.0 |9,014.0 |639 1983 |2,500.0 |9,790.0 |663 1984 |2,700.0 |10,336.0 |715 1985 |2,781.0 |10,955.0 |713 1986 |2,924.0 |11,657.0 |714 1987 |2,929.0 |12,354.0 |728 1988 |3,100.0 |13,400.0 |720 1989 |3,500.0 |16,700.0 |787 1990 |3,300.0 |16,600.0 |745 1991 |4,100.0 |18,400.0 |745 1992 |4,500.0 |20,700.0 |734
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the proposed percentage change in the Housing Corporation's annual development programme for rented housing for 1993-94 compared with the approval development programme for 1992-93.
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Mr. Baldry : The figures are as follows :
|£ million |Percentage change
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992-93 |1,584
1993-94 |1,558 |-1.64
In addition to the annual development programme for 1992-93, £577 million was allocated to the Housing Corporation in the Chancellor's autumn statement to enable housing associations to purchase new, empty and repossessed properties by 31 March 1993, providing around 17,000 extra units of social housing.
Under this housing market package, £20 million has also been provided to the corporation this year for additional tenants' incentive scheme grants to housing association tenants. This will enable up to 2,000 new first-time buyers to enter the housing market, releasing the same number of units of social housing for reletting.
Land Designation
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much land nationally, and in London, is designated for office development, for industrial development and for housing development.
Mr. Baldry : In 1990-91 local planning authorities reported having 33,600 hectares of land with outstanding planning permission for private housing development. This information is contained in the Department's publication "Development Control Statistics : England, 1990-91", which is available in the Library.
The Department does not collect information on land designated for public housing, for office development or for industrial development.
Local Authority Accommodation
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many families were living in local authority accommodation in each year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : The available estimates for numbers of families living in local authority accommodation in England are :
Year |Million ------------------------ 1981 |3.57 1984 |2.99 1988 |2.58 1991 |2.30
The figures are from labour force survey housing trailers and families are defined as couple households with or without children, and lone parent households. The labour force survey is a sample survey and so the estimates are subject to sampling error.
Homelessness
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment for how many households local authorities accepted responsibility for securing permanent accommodation under the homeless provisions of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977 in each year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : The information for local authorities in England is as follows :
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Year |Households accepted
------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |55,530
1980 |60,400
1981 |66,990
1982
1983 |75,470
1984 |80,500
1985 |91,010
1986 |100,490
1987 |109,170
1988 |113,770
1989 |122,180
1990 |140,350
1991 |144,530
A new reporting system was introduced for non-metropolitan districts from the fourth quarter of 1980 and for the other authorities from the third quarter of 1982. As a result, figures for 1979 to 1982 are not strictly comparable with those for later periods.
From the second quarter of 1991 the definition of acceptances was altered to exclude intentionally homeless and all the figures have been adjusted to the new basis.
Empty Properties
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to allow local authorities to use money from accumulated capital receipts from sale of council properties for purchase and renovation of empty properties.
Mr. Baldry : My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his autumn statement a significant relaxation of the rules governing the use of local authorities of capital receipts. Authorities are thus able to spend 100 per cent. of almost all capital receipts received between 13 November 1992 and 31 December 1993. This represents a substantial increase in authorities' spending power.
The Government have no plans to allow authorities to spend accumulated receipts. These receipts are available to redeem debt and thus to reduce the cost of that debt. Also, many authorities have used these resources in this way, rather than accumulating the receipts, and they should not be disadvantaged for having followed Government policy.
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many empty privately-owned properties there were in each year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : Estimates of empty private dwellings reported by English local authorities in their annual housing investment programme (HIP1) returns are as follows :
Year |Empty private
|properties
|(thousands)
------------------------------------------
1979 |485
1980 |504
1981 |503
1982 |539
1983 |541
1984 |548
1985 |545
1986 |552
1987 |570
1988 |580
1989 |589
1990 |587
1991 |638
1992 |706
Mr. Gapes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority properties were sold in each year since 1979.
Mr. Baldry : Details of sales and transfers of local authority dwellings in England in the years 1979 to 1991 are given in the table.
|To owner occupiers|To housing
|associations<1>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |40,533 |- |-
1980 |79,641 |- |-
1981 |94,237 |- |-
1982 |186,746 |- |-
1983 |129,568 |- |3,045
1984 |97,684 |- |-
1985 |86,858 |- |-
1986 |82,775 |272 |297
1987 |93,086 |678 |5,658
1988 |137,596 |8,176 |123
1989 |148,039 |13,765 |247
1990 |99,176 |30,420 |8,029
1991<2> |54,959 |20,120 |3
<1> Includes block transfers to housing associations and the private sector. Transfers to
housing action trusts are excluded.
<2> Provisional.
Mr. Fraser : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of housing associations he expects to be engaged on grant-aided development programmes in 1994-95 and 1995-96.
Mr. Baldry : These are matters which will be determined by the nature of bids put forward by housing associations themselves and by the detailed criteria applied by the Housing Corporation in assessing those bids. The corporation's decisions on allocations for 1994-95 will not be finalised until the early part of 1994.
Councillors
Mr. Burden : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will consider introducing legislation to prohibit qualification for local election candidacy for those whose principal or only work in the relevant district is as sitting councillors.
Mr. Robin Squire : We are currently considering the position in the light of the recent Court of Appeal judgment.
London Docklands Development Corporation
Mr. Leighton : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the social affairs and social housing budget of the London Docklands development corporation for each of the last 10 years.
Mr. Robin Squire : The London Docklands development corporation's actual expenditure on these two items
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is given in the table. In 1992-93, the corporation has budgeted £6 million for social housing and £3 million for social affairs.
LDDC expenditure
£ million
|Social affairs |Social housing<1>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1983-4 |4 |2
1984-85 |5 |-
1985-86 |4 |-
1986-87 |4 |-
1987-88 |5 |-
1988-89 |9 |45
1989-90 |11 |67
1990-91 |21 |32
1991-92 |11 |4
1992-93 |3 |6
<1> The years 1988-91 include expenditure of £105 million in support of
the Limehouse Link relocation programme.
Fulmer Main Drainage
Mr. Tim Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 30 October, Official Report, column 864, when he now expects to make a decision on Fulmer main drainage.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 11 December 1992] : I have written to my hon. Friend.
Radioactive Waste
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what proportion of the low-level radioactive waste destined for the planned Nirex depository will originate from the reprocessing of imported foreign nuclear fuel.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 11 January 1993] : I understand that the proportion of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) originating from the reprocessing of foreign spent fuel, during the period 2007-2018, is predicted to be 5 per cent. of the total United Kingdom LLW arisings in that period. This waste could be returned to the country of origin or, if BNFL's request to substitute equivalent waste is accepted, disposed of either to the existing Drigg LLW disposal site or in the Nirex deep disposal facility.
Departmental Property
Mr. Straw : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list (a) the total number of residential properties owned by his Department, (b) the number of such properties which are empty and (c) , (b) as a percentage of (a) .
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 11 January 1993] : Property Holdings, part of the Department of the Environment, owns and manages 93 residential properties, as distinct from those held and managed by other Departments as part of their departmental estate. Of this total, 17 (18.3 per cent.) are empty.
Government Car Service
Mr. Mackinlay : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans the Government have to privatise or franchise the administration of the Government car service, wholly or in part.
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Mr. Baldry [holding answer 13 January 1993] : The Government car service is planning to market test its accounts support and office cleaning services in 1993.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Alison : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what scope exists for his intervention, other than on appeal from an applicant, to consider important environmental issues raised by an individual application for a waste disposal licence, such as those arising from the Gale Common stage II ash disposal application, details of which have been referred to him.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 14 January 1993] : The Control of Pollution Act 1974 provides that waste disposal operations may be carried out only in accordance with a licence issued by a waste regulation authority. Before a licence is issued, an authority must consult the National Rivers Authority. In the event of disagreement between the regulation authority and the National Rivers Authority, either party may refer the matter to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State may also become involved in a licensing issue if the matter is referred to him by an applicant for a licence, or the holder of a licence, on appeal.
These arrangements will continue when the present provisions in the 1974 Act are replaced by the licensing provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 on 1 April this year. A waste regulation authority will have to be satisfied that any applicant for a waste management licence is a fit and proper person. Grounds for rejecting a licence have been widened to include the prevention of pollution of the environment and serious detriment to the amenities of the locality. In addition, the 1990 Act provides that the Secretary of State may direct a waste regulation authority as to the terms and conditions to be included in a licence for which an application has been made to an authority.
The Secretary of State is aware of local concerns about the Gale Common stage II site and has asked the waste regulation authority to consider them before any licence is issued.
Nitrogen Dioxide Levels
Mr. Tony Banks : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many times in 1992 nitrogen dioxide levels in London exceeded the safety limits ; and how many testing sites currently operate in Greater London.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 15 January 1993] : The limit value in the EC directive on nitrogen dioxide (85/203/EEC) was not exceeded at any of the sites in London in 1992. There are currently two sites monitoring for compliance with the EC directive at Bridge place, Victoria and in Warwick road, Earl's Court. Two other sites also measure nitrogen dioxide in London. These are at Russell square, Bloomsbury, which forms part of the recently established enhanced monitoring network, and at Cromwell road, Kensington, a kerbside site on a busy road.
The EC directive contains two non-mandatory guide values and in 1992, on the basis of provisional data, both were exceeded at three sites, with only one of the guide values exceeded at the Warwick road (Earl's Court) site.
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Press Office
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many staff were employed by his Department's press office in each year since 1979.
Mr. Howard [holding answer 15 January 1993] : The staff in post for the information directorate since 1 April 1989 are as follows :
|Number
---------------------------
1 April 1989 |47
1 April 1990 |43
1 April 1991 |45
1 April 1992 |43
Before 1989, the information directorate of this Department was part of the common services of DOE and Department of Transport and separate figures for the resources for each Department are not available. Global information for this period is published each year in the
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form of a management information system for Ministers (MINIS) dating back to 1979 and is available in the House of Commons Library.Street Lighting
Ms. Coffey : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what studies his Department has carried out into the effectiveness at crime prevention of the new white street lights relative to conventional sodium yellow lights ; and if he will publish the results.
Mr. Jack : I have been asked to reply.
The most recent Home Office research on the relationship between street lighting and crime and the fear of crime was published in August 1991 (Crime Prevention Unit Paper, 28, "The Influence of the Street Lighting on Crime and Fear of Crime" and CPU Paper, 29, "The Effect of Better Street Lighting on Crime and Fear : a Review"). Copies of both are in the Library of the House. These studies did not specifically examine the differential effects on crime of white and yellow street lights.
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