| Previous Section | Home Page |
Mr. Robin Squire : The regional figures on rent levels determined by the rent officer service in the fourth quarter of 1992, the latest period for which figures are available, are given in table 1.3 of the "Rent Officer Statistics--Fourth Quarter" publication, copies of which are available in the Library.
The average council tax by region is as follows :
Column 323
Average Council Tax per dwelling
|£
---------------------------------
Northern |445
North West |464
Yorkshire and Humberside |423
East Midlands |416
West Midlands |439
East Anglia |397
South East |477
London |494
South West |458
England |456
Housing Benefit
Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the number of applications for housing benefit and the proportion allowed for each local authority in Northamptonshire for each year since 1987-88.
Mr. Burt : I have been asked to reply.
The available information is in the table.
Column 323
Authority 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92
|(a) |(b) |(a) |(b) |(a) |(b) |(a) |(b)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Corby |4,714 |89 |10,652|95 |13,293|89 |9,445 |95
Daventry |2,607 |94 |3,639 |97 |8,246 |89 |5,194 |94
East Northamptonshire |7,882 |94 |11,138|94 |7,309 |87 |4,652 |91
Kettering |10,131|93 |9,722 |90 |8,509 |90 |7,809 |95
Northampton |5,558 |89 |n/a |- |10,208|94 |20,144|89
South Northamptonshire |n/a |- |n/a |- |2,793 |83 |3,540 |92
Wellingborough |n/a |- |n/a |- |10,725|91 |9,198 |96
Notes:
(a) = total claims received
(b) = Percentage of claims allowed
n/a = Not available
Information for 1987-88 is not available
Source: Housing Benefit Management Information System
Police Houses
Mr. Harry Greenway : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many police houses have been bought or leased over the past three years in the London borough of Ealing by housing associations ; if he will state the associations concerned and the cost to the public funds in each case ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Charles Wardle [holding answer 30 March 1993] : I have been asked to reply.
The receiver for the Metropolitan police district is to transfer three blocks of flats in Ealing to Housing 21, the housing association arm of the Royal British Legion. Housing 21 will manage the flats for a fee and rents will be paid on to the receiver.
Column 324
Housing 21 has the option to acquire the freeholds within five years.Council House Sales
Mr. Milburn : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 8 February, Official Report, columns 519-20, what was the number and value of council house sales by region for the latest available quarters (a) at current prices and (b) at 1981 prices.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 22 April 1993] : The latest available information, which is for the period October to December 1992, is given in the table. The table also gives updates of the figures for the preceding two quarters given in my reply of 8 February.
Column 323
Number of council house sales and value by region (£000)<1>
April to June July to September October to
1992 (provisional) 1992 (provisional) December 1992
(provisional)
|Number of sales |Undiscounted value |Value (1981 prices)|Number of sales |Undiscounted value |Value (1981 prices)|Number of sales |Undiscounted value |Value (1981 prices)
|of sales |of sales |of sales
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DOE Regions
North (excluding Cumbria) |1,080 |30,538 |16,280 |1,249 |33,753 |17,929 |1,038 |28,249 |15,108
Yorkshire and Humberside |974 |32,635 |17,398 |1,074 |36,639 |19,462 |789 |26,950 |14,414
East Midlands |690 |24,554 |13,090 |821 |28,661 |15,224 |723 |26,280 |14,055
Eastern |1,179 |56,981 |30,377 |1,556 |76,565 |40,670 |1,203 |54,758 |29,286
London Boroughs |2,177 |128,753 |68,640 |2,751 |173,054 |91,923 |1,964 |105,301 |56,318
South East |1,040 |52,747 |28,120 |1,408 |71,583 |38,023 |1,035 |55,282 |29,566
South West |715 |30,442 |16,229 |933 |39,961 |21,226 |788 |33,996 |18,182
West Midlands |1,064 |40,196 |21,429 |1,109 |41,593 |22,093 |973 |36,984 |19,780
North West (including
Cumbria) |1,263 |39,488 |21,051 |1,303 |38,501 |20,451 |1,143 |37,251 |19,923
|------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |------- |-------
England |10,182 |436,334 |232,614 |12,204 |540,310 |287,002 |9,656 |405,051 |216,633
<1> The figures exclude some 12,300 dwellings, valued at about £120 million, transferred from Bromley Borough Council to Broomleigh Housing Association in April 1992.
Column 325
Special Needs Management Allowance
Mr. Hinchliffe : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the future of the special needs management allowance.
Mr. Baldry [holding answer 20 April 1993] : Special needs management allowance is paid to housing associations by the Housing Corporation, through funding provided by my Department, to contribute to the housing management costs of accommodation providing for people with special needs. When the scheme was introduced in April 1991, as a replacement for the existing hostel deficit grant arrangements, housing associations were informed that it would be reviewed as soon as there was sufficient evidence of the operation of the scheme. The Housing Corporation will therefore be reviewing this year the working of the scheme, taking account of the results of a study mounted by my Department which will compare the effects of the special needs management allowance arrangements with those of the old hostel deficit grant scheme.
Dioxins
Mr. Barnes : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are the maximum tolerable concentrations of dioxins and furans which are allowable for differing types of incinerators, power station operations, leachates, sludges and for the aquatic environment ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Maclean [holding answer 20 April 1993] : Authorisations issued by Her Majesty's inspectorate of
Column 326
pollution under integrated pollution control legislation require the operator to use the best available techniques not entailing excessive cost to prevent, or minimise and render harmless the release of prescribed substances, including dioxins, to any environmental medium.Power stations, compared with other combustion and incineration processes, produce only very small quantities of dioxins and furans so that concentration limits are neither appropriate or specified. Guidance notes published by the chief inspector of Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution relating to combustion and incineration processes subject to IPC control suggest an initial limit of 1 ng/M TEQ dioxins in releases to air while requiring operators to aim ultimately to achieve one tenth of that limit by the use of progressive techniques. The relevant CI guidance notes are numbered IPR 5/1 to 5 inclusive, IPR 5/7 and IPR 5/11, all of which are in the Library of the House.
As part of the statutory IPC authorisation process the NRA can, in addition to any limits Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution itself imposes on an operator, require Her Majesty's inspectorate of pollution to impose further limits where the release is directly to controlled waters. Discharges of dioxins and furans to water are typically extremely low and since they are normally bound to particulates, strict control of particulates in the discharge will minimise the release of these pollutants to the environment. The best solution must be to avoid the generation of dioxins in the first place by employing appropriate operating conditions within the combustion or incineration process and this is what IPC aims to achieve.
|
| Home Page |