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serious housing needs will receive greater help. Where local authority estates face particular difficulties, estate action helps local authorities to tackle their management and social and economic problems as well as their physical problems. For a few of the most severely run-down estates housing action trusts have been established to secure comprehensive regeneration--for example, in Castle Vale. The resources for both estate action and housing action trusts for 1994-95 were increased in the Budget ; both will be included in the single regeneration budget, which will come into operation from April.Litter
38. Mr. Burns : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of Chelmsford borough council's use of the power in the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to enforce the law against litter.
Mr. Atkins : The Tidy Britain Group, which monitors local authorities performance under the Environmental Protection Act, tells me that Chelmsford borough council continues to make good use of the powers available to it. By employing litter wardens, adopting the fixed penalty scheme, and fining offenders, it is providing a strong deterrent to prospective litter louts.
Housing Land
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his Department's latest estimate of available housing land broken down by region and estimated in terms of the number of properties.
Mr. Baldry : The information requested is not available. The Department does collect information on land in England with outstanding planning permission for residential development, which represents one component of land available for housing. The latest results, for 1991-92, relate to private sector development only and were published in "Development Control Statistics : England 1991-92" which is available in the Library. The table, showing the area of land with planning permission for private housing development in each region of England, and the corresponding number of dwellings, is taken from that publication.
Since 1992, the Department has collected information on outstanding planning permissions for all residential development in England, public as well as private sector. The 1992-93 results will be published by the Department this summer in "Development Control Statistics : England 1992- 93".
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3.2 Land with outstanding planning permission for private housing development by region and type
of authority<1>:1989-90, 1990-91 and 1991-92
Thousand/thousand hectares
1989-90 1990-91 1991-92
Region |Dwellings|Area |Dwellings|Area |Dwellings|Area
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North |42.4 |2.0 |<2>47.7 |<2>2.2 |45.9 |1.9
Yorkshire and Humberside |67.1 |2.9 |<2>71.1 |<2>3.0 |71.7 |2.3
East Midlands |92.3 |4.2 |<2>99.7 |<2>4.5 |100.3 |4.6
East Anglia |72.3 |3.5 |74.6 |3.5 |72.3 |3.5
South East
Greater London |62.1 |1.0 |<2>54.3 |<2>0.8 |57.7 |0.9
Rest of South East |217.6 |8.6 |<2>207.2 |<2>8.6 |200.2 |9.1
South West |110.7 |4.1 |<2>110.0 |<2>4.2 |110.8 |4.3
West Midlands |72.9 |3.1 |<2>72.1 |3.6 |69.0 |3.0
North West |70.4 |3.0 |<2>77.2 |3.3 |77.7 |3.2
England |807.8 |32.4 |<2>813.9 |<2>33.7 |805.6 |32.8
of which:
Metropolitan Districts |154.7 |<2>4.7 |<2>152.5 |<2>4.8 |151.8 |4.5
and Greater London
Non-Metropolitan Districts |653.1 |<2>27.7 |<2>661.4 |<2>28.9 |653.8 |28.3
<1>All figures are estimates based on available figures for 92.3 per cent. of English local
authorities in 1989-90, 94.8 per
cent. in 1990-91 and 91.3 per cent. in 1991-92.
<2>Figures refer to the stock of sites with outstanding planning permission at the end of each
financial year.
Lancashire (Pollution)
Mr. Llew Smith : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has received on the pollution arising from the pollution incident off the coast of Lancashire on 2 January.
Mr. Norris : I have been asked to reply.
The Department of Transport's marine pollution control unit was first informed of the incident on 1 January. Samples of the substance recovered from the Fylde and Cumbrian coasts have been analysed by the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, and indicate that the source of
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the pollution is likely to be a commercial lubricant additive. Further tests are being carried out to establish the precise cause of the pollution.Council Housing
Mr. Kaufman : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authority dwellings, excluding those purpose-built for the elderly and disabled, were (a) started and (b) completed in the latest 12- month period for which figures were available and how many were (i) started and (ii) completed in the comparable 12-month period for 1979-80, for (1) England and Wales and (2) the City of Manchester.
Sir George Young : The available figures for local authorities are as shown :
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Local authority housebuilding, excluding purpose-built dwellings for the elderly and
disabled
(numbers of dwellings)
Starts Completions
|England and|City of |England and|City of
|Wales |Manchester |Wales |Manchester
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |43,123 |801 |61,336 |738
1980 |24,692 |861 |65,164 |913
1992 |1,140 |6 |1,922 |2
12-month period to November 1993 |<1>773 |- |<1>1,078 |6
<1> These cover 76 starts and 96 completions of local authority house building in Wales
which include dwellings
purpose-built for the elderly and disabled.
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Housing associations now have the main responsibility for new building in the social sector and the figures equivalent to those for local authorities are as follows :Column 661
(numbers of dwellings)
Starts Completions
|England and|City of |England and|City of
|Wales |Manchester |Wales |Manchester
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1979 |12,098 |62 |15,472 |365
1980 |12,473 |227 |19,360 |94
1992 |26,044 |553 |20,209 |238
12-month period to November 1993 |<1>34,906 |606 |<1>29,170 |477
<1> These cover 3,070 starts and 2,410 completions of housing association house building in
Wales which include dwellings
purpose-built for the elderly and disabled.
House building is only part of housing associations' provision of additional social housing. Homes are also provided through a variety of other means including purchases for rehabilitation and, the tenants incentive scheme.
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Local Authorities (Northamptonshire)
Mr. William Powell : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people were employed by each local authority in Northamptonshire (a) full time and (b) part time in each year since 1983.
Mr. Baldry : The available information is given in the table :
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Numbers employed in Local Authorities in Northamptonshire at June of each year
1983 1984 1985 1986
Authority |Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northamptonshire |11,784 |9,751 |11,832 |9,735 |11,857 |10,254 |11,890 |10,934
Corby |527 |122 |550 |112 |582 |108 |572 |141
Daventry |268 |48 |268 |43 |275 |53 |287 |54
East Northamptonshire |263 |70 |266 |73 |264 |73 |265 |72
Kettering |509 |92 |494 |105 |486 |103 |485 |108
Northampton |1,606 |172 |1,608 |159 |1,599 |183 |1,606 |178
South Northamptonshire |261 |35 |263 |34 |257 |34 |252 |37
Wellingborough |386 |67 |389 |73 |384 |77 |376 |79
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1987 1988 1989 1990
Authority |Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northamptonshire |11,594 |11,223 |11,819 |11,477 |11,536 |11,295 |11,005 |12,365
Corby |583 |170 |580 |135 |613 |134 |667 |153
Daventry |298 |59 |311 |73 |N/A |N/A |314 |106
East Northamptonshire |261 |69 |260 |80 |267 |78 |213 |57
Kettering |478 |109 |478 |96 |468 |104 |464 |105
Northampton |1,482 |216 |1,431 |235 |N/A |N/A |1,554 |192
South Northamptonshire |255 |43 |255 |26 |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
Wellingborough |378 |83 |384 |90 |388 |93 |388 |105
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1991 1992 1993
Authority |Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time|Full-time|Part-time
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northamptonshire |10,943 |10,966 |10,752 |10,409 |10,015 |9,362
Corby |621 |135 |613 |133 |N/A |N/A
Daventry |312 |118 |315 |86 |312 |89
East Northamptonshire |200 |57 |203 |57 |N/A |N/A
Kettering |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A |N/A
Northampton |1,602 |281 |1,518 |151 |1,429 |255
South Northamptonshire |N/A |N/A |342 |43 |336 |74
Wellingborough |392 |100 |383 |119 |346 |116
*Provisional data
N/A: Data not available
Source:Joint Staffing Watch for England.
Notes:
(i) Education, highways, fire services, law and order and social services are administered
by Northamptonshire county
council. The other authorities shown are district councils which, amongst other services
administer housing, planning and
refuse collection.
(ii) Polytechnics and higher education institutions were transferred from the local
authority sector in April 1989.
(iii) Further education institutions became the responsibility of the Further Education
Funding Council in April 1993.
Data Protection
Mr. Cohen : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will make arrangements for the Data Protection Registrar to inspect relevant contracts with suppliers of IT services that involve the use of personal data held by his Department in order to check whether all appropriate arrangements in relation to the Data Protection Act 1984 have been made, and whether such contracts make provisions for the registrar to make random inspections in order to check the suppliers' compliance in with the eighth data protection principle.
Mr. Gummer : The Data Protection Registrar has a wide range of powers, under the Data Protection Act 1984, to ensure that all individuals and organisations holding personal data on computer systems are registered and observe the data protection principles as required by the Act. When IT services are contracted out by a data user, the contractor and the user will be subject to the application of the data protection principles, and to the registrar's powers to promote compliance with them, as provided for in the Act. It is for the registrar to decide how he will use his
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powers under the Act, and I do not consider that any further arrangements are necessary for him to discharge his duties effectively.Rates (Transitional Relief)
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for Environment if he will list for each district council the actual and percentage reductions in transitional relief from 1993-94 to 1994-95.
Mr. Baldry : This information is not available at individual authority level. The total cost of transitional relief in England in 1993- 94 is £399 million ; the estimated cost in 1994-95 is £130 million.
Planning Applications
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many outstanding planning applications by local authorities are yet to be decided upon by him.
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Housing Corporation
Mr. Battle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentage of the Housing Corporation budget is dedicated to (a) shared ownership schemes, (b) tenants incentive schemes and (c) do-it-yourself shared ownership schemes for each year from 1987 to the present.
Sir George Young : The percentages of the Housing Corporation's gross approved development programme--ADP--going to (a) conventional shared ownership schemes--LCHO-- (b) tenants incentive schemes--TIS--and (c) do-it -yourself home ownership--DIYSO--from 1987-88 to 1993-94 are as follows :
LCHO, TIS and DIYSO as percentage of
gross ADP
|LCHO |TIS |DIYSO
---------------------------------------
1987-88 |11.3 |- |-
1988-89 |11.4 |- |-
1989-90 |8.8 |- |-
1990-91 |6.1 |- |-
1991-92 |<3>5.5|2.4 |-
<1>1992-93 |4.6 |3.0 |2.5
<2>1993-94 |4.3 |3.1 |5.4
<1> Including housing market package.
<2> Estimated outturn.
<3> Includes DIYSO pilot scheme.
Standard Spending Assessments
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment he has made of the material deprivation index devised by the School of Advanced Urban Studies at the university of Bristol in the context of his review of standard spending assessments.
Mr. Baldry : The measurement of social and economic deprivation proposed for use in standard spending assessments arising from the review is based on detailed statistical analysis discussed with the local authority associations. The proposed assessments use a wider range of indicators than that devised by the school of advanced urban studies including some outside the census, such as unemployment.
Mr. John Evans : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to further amend the formula for the calculation of standard spending assessment.
Mr. Curry : My right hon. Friend has consulted on the provisional revenue support grant settlement for 1994-95 including his proposals for standard spending assessments. All the representations which have been received and any other relevant information will be carefully considered before final proposals are brought before the House shortly.
County Hall
Mr. Redmond : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the latest value placed on London's county hall prior to the London residuary body selling it to the Shirayama Corporation of Japan ; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. Curry : Prior to its sale, any valuation of the riverside building of County hall would have been a matter
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for the London residuary body and potential purchasers. The terms of the contract for the sale of the riverside building were confidential between the LRB and the Shirayama Corporation. But the LRB was required by law to obtain the best price.Social Index
Mr. Gordon Prentice : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what assessment was made of the possible impact on local authorities of the changes to the ethnic definition within the social index.
Mr. Baldry : A wider definition of ethnicity was felt to be more appropriate for the measurement of social deprivation within the revised all ages social index. No assessment has been made of the separate effect of this change within the context of a number of changes proposed as a result of the review of standard spending assessments.
Audit Commission
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the members currently appointed to the Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the national health service in England and Wales.
Mr. Baldry : Audit Commission : Members serving at 17 January 1994.
Chairman
Sir David Cooksey
Deputy Chairman
Murray Stuart
Sir Peter Bowness CBE
Alan Brown CBE
Anthony Christopher CBE
Lawrence Eilbeck
Sir Terence English
Sir Donald Irvine CBE
Kate Jenkins
Sir Peter Kemp
Jeremy Orme
Clive Thompson
Tony Travers
Sir Robert Wall OBE
Chris West
Clive Wilkinson
Peter Wood
Public Bodies
Mr. Kilfoyle : To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment who are the members currently appointed to each housing action trust.
Sir George Young : The names of the board members of each of the housing action trusts are as follows :
North Hull--
Lord Bellwin (Chairman)
Cllr. John Black (Deputy Chairman)
Prof. Peter Arnold
Mr. Chris Fenwick
Mrs. Maureen Foers
Mr. Ray Ford
Mrs. Joan Maginn
Mrs. Jill Sowersby
Mr. David Urquhart
Cllr. Dennis Woods
Waltham Forest--
Mr. John Chumrow (Chairman)
Mr. Simon Bartlett (Deputy Chairman)
Mr. Roger Baker
Mrs. Wendy Chapman
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Mr. Roy EvansMs Jacky Flanders
Mr. Clive Landa
Mr. Howard May
Ms Melinda Phillips
Mrs. Sharwar Sadeque
Mr. David Shepherd
Liverpool--
Mrs. Paula Ridley (Chairman)
Mr. Michael Appleton (Deputy Chairman)
Mrs. Irene Clark
Cllr. Margaret Clarke
Mr. Rodney Dykes
Mrs. Marjorie Gallimore
Mrs. Susan Last
Mr. Edward McGonagle
Mrs. June Roberts
Mr. Jack Sheridan
Castle Vale--
Mr. Richard Temple Cox (Chairman)
Cllr. Ken Barton (Deputy Chairman)
Cllr. Stan Austin
Mrs. Joyce Curtis
Cllr. Pat Forester
Mr. Horace Gillis
Mrs. Valerie Lawrie
Mr. John Newton
Miss Pat Niner
Mr. Alfred Owen
Mrs. Carole Rafferty
Mr. Robert Wharton
Tower Hamlets--
Dr. Michael Barraclough (Chairman)
Cllr. Janet Ludlow (Deputy Chairman)
Ms Susan Angoy
Ms Sheila Drew Smith
Mrs. Jackie Harris
Mrs. Doris Lewis
Rev. Andrew Mawson
Mr. Rory Moore
Mr. Barry Shaw
Ms Tricia Zipfel
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