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Right to Buy

Mr. Harry Greenway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people have exercised the right to buy their council house since May 1979; what number of (a) council and (b) housing association properties remain; and if he will make a statement. [21170]

Mr. Clappison: In the period between the introduction of the legislation in October 1980 and the end of September 1995, the latest date for which information is available, local authorities in England reported total right-to-buy sales of 1.235 million homes. In the same period, housing associations and new towns reported right-to-buy sales of 28,000 and 10,000 respectively.

The stock of local authority dwellings in England at 1 April 1995 was 3.565 million. The corresponding figure for housing associations is 856,000.

Homelessness

Mr. Alfred Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many homeless households were accepted by local authorities in 1995; and what were the figures for 1979. [21286]

Mr. Curry: In 1995, local authorities in England accepted responsibility to secure accommodation for 120,810 households under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1985. The corresponding figure for 1979, adjusted to exclude intentionally homeless households which were no longer included after the first quarter of 1991, was 55,530. These figures are not strictly comparable because of changes made to reporting arrangements in 1980, for non-metropolitan districts, and 1982, for London boroughs and metropolitan districts.

Lambeth

Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the domestic rates, community charge and council tax arrears owed to the London borough of Lambeth. [22129]

Sir Paul Beresford: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave him on Wednesday 20 March 1996, Official Report, column 214.

Countryside Commission

Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when each member of the Countryside

26 Mar 1996 : Column: 537

Commission was appointed; what were the number of meetings held since that appointment and the number of meetings attended; and when each term of office is to be completed. [22126]

26 Mar 1996 : Column: 538

Mr. Clappison: Dates of first appointment, the end of the current term of appointment, and the number of commission meetings held and attended are listed below for each member of the Countryside Commission.

26 Mar 1996 : Column: 537

Member	Date appointed	Term ends	Number of meetings held	Meetings attended
Richard Simmonds (Chairman from 1 October 1995)	1 August 1995	30 September 1998	4	4
Sir John Johnson (Chairman to 30 September 1995)	1 April 1991	31 March 1996	30	29
Rachel Thomas	1 October 1987	30 June 1996	52	52
David Fletcher MBE	1 July 1988	31 March 1996	46	43
Sarah Ward	1 August 1991	31 March 1998	28	28
Sir Richard Carew Pole	26 September 1991	31 March 1996	28	26
Prof. Allan Patmore CBE	28 September 1992	30 June 1998	22	21
Rodney Swarbrick CBE	1 August 1993	30 June 1996	16	13
Lord Denham	1 August 1993	30 June 1996	16	11
Right Rev. Alan Chesters	1 October 1995	30 September 1998	4	3
David Barker MBE	1 October 1995	30 September 1998	4	4

26 Mar 1996 : Column: 537

Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish the fees and expenses paid to each member of the Countryside Commission since they were appointed. [22127]

Mr. Clappison: As chairman of the Countryside Commission, Richard Simmonds' remuneration is £37,990 for a three-day week. The other commissioners each receive remuneration of £5,455 based on a time input of two days per month. Total payments to 31 March 1996 are shown in the table.

Commissioners' expenses are paid in line with standard civil service terms and conditions. Total expenses claimed by each commissioner from 1 April 1993 to 19 March 1996 are also shown below. Earlier figures are not readily available.

£

Member	Remuneration	Expenses
Richard Simmonds (Chairman from 1 October 1995)	24,796.10	3,460.12
Sir John Johnson (Chairman to 30 September 1995)	161,323.52	14,787.65
Rachel Thomas	20,734.96	19,046.94
David Fletcher, MBE	20,734.96	8,257.07
Sarah Ward	20,734.96	3,161.02
Sir Richard Carew Pole	20,734.96	3,178.16
Prof. Allan Patmore CBE	18,320.96	5,693.88
Rodney Swarbrick CBE	14,141.96	3,356.78
Lord Denham	14,141.96	2,573.70
Right Rev. Alan Chesters	2,724.48	630.42
David Barker MBE	2,724.48	706.62

26 Mar 1996 : Column: 538

Brown-field Sites

Mr. Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to promote the development of brown-field and contaminated sites in preference to green-field sites. [20958]

Mr. Robert B. Jones: Through our planning and environmental policies, we are encouraging the use of recycled urban sites and are increasing market confidence in them. For example, the housing White Paper proposes that 50 per cent. of all new housing should be built on such sites, assisting regeneration as well as protecting the countryside.

Council Tax (London)

Mr. Dunn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the 10 London boroughs with the lowest record on collecting council tax, the cash and percentage owed and the political control of each authority. [22128]

Sir Paul Beresford: The information requested is as follows:

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	1994-95 council taxes received as a percentage of annual net collectable debit April 1994-March 1995	Uncollected 1994-95 council taxes during the period April 1994 -March 1994(13) £000	Political control as at February 1996
Lambeth	56.4	21,846	Noc
Newham	72.8	7,254	Lab
Hackney	75.5	5,389	Lab
Southwark	79.9	5,924	Lab
Lewisham	81.2	6,439	Lab
Islington	81.2	4,958	Lab
Haringey	81.9	6,612	Lab
Camden	82.0	7,627	Lab
Tower Hamlets	84.6	2,531	Lab
Hammersmith and Fulham	85.7	4,083	Lab

(13) Based on information supplied to the Department in May 1995. NB. £23 million of council tax arrears in respect of the years 1993-94 and 1994-95 has been collected in the period April 1995 to December 1995 by these 10 authorities. This figure cannot be broken down between the two years.

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Compulsory Competitive Tendering

Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to publish the annual report for 1995 on compulsory competitive tendering in local authorities in England. [22716]

Sir Paul Beresford: My Department has published today the compulsory competitive tendering annual report for 1995. The report charts the progress made during 1995 in establishing the new framework for competition for local authority white collar professional services. It also takes a wider look at what local authorities have achieved through voluntary competition and partnership with the private sector, and at what research tells us about the impact of competition and on costs and service standards.

Last year saw local authorities in London boroughs and metropolitan authorities preparing to let contracts for construction and property related services and legal services. Last year also saw information technology, finance and personnel services, as well as the cleaning of police buildings, being added to the list of defined activities subject to CCT and many authorities will be preparing to let contracts for these activities during the coming year.

During 1995, my Department investigated 66 cases of alleged anti-competitive behaviour. Frequently, a satisfactory resolution of complaints was achieved without statutory action, but in seven cases directions were given to authorities. Most of the directions required authorities to re-tender work early and to seek the Secretary of State's consent if they wished to reassign work to the direct services organisation, DSO. My right hon. Friend also gave 49 directions to authorities where activities had failed to meet the specified financial objective; some of these prevented the local authority from carrying out the work in-house.

Copies of the report will be sent to all local authorities in England, and to the main trade associations and others involved with CCT. Copies have also been placed in the House Library.

Water Byelaws

Mrs. Helen Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he will issue guidelines relating to the revision of water byelaws. [23008]

Mr. Clappison: My Department issued a consultation paper on the format, scope, enforcement and administration of measures to replace the water byelaws in January 1995. We will establish shortly a water regulations advisory committee to consider proposals for inclusion within regulations under section 74 of the Water Industry Act 1991.

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