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Driving Licences
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions for what reasons the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency will not accept digitally produced photographs; and whether the unacceptability of such photographs will be made clear on DVLA application forms for photographic driving licences. [92406]
Ms Glenda Jackson [holding answer 22 July 1999]: Digitally produced photographs are acceptable, provided they conform to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's requirements for photographs as prescribed on the appropriate application form.
Home Insulation
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many solid-walled properties have received publicly-funded assistance towards external wall insulation in each of the last five years. [92535]
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Mr. Meale:
Local authorities' programmes for maintaining and improving their social housing stock include external wall insulation. Local authorities also have powers to grant aid thermal insulation works under the house renovation grant system. Detailed figures are not available.
Mrs. Brinton:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many cavity-walled houses have received (a) Government and (b) local government assistance to have their walls insulated with cavity-wall insulation in each of the last five years. [92534]
Mr. Meale:
The number of cavity-walled houses which have received Government assistance to have their walls insulated with cavity wall insulation since schemes began in 1996 are as follows:
| Number of installations | |
|---|---|
| 1996-1997 | 41,940 |
| 1997-1998 | 87,712 |
| 1998-99(16) | 120,595 |
(16) The figure for 1998-1999 is not yet finalised.
Work by local authorities using Energy Saving Trust funds is included in the figures. Local authorities programmes for maintaining and improving their social housing stock include cavity wall insulation. Local authorities also have powers to grant aid thermal insulation works under the house renovation grant system. Detailed figures are not available.
Cycling (Leicestershire)
Mr. David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the progress in the construction of cycle routes in (a) North West Leicestershire, (b) Leicestershire and (c) the United Kingdom; and what measures he is taking to encourage cycling. [91821]
Ms Glenda Jackson [holding answer 22 July 1999]: The responsibility for providing cycling facilities rests with individual local highway authorities. Statistics on cycle routes are not available centrally.
We expect all local authorities to develop local cycling strategies as part of their local transport plans. Good progress is being made in implementing the National Cycling Strategy, although it will take time for better provision for cyclists to feed through fully.
In addition, the first 3,500 miles of the National Cycle Network, being co-ordinated by the cycle charity, Sustrans, will be completed by mid-summer 2000.
Mr. David Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the number of homeless people in (a) North West Leicestershire, (b) Leicestershire with Leicester and (c) the East Midlands; and if he will make a statement on his strategy to combat homelessness. [92187]
Mr. Raynsford
[holding answer 22 July 1999]: Local authorities in England report in their quarterly P1(E) returns the number of households accepted as
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unintentionally homeless and in priority need under the homelessness provisions of the 1985 and 1986 Housing Acts.
The latest available estimates are for the quarter ending March 1999, as follows 1 :
| Number | Number per thousand households | |
|---|---|---|
| North West Leicestershire(17) | 59 | 1.7 |
| Other Leicestershire districts, including Leicester and Rutland unitary authorities(18) | 331 | 1.0 |
| East Midlands region(18) | 2,030 | 1.2 |
(17) Figure as reported
(18) Figures include estimates for non-responding authorities
My right hon. Friend, the Minister for Local Government and Housing, in answer to a question from my hon. Friend the Member for Luton, South (Ms Moran) on 19 May 1999, Official Report, columns 355-61, stated that at June 1998 there were 1,850 people sleeping rough in England on any single night. The answer included details from all local authority districts which had counted the number of rough sleepers in their district or estimated more than 10 people sleeping rough on any one night.
The central aim of our housing policy is to offer everyone the opportunity of a decent home and so promote social cohesion, well-being and self-dependence. The Government are committed to reducing all aspects of homelessness. Then making an additional £5 billion of resources available for investment in housing in England over the lifetime of this Parliament. The Government have a manifesto pledge to increase the protection for unintentionally homeless people in priority need. We are considering what further steps should be taken to achieve this.
The Government have also set a tough new target to reduce the numbers of rough sleepers by two thirds by 2002. The Rough Sleepers Unit headed by Louise Casey has an integrated budget of £145 million to tackle and prevent rough sleeping and a £34 million Homelessness Action Programme has also been established to tackle rough sleeping outside London.
National estimates for acceptances in each quarter, which include estimates for non-responding local authorities, appear in a quarterly Information Bulletin which is available in the Library. The latest figures, for the first quarter of 1999, were released on 16 June 1999. An associated Supplementary Table, showing the figures as reported by individual local authorities, is released with the Information Bulletin.
Mr. Crausby:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many people have received jail sentences under the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974. [92698]
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Mr. Meale:
Four people have been sent to jail for health and safety at work offences, all since January 1996. The jail sentences related to unlicensed asbestos removal or failure to comply with prohibition notices. I welcome the message the courts have sent in these cases to anyone else who is tempted to flout health and safety law and put employees and members of the public at risk.
Mr. Alan Williams:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the average time for a substantive reply to be sent to hon. Members' correspondence; what proportion takes more than (a) four weeks, (b) six weeks and (c) eight weeks; and what is his estimate of the number of letters received in a year from hon. Members. [92446]
Mr. Nick Brown
[holding answer 22 July 1999]: I refer my right hon. Friend to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron) on 11 June 1999, Official Report, columns 403-06, which sets out performance against departmental targets for answering correspondence from right hon. and hon. Members, in the 1998 calender year. More detailed information about the percentage of correspondence replied to within the time scales specified could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the Intervention Board will publish the 1998-99 Annual report and Accounts. [93494]
Mr. Nick Brown:
I am pleased to announce that the Intervention Board's 1998-99 Annual Report and Accounts were laid before Parliament today. Copies are available in the Library of the House.
I should like to congratulate all staff on their achievements during the year.
Mr. Hood:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what was the outcome of the Agriculture Council held in Brussels on 19 and 20 July; and if he will make a statement. [93044]
Mr. Nick Brown:
I represented the United Kingdom at a meeting of the European Union Agriculture Council in Brussels on 19 July.
The Council received a report from Commissioner Fischler on the Commission's plans to reform Community feedingstuffs legislation following the dioxin contamination in Belgium. I welcomed this report and indicated my preparedness to support measures that were effective, proportionate and enforceable in dealing with potential health problems.
A Decision to update the rules on the processing of animal waste to protect against transmissible spongiform encephalopathies was agreed by qualified majority. An extension of certain deadlines under the Zoonoses Directive was agreed by qualified majority.
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1 Source of data--information on English local authorities' activities under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1996 is collected on Part E of the quarterly P1(E) returns from local authorities. The information is collected on homeless households rather than homeless people and relates to households which were eligible, unintentionally homeless, and in priority need.
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