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Housing Benefit
Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the amount of housing benefit paid to each local authority in respect of council housing for the years 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000, indicating the average number of recipients for each authority. [110952]
Mr. Mullin: A table showing the available information has been placed in the Library. The table shows the Rent Rebate Subsidy Element of the Housing Revenue Account Subsidy, which represents eligible expenditure by authorities on rent rebates offset by any assumed surplus on their Housing Element. For some authorities, no Rent Rebate Element is paid because the assumed surplus on the Housing Element exceeds their eligible spending on rent rebates.
Local Authority Housing
Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list those local authorities which (a) have completed and (b) are in the process of transferring their housing stock by means of a large scale voluntary transfer, indicating the number of units involved for each authority. [110951]
Mr. Mullin: The local authorities which have transferred all or part of their housing stock to a new landlord are in the table:
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The following authorities are in the process of transferring their stock:
| Local authority | Number of units |
|---|---|
| Burnley BC | 5,354 |
| Coventry CC | 20,479 |
| Elmbridge BC | 5,022 |
| Huntingdonshire DC | 7,134 |
| Manchester CC | 2,690 |
| North Devon DC | 3,382 |
| LB Richmond | 8,780 |
| Tameside MBC | 16,959 |
| Test Valley BC | 5,789 |
| Weymouth and Portland BC | 3,526 |
| Wyre Forest DC | 6,440 |
| LB Hackney | 2,394 |
Mr. Neil Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the amount of council house subsidy paid to each local authority in the years 1995-96, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000, indicating the number of council houses in each authority in those years. [110950]
Mr. Mullin: A table showing the available information has been placed in the Library. For many authorities no housing subsidy was paid because they were in assumed surplus on their Housing Element subsidy and this assumed surplus was offset against payments of Rent Rebate subsidy.
Care Leavers and Orphans
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the cost to public funds of his plans to house care leavers and orphans between the ages 16 and 17 years; and by what amount these proposals will reduce the number of rough sleepers. [110955]
Mr. Raynsford:
We have no plans to assist care leavers or orphans between the ages of 16 to 17 with housing unless they are homeless and vulnerable. Local authorities already have a duty to accommodate homeless young people whom they consider to be vulnerable, and therefore in priority need, under the provisions of the Housing Act 1996. We recognise that young people who are leaving care may face particular difficulties in making the transition to independent living, as a consequence of institutionalisation and perhaps having limited back-up support. The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions' revised draft Code of Guidance on the Allocation of Accommodation and Homelessness, due to be published later this year, will therefore recommend that local authorities treat young care leavers, and 16 and 17-year-olds with little or no back-up support, as being vulnerable under the homelessness legislation. This
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clarifies existing local authority duties in order to ensure a greater consistency of approach. As such, it should require no additional cost to public funds. Our Housing Green Paper, also due to be published later this year, will include further measures to improve the protection for unintentionally homeless people.
The Government have set up the Rough Sleepers Unit, with a budget of almost £200 million, to reduce rough sleeping in England by at least two thirds by 2002. A commitment to focusing on the most vulnerable people on the streets is at the heart of the Unit's approach, and young rough sleepers are among the most vulnerable of all. The revised guidance on housing allocation is one of the ways in which we will prevent future rough sleeping among vulnerable young people. This will complement the provisions of the Children (Leaving Care) Bill, and the "Quality Protects" programme, which makes available £375 million to local authorities over three years to increase the support offered to care leavers.
Mr. Ashdown:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is his estimate of the number of post offices which receive (a) 25 per cent., (b) 50 per cent., (c) 75 per cent. and (d) 100 per cent rate relief, for the latest year for which statistics are available; what plans he has to change the funding of, and guidelines for, such rate relief; and if he will make a statement. [110791]
Ms Armstrong:
The number of post offices receiving rate relief is not held centrally. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
We have no plans to change the funding or extent to which rural post offices can qualify for rate relief under the village shop rate relief scheme.
The Prime Minister announced on 21 October 1999, Official Report, column 630W, the Post Office Network Project, to identify the contribution made by post offices to the vitality of local communities, consider how the Post Office Network can best contribute to the Government's objectives in the future and in the process formulate objectives for the Post Office Network.
Laura Moffatt:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) if a public sector comparator was used as a benchmark against which the judgment to proceed with a public/private partnership option for NATS was made in line with the recommendations in technical note 5-The Objectives of a PPP; [110551]
(3) what economic appraisal techniques were used fully to evaluate the key commercial risks of the public/private partnership for NATS to ensure value for money for public funds. [110549]
Mr. Mullin:
As set out on page 3 of the Treasury Taskforce Private Finance Guidance (Technical Note No. 5), the Government will ensure a proper competition is
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held to identify a private sector strategic partner. The Government, along with their financial advisers, have also carried out a proper assessment of the economic and commercial risks, including on proceeds and for major projects such as the New En-Route Centre and the New Scottish Centre. This assessment included both qualitative and quantitative techniques such as risk-adjusted discounted cash flow analysis.
(2) how he will ensure that an appropriate level of risk will be transferred in the proposed NATS public/private partnership to guarantee value for money for public funds; [110550]
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