---

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport with which body the Chief Executive of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council has a contract of employment. [114349]

Mr. Chris Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 16 February 2000, Official Report, column 54W.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

Photo Passes

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Chairman of the Administration Committee what restrictions there are on the number of overseas staff an hon. Member can have photo passes for; when these restrictions were imposed; and what plans his Committee has to review them. [114204]

Mrs. Roe: The Administration Committee endorses the recommendations of the House of Commons (Services) Committee in its Report "Access to the Precincts of the House" (HC(1987-88)580), approved by the House on 30 January 1989, and which my Committee has no immediate plans to review. The Services Committee recommended that no hon. Member should be entitled to Palace of Westminster photo passes for more than three individual members of their personal staff. The number of passes issued to temporary research assistants from overseas is limited to 150 in any one calendar year, and to 50 at any one time.

Hon. Members are permitted to have one temporary overseas student only working for them at a time to ensure that as many hon. Members as possible are able to take advantage of this opportunity. This does not affect the right of hon. Members to employ foreign nationals as secretaries, or as research assistants, on a longer term basis.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND THE REGIONS

Urban Regeneration (Rogers Report)

Mr. Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many of the recommendations contained in the report on urban regeneration by Lord Rogers (1) have been implemented by the Government; [114410]

(2) he will have implemented by the end of 2000. [114411]

13 Mar 2000 : Column: 15W

Ms Armstrong: The Urban Task Force report "Towards an Urban Renaissance" made more than 100 forward-thinking recommendations about how to revitalise our towns and cities. It formed an excellent contribution to the debate on how to reverse the social, physical and economic decline that many of our urban areas have faced in recent decades.

The Government are looking at the report's recommendations in detail as we prepare for the forthcoming White Paper on Urban policy. But we, and others, have already acted on many of its proposals. We are keen to maintain the momentum created by the report and believe that we should all be working hard to create an urban renaissance now.

It is important to remember that the recommendations of the Task Force are not for DETR or for Government alone. Many recommendations were directed at local authorities, other public sector organisations and service providers. For its part the Government have already:

set up three pilot Urban Regeneration Companies in Liverpool, East Manchester and Sheffield. These will co-ordinate the regeneration of run-down urban neighbourhoods within a wider local strategy developed by the local authority and its partners, listening to local people's needs and ensuring local priorities are met;

set up nine pilot home zones--traffic schemes in residential areas which will give residents more control over traffic movements and ensure that the needs of people, rather than traffic, come first;

published revised PPG12 which advocates simpler and more effective development plans. This helps to fulfil the Urban Task Force's recommendation to streamline the planning process;

piloted eight Private Finance Initiatives for Housing Revenue Account pathfinders, helping fulfil the need to attract private investment in local communities;

taken steps to put Local Transport Plans on a statutory footing ensuring that local authorities take an integrated and strategic approach to planning transport provision in their area;

revised planning guidance for transport to promote civilised towns and cities where the needs of people are given priority.

Last week the Government also published "Revised planning policy guidance on Housing (PPG3)". This introduces a new sustainable approach to planning for housing which addresses a large number of Lord Rogers' recommendations including promoting better designed places and giving priority to recycling previously developed sites and empty properties.

A great deal of work is still being carried out on the full range of Lord Rogers' proposals and the Government's approach to the many issues he raised will be set out in the White Paper. It is not, therefore, possible to say at this time how many of the recommendations will have been addressed by the end of this year.

Fair Rents

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the average weekly difference between rent officer determinations of registered fair rents during the period that the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 was in force (a) before the cap was applied and (b) after the cap had been applied (i) in England and (ii) by region. [113338]

13 Mar 2000 : Column: 16W

Mr. Mullin: Provisional figures for England are given in the table.

Average weekly amount by which the rent officer determination of 'uncapped' fair rent exceeded the 'capped' rent during the period May to December 1999

	Amount by which uncapped fair rent exceeded capped rent
	(£) per week	Number of cases
London
Barking	5.46	27
Barnet	8.35	638
Bexley	3.40	226
Brent	8.69	810
Bromley	6.17	335
City of London	2.01	62
Camden	25.49	866
Croydon	3.00	105
Ealing	8.16	614
Enfield	2.83	240
Greenwich	4.10	360
Hackney	4.73	688
Hammersmith and Fulham	3.75	831
Haringey	7.77	845
Harrow	2.75	187
Havering	3.93	154
Uxbridge/Hillingdon	4.03	266
Hounslow	7.05	367
Islington	5.70	714
Kensington and Chelsea	13.17	669
Lambeth	11.64	950
Lewisham	3.99	629
Merton	4.93	318
Newham	5.51	797
Redbridge	2.01	197
Richmond	6.41	429
Southwark	2.12	414
Sutton	1.56	105
Tower Hamlets	8.44	439
Waltham	7.45	721
Wandsworth	5.52	1,314
Westminster	7.74	536
London	7.56	15,853
English counties
Avon	5.78	578
Bedfordshire	2.77	212
Berkshire	4.96	407
Buckinghamshire	5.53	207
Cambridgeshire	10.27	400
Cheshire	4.58	543
Cleveland	1.63	81
Cornwall	7.29	13
Cumbria	2.25	91
Derbyshire	2.59	120
Devon	3.83	179
Dorset	4.08	226
Durham	3.71	75
East Sussex	5.83	169
Essex	5.59	378
Gloucestershire	10.50	308
Greater Manchester	3.06	1,570
Hampshire	6.65	724
Hereford and Worcestershire	2.97	204
Hertfordshire	6.28	568
Humberside	3.34	273
Isle of Wight	7.62	13
Kent	4.35	618
Lancashire	2.12	271
Leicestershire	2.28	485
Lincolnshire	2.12	107
Merseyside	4.35	2,434
Norfolk	6.26	522
Northumberland	1.79	143
Northamptonshire	4.28	212
North Yorkshire	3.37	376
Nottingham	3.00	246
Oxfordshire	13.32	193
Shrewsbury	3.89	30
Somerset	7.34	93
South Yorkshire	1.85	256
Staffordshire	4.32	100
Suffolk	2.97	243
Surrey	5.00	534
Tyne and Wear	2.49	850
Warwickshire	3.41	533
West Midlands	2.38	532
West Sussex	3.90	441
West Yorkshire	2.23	964
Wiltshire	5.87	289
English regions
London	7.56	15,853
North East	2.42	1,149
North West and Merseyside	3.80	4,909
Yorkshire and Humberside	2.57	1,869
East Midlands	2.81	1,170
West Midlands	3.03	1,399
Eastern	6.19	2,323
South East	5.66	3,306
South West	6.32	1,686
England	5.86	33,664

Note:

That the unavailability of data from February to April 1999 is because of processing problems directly associated with the introduction of the Order. These problems continued to affect some rent officer areas after April 1999. Consequently the number of cases for each region may be an under-estimate of the total number of fair rent cases determined by the rent officer in that region during the period May to December.

Source:

Provisional rent officer determinations for May-December 1999

13 Mar 2000 : Column: 17W

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the average weekly registered fair rent paid by regulated private tenants during the period that the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 was in force in (a) England and (b) by regions where (i) the rent was capped under the Order and (ii) the rent was not capped under the Order. [113337]

Mr. Mullin: Provisional figures for England are given in the table.

Average weekly registered fair rent paid by regulated private tenants during May-December 1999 where the rent was (i) capped and (ii) not capped under the Order

	Rent capped		Rent not capped
	£ per week	Number of cases	£ per week	Number of cases
	London
Barking	53.56	27	60.77	4
Barnet	79.12	638	78.45	88
Bexley	58.74	226	63.75	28
Brent	61.62	810	59.84	60
Bromley	71.73	335	85.23	27
City of London	67.47	62	n/a	0
Camden	77.67	866	104.11	80
Croydon	77.36	105	80.86	155
Ealing	64.60	614	76.86	134
Enfield	60.59	240	61.54	110
Greenwich	67.66	360	79.02	7
Hackney	58.62	688	65.47	70
Hammersmith and Fulham	68.23	831	77.30	52
Haringey	65.63	845	72.49	70
Harrow	70.46	187	75.43	37
Havering	63.23	154	80.77	6
Uxbridge/Hillingdon	67.21	266	74.95	27
Hounslow	74.65	367	81.20	14
Islington	66.30	714	84.55	57
Kensington and Chelsea	71.06	669	141.61	239
Lambeth	59.59	950	58.94	101
Lewisham	53.72	629	56.61	75
Merton	80.08	318	80.79	34
Newham	56.30	797	51.24	43
Redbridge	50.06	197	57.27	66
Richmond	75.42	429	84.94	23
Southwark	60.81	414	66.91	123
Sutton	63.34	105	67.62	73
Tower Hamlets	67.21	439	43.00	10
Waltham	50.53	721	52.84	121
Wandsworth	76.32	1,314	88.85	37
Westminster	77.02	536	127.78	82
London	66.56	15,853	81.21	2,053
	English counties
Avon	66.22	578	71.75	80
Bedfordshire	54.81	212	54.98	65
Berkshire	72.64	407	82.70	82
Buckinghamshire	57.20	207	61.47	29
Cambridgeshire	52.59	400	54.68	80
Cheshire	37.10	543	50.37	87
Cleveland	53.52	81	44.78	133
Cornwall	48.57	13	60.04	168
Cumbria	40.19	91	40.65	136
Derbyshire	43.16	120	44.85	424
Devon	60.83	179	64.36	260
Dorset	64.01	226	64.89	379
Durham	46.53	75	43.80	111
East Sussex	72.09	169	75.62	386
Essex	61.69	378	60.18	631
Gloucestershire	57.94	308	76.51	80
Greater Manchester	42.81	1,570	40.79	432
Hampshire	64.88	724	71.32	360
Hereford and Worcestershire	51.36	204	51.59	167
Hertfordshire	76.10	568	73.36	181
Humberside	47.46	273	44.73	357
Isle of Wight	50.83	13	58.19	63
Kent	71.22	618	68.22	557
Lancashire	45.50	271	46.99	115
Leicestershire	47.93	485	51.73	292
Lincolnshire	45.44	107	45.15	159
Merseyside	44.60	2,434	46.52	754
Norfolk	49.71	522	52.86	227
Northumberland	46.01	143	43.35	163
Northamptonshire	53.52	212	50.59	58
North Yorkshire	53.81	376	56.45	161
Nottingham	48.82	246	52.64	546
Oxfordshire	74.28	193	86.69	55
Shropshire	50.49	30	50.65	59
Somerset	56.66	93	61.99	80
South Yorkshire	40.65	256	38.94	628
Staffordshire	41.72	100	43.11	391
Suffolk	49.59	243	51.15	200
Surrey	83.38	534	96.17	72
Tyne and Wear	43.22	850	39.55	255
Warwickshire	49.70	533	51.25	76
West Midlands	46.09	532	49.13	1,073
West Sussex	69.40	441	80.17	191
West Yorkshire	42.82	964	47.16	663
Wiltshire	64.64	289	72.70	46
	English regions
London	66.56	15,853	81.21	2,053
North East	44.51	1,149	42.25	662
North West and Merseyside	43.17	4,909	44.63	1,524
Yorkshire and Humberside	45.41	1,869	44.66	1,809
East Midlands	48.41	1,170	49.34	1,479
West Midlands	48.02	1,399	48.17	1,766
Eastern	59.06	2,323	58.83	1,384
South East	70.99	3,306	73.59	1,795
South West	62.91	1,686	65.49	1,093
England	59.55	33,664	57.99	13,565

Note:

The unavailability of data from February to April 1999 is because of processing problems directly associated with the introduction of the Order. These problems continued to affect some rent officer areas after April 1999. Consequently the number of cases for each region may be an under-estimate of the total number of fair rent cases determined by the rent officer in that region during the period May to December.

Source:

Provisional rent officer determinations for May-December 1999.

13 Mar 2000 : Column: 19W

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what was the average weekly registered fair rent paid by regulated private tenants (a) in England and (b) by each region in (i) 1994-95, (ii) 1995-96, (iii) 1996-97, (iv) 1997-98 and (v) 1998-99. [113336]

Mr. Mullin: The available figures for England are given in the table.

Average weekly registered fair rent paid by regulated private tenants in England, 1994-95 to 1998-99

	1994-95	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99
	London
Barking and Dagenham
£	41.40	43.36	47.47	51.79	54.11
Number of cases	8	69	102	102	93
Barnet
£	55.64	59.97	71.74	73.52	81.49
Number of cases	797	472	326	758	613
Bexley
£	32.99	54.23	54.90	54.43	61.03
Number of cases	411	1,321	959	298	261
Brent
£	40.09	42.71	49.39	54.96	61.54
Number of cases	871	460	337	718	470
Bromley
£	49.52	53.59	57.49	63.52	69.44
Number of cases	656	702	592	635	523
City
£	--	60.58	134.62	--	--
Number of cases	--	2	1	--	--
Camden
£	64.88	76.11	82.48	89.57	101.58
Number of cases	1,252	941	624	897	768
Croydon
£	54.86	62.72	66.98	72.82	74.73
Number of cases	847	895	699	712	558
Ealing
£	53.19	54.03	60.85	65.78	74.07
Number of cases	1,028	734	521	788	572
Enfield
£	43.34	47.57	50.21	53.93	58.76
Number of cases	831	548	683	515	582
Greenwich
£	46.42	56.12	56.96	61.01	66.63
Number of cases	407	1,571	577	500	218
Hackney
£	42.34	49.63	50.85	56.45	59.34
Number of cases	640	474	529	491	362
Hammersmith and Fulham
£	54.87	57.57	63.96	69.70	79.93
Number of cases	1,202	1,207	991	953	799
Haringey
£	48.03	55.23	57.12	63.09	69.07
Number of cases	673	806	520	514	565
Harrow
£	48.16	52.05	60.90	64.05	77.69
Number of cases	451	623	364	496	180
Havering
£	53.61	46.97	50.33	57.15	59.53
Number of cases	230	259	260	317	239
Hillingdon
£	47.66	53.28	58.06	65.39	66.92
Number of cases	658	543	437	494	554
Hounslow
£	49.67	54.44	60.28	66.22	73.06
Number of cases	319	437	388	284	273
Islington
£	47.46	54.16	59.06	65.10	70.90
Number of cases	491	104	325	268	340
Kensington and Chelsea
£	74.40	93.64	91.31	97.77	120.60
Number of cases	1,234	796	1,116	715	702
Kingston
£	52.49	58.55	64.66	--	--
Number of cases	411	494	254	--	--
Lambeth
£	46.92	49.13	54.76	57.58	64.09
Number of cases	1,192	887	1,036	862	819
Lewisham
£	40.04	47.97	48.61	51.13	56.84
Number of cases	1,051	628	447	639	588
Merton
£	51.10	60.13	65.16	69.65	75.81
Number of cases	564	529	293	468	424
Newham
£	32.19	34.68	39.74	41.76	46.98
Number of cases	900	926	774	741	625
Redbridge
£	38.92	40.89	44.32	46.41	50.36
Number of cases	418	437	464	319	323
Richmond on Thames
£	57.34	63.47	70.55	75.36	84.35
Number of cases	659	899	731	1,112	774
Southwark
£	49.30	47.16	51.89	55.13	58.63
Number of cases	997	923	660	786	614
Sutton
£	45.43	51.00	55.02	61.16	63.54
Number of cases	305	380	267	310	213
Tower Hamlets
£	41.96	45.70	47.31	49.76	55.90
Number of cases	210	178	259	111	244
Waltham Forest
£	34.90	36.11	39.96	42.90	46.62
Number of cases	1,145	1,355	1,173	1,155	973
Wandsworth
£	54.01	55.60	64.49	68.51	77.56
Number of cases	1,517	1,314	1,120	1,257	902
Westminster
£	90.50	92.72	106.69	109.09	112.32
Number of cases	2,068	2,260	1,820	1,740	1,683
London
£	53.06	57.96	63.38	67.75	74.87
Number of cases	24,443	24,174	19,649	19,955	16,854
English counties
Avon
£	47.37	53.80	56.92	61.74	65.46
Number of cases	730	736	549	568	542
Bedfordshire
£	37.08	36.44	46.22	46.94	51.99
Number of cases	586	351	326	351	158
Berkshire
£	51.19	58.24	63.83	70.31	74.77
Number of cases	801	970	611	689	485
Buckinghamshire
£	40.54	46.90	50.79	55.33	63.18
Number of cases	455	586	351	515	317
Cambridgeshire
£	41.80	41.32	47.02	48.06	61.42
Number of cases	599	522	510	338	339
Cheshire
£	25.25	27.45	32.48	36.02	42.40
Number of cases	871	1,184	805	959	661
Cleveland
£	31.80	35.54	38.99	39.78	42.00
Number of cases	444	370	249	545	189
Cornwall
£	53.83	55.71	56.75	58.83	59.89
Number of cases	554	466	439	326	338
Cumbria
£	32.13	30.85	33.18	36.74	38.44
Number of cases	540	673	526	573	452
Derbyshire
£	34.79	35.06	39.24	40.73	43.71
Number of cases	2,063	1,888	1,481	1,474	1,1900
Devon
£	48.00	50.95	54.58	56.67	59.94
Number of cases	1,348	874	773	945	688
Dorset
£	46.65	50.89	54.01	59.13	63.14
Number of cases	1,398	1,060	1,212	966	819
Durham
£	31.49	32.79	35.97	38.61	42.62
Number of cases	347	338	276	265	183 71.56
East Sussex
£	58.42	63.59	65.58	69.79
Number of cases	2,205	2,126	1,636	1,694	1,251
Essex
£	45.00	48.49	53.25	55.66	59.37
Number of cases	2,207	2,028	1,812	1,708	1,579
Gloucestershire
£	46.37	49.26	54.59	58.10	62.26
Number of cases	534	458	389	454	354
Greater Manchester
£	29.19	29.95	34.73	36.22	39.48
Number of cases	3,444	3,338	2,340	2,534	2,067
Hampshire
£	49.25	53.24	59.26	62.21	65.73
Number of cases	2,164	1,717	878	1,629	1,672
Hereford and Worcester
£	39.30	40.10	44.21	47.14	49.52
Number of cases	780	515	416	616	539
Hertfordshire
£	49.05	59.71	60.84	67.16	70.67
Number of cases	1,402	1,060	1,076	863	793
Humberside
£	34.71	37.22	39.10	41.29	42.85
Number of cases	1,862	1,737	1,217	1,336	964
Isle of Wight
£	43.60	47.77	49.86	55.56	54.61
Number of cases	211	62	61	135	95
Kent
£	53.04	57.24	60.75	64.18	68.12
Number of cases	3,074	2,506	2,490	2,306	1,942
Lancashire
£	32.25	33.96	37.37	40.61	42.94
Number of cases	965	840	664	632	536
Leicestershire
£	36.56	39.94	42.96	45.72	47.51
Number of cases	1,569	1,227	1,210	1,002	973
Lincolnshire
£	33.85	36.67	38.31	41.58	42.16
Number of cases	581	512	432	467	403
Merseyside
£	25.76	26.42	33.90	38.35	42.56
Number of cases	5,239	4,477	3,962	3,060	2,916
Norfolk
£	39.82	41.94	44.18	47.46	49.68
Number of cases	1,223	1,168	957	1,057	877
Northumberland
£	31.19	32.77	37.76	38.93	42.84
Number of cases	530	552	370	592	384
Northampton
£	37.11	40.40	43.04	45.54	50.02
Number of cases	440	301	350	264	281
North Yorkshire
£	41.49	42.07	46.96	50.84	53.53
Number of cases	1,056	946	860	824	754
Nottinghamshire
£	40.19	42.80	46.76	48.63	50.83
Number of cases	1,869	1,623	1,631	1,415	1,206
Oxfordshire
£	59.02	60.43	68.97	74.49	81.70
Number of cases	588	552	524	565	443
Shropshire
£	--	44.99	45.56	46.96	50.39
Number of cases	--	49	253	365	266
Somerset
£	44.25	45.60	51.90	53.82	59.17
Number of cases	570	340	197	373	288
South Yorkshire
£	30.07	31.13	33.10	34.94	37.06
Number of cases	2,843	1,697	1,982	1,985	1,674
Staffordshire
£	31.15	34.14	38.83	39.06	41.05
Number of cases	1,216	1,065	1,040	866	870
Suffolk
£	37.13	39.34	43.07	44.58	48.70
Number of cases	1,200	1,039	970	877	925
Surrey
£	62.54	67.23	74.13	82.34	87.30
Number of cases	1,596	1,475	1,429	1,083	1,099
Tyne and Wear
£	29.72	31.08	35.24	37.06	40.41
Number of cases	1,930	1,762	1,551	1,588	1,166
Warwickshire
£	33.44	36.73	43.16	45.58	48.62
Number of cases	664	423	134	636	449
West Midlands
£	37.04	37.88	42.14	45.70	47.23
Number of cases	4,716	3,593	2,804	3,220	2,587
West Sussex
£	54.46	61.94	64.57	70.42	74.32
Number of cases	1,232	935	826	757	639
West Yorkshire
£	33.56	36.12	38.05	40.84	43.16
Number of cases	3,354	2,740	2,571	2,306	2,018
Wiltshire
£	49.40	49.55	54.83	57.55	63.25
Number of cases	516	444	452	411	158
English regions
London
£	53.06	57.96	63.38	67.75	74.87
Number of cases	24,443	24,174	19,649	19,955	16,854
North East
£	30.43	32.13	36.09	38.07	41.26
Number of cases	3,251	3,022	2,446	2,990	1,922
North West and Merseyside
£	27.67	28.54	34.23	37.43	41.33
Number of cases	11,059	10,512	8,297	7,758	6,632
Yorkshire and Humberside
£	33.62	35.99	37.92	40.40	42.66
Number of cases	9,115	7,120	6,630	6,451	5,410
East Midlands
£	25.83	26.91	31.32	31.60	34.19
Number of cases	6,522	5,551	5,104	4,622	4,053
West Midlands
£	35.98	37.35	41.80	44.92	46.66
Number of cases	7,376	5,645	4,647	5,703	4,711
Eastern
£	42.69	46.34	50.44	52.95	57.25
Number of cases	7,217	6,168	5,651	5,194	4,671
South East
£	54.25	59.24	64.26	67.92	72.11
Number of cases	12,326	10,929	8,806	9,376	7,943
South West
£	47.75	51.19	54.86	58.13	62.05
Number of cases	5,650	4,378	4,011	4,043	3,187
England
£	43.27	46.98	51.38	54.86	59.48
Number of cases	86,959	77,499	65,241	66,089	55,383

Source:

Rent Officer Statistics

13 Mar 2000 : Column: 25W

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