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Housing Corporation
Ms Rosie Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the Finance Management and Policy Review of the Housing Corporation. [124921]
Mr. Raynsford: On 14 December 1999 I announced that, as part of the Government's programme of regular five-yearly finance, management and policy reviews of non-departmental public bodies, my Department would be conducting a thorough review of The Housing Corporation in 2000.
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The "Prior Options" stage of the review has been completed and I have placed a copy of the report in the Library.
The purpose of the Prior Options stage was to assess the extent to which The Housing Corporation's functions were necessary for the achievement of the Government's policies, and whether there was scope for contracting out or transferring all or part of its functions to another body.
The Government's Housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A decent home for all" affirms the Government's commitment to improving the quality of social housing and its management, supporting the transfer of up to 200,000 homes from the local authority sector to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) and to the continuing allocation of funding to RSLs for new social housing. There is therefore a continuing need for a mechanism to regulate the RSL sector to protect public investment, to promote improved performance in the sector and to allocate funding for new social housing. Against this background, the Government accept the Prior Options Review conclusions, that the Housing Corporation should continue to be responsible for registration and regulation of RSLs in England; should continue to allocate funds for new social housing; and that its status as a non-departmental public body remains appropriate to the Corporation's functions.
The Housing Corporation is already taking forward a number of recommendations in the report. In particular it is: strengthening its regulatory skills, especially in business and finance; working to establish a full Best Value regime to promote improved performance in the RSL sector; will set up an inspection process to support this regime; and will continue developing its funding arrangements and processes for making investment decisions.
The report identifies a number of issues to be examined in the second stage of the FMPR, including a review of the Corporation's organisational framework; exploring the options for an appeals mechanism for dealing with disputed regulatory judgments; the case for strengthening the Corporation's powers; agreeing a concordat between the Department and the Corporation for joint working on policy development; and reviewing targets set for the Corporation.
I am grateful for contributions received in the course of the Review from The Housing Corporation, National Housing Federation, local authority associations, Chartered Institute of Housing, Audit Commission, Council of Mortgage Lenders, individual RSLs and numerous other bodies and individuals. The report contains a list of those who contributed. Copies of written responses are available through the Library.
Waste Disposal
Mr. Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the County Councils and Unitary Councils ranked in order of the volume of waste disposed of in each of their areas. [123384]
Mr. Mullin [holding answer 23 May 2000]: The table shows County Councils and Unitary Authorities ranked in order of the amount of waste collected for recycling, composting and disposal. This list is based on the data
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provided by the authorities in response to the Department's Municipal Waste Management Survey for 1997-98 and excludes authorities which did not provide a complete response to the questionnaire.
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NORTHERN IRELAND
Compensation Agency
Mr. Darvill: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will publish the future plans of the Compensation Agency; and if he will make a statement. [124917]
Mr. Ingram: The Compensation Agency will publish today its Corporate Plan and Business Plan. I have set the Agency the following nine Key Performance Targets for the coming year:
- 1. To process criminal injuries claims for an average unit cost of £295.
- 2. To process criminal damage and emergency provisions claims for an average unit cost of £147.
- 3. To maintain the average time taken to reach decisions on criminal injuries claims at 45 weeks for claims received from 1 April 1999.
- 4. To maintain the average time taken to reach decisions on criminal damage claims at 19 weeks for claims received from 1 April 2000.
- 5. To reduce the average time taken to reach decisions on emergency provisions claims to 35 days for claims received from 1 April 2000.
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- 6. To reduce by 85 per cent. the number of criminal injuries claims in hand at 31 March 1999 on which no decision had been reached.
- 7. To reduce by 85 per cent. the number of criminal damage claims in hand at 31 March 2000 on which no decision had been reached.
- 8. To reduce by 95 per cent. the number of emergency provisions claims in hand at 31 March 2000 on which no decision had been reached.
- 9. To manage the Agency's workload in 2000-01 within a running costs budget (to cover salaries and administrative expenditure) to cover salaries and administrative expenditure) to financial limits agreed with the Department (including in-year adjustments).
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