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Regional Chambers
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the (a) budgets and (b) administrative costs were for each of the regional chambers in England for each financial year since their establishment; and what their planned (i) budgets and (ii) administrative costs are for the next two years. [1276]
Mr. Raynsford: The eight regional chambers have been established voluntarily by bodies representing the interests of each region. The Government proposed earlier this year to provide £15 million for the chambers over a three year period to enable them to strengthen their role in the regions. It is hoped to make a further announcement about this soon; otherwise, their costs and budgets are a matter for the chambers and their members.
Ministerial Responsibilities
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the responsibilities are of each Minister in his Department. [1327]
Dr. Whitehead: The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) has seven Ministers:
- The right hon. Stephen Byers, Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions;
- John Spellar MP, Minister for Transport;
- Right hon. Nick Raynsford MP, Minister for Local Government;
- Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC, Minister for Housing and Planning; and
- David Jamieson MP, Sally Keeble MP and Dr. Alan Whitehead MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretaries.
Homelessness
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement on the trend in the number of priority homeless acceptances in England since 1997. [1293]
Ms Keeble: The number of households accepted by local housing authorities as unintentionally homeless and in priority need during the 12 months prior to March 2001 was 113,590. That is 2.5 per cent. higher than the number of households accepted during the 12 months prior to March 1997 110,810.
It is greatly to the credit of local housing authorities that they have been able to meet their statutory obligations to help those who are homeless and in most need of accommodation, and they are to be congratulated.
The underlying reason for the increase in acceptances is a shortage of affordable accommodation in some areas, especially London and the south-east. This shortage follows a significant cut in housing resources, when the
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1992–97 Government cut total capital investment in housing from £3.9 billion in 1992–93 to planned spending of only £1.5 billion in 1997–98. High property prices in a very buoyant housing market, particularly in these areas, may also have contributed to an increase in homeless acceptances by reducing the availability of low cost affordable accommodation.
The Government have substantially increased the resources available for housing investment to tackle the significant problems they inherited. The housing resources provided for the current year, of around £3.3 billion, are twice the amount made available for 1997–98, and further significant increases are planned for the next two years. As part of this, we have nearly doubled the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme with an additional £872 million aimed at building more affordable social housing. Our target is to provide at least 100,000 new or improved homes for low-cost renting or ownership through the Approved Development Programme and other programmes between April 2001 and March 2004.
QE2 Centre
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the operating loss or profit of the QE2 Centre was in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [1326]
Dr. Whitehead: The operating surpluses for the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Trading Fund were:
| Year | £ |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 687,000 |
| 1998–99 | 48,000 |
| 1999–2000 | 216,000 |
| 2000–01 | 159,000 |
Further information on the Centre can be found in its Annual Report and Accounts for each of the above years, copies of which have been placed in the House Libraries.
Postal Voting
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will set up an investigation into the working of the new postal voting arrangements in the recent general election. [1663]
Dr. Whitehead: The Electoral Commission, which was established by the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, will publish a report shortly on various aspects of the administration of the general election, in accordance with section 5 of the Act.
Home Zones
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the home zones currently in operation. [1659]
Ms Keeble: My Department is monitoring eight home zone pilots in England. The schemes are in Ealing, Lambeth, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth and Sittingbourne. The pilots are at different stages of development, and works are planned to commence in all the schemes by the end of the year.
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Local authorities are free to take forward home zones outside of the monitoring process. We are aware that home zones have been completed in Birmingham, Tower Hamlets and Luton, and are being implemented in Hertford and Bristol. A number of local authorities included proposals for home zones in their local transport plans.
Airport Slots
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans the Government have to reform the allocation of take-off and landing slots at UK airports so as to introduce market mechanisms into allocating such slots; and if he will make a statement. [1366]
Mr. Jamieson: The Government said in their consultation document "The Future of Aviation", published in December 2000, that they believe that the establishment of a transparent market in slots would be a means of improving the use of slots at congested airports. However, the allocation of slots is subject to European regulation. The European Commission published proposals for a new regulation on 20 June. These do not include the use of market mechanisms for allocating slots, although the Commission has said that it intends to undertake research into the subject. The Government will be consulting the industry about the proposals.
Motor Vehicle Crashes
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will estimate the number of sleep-related motor vehicle crashes in each of the last 20 years. [1935]
Mr. Jamieson: Statistics on the main contributory factors in road accidents are not available. Research on behalf of the Department indicates that for car drivers in particular, driver fatigue may have been a principal factor in around 10 per cent. of accidents across the road network in Great Britain.
Mobile Phone Masts
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he proposes to publish new draft regulations regarding the siting of mobile phone masts and base stations; and if he will make a statement. [1787]
Ms Keeble: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Westbury (Dr. Murrison) on 25 June 2001, Official Report, column 20W.
Beacon Status (Councils)
Mr. Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will invite councils to apply for beacon status. [2334]
Mr. Raynsford: We will publish an Application Brochure tomorrow, inviting councils to apply by 2 October. Copies of the brochure will be placed in the Library of the House.
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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
People's Panel
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proposals he has for the People's Panel. [1939]
Mr. Leslie: We are currently considering the future role of the People's Panel.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the cost of the People's Panel for each year for which the figures are available. [1938]
Mr. Leslie: For the year 1998–99, the cost to all Departments for research and consultation employing the People's Panel was £459,000, for 1999–2000 the cost was £321,190 and for 2000–01 the cost was £525,865.
TREASURY
Manufacturing Industry
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many jobs there were in the manufacturing industry in May (a) 1997 and (b) 2001. [1641]
Mr. Boateng: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. John Redwood, dated 3 July 2001:
- As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the number of manufacturing jobs in May 1997 and May 2001 (1639).
- Information for May 2001 is not yet available but will be published in table 6 of the Labour Market Statistics First Release on 18 July 2001, copies of which will be placed in the House of Commons Library. In May 1997, there were 4,160,000 manufacturing jobs (seasonally adjusted).
- The table below shows the number of employee jobs in manufacturing for April 1997 and April 2001 for comparative purposes.
| UK | Number(15) |
|---|---|
| April | |
| 1997 | 4,152 |
| 2001 | 3,867 |
(15) Seasonally adjusted
These estimates are based on the results of regular sample surveys of employers which count the number of employee jobs. The data are published in Statbase on the National Statistics website www.statistics.gov.uk./statbase/tsdataset.asp?vlnk=342 under series identifier YEJL.
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