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Homeless People

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what proportion of non-secure lettings made by local authorities

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by region in each of the years 1997–98 to 2000–01 were (a) introductory tenancies and (b) lettings made to discharge their duties to homeless households under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996. [18300]

Ms Keeble: Information on the number of lettings made by local authorities to discharge their duties to homeless households under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 is not available centrally.

The table gives the available information on



Introductory tenancies as a percentage of local authority non-secure lettings and percentage of all non-secure lettings given to homeless households in priority need
Percentage

1997–981998–991999–2000
North East
Introductory tenancies849293
Homeless households191214
North West
Introductory tenancies959798
Homeless households131214
Yorkshire and The Humber
Introductory tenancies686864
Homeless households302934
East Midlands
Introductory tenancies367377
Homeless households682922
West Midlands
Introductory tenancies608792
Homeless households331625
East of England
Introductory tenancies202642
Homeless households808060
London
Introductory tenancies295156
Homeless households755968
South East
Introductory tenancies122540
Homeless households938167
South West
Introductory tenancies276769
Homeless households784647
England
Introductory tenancies637781
Homeless households402930

Note:

Homeless households are households in priority need for whom a statutory duty has been accepted by a local authority under homelessness provisions of Housing Acts. Lettings to these households have been expressed as a percentage of lettings to "new" tenants i.e. excluding transfers and exchanges between existing tenants of social landlords.

Source:

DTLR Housing Investment Programme returns (annual)


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Detling Beacon

Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if there has been an increase in (a) air traffic using and (b) night flights in the corridor five miles either side of Detling Beacon in Kent since 11 September. [18471]

Mr. Jamieson: We are not aware of any increase in either air traffic users or night flights in the corridor five miles either side of the Detling Beacon since 11 September.

Housing Management

Mr. Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will announce his decisions on the first round of local authorities' bids for additional resources to establish arm's-length housing management companies to improve their housing standards. [18828]

Mr. Byers: We have decided that conditional allocations should be made to the following local authorities sufficient to support capital investment through arm's-length companies on housing improvements in 2002–03 and 2003–04 up to the sums indicated:

£ million

Local authorityConditional allocation
Ashfield24.0
Derby31.1
Hounslow35.0
Kirklees62.5
Rochdale24.2
Stockton-on-Tees44.5
Westminster20.3
Wigan58.3

If confirmed, these allocations should ensure that the housing stock of most of the authorities concerned meets the Government's decent homes standard by 2006.

Final allocations will depend on services delivered by the arm's-length company achieving an excellent rating from the Housing Inspectorate. Exceptionally, for round one only, we are prepared to allocate 50 per cent. of conditional allocations where companies are assessed as good and likely to improve. Authorities will also require the Secretary of State's approval under section 27 of the Housing Act 1985, the granting of which will be subject to the criteria set out in my Department's Guidance last April, including criteria on the responsibilities, constitution and staffing of the arm's-length companies.

We have been unable to accept the bid from Kensington and Chelsea because it did not fully separate strategic and operational responsibilities between the council and the proposed company as required by the arm's-length principle.

Authorities to which we have been unable to make conditional allocations in round one are invited to consider applying again. The closing date for applications in round two is the end of February 2002.

Housing Stock (Radon Emissions)

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many

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discretionary grants have been awarded for remedial work to reduce the risk from radon emissions in (a) Devon and (b) England and Wales since 1996; and what has been the total cost. [18356]

Ms Keeble [holding answer 27 November 2001]: The Government have made available to all local housing authorities in England and Wales a single capital pot of £705 million this year for housing capital expenditure purposes. Any discretionary grant given by an authority for radon remedial work will be from this source. We do not have reliable centrally collected figures on the number of such discretionary grants for this or earlier years.

Rural Public Transport

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 22 November 2001, Official Report, column 423W, on rural public transport, if he will list (a) the local authorities that have received local transport capital funding, (b) the organisations that received central Government funding from the Rural Bus Challenge and (c) the organisations that received support from the Rail Passenger Partnership in 2001–02. [18835]

Ms Keeble: All local highway authorities in England (outside London) are allocated funding annually for local transport capital investment through the Local Transport Plan process. The allocation of the £1.36 billion capital funding made available for local transport in 2001–02 was announced in December 2000.

The following 34 English local authorities have received funding to date in 2001–02 from the Rural Bus Challenge Fund:


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The Rail Passenger Partnership scheme funds partnerships that may consist of local authorities, passenger transport executives, train operators or public transport consortia. To date, for 2001–02, funding for the following 21 partnership schemes have been approved by the Strategy Rail Authority:


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