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Housing Stock Transfers

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will publish rules of conduct for stock transfer ballots that include rules to govern the issue of lists of tenants who have yet to vote. [24435]

Ms Keeble: Stock transfer ballots are carried out by independent organisations who have their own rules and procedures in place to ensure that the ballot is conducted properly. It would not therefore be appropriate for the Department to publish rules of conduct.

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the legal status of offer documents sent to council tenants prior to a ballot on the transfer of housing to a registered social landlord is; and to what extent the offer made is legally binding on the new landlord. [24434]

Ms Keeble: The offer document forms the first stage of the formal consultation requirements set out in section 106 of and Schedule 3A to the Housing Act 1985 (as inserted by section 6 of and Schedule 1 to the Housing and Planning Act 1986), which a local authority must follow prior to a housing stock transfer. The offer document should contain full details of the transfer proposals and the implications for tenants. Tenants have 28 days during which to comment. The local authority may then revise the proposals to reflect these comments. If, following a positive tenants' ballot, the transfer subsequently goes ahead, the promises made in the offer document are incorporated into the transfer agreement between the local authority and the new landlord which is a legally binding contract.

Council Tax

Miss Widdecombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make a statement about the change in Band D council tax in the last four years. [24622]

Mr. Raynsford: In the last four years, English local authorities have set average Band D council tax increases of 8.6 per cent. (1998–99), 6.8 per cent. (1999–2000), 6.1 per cent. (2000–01) and 6.4 per cent. (2001–02). Decisions on council tax are for local authorities to take, after consulting with their local electorate and taxpayers.

Taxis

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many (a) deaths and (b) serious injuries were caused by (i) taxi drivers and (ii) mini-cab drivers in each of the last 10 years. [25123]

Mr. Jamieson: The number of people (a) killed and (b) seriously injured in road accidents involving taxis in each of the last 10 years is shown in the table. It is not

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possible to give the proportion of these accidents which were caused by the taxi driver. Information on mini-cabs is not available.

Casualties in road accidents involving taxis—Great Britain

	Severity of casualty
Accident year	Killed	Seriously injured
1991	36	599
1992	31	578
1993	17	554
1994	32	665
1995	31	616
1996	31	564
1997	34	524
1998	31	629
1999	39	646
2000	50	600

In 1994 the definition of taxi was changed to include all vehicles registered as hackney carriages, regardless of construction.

Disabled Facilities Grants

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many disabled facilities grants have been made, and how much has been spent on average in each of the past five years. [24953]

Ms Keeble: The number and average value of disabled facilities grants paid in England over the past five financial years are given in the table. These grants were made under section 1 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 and section 101 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to private owners and tenants.

	Numbers paid	Average grant paid (£)
1996–97	23,263	4,270
1997–98	23,917	4,200
1998–99	24,135	4,480
1999–2000	25,189	4,880
2000–01	27,655	4,650

Chemicals

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions he has had with the chemical industry on the implementation of the proposed amendments to the Chemicals (Hazard and Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 1994. [25306]

Dr. Whitehead: While there have been no formal discussions at ministerial level, officials at the Health and Safety Executive have had extensive discussions with the chemical industry and with the relevant trade associations about the Regulations.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the time scale for companies in the chemicals industry to implement the proposed amendments to the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 1994. [25729]

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Dr. Whitehead: The Health and Safety Commission has recently completed a public consultation exercise on these Regulations with a view to introducing them in the first half of 2002.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent representations he has received from companies in the chemical industry about the impact of the proposed amendments to the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 1994. [25308]

Dr. Whitehead: The Health and Safety Commission has recently completed a three-month consultation exercise on these regulations and has received some 45 responses which are currently being analysed. I also received a letter about the proposed regulations from the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) on behalf of a constituent.

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the costs to the chemistry industry of implementing the proposed amendments to the Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 1994. [25307]

Dr. Whitehead: The Health and Safety Commission's recent consultative document, a copy of which is in the Library, contained an initial estimate of a range of costs and sought further information from consultees.

Westminster City Council

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what discussions he has had with Westminster city council concerning the recovery of the money due from Dame Shirley Porter and David Weeks; and if he will make a statement. [25382]

Dr. Whitehead: No such discussions have taken place. Recovery of the surcharge is a matter for Westminster city council.

A14

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when the Highways Agency is (a) to start and (b) to finish its review of the plans on the A14 road improvements; when he will start consultation on the plans; whether the proposed public transport element of the plans will cover from Huntingdon to Cambridge; when he will complete the public transport element of the plans; and whether he will provide financing to complete the road element of the plans. [25147]

Mr. Spellar: I have asked the Highways Agency to carry out preparatory work on the major A14 improvements included in the Preferred Plan of the Cambridge to Huntingdon Multi-Modal Study with a view to an early entry to the Targeted Programme of Improvements. The Highways Agency will begin this work in January 2002 with the aim of finishing it within six months. Public consultation on the route can be expected within 12 months of the scheme's entry into the Targeted Programme of Improvements.

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We have endorsed the general approach that the public transport elements of the Preferred Plan should be in place before extra road capacity is provided. The Preferred Plan proposed that a guided bus system should extend from Cambridge through to the centre of Huntingdon, though capacity on existing roads to allow a dedicated bus corridor from St. Ives to Huntingdon would only be available following the opening of the new A14 bypass. We have encouraged Cambridgeshire county council as the local transport authority to come forward with a full appraisal of the guided bus project within six months. Its completion will depend upon an order under Transport and Works Act 1992 powers.

The 10-Year Transport Plan provides the resources for implementing decisions arising from the multi-modal studies.

Social Housing

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his answer of 18 December 2001, Official Report, column 225W, on social housing, if he will list the sources of funding for the remaining new social housing new build units. [25539]

Ms Keeble: 98.71 per cent. of social housing new build units approved for building in 2000–01 were funded by a combination of the Housing Corporation's approved development programme; public subsidy from a body such as a local authority or health authority (which may consist of free or discounted land or cash contributions); private sector borrowing; and registered social landlords' own reserves.

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