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London Rail Termini

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answers of 23 January 2002, Official Report, columns 866–67W, on London rail termini and Waterloo, if it is his policy to permit the new proposed Wessex franchise to operate services into Waterloo. [31542]

Mr. Jamieson: The review of whether services using Waterloo should continue to be controlled by a single operator has not yet been commenced by the Strategic Rail Authority. Statutory consultees will be involved by the authority in this review.

Ireland/UK/Benelux Road Link

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the status is of the Ireland/UK/Benelux road link in the Essen list, with particular reference to the proposed route west of the M6 motorway. [31544]

Mr. Jamieson: The Ireland/UK/Benelux road link is one of the 14 transport trans-European network (TEN) projects to which the Essen European Council attributed particular importance. There are no plans to change this status. Decision 1692/96/EC provides guidelines for the development of the TEN and Annex 1 to the Decision contains a map of the TEN road network in the UK. The European Commission has recently published proposals to amend the guidelines and in negotiations the Government will seek to ensure that all routes on the

30 Jan 2002 : Column 326W

UK road map—including the one west of the M6 motorway—are, if appropriate, updated to reflect current circumstances.

Multi-modal Studies

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many multi-modal studies (a) have been completed and (b) will be completed during 2002. [31539]

Mr. Jamieson: The following list shows the multi-modal studies that have reported.

Multi-modal study

Access to Hastings

Cambridge to Huntingdon (A14)

South-east Manchester (Stockport, Manchester Airport Link West, Poynton)

West midlands area (M5/M6 and M42 between M40 and M6).

A list of the multi-modal studies expected to report in 2002 are set out as follows:

Multi-modal study

West midlands to north-west (M6)

Tyneside area (A1/A19)

South and west Yorkshire motorway box (M1 J30 to A1 west Yorks/M18/M62 and A1(M)

A453 (M1 to J24 (Nottingham)

North/south movements in east midlands (M1 junctions 21 to 30)

Hull (east/west) corridor (A63 and A1033 to port of Hull)

A1 (north of Newcastle)

London to Ipswich (A12)

South coast (Southampton to Folkestone coastal corridor)—(M27, A27 and A259)

M60 junction 12–18 (west to north Manchester)

London to south midlands (A1, M1, M11, A5 and A421)

London to Reading (Thames Valley -M4)

London to south-west and south Wales (A303, M4)

ORBIT-Transport solutions around London (M25).

Council Tax

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many people have not paid council tax in each local authority in descending order for 2000–01. [30573]

Dr. Whitehead: Central Government does not collect information on the number of people who have not paid council tax.

Rate Capping

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions which local authorities have been rate-capped in each of the last 10 years. [30475]

Dr. Whitehead: I am able to provide information on English local authorities only. Local government finance is a devolved matter and capping in Wales is a matter for the National Assembly for Wales.

For the financial years 1991–92 to 2001–02 the following English local authorities were capped for the purposes of the community charge and council tax:

30 Jan 2002 : Column 327W

1991–92
Basildon
Bristol
Ipswich
Lambeth
Norwich
Stoke-on-Trent
Warwickshire county council
Wirral
1992–93
Basildon
Cheltenham
Gloucester
Gloucestershire
Greenwich
Hillingdon
Lambeth
Warwickshire
1993–94
Castle Point
Gloucestershire
Harlow
1994–95
City of Sheffield
1995–96
Devon county council
Gloucestershire county council
Shropshire county council
Somerset county council
Lincolnshire police authority
Barnsley metropolitan borough
City of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
City of Sheffield
City of Norwich
1996–97
Cambridgeshire county council
Oxfordshire county council
1997–98
Oxfordshire county council
Somerset county council
Warwickshire county council
1998–99
Derbyshire county council
1999–2000
None
2000–01
None
2001–02
None.

Rent Arrears

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the level of rent arrears was by local authority in descending order in 2000–01. [30473]

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Ms Keeble: A table showing the level of rent arrears as reported by each local authority in England at the end of the financial year 2000–01 has been placed in the Libraries of the House. The local authorities are shown in descending order of total arrears.

Mortgage Arrears

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many households were in mortgage arrears by region, expressed as (a) a percentage and (b) the total number, ranked in descending order according to percentage figures, in the latest year for which figures are available. [30583]

Ms Keeble: This information is not collected by my Department. Data are compiled by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, but only for the United Kingdom as a whole and not for individual regions. The number of UK households in mortgage arrears of three months or more in 2000 were as follows:

Length of arrears	Number of households	As percentage of all households with mortgages
3–6 months	95,260	0.85
6–12 months	47,820	0.43
Over 12 months	20,820	0.19
All with arrears of 3 months plus	163,900	1.47

Source:

Council of Mortgage Lenders

Housing Benefit Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many housing benefit officers were employed by local authorities in each of the last 10 years. [30477]

Dr. Whitehead: The information requested is not available.

Property Repossessions

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many court repossessions of property there were in each of the past 15 years. [30567]

Ms Keeble: The numbers of properties in the United Kingdom repossessed by mortgage lenders in each of the past 15 years is estimated to have been as follows:

	Properties repossessed
1986	24,090
1987	26,390
1988	18,510
1989	15,810
1990	43,890
1991	75,540
1992	68,540
1993	58,540
1994	49,210
1995	49,410
1996	42,560
1997	32,770
1998	33,820
1999	30,030
2000	22,960

Source:

Council of Mortgage Lenders

30 Jan 2002 : Column 329W

Household Overcrowding

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his estimate is of the number of households that are officially described as overcrowded by region according to (a) percentage figures and (b) total number, ranked in descending order according to percentage figures in the latest year for which figures are available. [30584]

Ms Keeble: No estimates are available based on the statutory definition of overcrowding in the Housing Act (1985). The information provided in the table is based on the 'bedroom standard', which is a well established statistical measure of overcrowding.

Households in England, 2000–01: Difference from bedroom standard⁽¹⁾

	One or more bedrooms per household below the standard
Region	Number (thousand)	Percentage
London	178	6
North-west	68	2
West midlands	49	2
East midlands	36	2
East	42	2
South-east	61	2
South-west	35	2
Yorkshire and the Humber	33	2
North-east	17	1
England	518	3

⁽¹⁾ 'Bedroom standard' is used as an indicator of occupation density. A standard number of bedrooms is allocated to each household in accordance with its age/sex/marital status composition and the relationship of the members to one another.

Source:

Survey of English Housing, DTLR

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