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Home Standards

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list by local authority the number of homes in each area which are not of a decent standard using the same criteria asset out in the Comprehensive Spending Review. [46995]

Ms Keeble: We do not have the requested information across all tenures, but some local authorities have estimated the number of homes within their own stock which were not of a decent standard at 1 April 2001. This information has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

All local authorities are working towards providing numbers of non-decent homes within their own stock at 1 April 2002 in their July 2002 Housing Revenue Account Business Plans.

Rate Relief

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he intends to issue the draft of new guidance on mandatory and discretionary rate relief, referred to in Strong Local Leadership-Guiding Public Services. [47992]

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Dr. Whitehead: We intend to issue the draft guidance for consultation in May.

Gap Funding

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what estimate he has made of the changes to the level of the private sector in urban regeneration following the withdrawal of gap funding. [41763]

Ms Keeble: The closure of the PIP programme, which substantially restricted gap funding, has constrained the use of the private sector in urban regeneration. We are currently working on ways of removing these constraints.

The existing gap funding schemes enable the private sector to invest in regeneration schemes within defined limits. The Single Regeneration Budget, one of the Government's major regeneration programmes, is delivered through local regeneration partnerships and the private sector continues to be an important member of a large number of these. In addition, we have recently announced the English Cities Fund and support a number of urban regeneration companies in which the private sector are involved.

Parish Councils

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps he is taking to monitor the impact on the vitality of parish councils of new requirements for members' disclosure of interest. [48206]

Dr. Whitehead: The whole of our modernisation agenda is focused on improving the vitality and effectiveness of local government including at parish council level. This includes the introduction of th new ethical framework, which will help to build confidence in the conduct of elected members. A research project to evaluate the impact of the new ethical framework will begin shortly.

Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what plans he has to review the rules on the conduct of parish polls; and if he will make a statement. [47595]

Dr. Whitehead: I refer the hon. Member to the replies I gave him on 9 January 2002, Official Report, column 855W, and 10 January 2002, Official Report, columns 984–85W. Our intention is to consult interested parties by the summer about parish polls.

Community Housing

Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the cost is of the community housing task force in the current year; and what its projected cost is in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04. [46364]

Ms Keeble [holding answer 26 March 2002]: The total expenditure for the community housing task force for the financial year 2001–02 was £725,427; projected spend for 2002–03—£915,000 and; 2003–04—£946,824.

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Parish Councillors

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what duty parish councillors have to provide notification to the monitoring officer of the responsible local authority of all interests, including financial interests, membership of institutions, companies or public bodies, as laid out in paragraph 13 of The Parish Council (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001; and if this requirement is subject to the limitation laid out in paragraph 1 (2) of the same Order. [47982]

Dr. Whitehead: All councillors covered by the Local Government Act 2000 are required under section 81(2) to register such financial and other interests as are specified in the mandatory provisions of the model code of conduct applicable to their authority. The requirements about the discharge of this duty are set out in paragraph 13 of the Parish Councils (Model Code of Conduct) Order 2001. The Code, except for paragraphs 4 and 5(a), does not have effect in relation to the activities of a member undertaken other than in an official capacity.

Planning

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how many responses his Department received to the consultation on the Planning Green Paper; and when the results of the consultation will be published. [46965]

Mr. Byers: We have received over 13,000 responses to the consultation on the Planning Green Paper which we are now in the process of analysing. We will make a statement on the outcome of this exercise in due course.

Mr. Sayeed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what steps his Department is taking to encourage planning bodies to give greater prominence to energy developments in planning guidance. [48691]

Ms Keeble: Planning Policy Guidance Note (PPG) 22 on renewable energy provides local planning authorities with guidance on a range of issues that affect the siting of renewable energy developments. We have already initiated the process of reviewing this guidance before issuing a revised draft for consultation. In the meantime, we have pressed ahead with updating the PPG 22 technical guidance on photovoltaics. This is published today and copies are being sent to all local planning authorities. Copies have also been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Advice is also given on energy issues in PPG 11 (Regional Planning) and on utilities infrastructure in PPG 12 (Development Plans).

Correspondence

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions when he will reply to the letter from the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, of 14 February concerning the consultation period for the PPP for the London Underground. [48294]

Mr. Jamieson: The letter you refer to was dated 19 February and I replied to it on 19 March.

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Equal Opportunities

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he has established a baseline for policy appraisal against which to measure progress on equal treatment; and what progress has been achieved. [46495]

Dr. Whitehead [holding answer 26 March 2002]: The Department has developed a framework for the integrated appraisal of policy proposals. In addition to guiding policy makers through the economic, social and environmental considerations needing to be taken into account when assessing policy options, this framework ensures that distributional impacts, including by age, gender, disability, race, deprivation and income group, are addressed.

We have also recently established a new Equality and Diversity Unit, whose remit it is to support the Department in achieving diversity in policies, programmes and service delivery, and also in our own employment practices. The unit is presently engaged in an assessment of the Department's compliance with the terms of the Race Relations (Compliance) Act 2000.

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the women's organisations which have been consulted over proposed legislation by his Department during (a) 2000–01 and (b) 2001–02 sessions; and if their responses have been published. [46493]

Dr. Whitehead [holding answer 26 March 2002]: A central consultation list detailing women's organisations is located on the DTLR(C) Equality and Diversity Unit website for use by DTLR Units in consulting over proposed policy and legislation. This central list is updated periodically, in consultation with the Cabinet Office Women and Equality Unit.

Outcomes from individual Unit consultations may be made available on their Unit websites. Records and outcomes of consultations in general are not held centrally and the cost of researching and listing them would be disproportionate. None have been published in the time period in question.

Gender Impact Assessment

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the subject of each gender impact assessment drawn up by his Department since June 1997, indicating in each case whether the outcome has been (a) put out to consultation and (b) published. [46483]

Dr. Whitehead: As an employer we monitor the impact on women of our recruitment, appraisal and promotion processes.

We are continuing to make use of consultations, research projects and disaggregated statistics to identify the impact of policy on women. Specific examples include consultation of various women's organisations on smoking in taxis and the development of a public transport gender audit, which was published in March 2000. Other initiatives include the requirement to promote social inclusion (including meeting the transport needs of women and other social groups) in the Department's assessment of provisional Local Transport Plans.

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Our policies are subject to evaluation and will pick up differential impacts on specific groups, particularly where they are disadvantaged. Some policies do have intentional differential gender impacts; for example, the priority afforded to pregnant women and lone parent households (the majority of which are headed by women) in the allocation of council housing.

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