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TRANSPORT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE REGIONS
Social Housing
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what proportion of social housing in west Wiltshire has been allocated to people from outside the district in each year since 1995; [51499]
(2) what proportion of social housing was allocated to people from outside the district or unitary authority area in each of the English district and unitary authorities in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [51500]
Ms Keeble: A summary of the latest available information, for 2000–01 has been placed in the Libraries of the House, along with equivalent information in respect of West Wiltshire DC since 1995–96.
Housing Study Transfers
Mr. Pike: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much residual debt by local authorities has been written off to enable housing study transfers to take place. [51461]
Ms Keeble: Payments totalling £277 million have been made to date to write off the residual housing debt of local authorities transferring their housing stock to registered social landlords.
Terning Wheel Site
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions on what grounds he is seeking leave to appeal against the High Court's decision in the case of the planning application of the Terning Wheel site, near Gatwick. [52121]
Ms Keeble: This matter relates to the case of Hammond and Beasley v. SSTLR. Judgment was given on 21 February to quash the Secretary of State's decision letter of 14 August 2001 to refuse planning permission for the use of sites at Cophall Farm and the Terning Wheel as off-airport parking.
The Secretary of State has been granted permission to appeal on the following grounds:
- whether the Secretary of State has failed to have proper regard to all material considerations;
whether he has given adequate reasons for his decision; and
whether he gave proper consideration as to whether the grant of planning permission would set a precedent for future similar applications.
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Supplementary Credit Approvals
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list, by year, the additional supplementary credit approvals given to local authorities for exceptional needs since 1997. [51655]
Dr. Whitehead [holding answer 22 April 2002]: The amounts of additional supplementary credit approval (SCA) given to local authorities for the relevant years are listed in the table.
| SCA | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 20,000 |
| 1998–99 | 1,300 |
| 1999–2000 | 700 |
| 2000–01 | 20,500 |
| 2001–02 | (3)20,000 |
(3) Represents current estimate.
Council Tax
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made of the factors underlying the changes in the level of council tax in recent years. [49817]
Dr. Whitehead: We have not made a comprehensive assessment of factors underlying the changes in the level of council tax in recent years.
The limited analysis that we have carried out of the increases for 2002–03 suggests that there is a link between council tax rises and electoral cycles. This appears to be especially true for county councils, where elections were held last year and this year's average increase is higher than for other types of authority that provide similar services.
Comprehensive Performance Assessments
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what legislative changes will be required as part of the introduction of comprehensive performance assessments. [52063]
Mr. Byers: No legislative changes are required to permit the introduction of comprehensive performance assessment. This assessment process brings together information assembled from inspection reports, plan assessments and other central Government scrutiny processes empowered under existing legislation. I will however be seeking powers in the proposed Local Government Bill to facilitate attaching the freedoms, flexibilities and other consequences described in the Local
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Government White Paper, "Strong Local Leadership—Quality Public Services", to the judgments made by the Audit Commission.
PowerShift Programme
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will make it his policy to offer direct grants under the PowerShift Programme. [51975]
Mr. Jamieson: At the moment, the prospective purchaser of a cleaner fuel vehicle applies to the Energy Saving Trust for a PowerShift grant before buying the vehicle or having their existing vehicle converted. This ensures that the conversion is on the PowerShift Register of clean, safe conversions, and safeguards against fraud. When the grant is confirmed, the applicant buys or converts the vehicle. The garage or converter provides a certificate, and the applicant claims the grant.
The trust have also introduced a new block grant scheme, under which the vehicle manufacturers can deduct the appropriate PowerShift grant from the list price or rental cost of the vehicle. This alternative means that the purchaser is not involved in applying for PowerShift grants.
Vehicle Emissions
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent discussions he has had with car manufacturers on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles. [51612]
Mr. Jamieson: The Government fully support the voluntary agreements between the European Commission and European, Japanese and Korean car manufacturers to reduce the average carbon dioxide emissions from new passenger cars by 25 per cent. on 1995 levels by 2008–09. The UK played a leading role in the development of these agreements and continues to discuss progress regularly with manufacturers.
Transport (Herefordshire)
Mr. Keetch: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what changes the Budget of 17 April will make to the transport system in Herefordshire. [51654]
Mr. Jamieson: The Chancellor's Budget statement included a number of fiscal and other measures relating to road vehicles and fuels. An assessment of the impact of these on the transport system in Herefordshire has not been carried out.
Multi-modal Studies
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what budget he holds to implement the recommendations of the Midman Multi-Modal Study. [51470]
Mr. Jamieson: The Ten Year Plan provides the funding for transport investment up to 2010, including schemes which are approved following a Multi-modal Study.
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Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions how much his Department and its predecessors have spent on (a) multi- modal studies and related research and consultancy fees and (b) infrastructure charging studies and related research and consultancy fees since May 1997. [52089]
Mr. Byers [holding answer 23 April 2002]: Expenditure on (a) Multi-modal Studies and related research and consultancy fees is £21,581,883 and on (b) infrastructure charging and related research and consultancy fees is £7,665,000.
School Transport
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment he has made as to the reasons for parents (a) choosing to take their children to school by car and (b) sending them on public transport. [51248]
Mr. Byers: Research commissioned by my Department and other organisations has shown that the main reasons for driving children to/from school are security and safety, time, children's preference, linked school and work journeys, habit and cost.
Trans-European Transport Network
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list the projects in the UK that have received funding from the EU trans-European transport network budget in each of the last five years, giving (a) the amount of funding given, (b) the nature of the project, (c) its expected start and completion dates and (d) the total cost of the project. [51198]
Mr. Byers: Tables providing the information requested for UK projects that have received transport trans- European network funding over the past five years have been placed in the Libraries of the House. The start and completion dates and total project costs given are those last provided to the Department by the project sponsors. All financial information is provided in euros and it is not possible to give equivalent sterling figures because of exchange rate fluctuations over the five year period.
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