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Housing

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what assessment was made of congestion levels in each region when determining the level of provision made for new additional housing; and what influence this had on the final level of provision made for new additional housing outlined in regional planning guidance. [54911]

Mr. Byers: Annual rates of housing provision are established through regional planning guidance and the spatial strategy it sets out. The strategy is prepared having regard to a number of matters including the capacity of urban areas to accommodate more housing, the physical and social infrastructure needed to support additional housing and the environmental implications of doing so.

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated environmental costs is to each local authority arising from the level of provision made for new additional housing; and what influence this had on the final level of provision made for new additional housing as outlined in regional planning guidance. [54912]

Mr. Byers: Annual rates of housing provision are established through regional planning guidance and the spatial strategy it sets out. The draft strategy is subjected to a sustainability appraisal in accordance with good practice guidance issued by my Department. A report outlining the findings of this appraisal is published prior to the public examination of the draft strategy. This report is an important consideration for the panel that holds the public examination and for me in considering what changes, if any, to make to the draft strategy following receipt of their report.

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2002, Official Report, column 976W, on affordable housing, what the proportion of affordable homes in rural areas was to the total number of affordable homes for each year since 1990. [54853]

Ms Keeble: The table shows the number and proportion of affordable homes in rural areas (with a population of 3,000 or fewer) funding through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme and by local authorities compared with the total number of affordable homes funded by the same means in England in each year since 1990.

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Year	Rural	All (England)	% of completions that are rural
1991–92	803	31,504	2.6
1992–93	2,268	50,045	4.5
1993–94	1,567	64,834	2.4
1994–95	1,341	70,781	1.9
1995–96	1,811	68,790	2.6
1996–97	1,678	51,412	3.3
1997–98	2,020	45,765	4.4
1998–99	1,792	42,011	4.3
1999–2000	1,533	33,808	4.5
2000–01	1,278	30,931	4.1
2001–02	1,371	29,846	4.6

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 10 January 2002, Official Report, column 976W, on affordable housing, how many affordable homes in rural settlements in England with a population of 3,000 or less were completed and funded by 31 March. [54852]

Ms Keeble: 1,371 affordable homes in small settlements with a population of 3,000 or fewer were completed and funded through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme and by local authorities from 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002.

Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 31 January 2002, Official Report, column 448W, on affordable housing, what the Housing Corporation's budget was in each of the last 10 years; and what amount was allocated to its (a) revenue and (b) capital programmes. [54910]

Ms Keeble: The table shows the Housing Corporation's capital and revenue expenditure for the years 1993–94 to 2001–02. The figures for 2002–03 are the budget figures for the current year.

Housing Corporation expenditureOutturn £ million

	Capital	Revenue	Total
1993–94	1,796.4	136.0	1,932.4
1994–95	1,483.5	146.1	1,629.6
1995–96	1,142.2	199.9	1,342.1
1996–97	1,044.4	198.8	1,243.2
1997–98	683.8	217.3	901.1
1998–99	606.5	207.6	814.1
1999–2000	637.8	149.3	787.1
2000–01	717.0	154.0	871.0
2001–02	774.6	143.0	917.6
2002–03	917.6	184.3	1,101.9

Notes:

1. Capital outturn is for ADP funding only.

2. Revenue funding includes Supported Housing Management Grant, Innovation and Good Practice Grants, Supplementary Management Grant, Tax Relief Grant, Hostel Deficit Grant, Revenue Deficit Grant, Rough Sleepers Initiative and Estate Renewal Challenge Fund Grant.

3. This table does not include local authority social housing grant funding.

Martin Sixsmith

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to his oral statement of 26 February 2002, Official Report,

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column 563, if he will make a statement on Mr. Sixsmith's agreement to resign; and when he was told, and by whom, that Mr. Sixsmith had resigned. [55622]

Mr. Byers: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the oral statement I have made in the House today.

Fraud

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the estimated level of losses to fraud and corruption was in (a) his Department's Vote 1 budget and (b) his Department's Vote 2 budget for (i) 1999–2000 and (ii) 2000–01. [54708]

Mr. Byers: The only proven loss due to fraud or corruption for which my Department is accountable is a theft of £20 from a cash box. This was accounted for in the Class III Vote 1 Appropriation Account for 1999–2000.

This does not include any loss suffered by any non-departmental public body funded from either vote where their accounts are prepared separately and laid before Parliament and published separately.

Nor does it include any losses due to fraud in rent rebates. Rent rebates granted to local authority tenants are reimbursed through Housing Revenue Account Subsidy, for which this Department has overall responsibility. Rent rebates are analogous to rent allowances paid in respect of tenants of private landlords, and together they comprise housing benefit.

Responsibility for housing benefit policy, including policy on fraud, lies with DWP. A full note on the implications of housing benefit fraud for HRA subsidy is appended to the Appropriation Account for Vote 1 for each of the years concerned.

Mobile Phone Masts

Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in (a) other member states of the European Union, (b) Australia and (c) New Zealand on the safe levels of radiation from mobile phone masts. [54440]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 7 May 2002]: I have been asked to reply.

Ministers have not had recent discussions with their respective counterparts. However departmental officials and the National Radiological Protection Board are supporting international electromagnetic field standardisation activities in terms of reviewing the fundamental science, providing advice on guidelines to protect people from adverse health effects and assisting in the development of technical standards.

The United Kingdom contributes to the development of European and international technical standards concerning the safety of mobile telephony through the European Committee on Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELEC) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

United Kingdom delegates are members of the CENELEC mobile telephone project team that have developed standards for mobile phones and produced draft

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documents on mobile phone base stations (phone masts). The documents provide standardised methods by which compliance with health-based guidelines can be assessed.

CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT

Golden Jubilee

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what rent is being paid for the Golden Jubilee Office in 85 Buckingham Gate; what the prevailing average rent per square foot in the building was prior to this rent being negotiated; and which firm advised on the negotiations. [53956]

Mr. Caborn: The office at 85 Buckingham Gate was taken over from the Home Office at an annual rental of £165,000 net, as a result of the Machinery of Government changes. The DCMS were not a party to any negotiations on rent. The prevailing average rent for that particular building prior to this rent being agreed is not known, as this figure is a matter between the landlord and the former tenants. However, the rental figure was in line with the average market rent for the properties in that area. Lambert Smith Hampton, Property Management, acted for the Home Office in the lease negotiations.

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