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Private Medical Insurance

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what statistics his Department holds on the coverage of private medical insurance for over-65s. [59002]

Ruth Kelly [holding answer 24 May 2002]: I have been asked to reply.

None.

Health Checks (Over-75s)

Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of over-75 health checks. [56049]

Jacqui Smith: The Medical Research Council has been funding a trial of assessment and management of elderly people in the community since 1994. The Department has contributed towards the funding of this study. The study is being conducted in over 100 general practitioners practices in the UK covering nearly 33,000 people aged 75 years or over registered with participating practices. It will determine both the cost effectiveness of these different strategies of assessment and management and their effectiveness as measured by mortality, hospital admissions and quality of life. Findings will be available in autumn 2002.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Re-offending

Mr. Ross: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress the Social Exclusion Unit has made on its project on reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners. [65921]

Mrs. Roche: The Social Exclusion Unit has published its report on reducing re-offending by ex-prisoners today.

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The report sets out the enormous cost, both in financial and human terms, of re-offending by ex-prisoners and makes recommendations for reducing the risk of re-offending in the future.

Copies of the report have been placed in the Libraries of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

Asbestos

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what requirement there is for people looking to sell their houses to remove asbestos from roofing before doing so; and if he will make a statement. [64442]

Mr. Leslie: There is no such requirement. Our proposals to require sellers and their agents to market homes with a seller's pack will help raise the awareness of sellers and buyers. The seller's pack will include a home condition report that will disclose the presence of asbestos where it is a safety hazard and is apparent from a visual inspection of the property. The necessary legislation will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.

London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority

Angela Watkinson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if a further bid will be considered for PFI credits for an integrated clothing project by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority; and for what reason the original bid was refused. [64904]

Mr. Raynsford: The Authority's bid, which was made on behalf of a number of fire authorities, was assessed according to the criteria set out in Fire Service Circular 3/2001, dated 14 February 2001, a copy of which is in the Library. It did not score as highly as some of the other bids received. Unsuccessful bidders were given feedback on their bids. Any future bid in respect of this project would fall to be considered under the criteria attached to that bidding round.

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Planning

Mr. Norman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which organisations Baker Associates consulted when preparing a consultation brief for the Department on possible changes to the Use Classes Order and Temporary Uses Provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. [64591]

Mr. McNulty: The research carried out by Baker Associates included: a survey sent to all local planning authorities in England, in-depth case studies involving the views of a wide range of participants, and seminars and workshops at which developing ideas were tested. The research report does not include a list of all the organisations involved in the study. Nor does the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister hold this information centrally.

Mr. Norman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reason Baker Associates were chosen, and what qualifications they have, to carry out the original research

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in preparing a consultation brief for the Department on possible changes to the Use Classes Order and Temporary Uses Provisions of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995. [64592]

Mr. McNulty: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister places its research contracts by competitive tender based on a contractor's technical capacity to carry out the work.

Social Housing Grant

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much social housing grant has been spent by (a) the Housing Corporation and (b) local authorities in each region in each year since 1996–97. [63906]

Mr. McNulty: The following tables (rounded to one decimal place) show the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme (ADP) expenditure and Local Authority Social Housing Grant (LASHG) for the years 1996–97 to 2001–02.

Housing Corporation ADP£ million

Region	1996–1997	1997–1998	1998–1999	1999–2000	2000–2001	2001–2002
London	408.4	261.6	252.2	264.2	315.3	341.2
South East	120.4	82.7	64.8	71.5	77.3	93.5
South West	77.0	48.4	40.8	42.3	48.3	51.1
East Midlands	53.4	34.6	27.6	28.3	32.2	34.4
Eastern	65.3	44.4	36.7	38.3	43.7	51.6
West Midlands	87.6	57.8	46.7	45.1	52.3	58.5
Yorkshire and Humber	70.0	47.3	40.0	43.2	44.8	47.7
North East	35.9	21.7	18.9	18.4	20.5	22.9
North West	85.8	58.5	55.4	61.4	57.0	51.2
Merseyside	40.2	26.5	23.2	25.4	25.6	21.4
Total	1,044.0	683.4	606.3	638.1	717.0	773.5

Notes

Table shows gross ADP. It excludes grant provided by Housing Corporation HQ manual payments which cannot be attributed to regions.

LASHG(in £ million)

Region	1996–1997	1997–1998	1998–1999	1999–2000	2000–2001	2001–2002
London	89.3	108.0	74.3	81.0	116.6	112.5
South East	119.8	130.6	124.8	109.9	123.2	140.9
South West	32.9	30.8	35.0	43.6	52.0	58.2
East Midlands	14.4	10.8	8.9	14.8	15.7	12.7
Eastern	51.2	42.9	46.9	46.2	58.9	58.7
West Midlands	19.1	24.2	26.6	18.0	17.9	15.2
Yorkshire and Humber	7.3	4.4	5.2	4.0	2.9	3.3
North East	1.6	0.5	0.8	0.4	0.7	0.5
North West	10.0	8.1	10.0	9.0	10.3	7.0
Merseyside	3.7	3.1	2.2	1.2	1.9	1.5
Total	349.3	363.6	334.6	328.1	399.9	410.4

Wind Farms

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many wind turbine applications there have been in each of the last three years, broken down by planning authority; and how many of these were successful. [65020]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Planning Green Paper

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many responses he has received to the Planning Green Paper; and how many of these were from organisations. [65021]

Mr. McNulty: 16,230 responses were received to the Green Paper. The Smith and Williamson report comprised a detailed analysis of the 10,417 responses using the standard form, and includes a breakdown by interest

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group. A copy is available in the House Library. Further information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Regional Assemblies

Margaret Moran: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures he intends to take to ensure that equality issues are integral to the work of regional assemblies. [65182]

Mr. Raynsford: As stated in paragraph 7.17 of the Regional Governance White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", we are proposing that elected regional assemblies should be under a duty to exercise their general powers with due regard to the principle of equal opportunity for all (and to report annually on progress in fulfilling this duty); to eliminate unlawful discrimination; and to have regard to the need to promote equal opportunities for all persons irrespective of their race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation or religion.

Margaret Moran: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures he intends to take to ensure equal representation of women on regional assemblies. [65183]

Mr. Raynsford: As stated in para 7.16 of the Regional Governance White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", the Government wants to encourage women, and other traditionally under-represented groups, to stand for election to regional assemblies. We are proposing that assembly members should be elected by the Additional Member System of Proportional Representation, which can facilitate diversity in the selection of candidates by political parties. We are also planning to apply the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2001 to regional assembly elections, so that a political party can choose to adopt positive measures that aim to reduce inequality in the numbers of men and women elected as candidates to the party.

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