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21 Oct 2002 : Column 60Wcontinued
Mr. Webb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which elements of the local government funding formula are based on data derived from the Census; and what are, for each of the main local government spending blocks that use such data, (a) the latest sub-population estimate used for South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority in the most recent settlement and (b) the corresponding estimate from the 2001 census. [74850]
Mr. Leslie: The information requested is given in the table below. The most recent settlement, for the year 200203, used population estimates as at 30 June 2000. The corresponding figures for 30 June 2001, derived from the 2001 census, are also given.
(5) Personal Social Services
(6) Environmental, Protective and Cultural Services
(7) Resident population of working age = resident males aged 18 to 64 plus resident females aged 18 to 59
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Mr. Steen: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will issue planning guidance to local authorities concerning the erection of mobile and static free-range poultry units. [72376]
Mr. McNulty: We have no plans to issue specific planning guidance on this issue. Advice about agriculture-related development, including temporary agricultural structures, is contained in Annex C of Planning Policy Guidance Note 7, The Countryside.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the eligibility criteria for disability facilities grant. [73074]
Mr. McNulty: Local housing authorities have a statutory duty under the Housing Grants, Regeneration and Construction Act 1996 to offer mandatory Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) to homeowners and tenants in both the private and social rented sectors who require adaptations to help them live independently in their homes. The range of purposes for which the grants are available are set out at section 23(1) of the 1996 Act.
In June the Government issued a consultative document, Housing Renewal Guidance, which contains more detail and guidance on DFG eligibility at annex D. A copy of the guidance has been placed in the library of the House.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many under-16s are living rough in (a) West Sussex and (b) London; and what plans he has to reduce this number. [75559]
Mrs. Roche: As far as we are aware, our information which includes street counts and client lists, suggests that there are no under 16s sleeping rough. Voluntary sector workers are highly skilled and, if they knew of a child under the age of 16 sleeping rough, they would immediately liaise with the local police and local authority social services department.
However, the Government is aware that there are a large number of children who run away each year. The SEU is shortly publishing a report which considers the immediate safety of young runaways and examines the policies and services available to young runaways or those at risk of running.
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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has also worked closely with the Connexions Service to produce guidance for homelessness agencies working with vulnerable young people to deliver effective services for 13 to 19 year-olds.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many vacant council houses, by local authority area, there are in West Sussex; and what plans he has to work with West Sussex County Council to reduce the vacancy numbers. [75557]
Mr. McNulty: The number of vacant council houses, by local authority area, in West Sussex at 1 April 2001 (latest data available) is shown in the table below.
Local authority | LA vacant dwellings |
---|---|
Adur | 9 |
Arun | 22 |
Chichester | |
Crawley | 63 |
Horsham | |
Mid Sussex | |
Worthing | |
Total | 94 |
Notes:
Chichester, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing no longer own any dwelling stock, having transferred them through the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) scheme.
Source:
ODPM's 2001 Housing Strategy Statistical Appendices completed by local authorities.
On 1 April 2001 there were 94 vacant council houses in West Sussex (0.6 per cent. of the stock). A proportion of housing will always be vacant at any given time as a result of the normal process of letting housing, which becomes available to new tenants. We will continue to support authorities in developing effective council housing business plans, which minimise the numbers of vacant dwellings, but have no plans to take any specific action on vacant dwellings with housing authorities in West Sussex (where the proportion of vacant council house dwellings is well below the national average of 2.9 per cent.).
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Mr. Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to increase the number of new houses with solar tiles; and if he will make a statement. [74837]
Mr. Wilson: I have been asked to reply.
The DTI has a research and development programme to assess various aspects of PV product development, installation and operation on domestic buildings. In particular, the Domestic PV Systems Field Trial is supporting several projects on clusters of houses. This should result in around 500 PV roofs with a total capacity of around 800 KWp and a budget of over #5 million. This trial will use the design, construction and monitoring of the installation as a learning opportunity for utilities, building developers and other key players in the process of PV installation. Information will be gathered on the buildability, operating performance, reliability and maintainability of building-integrated PV (BIPV) systems, thus paving the way for improvements in know how in the home PV industry.
In addition, the recently introduced First Phase of the Major Photovoltaic Demonstration Programme aims to distribute grants to households and businesses wishing to install PV arrays onto their buildings. The programme seeks to increase public awareness and drive down the market cost of installation by offering 50 per cent. grants on the installation of PV systems. A third of the #20 million budget has been allocated to small PV installation on individual dwellings, which should result in 1500 roof systems being installed. A further third of the budget has been allocated to private and social housing developers, resulting in a further 1500 roof systems. Up to the end of September the programme has had 70 successful small scale applications and has approved 8 larger scale applications.
With regard to building regulations, these were changed on April 2002 to enable the benefits of low carbon and zero carbon technologies, such as PV, to be more readily taken into account and to encourage industry and consumer take-up. The economics of making the installation of PV solar panels a compulsory element of new building regulations are not yet favourable, as the price of PV remains high.
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