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29 Jan 2003 : Column 862W—continued
Key Workers
12. Jonathan Shaw: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to increase the number of houses and flats available to key workers. [93777]
Mr. McNulty: Under the Starter Home Initiative, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister aims to help 10,000 key workers to buy homes in areas where the high cost of housing is undermining recruitment and retention. In addition, the Housing Corporation's Challenge Fund in 2003/04 will provide some 2,800 new homes for rent or home ownership for key workers in the South East of England.
Next week's announcement by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister will outline our future approach to key workers housing.
Local Government Finance
13. Dr. Pugh To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in which year the ceilings and floors arrangements in the local government settlement 2003–04 will finish. [93778]
Mr. Leslie: We expect floors and ceilings to be part of the system for the foreseeable future.
Capita Group
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the contracts that have been awarded to the Capita Group by his Department. [89972]
Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has awarded the following contracts to the Capita Group:
- (1) Housing Employment Mobility Services
(2) Neighbourhood Renewal—recruitment of advisors
(3) Staff recruitment. A former DTLR call off contract for the external recruitment of staff below the senior civil service.
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Departmental Expenditure (Newsprint)
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total expenditure of his Department was on newspapers, magazines and periodicals in 2002. [90541]
Mr. Leslie: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established as a separate department on 29 May 2002. From its formation until 31 December 2002, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expenditure on newspapers, magazines and periodicals is estimated at £144,000, (including Government Offices). This figure is rounded to the nearest £1,000.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council
David Davis: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures he will take to ensure the East Riding of Yorkshire Council receives enough funding to guarantee the provision of nursery school places from April 2004. [93837]
Mr. Raynsford: In anticipation of the duty to secure universal provision for three-year-olds from April 2004, the new education formula, announced in the provisional local government settlement, allocated funding through Formula Sending Shares based on the greater of the number of pupils in the latest applicable (January 2002) count and 85 per cent. of the resident three year old population.
Ministerial Meetings
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what meetings (a) he, (b) other Ministers and (c) officials of his Department have held with (i) Sir Jeremy Beecham, (ii) other Local Government Association Executive members and (iii) representatives of the Fire Authority employers since 1 December 2002; on what dates the meetings were held; and what was discussed in each case. [91632]
Mr. Raynsford: Ministers and senior officials meet with Sir Jeremy Beecham and other members of the Local Government Association Executive on a regular basis to discuss many issues. The last meeting took place at the Central-Local Partnership on 22 January.
Ministers and senior officials have also met representatives of the Fire Authority employers since 1 December 2002. Subjects discussed have included the proposals contained in the final report of Sir George Bain's Independent Review of the Fire Service, and how the Government intends to take them forward.
Planning Appeals
Helen Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what advice he plans to issue to (a) regional planning bodies, (b) local authorities and (c) the planning inspectorate on the implementation of PPG3, following the decision in Rowlinson v Warrington Borough Council. [92352]
Mr. McNulty: Planning Policy Guidance Note 3, 'Housing', introduced a series of tough new measures designed to meet the country's future housing needs in the most sustainable way possible, including a sequential approach which gives priority to re-using brownfield sites in urban areas in preference to developing greenfield sites. The Office of the Deputy
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Prime Minister is not convinced that it is necessary to issue further advice in the light of the decision in Rowlinson v. Warrington Borough Council, which was determined on the facts of the case.
Helen Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the impact on the Government's regeneration policies of the decision in the case of Rowlinson v Warrington borough council. [92351]
Mr. McNulty: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to make such an assessment. The judgment in Rowlinson v. Warrington borough council was made on the facts of that specific case, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not convinced that they are of wider or general application.
Thameslink 2000
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he received the planning application for Thameslink 2000; what associated applications have been submitted, and on what dates; what progress has been made in relation to the (a) planning and (b) associated applications; when he expects to make a decision; and if he will make a statement. [93073]
Mr. Leslie: Railtrack have, at various stages, made 47 separate applications in regard to the Thameslink 2000 project, many of which replaced or varied earlier ones. They first applied in November 1997 for an Order under the Transport and Works Act (TWA) and for planning permission, together with applications for listed building consent (LBC) and conservation area consent (CAC). These proposals were modified by further applications in 1998 and 1999 for LBC and CAC and, in September 1999, for an amending TWA Order and related planning permission. In October 2000, while the public inquiry was underway, Railtrack submitted a further tranche of amending planning and LBC applications. The position concerning the applications is therefore a complex one which has involved many changes.
The inspector who held the public inquiry provided a report in January 2002, followed by supplementary reports in May and June 2002. These were published in July 2002. In summary, he concluded that whilst the scheme would bring very substantial transportation, regeneration and economic benefits, there were three key deficiencies in the scheme—at London Bridge and Blackfriars stations and in the Borough High Street area—which required resolution before a decision could
appropriately be made on the scheme as a whole. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has since been giving careful consideration to the inspector's conclusions and to the many representations which have been received since the inquiry closed. These include a letter of 31 October 2002 from the Strategic Rail Authority who proposed that the scheme be split into two phases and asked for approval to be granted subject to conditions to deal with the outstanding issues identified by the inspector.
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We are today informing Railtrack that a decision on the scheme is to be deferred pending the submission and consideration of fresh applications aimed at addressing the deficiencies identified by the inspector, an amended Environmental Statement and a proper examination of the SRA's proposal to split the project into two phases. This will require a re-opening of the earlier inquiry.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
PFI (Schools)
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the findings of the Audit Commission report, "PFI in Schools". [92769]
Mr. Miliband: The Audit Commission's report found that whilst teaching staff and pupils were generally pleased with their new schools, there had been some difficulties in the procurement process and some design aspects were less than ideal. However, the report focused only on a small number of very early PFI pathfinder schools. Since those early days, as the report itself made clear, we have continuously refined and improved the schools PFI process in the light of experience. Over 500 schools are now covered by PFI deals, representing over £1.3 billion of private sector investment. Another 400 PFI schools are in procurement or provisionally approved. This is a major programme by any standards and many schools are now receiving substantial investments to help provide high quality accommodation, raise educational standards and transform working conditions for pupils and staff.
Mr. Flight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of funding the building of schools through the Private Finance Initiative. [92771]
Mr. Miliband: The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has significant merits. For example, it allows for risk sharing with the private sector. The public sector does not pay anything until construction work on the school building is complete and the school is receiving the contracted service. New schools are generally completed on time and are then maintained to a high standard over the whole life of the contract. This prevents the deterioration of the schools estate which has been so common in the past. Also, teaching professionals can focus on teaching without the distractions of facilities management and poor accommodation.
Using the PFI to fund the building of schools has so far meant that an extra £1.3 billion has been invested to provide better conditions for pupils and teachers in over 500 schools. Transforming school accommodation is helping us to raise educational standards.
As far as individual PFI projects are concerned, each one is assessed at the outset to ensure it will provide best value over the whole life of the contract. Further checks are made at various points during the procurement process to ensure that value for money for the public sector is delivered. Once the project is operational and transactions appear in the local authority's accounts,
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the authority's auditors will give an opinion on whether these have been compiled in accordance with the relevant accounting standards.
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