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27 Mar 2003 : Column 354W—continued
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Council Tax (Park Homes)
Ms Atherton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent representations he has received regarding the setting of lower council tax bands for residents of park homes. [104435]
Mr. Leslie: In the past 12 months, the Office of Deputy Prime Minister has received one letter from the British Holiday and Home Parks Association and a further nine letters from residents of park and mobile homes requesting a lower council tax band for such homes.
The Association also sent in a response to last summer's consultation exercise on the draft Local Government Bill. Hon. Members also expressed views during recent stages of the Local Government Bill.
Housing Standards
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) whether housing associations are obliged to stipulate that the sub-contractors are fully accredited and work to national standards; [104739]
- (2) whether local government may ensure that housing association clients participate in the selection of building contractors chosen to perform work in their homes; [104740]
(3) what action (a) councils and (b) residents are able to take against sub-contractors of housing associations if their work is deemed substandard or unsafe. [104741]
Mr. McNulty: Housing associations, like any independent businesses, are responsible for selecting building contractors to carry out work on their stock.
The Housing Corporation's 'regulatory code' requires all housing associations to comply with statutory regulations and sets out probity and procurement policies relating to the selection of contractors and consultants by housing associations. The code also requires housing associations to take account of feedback from tenants on any aspect of the service they receive. In addition housing associations must aim to deliver continuous improvements and value for money in their services, using best value techniques.
As with any services provided by housing associations, tenants may pursue complaints about work by sub-contractors through individual associations' formal complaints procedure, with recourse to the Independent Housing Ombudsman Service if they remain dissatisfied.
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Local Authorities (Uncollected Debt)
Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what estimate he has made of the level of uncollected debt of each district council in England; [104770]
- (2) what the average level of uncollected debt is for local authorities in England. [104769]
Mr. Leslie: Central Government do not collect comprehensive information on levels of uncollected local authority debt. It does, however, collect information on local authority rent arrears and business rate arrears.
Local authority rent arrears in England are reported to have totalled about £560 million as at 31 March 2002. Of this, about £350 million were in respect of current tenants, with the remaining £210 million being owed by former tenants. Figures for individual local authorities, and totals for each class of authority, have been placed in the Library of the House.
Arrears of business rates owed to local authorities in England are estimated to have totalled almost £800 million as at 31 March 2002. Figures for individual local authorities, and totals for each class of authority, have been placed in the Library of the House.
Central government does not currently collect information on the level of community charge or council tax arrears owed to English local authorities. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister estimates, however, that arrears in England at 1 April 2001 totalled £185 million for community charge and £1,435 million for council tax. These estimates are based on information supplied to CIPFA on its revenue collection statistics return, and on information on amounts of community charge and council tax received, which central government collects from billing authorities on the QRC4 return.
After discussions with local government we will, however, be collecting information from English billing authorities on the level of community charge and council tax arrears as at 31 March 2003 on the QRC4 return for 2002–03.
In addition, local authorities have some other types of uncollected debt, such as uncollected fees and charges for services. Information on these is not collected by central government.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the arrangements are for the review of the balance of funding for local government. [105372]
Mr. Raynsford: As announced to the House on 20 January, the balance of funding review would begin in April and the terms of reference for the review were published. These set out the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's approach to the review, the sort of people we envisaged as being on the review's steering group and the proposed working methods, timing and outputs. A copy of the terms of reference of the review has been placed in the Library of the House and can also be found on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister web-site at http://www.local.dtlr.gov.uk/finance/balance.htm. The
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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be announcing very shortly the members of the steering group for the review and the date of the first meeting.
Millennium Dome
Nick Harvey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the monthly running costs of the Millennium Dome were in the last six months. [104424]
Mr. McNulty: Final cost figures are not yet available for the first two months of 2003, as English Partnerships are awaiting a number of outstanding invoices. However, the Dome costs* incurred for the six months up to December 2002 was £1.493 million. This is made up according to the following monthly breakdown:
- * Monthly costs include rates, utilities, security and maintenance, and English Partnerships' staff costs on management and maintenance of the Dome. Costs are calculated on an accruals basis and may be subject to reassessments, by the relevant authorities, of rates or other charges included in the cost of managing and maintaining the Dome.
| Month | Cost |
|---|---|
| July | 250,000 |
| August | 245,000 |
| September | 242,000 |
| October | 241,000 |
| November | 262,000 |
| December | 253,000 |
| Total: | 1,493,000 |
These costs, and other costs incurred by English Partnerships since they took ownership of the Dome on 1 July 2001, will be recovered from sale proceeds.
Nick Harvey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of progress in handing over the Millennium Dome to Anschutz Entertainment Group; when he expects the handover to be completed; and if he will make a statement. [104425]
Mr. McNulty: The deal to hand over the Dome to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is primarily conditional upon the granting of planning permission. On 23 December 2002 Meridian Delta Ltd., jointly with English Partnership, AEG and Quintain Estates and Development, submitted a planning application to the London borough of Greenwich.
The London borough of Greenwich is currently considering the application and will have to decide in due course whether to grant planning permission. If it is minded to do so, the application will be referred to the Mayor of London and the First Secretary of State under the normal planning procedures.
As the application is going through the planning process I am unable to speculate on the likely timing of completing the deal and handing over the Dome to AEG.
Pay Costs
Mr. Norman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total pay costs incurred by (a) the Social Exclusion Unit, (b) the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit and (c) the Homelessness Directorate have been in each year since their creation. [103067]
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Mrs. Roche: Tabled is the total pay costs for the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) for each year since its creation in 1997; the Homelessness Directorate since its creation in 2000 and the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU) since its creation in 2001. The figures for the years prior to 2001–02 are in cash terms. The figures for the year 2001–02 are on a resource basis.
| Year | SEU | Homelessness | NRU |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 46 | — | — |
| 1998–99 | 419 | — | — |
| 1999–2000 | 810 | — | — |
| 2000–01 | 1,146 | 1,055 | — |
| 2001–02 | 1,367 | 984 | 2,395 |
Social Housing Grant
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what notice he gave to (a) housing associations and (b) local councils of his intentions to end the local authority housing grant; what consultations he held in each case; how many homes have been built by (i) housing associations and (ii) local councils using the grant since 1996; what estimate he has made of the effect of ending the grant on the provision of affordable homes for (A) key workers and (B) people on low incomes; and how many homes planned to be built will not now be built because of the ending of the grant. [102616]
Mr. McNulty: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consulted local authorities, the housing corporation, the national housing federation and other key figures in the housing world on the principle of abolishing local authority social housing grant (LASHG) last autumn. In the light of work on the "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future", we decided to make this reform quickly—provided transitional funding arrangements were in place to ensure that well-advanced, good quality schemes were able to go ahead.
Local authorities use registered social landlords (RSLs) as the vehicle for building homes with LASHG. They do not use this grant to develop units themselves. The following table shows the dwellings completed in each year by RSLs using the grant:
- Dwellings completed :
1996–97: 9,609
1997–98: 10,152
1998–99: 9,929
1999–2000: 8,678
2000–01: 8,419
2001–02: 6,971
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be known until after 30 June 2003, which is the deadline for both with-debt and debt-free authorities to submit new schemes for 2003–04 to the housing corporation.
As my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced on 5 February, the measures set out in the "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future" will provide £5 billion for more affordable homes over the next three years, including at least £l billion for key worker housing, much of which will be distributed following advice from the regional housing boards, in line with regional housing strategies.
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