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13 Jun 2003 : Column 1152W—continued

Civil Service

Tony Wright: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what evidence he has collated on the type of (a) school and (b) university attended by those recruited to the senior civil service in the last two years. [116830]

Mr. Alexander: For new recruits to the senior civil service (including internal promotees as well as those appointed from outside) over the past two years, those individuals against whom universities are recorded (with numbers of 10 or more) are as follows:

	Number
2000–01
Oxford	26
London	11
Cambridge	10
Others	102
2001–02
Oxford	18
London	15
Cambridge	12
Glasgow	12
Others	108

Data on university attended is only available for 53 per cent. of new entrants, as provision of this information is non-mandatory.

13 Jun 2003 : Column 1153W

No data is collected on the type of school attended.

Correspondence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many staff have been employed in the Ministerial Correspondence Unit of the Department in each of the last two years. [115877]

Mr. Alexander: 3.1 permanent full-time equivalent members of staff were in post in the Ministerial Correspondence Unit within the Cabinet Office at 1 April 2002. A further three temporary agency staff were also employed on a full-time basis. 4.5 permanent full-time equivalent members of staff were in post in the Ministerial Correspondence Unit within the Cabinet Office at 1 April 2003.

Official Records

Norman Baker: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many records were released, broken down by Department, under the Open Government Initiative from 10 January 2002 to 31 December 2002. [119105]

Mr. Alexander: A breakdown by Department of the records released under the Open Government Initiative (OGI) from 10 January 2002 to 31 December 2002 is not available centrally. The requirement for periodic returns under the OGI, the last of which reflected the position as at 31 December 2001, has diminished over the years as departments have dealt with the major task of re-reviewing closed records. There are currently no plans to conduct a further updating exercise.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Affordable Housing

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units in (a) rural districts and (b) extreme rural districts in England were (i) sold under right to buy and (ii) newly built in 2002; and what the net change was. [116845]

Mr. McNulty: In local authorities that are classified as rural and mixed rural, 7,508 local authority dwellings were sold under right to buy during 2001–02. New build of registered social landlord and local authority housing, in the same local authorities and during the same period, was estimated as £2,713. The resulting net change is minus £4,795, but this excludes any acquisitions of existing dwellings by registered social landlords.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the provision of affordable housing in the South West. [118228]

Mr. McNulty: In 2003–04 funding available to the South West region from the Housing Corporation's approved development programme has increased by over 30 per cent. to £81 million. This increase forms part of the overall £500 million increase in Approved Development Programme (ADP) funding to registered social landlords (RSLs) for 2003–04.

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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has established Regional Housing Boards in every region to advise on how housing investment should be distributed to target regional and local priorities from 2004–05. The Regional Housing Strategies will be based on the assessment of a range of evidence including need and will be consistent with economic and planning policy at the regional level.

Housing strategies being produced by the regional housing boards should be based on a robust and transparent assessment of the different housing needs of all parts of the region so that the housing needs in rural as well as urban areas are adequately reflected.

Mr. Gray: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the Regional Planning Guidance totals for affordable housing in the South West are; what funding is available from the Housing Corporation for 2003–04; and how many units that funding will provide. [118234]

Mr. McNulty: Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) for the South West (RPG10) published in September 2001 does not give precise targets for affordable housing. RPG10 advises that such targets should be identified in local authorities' development plans based on their local needs assessments. For monitoring purposes the RPG does, however, indicate that it expects the cumulative total of those local targets to be in the region of 6,000 to 10,000 dwellings of affordable housing a year.

The Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme (ADP) is providing £81 million to the South West in 2003–04. The estimated ADP approvals in the region for the same year are at least 1,959 dwellings. Other public investment in social housing is provided through a number of channels including central Government funding for local authorities (the Housing Investment Programme), from local authorities' own resources, and neighbourhood renewal programmes.

Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the amount of public sector land for redevelopment sold at below market values since 1997 as a result of the inclusion of obligations to provide affordable housing on it. [118957]

Mr. McNulty: The market value of land for redevelopment will, among a number of factors, be affected by the applicable planning policy framework. Where planning policies seek the provision of affordable housing, this will be reflected in the market value. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has not assessed the amount of public sector land for redevelopment sold at below market values since 1997 as a result of the inclusion of obligations to provide affordable housing on it, nor is the information requested held centrally, which would allow such an assessment to be made, and it could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Compulsory Purchase

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to introduce changes in legislation further to amend compulsory purchase procedures in relation to the technical mechanisms compulsory purchase. [118299]

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Mr. McNulty: As I indicated during the debate on 10 June 2003 concerning the proposal to recommit the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill to Standing Committee [columns 566 and 574], we propose to introduce seven additional proposals to the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill which will help to make the compulsory purchase process simpler, quicker and fairer. These are:

extending to all acquiring authorities, including the RDAs and the Urban Regeneration Agency (English Partnerships), the power to require information to be given about persons occupying, or having an interest in, land which they propose to acquire;


redefining those who, by virtue of occupying or having an interest in land, are entitled to be regarded as statutory objectors with a right to have their objections heard at a public inquiry;


providing a regulation-making power to facilitate the consideration of objections by means of written representations;


providing for the confirmation of unopposed CPOs by the relevant acquiring authority;


providing for the confirmation in stages, where appropriate, of CPOs made by all types of acquiring authorities;


defining the dates to be used for valuation purposes; and


providing for advance payments of compensation to be made direct to mortgagees where this is agreed by all relevant parties and irrespective of the amount outstanding on the mortgage.

Disabled People (Housing)

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on recent developments in resuming housing adaptations for disabled people. [118542]

Mr. McNulty: Local housing authorities have a statutory duty to offer means tested Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) to eligible applicants who require adaptations to help them live independently in their own homes. The grant continues to be available to homeowners and tenants in both the private and social rented sector.

The Government will also continue to meet 60 per cent. of local authority expenditure incurred on DFGs. The budget for this grant for English authorities in 2003–04 is £99 million compared with £88 million in 2002–03 and £56 million in 1997–98.

Daventry Council's share of this national budget in 2003–04 is £97,000, compared with only £28,000 in 1997–98.

Empty Homes

Andrew George: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable empty homes there were in (a) rural areas and (b) England, broken down by region in each of the last 10 years. [117987]

Mr. McNulty: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for St. Ives on 5 February 2003, Official Report, column 347W.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the compliance of the compulsory leasing of empty properties recently announced in the Communities Plan with the Human Rights Act 1998; and if he will make a statement. [118161]

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Mr. McNulty: The proposal to enable local authorities to take temporary management control of some empty homes set out in the consultation paper "Empty Homes: Temporary Management, Lasting Solutions", published on 22 May, raise matters that engage aspects of the European Convention on Human Rights as it has effect by virtue of the Human Rights Act 1998. These matters are included in the issues on which the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is seeking views during the consultation period ending on 22 August.

If, as a result of the consultation, the Government decided to introduce legislative provisions, they would need to be satisfied that such provisions were compatible with Human Rights legislation.

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