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2 Jul 2003 : Column 359W—continued
Brownfield/Greenfield Sites
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what basis the former collieries of Houghton and Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire have been reclassified from brownfield to greenfield sites. [123166]
Keith Hill: No collieries in South Yorkshire have been reclassified from brownfield to greenfield sites.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his Department's policy on reclassifying brownfield land in South Yorkshire to greenfield. [123168]
Keith Hill: It is not the policy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to reclassify brownfield land in South Yorkshire as greenfield.
Council of Ministers
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) on how many occasions since May 1997 the Department's vote in the Council of Ministers against a legislative proposal (a) was and (b) was not sufficient to achieve with other member states a blocking minority; [117217]
- (2) on how many occasions since May 1997 the Department abstained in the Council of Ministers on a legislative proposal which was passed by qualified majority voting; [117233]
(3) on how many occasions since May 1997 the Department has been outvoted by qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers; and if he will list the legislation by year; [117251]
(4) on how many occasions since May 1997 the Department indicated dissent from a proposal in the Council of Ministers but did not register a vote or abstention. [117264]
Phil Hope: Since the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was created in May 2002, there have been no occasions when the Department has been involved in voting in the Council of Ministers.
Council Tax
Andrew George: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many properties are eligible for a 50 per cent.
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council tax rebate; and how many of these are second homes, in each billing authority in England in the current financial year; [122487]
- (2) how much in rebate is provided to (a) those properties entitled to 50 per cent. council tax discount and (b) second homes in each billing authority in England in the current financial year. [122488]
Phil Hope: The information requested is available in the Library of the House.
Properties eligible for the 50 per cent. council tax discount, including second homes, benefit from the discount because their liability for council tax is less than it would otherwise be. There is therefore no reason for providing them with financial assistance as a result being eligible for the discount.
The council tax income forgone by a local authority as a result of properties in its area being entitled to the 50 per cent. council tax discount is, however, taken into account when calculating the authority's entitlement to revenue support grant.
The information available in the Library of the House includes estimates of the amounts of council tax income forgone by each billing authority in the current financial year as a result of the 50 per cent. discount. It is not possible to identify how much of these amounts are attributable to second homes. The precise extent to which the income forgone as a result of the 50 per cent. discount is compensated for through revenue support grant could be calculated only at disproportionate cost.
County Council Staff
Mr. Robert Key: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many employees work for (a) Wiltshire County Council and (b) Salisbury District Council. [122794]
Phil Hope: The information is as follows:
| Council | Total headcount(46) | Full time equivalent |
|---|---|---|
| Wiltshire county council | 11,264 | 6,831 |
| Salisbury district council | 659 | 599 |
(46) Includes part-time staff
Government Offices for the Regions
Dr. Whitehead: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the function is of the Government Offices for the Regions. [122530]
Phil Hope: Government Offices are key agents of Government in the English Regions. Working with regional and local agencies, they are well placed to promote, manage and implement a wide variety of Government programmes. By working with regional development agencies, regional chambers/assemblies, local authorities, and local learning and skills councils they also play a significant role in managing regional and local relationships on behalf of central government.
Government Offices bring together the activities and interests of 10 Government Departments within a single organisation, as follows:
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
- Regional governance
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- Local Government
- Neighbourhood Renewal
- Sustainable Communities (Housing and Planning)
- Urban Policy and Regeneration
- Department for Transport
- Local Transport Plans
- Regional Transport Strategies
- Transport Modelling Studies
- Department of Trade and Industry
- Sponsorship of Regional Development Agencies
- Business input to Neighbourhood Renewal programmes
- Communicating with business
- Regional economic intelligence
- Department for Education and Skills
- School improvement (working with education advisers),
- Links between neighbourhood renewal work and education floor targets
- Adult skills
- Support for Local Learning and Skills Councils
- Positive activities for young people
- Sure Start
- Children's Fund
- Connexions
- Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
- Rural renewal
- Sustainable development
- Department for Culture Media and Sport
- Linking culture, tourism, and sport with other programmes and the New Opportunities Fund
- Home Office
- Crime Reduction programmes
- Community Cohesion
- Drugs Prevention
- Department of Health
- Public health issues
- Promoting engagement between the National Health Service and neighbourhood renewal
- Department for Work and Pensions
- European Social Fund Programme
- Links with Job Centre Plus
- Cabinet Office
- Emergencies
- Links with Regional News Network
Government Office's are uniquely placed to take a cross-departmental approach to regional and local issues, and to provide a coherent view of the operation of, and interactions between Government programmes. As part of central Government, their role also includes providing a regional perspective to inform the development and evaluation of national policy.
Homelessness
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homeless households were in priority need in each year since 1992. [122159]
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Keith Hill: Estimates of the number of households accepted by local authorities in England as homeless and in priority need are as follows:
| 1992 | 138,740 |
| 1993 | 127,630 |
| 1994 | 118,490 |
| 1995 | 117,490 |
| 1996 | 113,590 |
| 1997 | 102,000 |
| 1998 | 104,630 |
| 1999 | 105,370 |
| 2000 | 111,340 |
| 2001 | 118,560 |
| 2002 | 124,880 |
Source:
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister PIE quarterly housing returns
Housing
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many socially rented houses have been built in rural areas in each year since 1997. [121782]
Keith Hill: The numbers of registered social landlord and local authority dwellings built in 'rural' local authorities are in the following table.
| Year | Number of 'social rented' dwellings built in English rural authorities |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 4,218 |
| 1998 | 3,459 |
| 1999 | 3,283 |
| 2000 | 3,542 |
| 2001 | 2,924 |
| 2002 | 2,021 |
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many houses there were in the rented sector (a) in total and (b) broken down by region in (i) May 2003 and (ii) May 1997. [121815]
Keith Hill: The information available is in the following table.
| Rented dwelling stock (000s) at1 April 2002 | Rented dwelling stock (000s) at1 April 1997 | |
|---|---|---|
| North East | 399 | 419 |
| North West | 875 | 927 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 692 | 718 |
| East Midlands | 483 | 501 |
| West Midlands | 651 | 686 |
| East | 611 | 617 |
| London | 1293 | 1313 |
| South East | 819 | 840 |
| South West | 541 | 558 |
| England | 6365 | 6578 |
Local Government
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what mathematical formula was used in (a) the old standard spending assessment and (b) the new formula spending share to calculate the level of reimbursement received by each local authority in Hertfordshire to compensate for student council tax exemptions; [122495]
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- (2) how much each local authority in Hertfordshire (a) lost in council tax per head and (b) received in reimbursement per head through formula spending share, as a result of student council tax exemptions in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04 estimates. [122496]
Phil Hope: Under both the standard spending assessment and formula spending share systems, each local authority is compensated for student exemptions from council tax in the calculation of its entitlement to revenue support grant. The calculation does not, however, involve a separate mathematical formula for student exemptions. Student exemptions are, instead, one of several factors affecting the size of a local authority's taxbase, and it is the overall taxbase for the authority that is taken into account in the calculation of revenue support grant.
More specifically, revenue support grant is calculated as the difference between a local authority's standard spending assessment (or formula spending share) and the sum of its share of redistributed business rates and its assumed council tax income, with the reduction in the taxbase due to student exemptions being taken into account in the calculation of the assumed council tax income. The resulting revenue support grant allocations are then constrained so that the like-for-like increase in formula grant over the previous year is neither below the floor nor above the ceiling.
The following table shows how much council tax per head of resident population was foregone by each local authority in Hertfordshire in 2002–03 as a result of student council tax exemptions.
| Number of class M and N exemptions(47) | Council tax income foregone per head | |
|---|---|---|
| Hertfordshire County Council | 1,550 | 1.04 |
| Hertfordshire Police | 1,550 | 0.12 |
| Broxbourne | 32 | 0.03 |
| Dacorum | 53 | 0.04 |
| East Hertfordshire | 195 | 0.21 |
| Hertsmere | 125 | 0.18 |
| North Hertfordshire | 56 | 0.06 |
| St Albans | 126 | 0.15 |
| Stevenage | 88 | 0.13 |
| Three Rivers | 36 | 0.07 |
| Watford | 75 | 0.19 |
| Welwyn Hatfield | 764 | 1.17 |
(47) Class M exemptions are for halls of residence provided predominantly for the accommodation of students, and Class N exemptions are for dwellings which are occupied only by students, the foreign spouses of students, or school and college leavers.
Sources:
CTBl(s) returns from local authorities and the Registrar General's population estimates.
The above figures are equivalent to an average of £1.38 revenue foregone per head across Hertfordshire. Comparable figures for 2003–04 are not available because the relevant return for 2003–04 did not request information on the distribution across council tax bands of exempt properties. Assuming a similar distribution across bands as 2002–03 gives an average of about £1.70 revenue foregone per head for 2003–04.
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The precise extent to which the above losses were compensated for through revenue support grant could be calculated only at disproportionate cost. In general terms, however, a local authority spending at the level of its formula spending share is fully compensated for council tax income foregone as a result of council tax discounts and exemptions in the calculation of its entitlement to revenue support grant before the application of floors and ceilings.
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