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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]

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.

2 Jul 2003 : Column 360W

council tax rebate; and how many of these are second homes, in each billing authority in England in the current financial year; [122487]

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:

CouncilTotal headcount(46)Full time equivalent
Wiltshire county council11,2646,831
Salisbury district council659599

(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


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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:

1992138,740
1993127,630
1994118,490
1995117,490
1996113,590
1997102,000
1998104,630
1999105,370
2000111,340
2001118,560
2002124,880

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.

YearNumber of 'social rented' dwellings built in English rural authorities
19974,218
19983,459
19993,283
20003,542
20012,924
20022,021

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 2002Rented dwelling stock (000s) at1 April 1997
North East399419
North West875927
Yorkshire and Humber692718
East Midlands483501
West Midlands651686
East611617
London12931313
South East819840
South West541558
England63656578

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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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 Council1,5501.04
Hertfordshire Police1,5500.12
Broxbourne320.03
Dacorum530.04
East Hertfordshire1950.21
Hertsmere1250.18
North Hertfordshire560.06
St Albans1260.15
Stevenage880.13
Three Rivers360.07
Watford750.19
Welwyn Hatfield7641.17

(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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