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Taylor House

Keith Vaz: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many cases were dealt with at Taylor House on Monday 14 July. [127403]

Mr. Lammy: On Monday 14 July the Immigration Appellate Authority at Taylor House dealt with 90 oral substantive hearings of which 80 were asylum hearings and 10 were immigration hearings.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Affordable Housing

Mr. Gray: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his plans are for affordable housing in the South West region; and whether he plans to increase investment in the region in the next comprehensive spending review. [126933]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister plans for affordable housing in the South West region were set out in "Sustainable Communities in the South West" (February 2003).

Funding for the provision of affordable housing in the South West has increased to £81 million for 2003–04, compared to just under £62 million for 2002–03. The programme is expected to deliver around 2,000 new affordable homes for the region in 2003–04.

From 2004–05 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is strengthening the role of the regions to ensure housing investment is targeted more effectively on local and regional investment priorities. Regional Housing Boards will advise on the best use of resources to support identified priorities in regional housing strategies.

Decisions on future investment plans cannot be taken in advance of the next spending review.

Communities Plan

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the numbers of trained people needed in the building industry with reference to the Communities Plan; and if he will make a statement. [127763]

Keith Hill: The Communities Plan is clear that, in order to deliver my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's vision of thriving, sustainable communities, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister needs to increase skills and capacity across the building industry.

Sir John Egan has therefore been asked to conduct a review of the skills and training that built-environment professionals required to deliver sustainable communities. He will consider what skills these groups need to work collaboratively and how any skills gap can best be bridged.

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The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is also working with other Government Departments, agencies and the building industry to address the issues that are preventing young people from making construction their career of first choice.

EU Directives

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the EU directives implemented by the Department since 8 June 2001. [126594]

Keith Hill: No European Union directives have been implemented by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister since its creation in May 2002. We are in the course of implementing Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effects on the environment of certain plans and programmes (the "strategic environmental assessment Directive"), and Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings.

Green Burial Sites

Mr. Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to issue planning policy guidance to local authorities on green burial sites. [127182]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to issue specific policy guidance on 'green' burial sites.

Homeless Population

Linda Perham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent representations he has received on the (a) size and (b) condition of the homeless population. [127840]

Keith Hill: The most recent national estimate of the number of rough sleepers was derived from the 2002 Housing Investment Programme return from local authorities and shows a figure of 596—based on single night street counts and estimates.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's latest Statistical Release on statutory homelessness, from returns to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by local authorities covering figures for England up to the end of March 2003, was published on 17 June.

Information summarised in Table 4, "Acceptances by category of Priority Need", shows that 129,320 households were accepted as homeless and in priority need by local authorities in England during 2002–03.

National and regional P1E-based figures—which include estimates for non-responding local authorities —appear in a quarterly Statistical Release, available in the Library of the House and via the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website. An accompanying Supplementary Table presents key data at regional and local authority level. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website link is http://www.housing. odpm.gov.uk/statistics/publicat/homelessness/index.htm_quarterly

In May the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister issued a consultation document on "Improving Standards of Accommodation for Homeless Households in Temporary Accommodation". This seeks views on proposals to give the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Bed and Breakfasts target full statutory force

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and to raise standards in all forms of temporary accommodation, particularly Bed and Breakfasts and to ensure that households in Bed and Breakfast hotels have access to health education and social services.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is working closely with the Department of Health to tackle the health inequalities that homeless people face as outlined in "Tackling Health Inequalities—A programme for Action".

Local Authority Staff

Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many whole-time equivalent staff posts there were in each local authority in England in the last year for which figures are available. [127205]

Keith Hill: The Local Government Employment Survey 2002 conducted by the Employers Organisation for Local Government found that as of June 2002 there were 2,023,983 employee jobs in local authorities in England. I have placed a breakdown of this figure, showing the number of employees in each local authority in England as at June 2002, in the Library of the House.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Ministerial Visits

David Davis: To ask the Leader of the House if he will list the (a) foreign and (b) UK visits he has made since 1 April; what the cost was to public funds of each trip; whom he met; and what gifts were received. [126888]

Mr. Hain: As Leader of the House of Commons, I have not made any foreign or UK visits.

Written Ministerial Statements

Mr. Flook: To ask the Leader of the House how many written ministerial statements were made on each day during the 2002–03 Session. [127825]

Mr. Hain: From the start of the 2003–03 session until 17 July inclusive, 1,103 written ministerial statements have been made. This is, on average, 8 per sitting day.

WALES

Consultation Documents

John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the consultation documents issued by the Wales Office in each of the last four years; what the cost was of producing each of these; how many documents were issued in each consultation; and how many responses were received in each consultation. [124568]

Mr. Touhig: The information is not readily available in the format requested. However since its creation in July 1999 the Wales Office has undertaken these consultations:

July 1999. Countryside and Rights of Way Bill. 81 responses.


December 1999. "Key issues and options for dealing with the problems caused by high hedges". 142 responses.


February 2000. "Greater Protection and Better Management of Common Land in England and Wales".

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April 2000. "Amendments to the Government's Proposals for New Assisted Areas". 104 documents issued at no cost to the Wales Office and 18 representations received.


July 2000. "Proposals to change the Administration of the Housing Transfer Programme".


March 2001. "Government Proposal for the Reform of Business Tenancies" (jointly with Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions).


May 2002. "Draft NHS (Wales) Bill". 42 responses received.


June 2002. "Draft Mental Health Bill" (jointly with Department of Health).


June 2002. Timing of Rent Increases Regulatory Reform Order (jointly)


August 2002. "Draft Welsh Language Scheme for the Wales Office". Seven responses received.


2002. Regulatory Reform (Housing Management Agreements) Order. 51 responses received.


December 2002. "Ombudsmen's services in Wales: Time for Change?" Cost some £700. Some 700 copies issued and 50 responses received.


April 2003. "Draft Public Audit (Wales) Bill". Over 130 documents were issued. 15 responses were received.


July 2003. "Proposals for a Regulatory Reform Order to enable the Welsh Administration Ombudsman to undertake investigations as Commissioner for Local Administration in Wales".

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