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Unemployment Rates

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the unemployment rate is in (a) South Sefton, (b) postcode L20 and (c) the UK. [128882]

Ruth Kelly: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl to Mrs. Claire Curtis-Thomas, dated 11 September 2003:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary question on what the unemployment rate is in (a) South Sefton, (b) postcode L20 and (c) the UK. I am replying in his absence. (128882)

The United Kingdom unemployment rate for the three months ending June 2003 was 5.0%.

Estimated unemployment rates for the South Sefton geographical area are not available. However, the latest estimated unemployment rate for the Sefton local authority area, for the 12 months to February 2002, is 5.0%.

Estimated unemployment rates are not available for postcode areas. However, the number of claimants of the Jobseeker's Allowance (ISA) are available for postcode areas. In postcode district L20 there were 1,333 ISA claimants in July 2003.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

English Partnerships

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the initial version of the register of public land being compiled by English Partnerships will be (a) completed and (b) published. [127762]

Keith Hill: English Partnerships completed an initial register of surplus public sector land on 30 July 2003 and this is available to all Government departments, their agencies and non-departmental public bodies. English Partnerships are now working on a more interactive version of the register, which will allow public sector landowners to input data directly to it. Information from the register may be made public.

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Housing

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if the Government will increase the proportion of affordable housing as a condition of granting planning approval for major developments. [128643]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has published for consultation an update of the existing guidance on planning for affordable housing. This addresses a number of matters including the size of development that could be expected to contribute to affordable housing and the circumstances when this would be appropriate. The amount of affordable housing to be sought from residential development as a proportion of the overall dwelling provision on site is currently indicated by local authority development plans. There are no proposals to set proportions through national guidance.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the Government took account of water, energy, and transport needs in the plans to build an additional 200,000 houses in South East England. [128641]

Keith Hill: The Government are taking full account of water, energy and transport needs.

Discussions were held with water companies by consultants who undertook the growth area studies for Ashford, Milton Keynes/South Midlands and London-Stansted-Cambridge that were published last year. Further detailed local studies are under way to help determine infrastructure requirements. Discussions have taken place and will continue between the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Water UK, involving the Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the water companies, the Environment Agency and OFWAT.

The Government are committed to increasing the standard to which all publicly funded housing is built. From April 2003, all new homes funded by the Housing Corporation are required, as a condition of grant, to achieve an EcoHomes "pass" rating. Housing associations are encouraged to aim higher and achieve a "good" rating. English Partnerships are already working towards the higher "very good" benchmark on their mainstream site disposals. The Millennium Communities programme, a scheme being taken forward by English Partnerships, is working towards the "excellent" target.

EcoHomes Standards cover matters such as access to public transport, proximity to local amenities, eco-labelling of white goods, provision of external space, the ecological value of the site, and water efficiency, all of which are outside the remit of Building Regulations. The revision of Part L of the Building Regulations, which deals with energy efficiency, that came into force last year is expected to produce savings of 1.4 million tonnes of carbon by 2010. The Energy White Paper announced a further review, with the aim of making further amendments by 2005. The review will seek to further reduce the carbon emissions from new homes, through measures like improving the thermal performance of the building envelope—both of which are EcoHomes targets. The Government are also

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considering how improved water efficiency can be achieved in the private-funded housing sector within developments in South East England.

Later this autumn, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will be holding a Better Buildings Summit, in conjunction with the Department for Trade and Industry and DEFRA, to consider issues relating to the efficiency of all buildings. The outcomes of this summit will feed into future Government policy.

Government transport investment of £2.2 billion in Thames Gateway and the three other growth areas will complement the £610 million the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is investing in directly targeted resources over the next three years, and lever in a further £3 billion from public and private sector partners.

Planning

Kate Hoey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister over what timescale the Government expects local planning authorities (a) to have carried out (i) an assessment of needs and (ii) an audit of existing facilities and (b) to have adopted local standards of provision, as required by PPG17. [128609]

Yvette Cooper: Local planning authorities should undertake assessments of needs for open space, sports and recreational facilities, audits of existing facilities and set locally derived standards for provision, in accordance with guidance in PPG17. The timescale for this is not prescribed. Local authorities need to take the guidance in PPG17 into account in the preparation of development plans and the Government expect plans to be kept up-to-date and to properly reflect national policy guidance.

PPG17 sets out the steps to be taken to maintain adequate supply of open space and sports and recreational facilities in the absence of a robust and up-to-date assessment by a local authority.

Property Gap Funding Scheme

Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in respect of (a) speculative and (b) bespoke developments, how many grants have been made under the business and commercial property gap funding scheme; what their total value is; to whom they have been made; what the total area of land involved is; and what proportion of the total land was previously undeveloped. [128957]

Keith Hill: The State aid approval for speculative and bespoke gap-funding of business and commercial developments enables English Partnerships, the Regional Development Agencies and Local Authorities to support private sector initial investment in land and property regeneration projects that would not have proceeded without public sector support.

Speculative and bespoke gap-funding of business and commercial developments received approval from the European Commission in May last year and since then has been used to facilitate a number of projects through grants and other mechanisms, with the Regional Development Agencies providing over £25 million in support to projects under these approvals up to the end of the fiscal year 2002–03 and predict providing support

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of over £12 million for fiscal year 2003–04. It is expected that speculative and bespoke gap-funding will continue to enable projects to go ahead in the future.

Sir Sydney Chapman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much additional money is being made available in 2003–04 to (a) English Partnerships, (b) Regional Development Agencies and (c) local authorities for making grants available under (i) the Business and Commercial Property Gap Funding Scheme, (ii) the Housing Gap Funding Scheme, (iii) the Heritage Aid Scheme and (iv) the Land Remediation/Dereliction Aid Scheme; and what resources were available under the former Partnership Investment Programme. [128958]

Keith Hill: State aid approvals are purely enabling actions, which allow English Partnerships, the Regional Development Agencies and Local Authorities to spend from their existing allocations in accordance with the State aid regime. No extra money has been made available through the granting of these approvals; they simply facilitate the aid granting bodies in providing support for regeneration from their existing budgets.

English Partnerships' Partnership Investment Programme was financed from English Partnerships annual allocation; no money was ring-fenced within English Partnerships budget to finance the programme.

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