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18 Nov 2003 : Column 803W—continued

Exchange Flags (Liverpool)

Mrs. Ellman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what evidence was shown to English Partnerships to substantiate the claim by the Walton Group that they had paid their wholly owned subsidiary Todd and Benn Contractors £23,705,511 in relation to Exchange Flags in Liverpool; [138920]

Keith Hill: Under the terms of the City Grant Agreement dated 31 July 1992 between the Walton Group and the Secretary of State, each quarterly grant claim submitted by Walton Group was accompanied by a letter from an external auditor and were based on a valuation certificate given by an external Chartered Quantity Surveyor.

The auditor's letters certified that the Walton Group had maintained adequate records and received no other public sector support for the project, and that the claims were in accordance with the City Grant Agreement and Walton Group had defrayed expenditure to cover the qualifying costs incurred.

The last such claim submitted covered the quarter ending 31 May 1994. The accompanying auditor's letter certified that the Walton Group had defrayed expenditure to cover qualifying costs amounting to £23,705,511. It also listed various works that had been undertaken.

I will write to my hon. Friend with further details of this.

Food Expenditure

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent on food by his Department and by each of the agencies for which it is responsible in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; what proportion of that food by value was produced in the United Kingdom; what guidance he has issued to encourage the procurement of home-produced food; and if he will make a statement. [129367]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed on 29 May 2002 and it is thus not possible to provide data for the Office prior to then.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's expenditure on food is generally limited to official hospitality provided by the Office and meals and refreshments provided to delegates to the Fire Service College. Expenditure 2002–03 was £225,274 on official hospitality and £341,374 on meals and refreshments at the Fire Service College.

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The current catering contracts for the headquarters of the Office neither prescribe the source of produce supplied nor require contractors to provide this information. It is anticipated this will change when new contracts are put in place next year. 72 per cent. of the food supplied to the Fire Service College was produced in the UK.

Officials of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are working closely with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to integrate and promote the principles of sustainable development into the public procurement of food and catering services.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Gardiner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 17 September 2003, Official Report, column 739W, on formula funding share, on what basis he will determine the 2005–06 formula funding share. [138600]

Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my answer to the hon. Member for Reigate (Mr. Blunt) of 6 November 2003, Official Report, column 794W.

Government Office for the South West

Mr. Flook: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff are employed by the Government Office for the South West; and how many were employed in 1997. [137385]

Yvette Cooper: In 1997 the Government Office for the South West (GOSW) carried out work on behalf of four Departments and employed 173 full time equivalent staff. Since then GOSW has taken on additional work for a further six Departments and the administration of the £300 million Cornwall Objective One programme, and now employs 313 full time equivalent staff and 18 inward secondees or attachments.

Hazardous Waste

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many planning applications are being considered for hazardous waste landfill; and how many sites for hazardous waste landfill received planning approval in the last year for which figures are available. [139697]

Keith Hill: Information collected by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on planning applications relates to decisions taken and does not distinguish the waste stream going to landfill. In 2002–03, 335 planning applications relating to landfill were considered by waste planning authorities, of which 302 were approved. A breakdown of those decisions relating to landfill by type of application is in the table.

Nature of applicationNumberGrantedRefused
New site735716
Extension to area12111
Extension to life47452
Deepening or other within site25250
Increasing void for landfill11101
Ancillary operations40382
Variation of conditions69645
Sum of above(14)22725027
Total33530233

(14) Totals do not correspond to number of waste planning decisions because some were categorized as being of a dual nature and some were not specified as to nature of application.

Source:

Data provided to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister by waste planning authorities on CPS1/2 Returns.


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Housing

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 12 December 2002, Official Report, column 488W, on housing, when he expects to publish the updated Survey of English Housing, based on the population figures from the 2001 Census. [139270]

Keith Hill: The report on the Survey of English Housing 2001–02 is due to be published in December 2003. Some of the key findings of the 2001–02 survey were published on 20 August 2002 in "Housing Statistics Summary No. 13", and a large batch of 2001–02 tables was published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website last December. Further batches have been published since, and currently there are 346 tables on the website. In addition, some of the findings of the 2002–03 survey have been published in "Housing Statistics Summary No. 17" and "Housing Statistics Summary No. 18". It is intended to publish a large batch of 2002–03 tables on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website in December 2003.

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many properties in Shrewsbury and Atcham are awaiting adaptations for disabled people; and what the estimated value is of such adaptations. [138886]

Keith Hill: There are currently 353 residential properties in the social and private sector that are awaiting adaptations for disabled people in Shrewsbury and Atcham. The estimated value of the adaptations is £2.3 million.

Landfill Sites

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance he issues to local authorities on the siting of landfill sites in the green belt. [139205]

Keith Hill: National planning policy on waste management is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 10 "Planning and Waste Management". This states that


Local planning authorities should also have regard to Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 "Green Belts" (PPG2). This advises that the carrying out of operations and the making of material changes of use which do not maintain the openness of the Green Belt and conflict with the purposes of including land in the Green Belt would not be appropriate development. In such cases applicants would have to demonstrate that there were

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very special circumstances that clearly outweighed the harm that the development would cause to the Green Belt. PPG2 also states that when large-scale development or redevelopment of land occurs in the Green Belt (which may include the tipping of waste) it should, so far as possible, contribute to the achievement of the objectives for the use of land in Green Belts.

Morecambe

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding was granted by the North West Regional Development Agency in each year since 1997 for regeneration of Morecambe's sea front; and what sums have been allocated by the Agency for future years. [138724]

Keith Hill: A £4.3 million programme for the regeneration of Morecambe was approved in 1994 under the Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) Round 1 scheme "Turning the Tide". Prior to the creation of North West Development Agency (NWDA) in April 1999, this was administered by Government Office for the North West (GO-NW).

The programme was delegated to Lancaster City Council, as Accountable Body, and a Partnership Board which then appraised and approved a number of projects within that delegation limit. Some of those projects provided for the regeneration of the seafront, although the exact amount of funding for that particular activity is not known. The SRB scheme completed in 2002 and was fully spent.

Since it took over responsibility for SRB in 1999, NWDA has allocated over £ l million to Morecambe, including a contribution of £44,000 towards a Morecambe Resort Action Plan study.

Tabled are the breakdowns in the investment since 1997, which includes an additional £482,000 from English Partnerships in 1998–99.

Investment £ Thousand
1997–981,340
1998–99955
1999–2000448
2000–01350
2001–02205
2002–0372

NWDA is currently working with Urban Splash and Lancaster City Council on proposals to repair, refurbish and re-develop the Midland Hotel and its environs. This could lead to substantial new NWDA investment in future years.



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