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27 Jan 2004 : Column 305W—continued
Housing
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many local housing authorities in England have published a housing strategy; and how many of the published strategies contain policies for reducing the incidence of empty homes. [150124]
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Keith Hill: All local housing authorities in England have housing strategies. Information on the number which include specific policies on empty homes is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the provision of affordable housing; and what plans he has to improve its availability. [150383]
Keith Hill: The Government is acutely aware of the difficulties associated with shortages of good quality housing at an affordable price. A programme of action to address this, and to tackle poor condition housing and low demand and abandonment, was set out in "Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future", launched on 5 February 2003. The programme for affordable housing focuses on: improving the effectiveness of the planning system; the establishment of four growth areas to alleviate the overall housing pressures in London and surrounding areas; and targeted limitations on the right to buy. In addition Kate Barker, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, is carrying out a review of issues underlying the lack of supply and responsiveness of housing in the UK.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has increased the funding for provision of additional affordable housing through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme to around £5 billion for the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06; £1 billion of this will be spent on housing for key workers. Some £600 million is being made available over the same period to support work in the growth areas which will be used for site assembly/remediation of brownfield land and infrastructure as well as providing additional affordable housing.
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has for the re-development of council-owned housing estates during the next 10 years. [150385]
Keith Hill: The Sustainable Communities Plan sets out the policies, resources and partnerships necessary to transform our communities. This includes the steps we are taking to regenerate council-owned housing estates, for example, through the work of the market renewal pathfinders, our decent homes policy and through various liveability initiatives.
- £500 million over the next two years to secure transformation of housing markets in stock in nine areas where demand is particularly weak. All of the nine market renewal pathfinder project intervention areas contain a mixture of social and private sector housing. The pathfinder schemes are being designed in such a way as to bring major benefits both in terms of improving demand for housing and reaching decent homes target;
- a commitment to ensuring that all social housing is made decent by 2010. In delivering this commitment, local authorities are encouraged to ensure the outcome is sustainable in the long term by taking a view about the future demand for their council estates. Therefore in some areas delivery may be achieved through a mixture of demolition, re-modelling and refurbishment; and
- £201 million for programmes to create more liveable places and improve the local environment for communities.
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In addition, the National Strategy for Neighbourhood Renewal is helping to tackle multiple deprivation in the most deprived neighbourhoods in the country with a focus on the five key themes of crime, health, employment, education, and housing and the physical environment. For instance, housing interventions as part of the New Deal for Communities programme include renovating houses, the development of master plans for housing, elimination of vacant and derelict housing and redevelopment projects.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average waiting time is for a person to be re-housed in Chorley for (a) all housing and (b) old age pensioner housing. [150406]
Keith Hill: The average waiting time for people to be re-housed by Chorley Borough Council is tabled as follows:
| All housing | OAP | Statutory homeless | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000–01 | 245 | 402 | 67 |
| 2001–02 | 244 | 425 | 43 |
| 2002–03 | 270 | 377 | 89 |
| 2003–04 | 244 | 331 | 135 |
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the waiting list figures are in Chorley for (a) all housing and (b) old age pensioner housing for each of the last five years. [150407]
Keith Hill: The waiting list figures for Chorley Borough Council in each the last five years are tabled as follows:
| OAP | Others | Total | Homeless applications | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 83 | 112 | 195 | Unknown | 195 |
| 2000–01 | 110 | 257 | 367 | 459 | 826 |
| 2001–02 | 133 | 507 | 640 | 508 | 1,148 |
| 2002–03 | 191 | 937 | 1,128 | 493 | 1,621 |
| 2003–04 | 270 | 1,385 | 1,655 | 434 | 2,089 |
New Build (Chorley)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the amount of brownfield land available for new build in Chorley. [150016]
Keith Hill: The 2002 National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land shows a reported 310 hectares of previously developed land potentially available for development in Chorley. This includes 188 hectares of vacant or derelict land and buildings, and 122 hectares currently in use with the potential for redevelopment.
Permitted Development Order Review
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the organisations and individuals consulted in the Permitted Development Order Review England, published in September 2003. [150999]
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Keith Hill: The research study into permitted development was commissioned from consultants Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd. in 2002. A list of those organisations who were consulted by the researchers can be found in Annex 1 of the report which is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at www.odpm.gov.uk. Copies are also available in the Library of the House.
Mrs. Calton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what additional consultation is required before progress can be made with the recommendations of the Permitted Development Order Review England, with respect to railway undertakings and telecommunications masts. [151000]
Keith Hill: The research study into permitted development was commissioned from consultants Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners Ltd. in 2002. Informal comments were invited on the recommendations contained in the report on the review of permitted development rights when it was published in September 2003. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are putting together proposals on which we will conduct a full consultation exercise later this year.
Regional Assemblies
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the budget of the information campaign, Elected Regional Assembly: Your Say, is (a) in total, (b) for the East Midlands and (c) for West Derbyshire. [150890]
Mr. Raynsford: 'Your Say' is intended to inform everyone in the North East, the North West and Yorkshire and the Humber who will have a chance later this year to vote in referendums on whether to establish an elected regional assemblies.
The total budget for this financial year is £500,000.
It is not intended that the other five English regions should have a referendum this year. Therefore, there is no 'Your Say' budget allocation for the East Midlands or the West Derbyshire sub-region.
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
British Monarchy Studies
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much time secondary school students spent studying the British monarchy in the last period for which figures are available; [150360]
- (2) what provision is made in the national curriculum for (a) primary and (b) secondary education to teach school children the values and history of the British monarchy. [150388]
Mr. Charles Clarke: The history and development of the British monarchy is a key feature of the statutory programmes of study for National Curriculum History in primary and secondary schools. In addition, through the Citizenship National Curriculum which is a statutory requirement for all pupils aged 11–16, pupils will be taught about the United Kingdom and the institutions which underpin our democracy, including
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the role of the Queen. There is no information collected on the time school pupils spend studying the British monarchy.
Child Poverty
Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in (a) the East Midlands and (b) West Derbyshire lived in poverty in (i) 2001–02 and (ii) 2002–03. [150924]
Mr. Pond: I have been asked to reply.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for the City of York (Hugh Bayley) on 8 January 2004, Official Report, column 462W.
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