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2 Feb 2004 : Column 739W—continued
Homebuy Loans
Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many Homebuy loans were made in each local authority area in London in 2002–03. [152019]
Keith Hill: The following sets out the number of Homebuy loans funded by social housing grant in London in 2002–03 by local authority area.
2 Feb 2004 : Column 740W
House Fires
Charles Hendry: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 22 January 2004, Official Report, column 1463W, how many people died in fires in houses (a) equipped with water sprinklers and (b) not equipped with water sprinklers in 2003. [152407]
Mr. Raynsford: The latest available information relates to calendar year 2002 and is still provisional. In that year, Fire and Rescue Services in the UK attended 22 fires in dwellings equipped with water sprinklers, there were no deaths reported. In the same period, there were 64,613 fires in dwellings not equipped with water sprinklers, and 443 deaths.
Housing
Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the framework agreed by the Housing Corporation and the London boroughs for the pooling of nominations for new lettings on a sub-regional basis. [152027]
Keith Hill: The Housing Corporation has advised that there are plans to launch a protocol agreement between London boroughs and housing associations in July 2004, subject to successful consultation and agreement between the parties.
The Deputy Prime Minister will make a copy of it available in the Library of the House.
Phone Masts
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many representations he has received from hon. Members concerning health risks of mobile phone masts. [151659]
Keith Hill: Between January 2003 and January 2004, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has received 65 letters from Members of Parliament which have included issues relating mobile phone technologies and health.
2 Feb 2004 : Column 741W
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to revise the code of practice for mobile phone operators concerning the registration of telephone masts. [151660]
Keith Hill: The Code of Best Practice on Mobile Network Development was published on 11 November 2002. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is setting up arrangements to monitor the operation of the Code but has no plans to amend the planning arrangements for telecommunications development at the present time.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many mobile phone masts there are on his Department's official headquarters. [151661]
Keith Hill: Currently there are no mobile phone base stations installed on Eland House.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many phone masts there are in each local authority area in England. [151662]
Keith Hill: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will introduce a compulsory register for local authorities regarding phone masts. [151680]
Keith Hill: The current planning guidance on electronic communications is set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 8 (revised) (PPG8). It encourages local planning authorities to maintain a register of masts. The Government have no plans to change these arrangements at present.
Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will introduce a sequential test for the siting of mobile phone masts to ensure that residential areas are selected only as a matter of last resort. [152300]
Keith Hill: Mobile phone mast development in residential areas is subject to the normal telecommunications planning arrangements in place throughout England, set out in Part 24 of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (GPDO). These arrangements were significantly strengthened in 2001 and include improved requirements for consulting local people about mast proposals. The changes to the GPDO were underpinned by revised guidance, set out in Planning Policy Guidance Note 8, Telecommunications.
The Stewart Report on Mobile Phones and Health, published in May 2000 did not recommend that the erection of mobile phone masts should be restricted in residential areas and we have no plans to introduce any such restrictions.
Public Bodies
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister who the members of the (a) Urban Development Corporation Black Country, (b) Urban Development Corporation London Docklands, (c) Urban Development Corporation Merseyside and (d) Urban Development Corporation Tyne and Wear were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and whether they are remunerated. [151810]
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Keith Hill: These four urban development corporations were wound up in 1998. They became non-operational on 1 April 1998 and were finally dissolved in July 1998. All board memberships therefore came to an end at that time.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the quangos which have a remit in the regions of the (a) North West, (b) North East and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber. [151890]
Mr. Raynsford: There are 19 national public bodies with regional or local offices in the North West of England; 20 in Yorkshire and the Humber; 21 in the North East region. These figures do not include central Government Departments and agencies with regional or local offices in northern England.
Annex C of the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice" lists the national and regional public bodies that exist in the North East of England. The White Paper sets out the proposed responsibilities of the election of regional assemblies. The proposals will bring some of the bodies under regional democratic control and influence, particularly the Regional Development Agencies, which will be accountable to the elected assembly.
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the evidential basis is for the statement in Cm 5511 page 47, paragraph 5.13 on assemblies covering additional running costs through more effective targeting of resources and efficiency improvements. [151007]
Mr. Raynsford: The Government will expect elected assemblies to deliver the best value for money for their voters. The Government will look to them to seek continuing annual improvements in efficiency in the same way that many private and public sector organisations achieve such savings. Bringing together into one organisation linked resource decisions currently undertaken by a range of disparate organisations will enable better, more consistent targeting and cut out duplication.
Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list (a) the recipient organisations and (b) the financial amounts over which the proposed regional assemblies would have influence in the (i) £1,100 million for the Yorkshire and the Humber region, (ii) £600 million for the North East region and (iii) £1,600 million for the North West region. [151898]
Mr. Raynsford: The recipient organisations and the financial amounts that elected assemblies would have influence over are:
| Recipient organisation | North East | North West | Yorkshire and the Humber |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local Learning and Skills Councils | 420 | 1,027 | 693 |
| Small Business Service "core" services | 6.1 | 18.1 | 13.5 |
| Local Transport Plans | 106 | 324 | 181 |
| Lottery distributors | 23.2 | 56.1 | 41.5 |
| Environment Agency | 0.08 | 0.5 | n/a |
| English Nature | 2.3 | 3.7 | 4.4 |
| Countryside Agency | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.9 |
| Highways Agency | 86.9 | 262.4 | 202.8 |
| Total influencing budget | 645.78 | 1,693 | 1,138.1 |
2 Feb 2004 : Column 743W
Ann Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister from which budget (a) £1,100 million funding for the Yorkshire and the Humber region, (b) £600 million funding for the North East region and (iii) £1,600 million funding for the North West region comes. [151899]
Mr. Raynsford: The budgets for which a future elected regional assembly would be responsible are currently allocated to the Government Offices and non-departmental public bodies from central Government Departments.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what matters are subject to scrutiny by the regional chambers in each of the English regions, and what the cost to public funds for each region was in each of the last three years. [152106]
Mr. Raynsford: Regional chambers were each allocated a Government grant of £500,000 in 2001–02 and £600,000 in each of 2002–03 and 2003–04 in order to help develop their capacity, specifically including their ability to undertake scrutiny of the Regional Development Agency for their region.
The details of the coverage of that scrutiny, and the process, vary from region to region and time to time, by agreement between the chamber and its Regional Development Agency.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the cost savings that will be made as a result of transferring powers and responsibilities currently held by the Government Offices for the Regions to elected regional assemblies. [152259]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister estimates that each assembly would cost around £25 million a year to run. But £5 million of this cost will be directly offset because staff will be transferring from existing bodies, such as the region's Government Office.
Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers and responsibilities he expects elected regional assemblies to exercise that are exercised by (a) central Government and (b) local government. [152260]
Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (Mr. Prentice) on 8 December 2003, Official Report, column 347W.
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