| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Feb 2004 : Column 337W—continued
Rent Service
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will allow retrospective effect to be given to registered rents in cases where the Rent Service has not registered the rent within a reasonable time from application. [154111]
Yvette Cooper: There are no time limits for rent registrations in the Rent Act 1977, and there are no plans to amend the Rent Act to permit retrospective rent increases after registration.
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what targets he has set the Rent Service for the maximum time between application to register a rent and determination of that application. [154112]
Yvette Cooper: There is no maximum time set between receipt of a Fair Rent application and determination. However my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has set The Rent Service a target for Fair Rents of completing 87 per cent. within 40 working days of receipt.
Mr. Hammond: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what redress is available to landlords in respect of rental income lost because of unreasonable delays by the Rent Service in registering a rent. [154113]
23 Feb 2004 : Column 338W
Yvette Cooper: There are no time limits set for rent registrations in the 1977 Rent Act. The Rent Service works to a target of completing 87 per cent. of Fair Rent applications within 40 working days of receipt. It is unusual for significant delays to occur, but where they have, The Rent Service has diverted resources to redress the situation.
Social Housing
Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much money central Government allocated to each London borough to invest in social housing in each year since 1999. [155094]
Mr. Raynsford: Information on local authority housing capital allocations and the funding provided to housing associations in each London borough since 1999–2000 is available in the Library of the House.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what action the Government is taking (a) to eliminate non-decent social housing by 2010 and (b) to reduce the number of vulnerable people living in non-decent homes by 70 per cent. by 2010. [155095]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is providing both financial and other support to assist local authorities in delivering decent homes. Over the period 2003–06 £7.9 billion is available for capital expenditure on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) housing stock.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is also making available £1.4 billion through Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
Guidance on implementing the standard and conducting options appraisals has also been published.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's "Community Housing Task Force" together with Government Offices for the Regions are currently working with local authorities to help them develop their Options appraisals.
This process is designed to help the authority put in place a plan that will deliver decent homes.
To reduce the number of vulnerable people living in non-decent homes the Government will increase the proportion of privately rented housing stock which is in decent condition.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue to encourage schemes which offer support and loan finance to homeowners who repair or adapt their properties. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will provide extra resources for home improvement agencies to help older and vulnerable home owners to remain independent in their own homes and increase the statutory protection for tenants of private landlords by seeking to establish mandatory licensing for Houses in Multiple Occupation. Through a Regulatory Reform Order, local authorities have now much more freedom to help homeowners improve the condition of their homes which can include improvements to heating and insulation.
23 Feb 2004 : Column 339W
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many social housing units have been built in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Chorley in each year since 2000. [154316]
23 Feb 2004 : Column 340W
Keith Hill: The social housing dwellings which have been funded via Social Housing Grant (SHG) or the Local Authority Social Housing Grant (LASHG) are as follows:
| Number of units in year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | Total | |
| Total dwellings for the North West | 3,998 | 3,665 | 3,820 | 3,661 | 15,144 |
| Total dwellings for Lancashire | 861 | 899 | 554 | 668 | 2,982 |
| Total dwellings for Chorley | 29 | 15 | 56 | 14 | 114 |
South East England Development Agency
Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list each project on the Isle of Wight funded by South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) in the last 12 months for which information is available, showing the (a) funding from SEEDA for each project and (b) intended outcomes of each project. [155257]
Mr. Raynsford: In the financial year April 2003 to March 2004, South East England Development Agency will invest a total of £13 million on 17 projects on the Isle of Wight. The purpose of those projects is to support the sustainable economic development of the Island. Forecasted core outputs should: create or safeguard 388 jobs, create or fill 1,672 learning opportunities between three and 30 hours duration and 112 over 30 hours and create 40 new businesses while sustaining a further 12 for 12 months. The attached table applies this in more detail to individual projects.
SEEDA has also provided £35,000 towards the Island's Community Wind project. This has funded a feasibility study which has been extended to cover use of renewable energy in refurbishment and newbuild in an estate in Newport. As well as added value through dissemination there is also a possibility of creating two jobs.
Travellers
Andrew Selous: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether utility companies are permitted to provide services to unauthorised Traveller and Gypsy developments (a) at any time and (b) in circumstances when the local authority is challenging the development in the courts. [153724]
Keith Hill: Utility companies have duties to supply services for domestic purposes provided safety issues are met and permission to enter land is given.
Unitary Authorities
Mrs. May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to re-assess the funding arrangements for unitary authorities. [154912]
Mr. Raynsford: In order to provide local authorities with more stability in funding arrangements, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has already said that we will not be looking to change the grant distribution formulae until 2006–07 at the very earliest.
Mrs. May: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has received on the funding arrangements for unitary authorities. [154913]
Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received 61 representations on the proposals for the Local Government Finance Settlement 2004–05 from or on behalf of Unitary Authorities.
Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act
Diana Organ: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how his Department will identify which local authorities have made sufficient progress in meeting Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 targets to be classed as excellent and exempted from requirement to submit future reports. [154644]
Phil Hope: Those authorities categorised as excellent under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment will no longer need to prepare reports under the Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA), but will be asked to provide a small amount of essential information that the Secretary of State needs for her statutory reporting duty under the HECA.