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18 Mar 2004 : Column 451W—continued

Fire Service

Mr. Swayne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fire engines there are in England and Wales. [159899]

Mr. Raynsford: On 31 March 2003 there were 2,319 pumping appliances operated by Fire and Rescue Authorities in England and Wales.

Housing

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish the research by the College of Estate Management into the valuation of properties purchased under the right to buy scheme. [162239]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects to publish the report of this review in May 2004.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will designate former New Town land in Chorley in Government ownership as land for (a) starter homes and (b) part-rent-part-buy homes. [161398]

Keith Hill: The identification of land for affordable housing is a matter for the local planning authority in consultation with English Partnerships and other stakeholders.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities will hold a ballot in the next six months to determine the future of their council housing stock. [161780]

Keith Hill: For stock transfers eight local authorities will ballot their tenants on 13 LSVT programmes in the next six months. The local authorities are; London

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borough of Islington, London borough of Lambeth, Manchester county council, North East Lincolnshire, Royal borough of Kingston, Trafford Metropolitan borough council, Wakefield and Wirral.

For Arms Length Management Organisations, Nottingham, Sheffield (partial), Slough, Bassetlaw, Brent (partial), Bury, Ealing, Eastbourne, Manchester (partial), Newark and Sherwood, Rotherham, Sandwell and Wolverhampton will need to complete a test of public opinion which may be a ballot, if their bid for a place on the programme is successful, but there is no time-scale in which to do this. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not aware of any Private Finance Initiative schemes that are planning ballots.

Local Government Representation

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects the working group on local government representation to issue its final recommendations; whether those recommendations will be published; and what timetable for the working group has been established. [162430]

Mr. Raynsford: The role of the Working Group is to enable Government to consider with key interested parties the practical arrangements for implementing structural and boundary changes arising in any local government re-organisation in the event that one or more of the three Northern regions of England votes in favour of a Regional Assembly. Its remit is not to make formal recommendations nor does it have a specific pre-planned timetable. Its first meeting was on 9 March and there will be a number of meetings of the Group and its sub-groups before the autumn.

Parliamentary Boundary Commission

Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister who the members of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England were on 1 January; what their term of office is in each case; and whether they are remunerated. [162296]

Mr. Raynsford: The members of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England on the 1 January were the Deputy Chairman the Hon. Mr Justice Sir Michael Harrison, Michael Lewer QC and Robin Gray. The Deputy Chairman's current appointment ends in December 2005. Mr. Gray's term of appointment is for four years from 1 January 2003 and Mr. Lewer's for three years from 1 January 2004. The Deputy Chairman receives only expenses; both Mr. Gray and Mr. Lewer receive remuneration.

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he will reply to the questions tabled by the hon. Member for Cotswold on 12 February, refs 155230–2, on Coverage Care (Gloucestershire) Ltd. [160048]

Yvette Cooper: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 15 March 2004, Official Report, column 59W.

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Regional Assemblies

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will breakdown his estimate of the £30 million for the set-up costs of an elected regional assembly by main budget heading. [162429]

Mr. Raynsford: The main elements are the costs of the referendums and election, the costs of preparation, including initial staff and accommodation costs, and the transfer of functions to the new Assemblies. These costs will vary between regions, in proportion to the size of the regions population and electorate, but are expected to average £30 million.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the guidelines on the work of the Government Information and Communication Service which govern the information campaigns (a) Your Say: North East, (b) Your Say: North West and (c) Your Say: Yorkshire and the Humber. [162431]

Mr. Raynsford: The Government Information and Communications Service (GICS) is working to the guidelines issued by the Cabinet Office set out in the note from Mike Granatt, Director General of the GICS to Heads of Information dated 19 June 2003.

Publication of this guidance is a matter for the Cabinet Office.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what dates he (a) referred to the Cabinet Secretary and (b) copied to the Minister for the Cabinet Office his proposals for the Government publicity (i) Your Say: A new opportunity for the North East, (ii) Your Say: A new opportunity for the North West and (iii) Your Say: A new opportunity for Yorkshire and the Humber, (iv) Your Say: Business and Jobs and (v) Your Say: Assembly powers and responsibilities. [162432]

Mr. Raynsford: The 'Your Say' Campaign is aimed at informing the public in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber about the Government's proposal to give them an opportunity to vote on whether there should be an Elected Regional Assembly in their region.

The original concept for the campaign and the designs and texts for all three Your Say leaflets were referred to the Cabinet Office on 8 October 2003, and were approved on 9 October 2003.

The text for the information leaflets Your Say: business and Jobs, and Your Say Assembly powers and responsibilities were referred to the Cabinet Office on 19 February 2004 and received approval on 20 February 2004.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost of the public hearings on elected assemblies is estimated to be; and what the individual cost of each hearing is. [162433]

Mr. Raynsford: The cost of the Berwick and Blackburn hearings, including all costs associated with the venue, overtime and advertising were £6,500 and £5,400 respectively.

The other hearings have yet to happen, but estimated costs in terms of venue related costs and advertising are:

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Venue	Cost
Sheffield	10,000
Newcastle	9,500
Hull	6,800
Liverpool	12,200
Kendal	4,900
Halifax	7,500
Middlesbrough	11,300

The estimated total cost is therefore £74,100.

Social Housing

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's target rents are for (a) housing association properties and (b) sheltered accommodation, listing the service charge stated separately in each case; and if he will make a statement. [162201]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not set a single target rent for social rented accommodation, or for sheltered accommodation. The formula for target rent for each social rented property, whether a housing association or local authority landlord, reflects size, value and location when compared to all other social rented property.

Service charges in all social rented property, and support charges in sheltered accommodation, are charged separately from rent. The maximum charge to the tenant for service and support is the cost price to the landlord. Charges depend both upon services received, and the landlord's costs for fulfilling the service and support needs of its tenants. Tenants in sheltered housing may also be in receipt of Supporting People grant towards the cost of support services.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Primary School Funding

15. Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what meetings he has had with local authorities to discuss primary school funding for the next financial year. [162132]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: My right hon. Friend, other Ministers and officials have had a number of discussions about funding for 2004–05 with authorities both individually and collectively. Some of these meetings have covered the topic of primary school funding.

Information and Communications Technology

16. Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the extent of the use of computers and interactive technology in schools. [162133]

Mr. Charles Clarke: Schools are making increasing use of ICT to improve the quality of education they provide.

Since 1998 investment has increased five-fold, leading to a doubling of the number of computers in schools, the connection of practically all schools to the internet, and opportunities for schools to benefit from the growing range of high quality digital resources.

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Teachers are at the heart of this change and this period has seen significant improvements in their confidence to make use of ICT.

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