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4 May 2004 : Column 1434W—continued

Housing Developments (Milton Keynes/South Midlands)

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the submissions made by the Government Office for the South East to the Examination in Public of plans for housing developments in the Milton Keynes and South Midlands area to 2031. [170356]

Keith Hill: The submission of GOSE to the Milton Keynes and South Midlands sub regional strategy public examination is contained in the joint submission by GOEE, GOEM and GOSE.

Copies of the joint submission have been made available in the Library of the House.

Hunting (Tied Properties)

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to protect the tenancy rights of those employed by a hunt living in a tied property in the event of a ban on hunting being introduced. [170133]

Keith Hill: The Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976, which provides housing security for qualifying agricultural workers living in tied accommodation, takes its definition of agriculture from the Agriculture Wages Act 1948. The definition does not extend to workers employed solely in activities not related to agriculture such as gamekeeping and hunting. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans to extend the definition to cover such activities.
 
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Retained Distribution Centre

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the publications and other products distributed from his retained distribution centre. [169367]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's publications distribution centre holds over 1,300 items for distribution. A list of publications and other products has been made available in the Library of the House.

Roadside Advertising

Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what advice his Department offers local authorities regarding positioning of roadside and roundabout advertising. [170451]

Keith Hill: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 30 April 2004, Official Report, column 1332W.

Town Centres

Mr. Stringer: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) when he intends to publish the final version of PPS6; [169866]

(2) how many responses have been received to the consultation paper Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 6: Planning for Town Centres; and if he will list them; [169867]

(3) how many organisations and individuals were invited to respond to Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 6: Planning for Town Centres; and if he will list them. [169868]

Keith Hill: Draft PPS6: Planning for Town Centres was published on 15 December 2003, was launched by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, was widely publicised, put on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website and some 500 copies were sent to a standard list of consultees, including all local authorities, relevant professional and trade bodies, plus investors, developers, retailers, leisure operators and environmental groups—in line with the guidelines on consultation at that time. The consultation closed on 15 March 2004.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has received 384 responses to date, which officials are currently analysing. All responses, except those where the respondent did not agree to their response being made public, will be made available in the library of the House, consistent with normal practice, when the final version of PPS6 is published in the autumn.

Traffic and Community Wardens

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the responsibilities of (a) traffic wardens and (b) community wardens are. [168255]

Yvette Cooper: Traffic wardens are civilian employees of police authorities, but act under the direction of chief officers of police. Section 95 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 makes provision for them to discharge duties, including law enforcement, normally undertaken by the police in connection with the control and regulation of traffic and stationary vehicles. These
 
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functions relate to the control and regulation of, and enforcement of the law relating to, traffic, including pedestrians and stationery vehicles. Traffic wardens can also require vehicles to stop for specific purposes. The powers conferred on traffic wardens and the duties they may undertake are prescribed very precisely by the Home Secretary in the Functions of Traffic Wardens Order 1970, as amended.

Part 1 of the Traffic Management Bill empowers the Secretary of State for Transport as the traffic authority for trunk roads in England, and the National Assembly for Wales as the traffic authority for trunk roads in Wales, to establish a uniformed on-road traffic officer service to manage the traffic consequences of random incidents such as breakdowns, obstructions, debris and accidents.

The Bill enables traffic officers to carry out certain traffic management functions currently carried out on trunk roads by the police in order to deal with incidents and keep traffic moving. Specifically the Bill would provide traffic officers with powers to stop and direct traffic and to place and operate traffic signs. These powers are similar to those of the police and may only be exercised in order to:

assist the movement of traffic;

prevent or reduce congestion;

avoid danger to persons or traffic; or

prevent damage to anything on or near the road.

The traffic officer service will comprise uniformed officials patrolling motorways and trunk roads in England around the clock. They will be appointed by the Highways Agency directly, although the Bill allows flexibility for the service to be contracted out should it ever be decided that this is in the public interest.

Responsibilities for community wardens vary according to local priorities. Wardens and warden schemes do however need to fulfil the four broad categories of environmental improvements, community safety and crime prevention, community development and housing regeneration. They provide a link between local residents and key agencies such as local authorities and the police. And they encourage neighbourhoods to develop innovative ways to tackle their environmental problems and the behaviours that create an atmosphere of neglect and encourage crime.

Unoccupied Property

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many unoccupied non-domestic properties paid empty property business rates in England in each year since 1997; [169485]

(2) how many unoccupied industrial properties were exempt from property business rates in England in each year since 1997. [169492]

Mr. Raynsford: Local authorities have reported that 240,830 non-domestic properties in England received empty premises relief in 2002–03. The latest available figure for 2003–04 is 237,035, as estimated by local authorities in early 2003. Figures were not collected centrally for earlier years, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
 
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Information on the number of unoccupied industrial properties in England that are not required to pay business rates is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many empty residential dwellings there were in England in each year since 1997. [169486]

Keith Hill: The available information on empty residential dwellings in England is tabled as follows. This data has been provided from a combination of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Housing Investment Programme return and Housing Corporation's Regulatory Statistical Return.
Vacant dwelling stock, England 1997–2003

	HIP and RSR(23)
1997	767,000
1998	753,000
1999	767,000
2000	761,000
2001	751,000
2002	732,000
2003	720,000

Note:
Figures presented to the nearest thousand.
Sources:
ODPM's Housing Investment Programme return and Housing Corporation's Regulatory Statistical Return.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Indonesia

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent violence in Aceh. [169154]

Mr. Straw: The British Government regularly raise their concerns about the situation in Aceh with the Indonesian Government, most recently on 20 April 2004 when the British ambassador to Jakarta called on the Indonesian Head of the armed forces, General Sutarto. My hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Mike O'Brien) also raised Aceh with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr. Wirayuda, when he met him at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kildare on 18 April.

There continue to be reports of human rights abuses perpetrated by the Free Aceh Movement (the GAM) and the Indonesian armed forces. We are monitoring the situation closely. The Indonesian military has said that it will continue to court-martial soldiers arrested on suspicion of human rights abuses.

We, with our EU partners, continue to urge the Indonesian Government to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible, as only negotiation will offer a long-term solution to this ongoing conflict.

Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on end use monitoring of UK arms exports used in Aceh by Indonesian forces. [169155]

 
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Mr. Straw: Our embassy in Jakarta receives information from a wide a range of sources including international agencies, NGOs, other observers, the media and the Indonesian Government as part of their efforts to monitor the use of British-built military equipment. We have had no confirmed reports that British-built military equipment has been used other than for protection and evacuation purposes. We will follow up all credible allegations on the misuse of British-military equipment.

On 18 April 2004 at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kildare, my hon. Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Mike O'Brien) raised with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr Wirayuda, the use of British-built military equipment in Aceh.

On 20 April 2004 the British ambassador to Jakarta met the Indonesian Head of the armed forces, General Sutarto. General Sutarto told our ambassador that he had ordered the withdrawal of all remaining British equipment from Aceh. The only British-built equipment in Aceh are armoured vehicles and they have only been used for supply convoy protection and casualty evacuation.

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