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Postal Votes

John Barrett: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people registered for a permanent postal vote in each year since 1997. [176738]

Mr. Leslie: Individual Electoral Registration Officers keep records of the number of postal voters in their registration area, though separate records are not kept of long-term postal voters and those for one election only. It is possible to apply for a postal vote at any time, but figures are not maintained on a yearly basis. Available statistics show that at the 2001 general election, 1,758,055 postal votes were issued in total, compared to 937,205 at the 1997 general election.

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what assessment he has made of the impact on the all-postal European and local election ballot in the North West of England of the delay in printing ballot packs; what discussions he has had with the Electoral Commission about the delay; what information he has sent to returning officers; and what contingency plans are in place should the ballot packs not be available in time. [176818]

Mr. Leslie: My officials and I have been working very closely with returning officers, suppliers and the Royal Mail to ensure that the ballot packs were delivered in a timely manner in the four all-postal regions. Although there were delays with the production of ballot packs for a few local authorities in the North West, I am pleased
 
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that full issue to the Royal Mail occurred within a few hours of the target deadline. There is no need to implement any further contingency arrangements. The Electoral Commission has been kept informed of developments by my officials, in order to inform their evaluation.

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will instruct electoral returning officers in postal pilot regions to log (a) the total number of ballot paper envelopes received after the close of polls and (b) the postmarks on such envelopes. [176834]

Mr. Leslie: Given that the Electoral Commission evaluation will include a statement of the number of ballot papers received in the period of a week after the close of poll, I have no plans to make any further such request of Returning Officers. There is no requirement for ballot pack envelopes to have postmarks on them as they are returned in prepaid envelopes.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many people have registered for a permanent postal vote in (a) Surrey and (b) South West Surrey constituency in each year from 1996. [177371]

Mr. Leslie: Individual Electoral Registration Officers keep records of the number of postal voters in their registration area, though separate records are not kept of long-term postal voters and those for one election only. It is possible to apply for a postal vote at any time, but figures are not maintained on a yearly basis. However, the following information is available for the 1997 and 2001 general elections:
Total number of postal voters

	1997	2001
Surrey	17,987	31,021
South West Surrey	2,436	3,462

In addition, the Electoral Registration Officer for Waverley borough council has advised that there are currently 9,255 registered postal voters in South West Surrey constituency.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs if he will invite electoral returning officers in Surrey (a) to log and (b) to report on (i) the total number of ballot paper envelopes received late and (ii) the distribution of dates on post marks. [177372]

Mr. Leslie: I have no plans at present to invite Surrey Returning Officers to make such reports. There is no provision in law for me to do so.

Youth Disorder

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what review has been undertaken of the use of four-month detention and training orders as provided for under the powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 in relation to dealing with disorder amongst young people. [172322]

 
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Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.

The detention and training order is the main custodial sentence for 12–17 year olds: the minimum term is four months and the maximum 24 months. Time spent in custody is followed by an equivalent period in the community.

The DTO is one of a range of options available to courts dealing with young offenders. Most disorder offences would not normally attract custody: the tests for the court are whether the offence or offences in question are so serious that a custodial sentence is the only adequate response; or, where an offence is violent or sexual, whether custody is necessary to protect the public from serious harm from the offender.

Research commissioned by the Youth Justice Board on the first two years' operation of the DTO found that, in the main, the combination of custody and community supervision worked well. It concluded that greater co-operation across the youth justice system would help to meet the needs of DTO trainees, including the need to prevent reoffending. The Youth Justice Board is addressing this.

Following consultation in its 8 September 2003 paper Youth Justice—The Next Steps, the Government proposes to keep the DTO and simplify the range of available community sentences . We also intend to introduce a new Intensive Supervision and Surveillance order for use with serious and persistent young offenders.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Action on Debt Booklet

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how many copies of the "Action on Debt" booklet produced by the Social Exclusion Unit have been printed; [175629]

(2) what the total cost was of (a) publishing, (b) printing and (c) distributing the "Action on Debt" booklet produced by the Social Exclusion Unit; [175630]

(3) how many civil servants were employed in publishing the "Action on Debt" booklet produced by the Social Exclusion Unit. [175631]

Yvette Cooper: The "Action on Debt" fact pack is available on the web and 12,000 hard copies were printed. The publication costs were £9,898; the printing costs were £3,805; and the initial distribution cost was £3,240 (all figures excluding VAT). The costs of further mailing in response to requests are not identified separately from other Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's publications.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister estimates that the production of the fact pack absorbed around 0.5 full-time equivalent civil servants over a period of three months, with a small amount of additional specialist support e.g. on design. The fact pack is part of the developing cross-Government strategy on over-indebtedness. It is a practical guide to what
 
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organisations in a range of sectors can do to tackle debt problems and highlights in particular the cost-effectiveness of early intervention.

Affordable Housing

Simon Hughes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's projections are for the demand for affordable housing in Greater London for each of the next five years; and what estimate he has made of the public subsidy which will be required to meet that demand in each year. [177049]

Keith Hill: The Mayor of London's Plan states that an additional 22,400 households a year of all types will need to be accommodated in London over the next 15 years. In addition there is a backlog of unmet need of 112,000 households. The London Housing Board has begun the preparation of the next long-term housing strategy for the capital to cover the period up to 2016. This will take account of the detailed housing requirements study the Greater London Authority is currently carrying out. On 21 October last year my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister announced £2.1 billion for investment in housing in London for the next two years. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister also made an announcement on 24 March 2004 about the Housing Corporation's Annual Development Programme for affordable housing in the capital for 2004–05 and 2005–06.

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to provide additional resources for affordable housing in those parts of the South East where housing is least affordable. [177487]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has set out in the Sustainable Communities Plan proposals to tackle the supply of affordable housing.

£5 billion is being invested in housing over the next two years (2004–06) and of this over £730 million is targeted at the South East region. The role of the regions has been strengthened to ensure this investment is more effectively targeted towards local and regional investment priorities; with Regional Housing Boards advising Ministers on the priorities for investment within the region through their Regional Housing Strategies.

The Government have accepted that there is a case for increased investment in social housing and has said it will begin to address this in the 2004 Spending Review.

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