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7 Jun 2004 : Column 259W—continued
Honours
Brian White: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much time his Department spent dealing with honours in the last year for which figures are available, broken down by Civil Service grade. [173033]
Yvette Cooper: The majority of the work on honours is undertaken by the departmental honours team. Honours work in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is dealt with in a dedicated Honours Secretariat dealing with honours nominations for both the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport. One HEO deals with Office of the Deputy Prime Minister matters full-time and a SEO and AO deal with matters arising for both Departments.
| Total hours | |
|---|---|
| Grade 1 | 8 |
| Grade 2 | 18 |
| Grade 3 | 16 |
| Grade 6 | 2 |
Information is not available on time spent on honours related work by departmental staff who are not members of the Office's honours team or attendees of the formal sifting meetings.
Housing
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the responses to his housing investment allowance proposals for council housing put forward in 2002. [174662]
Keith Hill: A copy of the summary of responses to the 2002 consultation paper, "The Way Forward For Housing Capital Finance", has been made available in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to increase financial support for affordable housing in Coventry. [176015]
Keith Hill: £7,421,916 has been allocated for housing in Coventry to fund 174 new dwellings of affordable housing for the period 2004 to 2006.
The West Midlands Regional Housing Strategy is to be reviewed by early 2005. It will be underpinned by comprehensive research into the need for affordable housing in the region. This will inform future funding allocations.
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the level of housing revenue account debt for each local authority in England. [176819]
Keith Hill: The level of housing revenue account (HRA) debt for 2002–03, the latest year for which we have audited figures, for each authority with an HRA and with debt is tabled as follows:
7 Jun 2004 : Column 262W
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what research evidence he has on which to base his statement to the London Tenants' Federation conference on 27 November that some means of transfer meets the interests of the tenants better than having stock run by councils. [176274]
7 Jun 2004 : Column 263W
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's research report Views on the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer Process—May 2000, which is available in the Library of the House, provides evidence that tenants of LSVT associations are more satisfied with their current landlord than local authority tenants as a whole.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the evidence submitted by local authorities to the consultation, 'The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance', August 2002. [176277]
Keith Hill: Copies of the evidence submitted by local authorities, as well as other interested parties who responded to the consultation 'The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance', August 2002, will be made available in the Library of the Houses.
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the increase in housing waiting lists in the South East; and if he will re-evaluate the Government's pledge to provide a decent home for all in the South East to take account of this increase. [177474]
Keith Hill: The number of households on local authority housing registers in the South East rose from 116,000 to 147,000 between April 2000 and April 2003. This does not, however, on its own, provide a robust assessment of housing need. This is because different criteria are adopted for inclusion in registers, some authorities operate joint registers with housing associations and some households will no longer be in housing need—the frequency of checks that applicants continue to require housing differ.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister remains committed to its targets to bring all social housing up to a decent standard by 2010 and to reduce the proportion of vulnerable private sector households living in non decent housing.
Our existing target to reduce the numbers of statutorily homeless families in temporary accommodation, as part of the Public Service Agreement framework, reflects our commitment to tackling shortages in affordable housing. Funding for affordable housing has increased significantly since 2001–02. Allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06 reflect recommendations from the South East Regional Housing Board for prioritisation for local authority areas with particular affordability or homelessness problems.
In an initial response to the findings of the Barker Review of Housing Supply, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister made it clear that the Government accepted the need to increase the supply of affordable housing. Funding levels for 2006–07 and 2007–08 are being considered in the current Spending Review.
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