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14 Jun 2004 : Column 738W—continued
Building Regulations
Ms Walley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his plans are for including micro-renewables in building regulations; and if he will make a statement. [177711]
Phil Hope: The Building Regulations set functional requirements rather than specifying particular ways of showing compliance. This enables builders to develop their own ways of complying with the requirements, using conventional or new technologies as appropriate. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is reviewing the energy efficiency provisions in line with the commitments made in the Energy White Paper and the prospective higher standards that we aim to bring into effect in 2005 are likely to make new systems like micro-renewables more attractive. I hope to announce consultation on the proposed new requirements in the next few weeks.
Correspondence
Martin Linton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to reply to the letter of the hon. Member for Battersea to the Minister of State for Housing and Planning on the subject of affordable housing. [178676]
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Keith Hill: I replied to my hon. Friend on 11 June.
Departmental Duty Officers
Mr. Tynan: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the role of his office's duty officers is; what criteria are used to decide which incidents the duty officers are notified of by fire services; and what use is made of these notifications. [178591]
Mr. Raynsford: The Duty Officer is responsible for taking official and emergency calls out of hours and taking appropriate action as necessary. This involves either contacting nominated on-call officers from appropriate divisions/sections within the Department for Transport (DfT)/the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), and/or taking prescribed action as issued by divisions/sections.
The criteria used to decide which incidents the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister duty officers are notified of by fire and rescue services are set out in 'Dear Chief Officer Letter 3/2004' from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services to all Chief Fire Officers in England and Wales dated 29 March 2004. The following extract from that letter sets out the criteria.
A.1 a fatality (including fire service personnel);
B. A fire or incident which has a significant impact on the general public, including one which:
B.1 attracts significant public or media interest;
B.2 involves major disruption to public transport or utilities;
B.3 involves explosives, or where an explosion causes significant structural damage;
B.4 involves sources of ionising radiation or other substances which pose significant personal hazards;
B.5 causes serious contamination or significant environmental impact, including incidents where mass decontamination procedures are initiated; or
B.6 involves widespread public evacuation (e.g. whole street or area), or large scale evacuation from a venue to which the public resort in large numbers (e.g. a place of sport or entertainment, shopping complex, etc.) or from care premises (e.g. a hospital, nursing home, etc.).
C. A fire in which abnormally fast or extensive spread of flame, smoke or heat was caused or assisted by:
C.1 the structure of the building (including linings, voids, or other constructional features); or
C.2 the systems or plant installed within the building.
D. A fire in any building where the active and/or passive fire safety arrangements (e.g. means of escape, fire suppression or detection, fire resisting construction, etc.) either:
D.1 did not fulfil their designed function, resulting in people having to be rescued; or
D.2 only just fulfilled their designed function, resulting in a significant 'near miss'; or
D.3 fulfilled their designed function with notable success.
E. A fire or incident which presents significant operational difficulties, including those:
E.1 where persons are trapped as a result of building collapse;
E.2 involving the use of 10 or more jets or large quantities of specialised extinguishing media;
E.3 associated with significant civil disturbance and/or attacks on firefighters;
E.4 posing a significantly abnormal risk to fire-fighter safety;
E.5 involving significantly difficult access;
E.6 where a deficiency in water supplies is both serious and unexpected;
E.7 involving serious problems with operational equipment including significant loss of, damage to, or lack of such equipment or resources;
E.8 where locally determined standards of fire cover are not met because of factors such as other operational incidents, adverse weather or difficult road traffic conditions, resulting in a significant effect on the development of the fire.
Any notifications received are forwarded from the ODPM Duty Officer to an on-call Inspector from HM Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI). The information supplied will be used by HMFSI to identify and monitor trends and provide advice to fire and rescue services. The information will particularly be used to support community fire safety initiatives and to inform the development of risk assessment. It may also be used to provide briefing for Ministers and senior officials, and in the preparation of reports.
Housing
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what requirement there is upon local authorities to review the state of the housing market in their area. [177283]
Keith Hill: Local authorities are required, under Section 87 Local Government Act 2003 to produce a housing strategy for their area. This needs to be based on a robust analysis of the local housing market(s), in conjunction with neighbouring authorities, where appropriate, housing need in the area and the condition of the stock. New guidance on undertaking analysis of housing markets—the Housing Market Assessment Manual—was issued in February this year.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance the Government office for the south-east has issued to local authorities concerning local housing markets. [177284]
Keith Hill: Government office for the south-east (GOSE) has not issued any specific guidance to Local Authorities concerning assessment of housing markets. The South East England Regional Assembly is currently in the process of commissioning research into identifying the Local Housing Markets of South East England to support the Regional Housing Board in producing future Regional Housing Strategies. GOSE is represented on the steering group for this research, which is expected to report in the late summer.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister also published national guidance on local housing market assessments in February 2004.
GOSE has also partnered the Regional Assembly in producing further guidance on local housing needs assessment and urban potential. This guidance was published by the Assembly in January 2004.
Mr. Hawkins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will alter the guidance given to local authorities about preference for high-density housing in order to allow local authorities to follow their own local plans. [178697]
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Keith Hill: No. Planning Policy Guidance Note 3 "Housing" (March 2000) (PPG3) sets out the national policy for promoting well-designed sustainable housing development that makes the best use of land. Local planning authorities are required, in formulating their policies, to have regard to this guidance. In considering planning applications in the interim, before development plans can be reviewed, local planning authorities should have regard to this guidance as a material consideration, which may supersede the policies in their development plan. As with any national policy, if there are local or regional circumstances, which justify a departure from national policy, these departures should be justified through the development plan process.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimates he has made of the revenue each eligible local authority will receive as a result of the changes to second home discount for council tax. [177964]
Mr. Raynsford: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Cotswold (Mr. Clifton-Brown) on 28 April 2004, Official Report, column 1134W.
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