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15 Jun 2004 : Column 847W—continued

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) nature and (b) value was of contracts, consultancies and other services placed with (i) Deloitte and Touche, (ii) Ernst and Young, (iii) KPMG and (iv) Pricewaterhouse Coopers since 2000–01 by the former Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions and its agencies. [177506]

Yvette Cooper: The value of contracts placed by the former Department for Transport Local Government and the Regions and its agencies for the years 2000–01 and 2001–02 with the suppliers detailed in the question was as follows.
£
PWC 4,239,936
Ernst and Young 112,000
Deloitte & Touche 860,831
KPMG 2,292,625

The nature of such contracts across the Department and its agencies can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Government Office of the West Midlands

Mr. Flight: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total expenditure on consultants and contractors for the Government Office of the West Midlands was in each year since 1997. [176900]

Yvette Cooper: Detailed expenditure of this type is no longer available for 1997–98. Also, expenditure on "contractors" is not recorded separately from a wide range of general administrative costs. "Consultants" costs are recorded under the heading of professional
 
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services for which total expenditure was as follows:

Professional Services
£
1998–9941,000
1999–2000115,000
2000–01119,000
2001–0268,000
2002–0358,000
2003–04560,000

The 2003–04 data involves a change of definition and is not compatible with previous figures.

Homebuy Loans (London)

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many Homebuy loans were made in each local authority area in London in 2003–04. [178691]

Keith Hill: A total of 1,061 home purchases were completed with Homebuy loans, funded by the Housing Corporation through its Approved Development Programme, in London in 2003–04. The following table shows a breakdown of the total by local authority area.
Local authorityNumber
Barking and Dagenham38
Barnet27
Bexley48
Brent21
Bromley57
Camden3
Croydon61
Ealing42
Enfield57
Greenwich91
Hackney23
Hammersmith and Fulham12
Haringey41
Harrow13
Havering36
Hillingdon52
Hounslow34
Islington16
Kensington and Chelsea3
Kingston upon Thames27
Lambeth20
Lewisham46
Merton25
Newham24
Redbridge41
Richmond upon Thames10
Southwark17
Sutton51
Tower Hamlets15
Waltham Forest71
Wandsworth29
Westminster10
Total1,061

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many Homebuy loans were made to (a) those in social housing, (b) those on housing waiting lists and (c) key workers in London in 2003–04. [178732]


 
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Keith Hill: 1,061 home purchases with Homebuy loans were completed in London during 2003–04. From a Housing Corporation survey, CORE Sales, at least 211 of these Homebuy loans were given to tenants in social housing and at least 59 to people on housing waiting lists. The Housing Corporation's investment system shows that over 400 of the loans were made to key workers in London.

Local Authority Websites

Mr. Berry: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how the Government are tackling access barriers to disabled people on local government websites. [177020]

Phil Hope: Under the local e-Government programme the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is supporting a national project called LAWS—Local Authority Websites, to develop guidance for local authorities on best practice for designing and managing websites. One of the issues addressed is website accessibility, including for disabled people. Ensuring that their websites are accessible to all their citizens is fundamental to the design of individual authorities' websites. Another national project, e-SB—the Standards Body, will incorporate website accessibility information into the forthcoming website standards for local authorities.

Housing Corporation (Crosby)

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public funding has been spent from the Housing Corporation Programme in Crosby. [177854]

Keith Hill: The following table shows the Housing Corporation Social Housing Grant expenditure in Sefton for the past five years.
 
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£ million
1999–006.711
2000–014.768
2001–023.816
2002–036.000
2003–044.663

The Housing Corporation gathers information at local authority level, therefore information for the constituency of Crosby is not available. Crosby is within the local authority of Sefton.

Regional Assemblies (Referendums)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what date the proposed referendums on regional assemblies will take place; and whether the voting will be all-postal. [178719]

Mr. Raynsford: The Government intend to hold the referendums this autumn by all-postal ballot. We will be laying orders to that effect this summer.

Social Housing

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) local authority and (b) housing association lettings were made in each Government Office Region in each year since 1980. [178734]

Keith Hill: The number of local authority and housing association lettings made in each Government Office region are tabled as follows.

In the table, information on local authority lettings is provided for the years 1979–80 to 2002–03 and on housing association lettings for the years 1995–96 to 2003–04.
Social sector lettings in England and the regions

EnglandNorth EastYorkshire and the HumberEast MidlandsEast of EnglandLondonSouth EastSouth WestWest MidlandsNorth West
Total lettings by local authority
1979–80412,20035,40054,30038,00037,90057,90044,40029,80051,00063,600
1980–81444,00039,80057,50035,900n/a68,200n/a27,80053,60067,300
1981–82415,50036,30052,80032,70032,40081,40041,00025,70047,40065,900
1982–83439,50040,50055,50036,60035,20071,80044,90029,20052,60073,100
1983–84429,10036,80057,40035,60036,20070,20043,50029,20050,20070,000
1984–85429,30038,90054,70036,40034,10066,20045,30029,60053,30070,700
1985–86436,60038,90059,80036,80036,60063,90045,60029,50055,90069,700
1986–87430,20039,60059,30036,90033,60059,80044,80029,20056,10070,900
1987–88425,80038,20057,40034,50033,30059,20043,30027,90057,10075,000
1988–89410,20038,60055,40033,40030,50058,30042,70026,80053,30071,400
1989–90390,30037,80051,20030,60030,70057,30040,60025,50049,20067,300
1990–91400,90035,00051,90031,40034,40065,20041,20027,50048,70065,700
1991–92406,50036,80052,20031,30032,20071,40040,30028,30051,50062,500
1992–93399,90037,00052,20032,00031,40067,00038,90027,30050,70063,200
1993–94404,90036,40051,60034,50032,50065,80038,60028,70053,40063,400
1994–95407,90039,00056,80034,30031,50062,90035,60027,30053,60066,900
1995–96415,20041,00058,70035,50031,90061,30034,20027,40054,00071,200
1996–97422,00042,20059,90039,10032,10062,30032,40026,70056,20071,000
1997–98403,90041,50056,90038,20031,40057,60030,30024,30053,20070,500
1998–99379,20039,50056,00037,40030,70048,20028,30021,40049,30068,500
1999–2000353,90038,60055,90033,90029,00042,10025,80018,80045,20064,700
2000–01326,60036,50053,30032,50027,20039,30023,80016,50040,10057,300
2001–02289,70029,70049,30029,20025,70035,20020,50015,40033,60051,100
2002–03272,80026,90049,00029,10022,70034,30021,20014,20031,00044,400
England
Total lettings by housing association
1995–96135,7008,10022,20011,5009,70013,80011,60013,90023,00021,900
1996–97187,2009,60029,30016,50013,50020,00015,50017,80035,50029,500
1997–98202,80010,00033,60020,30015,40022,30016,50019,30036,10029,400
1998–99212,00011,30035,30021,30015,60024,00018,80020,30035,30030,100
1999–2000214,30011,30037,50021,10016,10024,90021,50019,70032,80029,500
2000–01214,00011,60039,10020,20016,90026,80020,10018,80032,40028,100
2001–02224,20015,50042,80020,40016,60029,10020,20018,10032,60029,000
2002–03225,10015,40044,50021,40016,70028,10019,90019,00032,10027,900
2003–04212,40013,10041,10021,30015,60028,40018,40018,40028,90027,200




Notes:
n/a = denotes that information is unavailable.
1. Regional totals include estimates for non-response.
2. The number of lettings given by local authorities includes any transfers and exchanges, as well as secure and non-secure lettings.
3. The number of lettings given by housing associations includes those for general as well as supported needs.
Figures for 1995–96 include only lettings given for general needs.





 
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Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of new social housing for rent built in each year since 1990 had three or more bedrooms. [178735]

Keith Hill: The percentages of registered social landlord (RSL) new build completions in England that had at least three bedrooms are shown in the table. Equivalent figures for local authority new build are not readily available.
Percentage
1990–9120
1991–9220
1992–9326
1993–9431
1994–9534
1995–9635
1996–9736
1997–9839
1998–9938
1999–200037
2000–0135
2001–0233
2002–0338
2003–0432

Ms Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will add to his Department's Public Service Agreement 5 a performance indicator for the number of families with children living in overcrowded housing. [178736]


 
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Keith Hill: No. The Office's Public Service Agreement 5 underpins the Government's commitment to improve the balance between supply and demand for housing. In this context, the main function of a performance indicator for overcrowding would be to monitor progress in alleviating the position of those at the bottom of the housing ladder. However, PSA5 already incorporates such an indicator— number of statutory homeless households with children in temporary accommodation. The further indicator proposed here would simply cover the same ground, albeit from a slightly different perspective.


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