---

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
 
15 Jun 2004 : Column 848W
 
services for which total expenditure was as follows:

Professional Services

	£
1998–99	41,000
1999–2000	115,000
2000–01	119,000
2001–02	68,000
2002–03	58,000
2003–04	560,000

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 authority	Number
Barking and Dagenham	38
Barnet	27
Bexley	48
Brent	21
Bromley	57
Camden	3
Croydon	61
Ealing	42
Enfield	57
Greenwich	91
Hackney	23
Hammersmith and Fulham	12
Haringey	41
Harrow	13
Havering	36
Hillingdon	52
Hounslow	34
Islington	16
Kensington and Chelsea	3
Kingston upon Thames	27
Lambeth	20
Lewisham	46
Merton	25
Newham	24
Redbridge	41
Richmond upon Thames	10
Southwark	17
Sutton	51
Tower Hamlets	15
Waltham Forest	71
Wandsworth	29
Westminster	10
Total	1,061

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]

 
15 Jun 2004 : Column 849W
 

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.
 
15 Jun 2004 : Column 850W
 

	£ million
1999–00	6.711
2000–01	4.768
2001–02	3.816
2002–03	6.000
2003–04	4.663

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

	England	North East	Yorkshire and the Humber	East Midlands	East of England	London	South East	South West	West Midlands	North West
Total lettings by local authority
1979–80	412,200	35,400	54,300	38,000	37,900	57,900	44,400	29,800	51,000	63,600
1980–81	444,000	39,800	57,500	35,900	n/a	68,200	n/a	27,800	53,600	67,300
1981–82	415,500	36,300	52,800	32,700	32,400	81,400	41,000	25,700	47,400	65,900
1982–83	439,500	40,500	55,500	36,600	35,200	71,800	44,900	29,200	52,600	73,100
1983–84	429,100	36,800	57,400	35,600	36,200	70,200	43,500	29,200	50,200	70,000
1984–85	429,300	38,900	54,700	36,400	34,100	66,200	45,300	29,600	53,300	70,700
1985–86	436,600	38,900	59,800	36,800	36,600	63,900	45,600	29,500	55,900	69,700
1986–87	430,200	39,600	59,300	36,900	33,600	59,800	44,800	29,200	56,100	70,900
1987–88	425,800	38,200	57,400	34,500	33,300	59,200	43,300	27,900	57,100	75,000
1988–89	410,200	38,600	55,400	33,400	30,500	58,300	42,700	26,800	53,300	71,400
1989–90	390,300	37,800	51,200	30,600	30,700	57,300	40,600	25,500	49,200	67,300
1990–91	400,900	35,000	51,900	31,400	34,400	65,200	41,200	27,500	48,700	65,700
1991–92	406,500	36,800	52,200	31,300	32,200	71,400	40,300	28,300	51,500	62,500
1992–93	399,900	37,000	52,200	32,000	31,400	67,000	38,900	27,300	50,700	63,200
1993–94	404,900	36,400	51,600	34,500	32,500	65,800	38,600	28,700	53,400	63,400
1994–95	407,900	39,000	56,800	34,300	31,500	62,900	35,600	27,300	53,600	66,900
1995–96	415,200	41,000	58,700	35,500	31,900	61,300	34,200	27,400	54,000	71,200
1996–97	422,000	42,200	59,900	39,100	32,100	62,300	32,400	26,700	56,200	71,000
1997–98	403,900	41,500	56,900	38,200	31,400	57,600	30,300	24,300	53,200	70,500
1998–99	379,200	39,500	56,000	37,400	30,700	48,200	28,300	21,400	49,300	68,500
1999–2000	353,900	38,600	55,900	33,900	29,000	42,100	25,800	18,800	45,200	64,700
2000–01	326,600	36,500	53,300	32,500	27,200	39,300	23,800	16,500	40,100	57,300
2001–02	289,700	29,700	49,300	29,200	25,700	35,200	20,500	15,400	33,600	51,100
2002–03	272,800	26,900	49,000	29,100	22,700	34,300	21,200	14,200	31,000	44,400
England
Total lettings by housing association
1995–96	135,700	8,100	22,200	11,500	9,700	13,800	11,600	13,900	23,000	21,900
1996–97	187,200	9,600	29,300	16,500	13,500	20,000	15,500	17,800	35,500	29,500
1997–98	202,800	10,000	33,600	20,300	15,400	22,300	16,500	19,300	36,100	29,400
1998–99	212,000	11,300	35,300	21,300	15,600	24,000	18,800	20,300	35,300	30,100
1999–2000	214,300	11,300	37,500	21,100	16,100	24,900	21,500	19,700	32,800	29,500
2000–01	214,000	11,600	39,100	20,200	16,900	26,800	20,100	18,800	32,400	28,100
2001–02	224,200	15,500	42,800	20,400	16,600	29,100	20,200	18,100	32,600	29,000
2002–03	225,100	15,400	44,500	21,400	16,700	28,100	19,900	19,000	32,100	27,900
2003–04	212,400	13,100	41,100	21,300	15,600	28,400	18,400	18,400	28,900	27,200

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.





 
15 Jun 2004 : Column 851W
 

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
1990–91	20
1991–92	20
1992–93	26
1993–94	31
1994–95	34
1995–96	35
1996–97	36
1997–98	39
1998–99	38
1999–2000	37
2000–01	35
2001–02	33
2002–03	38
2003–04	32

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]

 
15 Jun 2004 : Column 852W
 

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.

---