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18 Jun 2004 : Column 1149W—continued
Public Funding (Crosby)
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public funding from the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund has been spent in Crosby. [177851]
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Yvette Cooper: Projects of the value of £13,282,807 and which benefit Crosby and other neighbourhoods in the South Sefton area of Merseyside are currently being funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund (NRF).
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much public funding has been spent from the Community Participation programmes in Crosby. [177852]
Yvette Cooper: The Community Participation Programmes (Community Empowerment Fund, Community Learning Chest and Community Chests) provide funds for the 88 most deprived local authority areas in England. Crosby falls within Sefton , which is one of these areas.
Community Participation funds are always provided directly to a community or voluntary sector organisation in each of the 88 areas. The Community Empowerment Fund is used to develop and support a Community Empowerment Network (CEN) helping to facilitate community and voluntary sector involvement in the LSP, especially in the most deprived neighbourhoods and hard-to-reach groups. The Community Chest and Learning Chests provide small grants to support a wide range of community activities and to develop the skills and knowledge of local communities so that they can participate in Neighbourhood Renewal at a local level.
The organisation that administers the Community Empowerment Fund is Sefton Council for Voluntary Service and the Community Foundation for Merseyside administers Community Chest and Community Learning Chests. These organisations identify and agree spending priorities with the Community Empowerment Network and other VCS stakeholders, which is then approved by the Government Office.
The total Community Participation grant allocation for Sefton over three years (2001–04) is £1,215,434. This financial year (2004–05) the grant allocation for Sefton will be £551,064.
Public Perceptions (Surveys)
Norman Lamb: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what surveys of public perceptions of his Department and of its areas of responsibility have taken place over the last 12 months; what the (a) title and (b) nature of these surveys was; what the findings of each survey were; where these findings have been published; what the cost of such surveys was; and if he will make a statement and place copies of the surveys in the Library. [176943]
Yvette Cooper: No surveys of public perceptions of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and its areas of responsibility have taken place over the last 12 months.
Radon Gas
Ms Atherton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what action he intends to take to tackle radon in Cornish homes. [179461]
Phil Hope:
Radon is classed as a contaminant and is dealt with under Part C of the Building Regulations. I expect to make an announcement shortly on improvements to Part C.
18 Jun 2004 : Column 1151W
Government have provided guidance on radon protection of new homes since the late 1980s. The current guidance, BRE report BR211, "Radon: guidance on protection measures for new dwellings," was last revised in 1999 following the results of a survey of radon levels in all homes in England and Wales. This survey was carried out by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) and was published in 1996.
Temporary Housing
Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of providing temporary housing was to each local authority in each of the past 20 years, expressed at today's prices. [178429]
Yvette Cooper: The amount reported by local authorities in England as being spent on homelessness from the General Fund Revenue Account for each year from 1987–88 to 2003–04 expressed at 2003–04 prices is tabled as follows. This includes expenditure on homelessness including temporary accommodation, private sector leasing and bed and breakfast accommodation.
It is not possible to give figures for expenditure on temporary accommodation from the Housing Revenue Account as this is not recorded separately.
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| 1987–88 | 209.1 |
| 1988–89 | 183.3 |
| 1989–90 | 141.7 |
| 1990–91 | 148.1 |
| 1991–92 | 152.0 |
| 1992–93 | 167.9 |
| 1993–94 | 140.8 |
| 1994–95 | 139.9 |
| 1995–96 | 143.3 |
| 1996–97 | 142.0 |
| 1997–98 | 142.5 |
| 1998–99 | 169.7 |
| 1999–2000 | 189.5 |
| 2000–01 | 218.0 |
| 2001–02 | 198.0 |
| 2002–03 | 203.0 |
| 2003–04 | 220.5 |
The figures have been revalued for previous years at 2003–04 prices using the current Her Majesty's Treasury GDP deflators.
Figures for the individual local authorities for each year from 1998–99 have been made available in the Library of the house. Individual figures for earlier years are not available.
Urban Regeneration
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what funding has been allocated to the Single Regeneration Budget for financial year (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2005–06, broken down by region; and what funding plans are in place to continue the work of the Single Regeneration Budget from 2005–06 onwards. [178108]
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Yvette Cooper: The Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) was subsumed into the Regional Development Agencies' Single Programme in April 2002 and remaining expenditure from SRB commitments will be funded from the Single Programme. Information on the level of SRB commitments is not separately collected. Funding for the RDAs' Single Programme is made up from contributions from a number of different Government Departments. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's contribution to the Single Programme is £l,524 million (outturn) for 2003–04 and £1,513 million (planned) for 2005–06. RDAs are continuing to fund regeneration activity from the Single Programme. Funding for all programmes, including those of the RDAs, from 2005–06 is being considered in the 2004 Spending Review.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Afghanistan
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the level of private sector investment in Afghanistan has been in each of the last three years. [176605]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: This information is not collected by HMG and there would be a disproportionate cost to obtain the information.
Corus
Denzil Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make ex gratia payments to Mr. Paul Thomas and Mr. David Morgan, former employees of Corus, whose cases have been the subject of correspondence with her Department. [178114]
Jacqui Smith: I am aware that Mr. Thomas has pressed for payment, for himself and Mr Morgan, under the Iron and Steel Employees Re-adaptation Benefits Scheme (ISERBS) which permits us to make payments to redundant steelworkers under the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Treaty. ISERBS was introduced in 2001 and ECSC rules permitted the scheme to be backdated to include steelworkers made redundant since January 2000. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Thomas were made redundant in 1999. The Government are not able to make ex gratia payments to individuals who do not qualify under the scheme rules.
Export Credits Guarantee Department
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many staff have been seconded from the private sector to the Export Credits Guarantee Department in the last 10 years, stating in each case (a) the companies from which they have been seconded and (b) the start and end dates of the secondment. [176444]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: Four people have been seconded to ECGD from the private sector in the last 10 years. They came respectively from:
Barclays Bank plc between October 1989 and January 1993;
British Aerospace for 15 working days over the period June to September 1993;
HSBC between January 1996 and December 1997; and
NatWest Bank between July 1997 and February 1999.
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