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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Affordable Homes

Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the target for affordable homes in settlements of less than 3,000; and what progress is being made to increase access to lower cost homes in smaller rural settlements. [183823]

Keith Hill: In 2003–04 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister exceeded its target to build 1,600 affordable homes in communities below 3,000 people. We have slightly increased that target to 3,500 new affordable homes in such communities in 2004–05 and 2005–06 and early indications are that this too will be exceeded. From 2006–07 Regional Housing Boards will be invited to propose rural targets relevant to their own regions.

The increased target for 2004–06 includes homes for both rent and sale at below market rates.

Brownfield Sites

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the effect of delays in the cleaning up of brownfield sites on their use in preference to greenbelt land. [183474]

Keith Hill: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has made no specific assessment of the kind referred to by the hon. Member for South Holland and the Deepings. The Government are, however, preparing a comprehensive national brownfield strategy which will examine how we can make the best use of brownfield land for the future.

China Taskforce

Norman Baker: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his written statement of 18 May 2004,
 
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Official Report, column 45WS, what weight the China Taskforce gives to human rights issues, with particular reference to the occupation of Tibet. [182861]

Phil Hope: The China Taskforce was set up by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister, at the request of my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, to make proposals for deepening relations with China in four specific areas: Trade and Industry; Science and Technology; Education; and Sustainable Development and the Environment.

The Government raises Human Rights issues with China on a regular basis. We use the bi-annual UK China Human Rights Dialogue to raise our concerns in detail, and also raise issues through ministerial contacts, public statements and EU mechanisms.

Departmental Buildings

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what has been the total floor space area of buildings owned or leased by (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each year since 1997. [182901]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established in May 2002. The total floor space area of buildings owned or leased in each year since that date is as follows:
net internal area m⁽¹⁷⁾

	Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (including GOs)	ODPM agencies
2002–03	156,425	72,562
2003–04	165,623	71,004

This includes the space that other Government Departments occupy in buildings owned or leased by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister but does not include space that the Office occupies in other Government Departments' buildings.

Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government Offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Departments.

Government Estate (Sustainable Development)

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what changes there have been in (a) road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions and (b) single occupancy car commuting from his Department against the baseline year of the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate. [182892]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was unable to establish a baseline for 2002–03 for either (a) road transport vehicle carbon dioxide emissions or (b) single occupancy car commuting, due to the lack of available data. The data for 2003–04 is still being collated, and will be included in the Sustainable Development in Government: third annual report to be produced by Defra, and published in the autumn.
 
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Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department has joined the Watermark project; and what changes there have been in water consumption by his Department in each year since 1997. [182893]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister joined the Watermark project in 2002, and submitted data for its central London buildings of Eland House and Ashdown House, as well as for the Planning Inspectorate Agency based at Temple Quay House, Bristol and six Government Office and six Rent Service Buildings. Some parts of the estate such as the Fire Service College and the QEII Centre did not submit data, and some other buildings were unable to as they have a shared occupancy where tenancies are not separately metered.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was formed in May 2002. Thus 2002–03 formed our baseline water consumption year when 183,346m ³ was used in all the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister buildings that monitor and record water usage. This figure includes all buildings for which data is available, regardless of whether or the data was submitted to the Watermark project. In 2003–04 their water consumption reduced to 160,187m ³ .

Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government Offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Departments.

Green Belt

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what the area of land that has been added to the Green Belt was in each year since 1997; and what the total area added was since 1997; [183469]

(2) what the area of land that has been removed from the Green Belt in each year since 1997 is; and what the total area removed since 1997 is; [183538]

(3) what change there has been in the area of Green Belt land in metropolitan areas since 1997. [183463]

Keith Hill: Figures were released on 29 March 2004 showing net changes in the extent of Green Belt between 1997 and 2003. Estimates for the intervening years have not been produced. It was announced in this House on 26 May that an error had been identified in these recently published statistics. Further checks are being carried out to ensure the reliability of the figures prior to re-issuing these statistics.

I will write to the hon. Member as soon as possible with the information requested when the checks have been completed, and will make a copy of the letter available in the Library of the House.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how often the size of the Green Belt is calculated. [183470]

Keith Hill: Statistics on the extent of Green Belt in each local authority in England, derived from digitised boundaries of Green Belt contained in maps of local development plans, were first published in 2000. Prior to
 
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then, estimates were provided but not necessarily on a consistent basis. Statistics, based on updated local development plans, were published in March 2004. Following an error in the latest statistics which was announced to the House on 26 May, a thorough audit of the data is currently being carried out prior to re-publication shortly. It is intended that in future, updates of the extent of Green Belt in England will be published annually.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) how much of the land added to the Green Belt since 1997 was previously (a) brownfield, (b) industrial, (c) commercial and (d) forest land; [183540]

(2) how much of the land removed from the Green Belt since 1997 has been redesignated as (a) brownfield, (b) industrial, (c) commercial and (d) forest land. [183586]

 
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Keith Hill: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Homelessness

Mr. Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of (a) local authority and (b) registered social landlord lettings have been allocated to statutorily homeless households in temporary accommodation in each year since 1 May 1997. [182905]

Phil Hope: A table on the percentage of permanent local authority and registered social landlord lettings given to statutory homeless households in each financial year since 1997 is given in the table. No information is available to distinguish whether or not these statutory homeless households have been in temporary accommodation previous to receiving a permanent tenancy.
Percentage new lettings given to households that are statutory homeless⁽¹⁶⁾

Tenure	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
LA(17)	21	20	21	23	26	29
RSL	12	12	12	12	13	14	15

⁽¹⁶⁾Transfers, mutual exchanges and non-secure lettings are excluded from the figures.
⁽¹⁷⁾1997–98 includes only secure tenancies, while all other years include introductory tenancies. Data not yet available for 2003–04
Source:
ODPM's Housing Investment Programme returns and Housing Corporation's Continous REcording return (CORE)

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