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14 Jul 2004 : Column 1178W—continued
Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder
Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister who the members of the local Strategic Partnership in the Wakefield metropolitan district are; and whether the Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder applies to Wakefield metropolitan district council. [183410]
Phil Hope: The executive board of the Wakefield District Partnership (the local strategic partnership for the area), has a membership of 21. Those individuals represent a range of organisations, including Wakefield Metropolitan District Council, four public sector bodies (two local PCT's, W. Yorks Police and METRO—the Passenger Transport Exec for W. Yorks), three business organisations (1st Development Agency for Wakefield District, Mid-Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Yorkshire Forward), five community/voluntary organisations (VOX x two representatives, Wakefield Asian Forum, the Community Assembly and Wakefield Cathedral) and the chairs of the LSP's thematic sub-partnerships.
There are no Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder schemes in the Wakefield metropolitan district.
Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Mr. Bill O'Brien: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much Neighbourhood Renewal Fund money has been spent in each of the wards that qualify in the Wakefield Metropolitan District since the fund's inception. [183409]
Phil Hope: The information is as follows:
| £ million | |
|---|---|
| Specifically directed to the wards in the worst 10 per cent. on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2000 on the multiple index | 3.6 |
| Specifically directed to wards in the worst 10 per cent. on one of the domains in the IMD 2000 | 1.3 |
| Directed to areas of identified deprivation in all wards across the district | 5.0 |
Ordnance Survey
Mr. Bacon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people were employed at the Ordnance Survey (a) in 1997 and (b) at the latest date for which information is available, broken down by job title; if he will list the job functions performed by those holding each job title; and for how many people the primary function was (i) human resource or personnel functions, (ii) finance and accounting functions, (iii) information technology functions and (iv) other support, back office or administrative functions (A) in 1997 and (B) at the latest date for which information is available. [183460]
Phil Hope: Total full-time equivalent staff numbers at Ordnance Survey, taken from Civil Service Statistics 2002 (the latest official figures available), were 1,810 in 1997 and 1,830 in April 2002.
Ordnance Survey's internal management information provides more detail about the current complement (full-time equivalents as at July 2004).
14 Jul 2004 : Column 1179W
| Full-time equivalent staff | |
|---|---|
| Data collection and management group | 566 |
| Information systems group | 233 |
| Programmes and products group | 254 |
| Sales and market development group | 210 |
| Finance group | 62 |
| Strategy group | 31 |
| Human resources and corporate services group | 106 |
| Total | 1,462 |
The reduction of almost 20 per cent. since 1997 has been achieved, in large part, through the effective application of new technology to meeting customers' needs. It has been supported by judicious use of voluntary early retirement and voluntary early severance schemes.
Ordnance Survey has undergone considerable restructuring since 1997 and as a result the breakdown by business group is not comparable with the older figures. Full-time equivalent numbers by group for 1997 were:
| Full-time equivalent staff | |
|---|---|
| Data collection | 738 |
| Information systems | 318 |
| Marketing | 318 |
| Sales | 206 |
| Business services | 217 |
| Corporate office | 13 |
| Total | 1,810 |
A breakdown of the current headcount by job title is available but runs to several pages so is not included here. Equivalent information for 1997 could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Postal Voting
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the estimated total cost is of the all-postal pilots in the June elections, broken down by region. [176247]
Mr. Raynsford: The Government's current estimate of the cost of the combined elections in June 2004, in the regions in which all-postal voting is being piloted is:
| Region | Estimate (£ million) |
|---|---|
| East Midlands | 5 |
| North East | 3.2 |
| North West | 9.1 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 6.5 |
| Total | 23.8 |
Public Services (Funding)
Mr. Gale: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will identify, for (a) his Department and (b) the agencies and task forces for which it is responsible, each funding stream for public services in (i) the Isle of Thanet and (ii) the Canterbury city local authority area. [181732]
14 Jul 2004 : Column 1180W
Mr. Raynsford: The funding streams for those public services in the area of the Isle of Thanet and Canterbury city council include Revenue Support Grant, National Non Domestic Rates and Council Tax. In addition, this Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has responsibility for the following relevant funding streams:
Supported Capital Expenditure (Revenue) which provides funds for investment in housing
Housing Revenue Account Subsidy
Disabled Facility Grant
Housing Corporation funding for investment in housing through registered social landlords
Transitional Local Authority Social Housing Grant Compensation
Planning Delivery Grant
Single Regeneration Budget
European Regional Development Fund
Capital Challenge (Supplementary Credit and Basic Credit Approvals)
Supporting People
Arson Control Forum Implementation Fund
Regional Assemblies
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much he has spent to date on publicising the proposed regional assembly referendums; and what the expected expenditure is up to polling day. [183518]
Mr. Raynsford: To date, the Government have spent £1,931,000 on the elected regional assembly information campaign.
The expected total expenditure is £5 million. For a breakdown of costs, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) on 19 April 2004, Official Report, column 366W.
Right-to-buy Scheme
Mr. Best: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of council homes purchased under the Right-to-Buy scheme in (a) Leeds, North-West, (b) Leeds, (c) West Yorkshire and (d) England since 1 May 1997. [183327]
Keith Hill: The following information for Leeds, North-West and Leeds has been provided directly from Leeds city council. The information for West Yorkshire and England was provided to Government office for Yorkshire and the Humber by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's statistics team, their information source is taken from the data provided by local authority statistical returns.
Council homes purchased, since 1 May 1997, under the Right-to-Buy scheme in:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| (a) Leeds, North-West | 1,415 |
| (b) Leeds | 7,310 |
| (c) West Yorkshire | (18)27,044 |
| (d) England | (18)303,494 |
(18) 2003–04 data for LAs (reported) and GOs and England are due to be published later this month.
14 Jul 2004 : Column 1181W
Social Housing (Leeds)
Mr. Best: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to increase the provision of social housing in Leeds, North-West. [183325]
Keith Hill: The 2003 Sustainable Communities Plan set out the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's plans for increasing investment in housing up to 2005–06. It identified actions that we are now taking to improve the availability and quality of social housing, including the establishment of Regional Housing Boards with responsibility for the production of Regional Housing Strategies and advise to Ministers on the allocation of resources to meet regional priorities. The 2004 Spending Review will set out our plans for housing investment for 2006–07 and 2007–08.
The 2003 Regional Housing Strategy and its accompanying investment framework includes the provision of sufficient new homes, creating mixed income and sustainable communities as one of its objectives. This is reflected in the investment framework which, in addition to meeting Housing Corporation commitments and pre-allocations, has commissioned a £51 million two year programme from the Housing Corporation. One of the priorities is affordable housing and a partnership has been set up to tackle the lack of affordable housing in the 'Golden Triangle' area of North Leeds, Harrogate and Leeds. The Regional Housing Board have also provisionally agreed to provide £0.5 million for 2005–06 from its 'Transformational Commissioning' programme and, subject to the outcome of the spending review, significant future commitments over the following five years.
Since 1997 in North West Leeds, the Housing Corporation has invested £2.4 million of social housing grant to provide 80 dwellings of affordable housing.
Leeds city council is also using Planning Policy Guidance (PPG3) to secure an element of affordable housing on new residential development. In this financial year (2004–05) there are 38 affordable houses due to be completed. The council is seeking 50 per cent. of affordable housing on the East of Otley strategic site, which will provide 292 affordable units. On other North West Leeds sites, the council are seeking 25 per cent. of the homes to be affordable. In total these would provide around £500 affordable homes over the next five to 10 years.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will also be consulting on taking forward the recommendations of Kate Barker's review of housing supply, which include proposals to increase the supply of affordable and sustainable homes.
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