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Housing

Dr. Naysmith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent assessment he has made of housing waiting lists in the South West; and what action he intends to take to reduce waiting lists in the south-west. [183992]

Keith Hill: Social housing waiting lists are a key part of the evidence considered by local housing authorities in preparing assessments of local housing need. These assessments are used by the authorities in developing their housing strategies. The provision of new affordable housing is the number one priority of the South West Housing Body who will be investing £188 million in 2004–05 and 2005–06 to deliver over 6,000 affordable homes across the south-west region.

Mr. Flook: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to facilitate an increase in the number of housing units made available (a) in Taunton Deane by (i) Taunton Deane borough council and (ii) housing associations and (b) in West Somerset by housing associations. [184637]

Keith Hill: The South West Housing Body (SWHB) has allocated £733,000 to Taunton Deane borough council in 2004–05 to support capital expenditure on housing including the provision of new affordable homes. The SWHB through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme (ADP) has allocated £2.4 million over the 2004–05 and 2005–06 financial years. This will enable housing associations to
 
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deliver around 84 affordable homes in the District of Taunton Deane. The SWHB has also allocated through the ADP £2.02 million over 2004–05 and 2005–06 which will enable housing associations to deliver around 47 affordable homes in the District of West Somerset.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the estimates he has made of increases in housing supply take account of the protection of Green Belt land. [183472]

Keith Hill: Yes.

Local Community Partnerships

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will ensure that, when local community partnerships are sponsoring a major flagship regeneration project in their area, they engage in a full and open public consultation programme, including public meetings with their local communities. [182016]

Phil Hope: The term "local community partnerships" covers a wide spectrum of arrangements for partnership working, not all of which are subject to guidance from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. However where we have the lead on local partnership working, guidance always stresses the need for community consultation, involvement and engagement. Any project which involves development will be subject to approval through the planning system. There are extensive requirements for public consultation and engagement in planning decisions. New requirements are being introduced under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 for each local authority to produce a 'Statement of Community Involvement' setting out how it will engage the community in both plan making and major decisions. For Neighbourhood Renewal policies and programmes—such as New Deal for Communities or Neighbourhood Management—community involvement is an indispensable element and partnerships could not expect continuing support if they failed to apply guidance.

Toll Roads

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport regarding the proposed new toll road linking Birmingham and Manchester; and if he will make a statement. [183476]

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was consulted on the proposal. This proposal is consistent with the recent Regional Planning Guidance for the West Midlands. This Guidance, which incorporates the regional Transport Strategy, recognises the need for the widening of M6 from junctions 11a to 19. The consultation paper issued by the Secretary of State for Transport makes clear that before any decisions are taken, a careful assessment will be made of the wider social, economic and environmental impacts of any potential scheme, and of the scope for high quality measures to mitigate environmental impacts.
 
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WORK AND PENSIONS

Accountancy Advice

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many contracts have been let by his Department in each financial year since 2001–02 to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte and Touche, (c) KPMG and (d) Ernst and Young for advising his Department on private finance initiative and public private partnership contracts; and what fees were paid in each case. [182264]

Jane Kennedy: DWP was established in June 2001. Information on the number of contracts and respective fees is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

We are, however, able to provide total spend by this Department with these accountancy firms as follows. Information for 2003–04 is not yet available.
£ million

	2001–02 (estimate)(21)	2002–03
Deloitte and Touche	8.1	4.2
Ernst and Young	(22)2.3	3.5
KPMG	1.1	2.6
PricewaterhouseCoopers	0.5	1.4

⁽²¹⁾ The figures for 2001–02 are for the complete year and are estimates of the spend for the legacy organisations.
⁽²²⁾ Cap Gemini Ernst and Young.



 
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New Deal

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total expenditure on each New Deal programme has been in the period 1997–98 to 2003–04; and, of this, how much has been spent on (a) departmental administrative costs and (b) payments to external providers. [177523]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested on the total expenditure on each New Deal programme and departmental administrative costs is in the DWP Departmental Report 2004 which is available in the Library.

Information on payments to external providers is in the table.
Payments to external providers

£ million
	1997–98(23)	1998–99(23)	1999–2000(23)	2000–01(23)	2001–02(23)	2002–03(23)	2003–04(24)
New Deal for young people	12	98	174	214	159	150	180
New Deal 25 plus	n/a	12	28	24	99	96	115
New Deal for over 50s	n/a	n/a	n/a	2	2	2	3
New Deal for lone parents	n/a	n/a	2	3	1	4	3
New Deal for disabled people	n/a	n/a	15	6	1	16	26
New Deal for partners	n/a	n/a	n/a	1	1	0	0

⁽²³⁾ Outturn
⁽²⁴⁾ Forecast outturn
Source:
Jobcentre Plus

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of expenditure on payments to external providers in each New Deal scheme in each year since 1997–98, broken down by (a) overhead costs, (b) profits, (c) payment to other providers and (d) other payments for which information is available. [177524]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is not available.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was spent on each New Deal programme in 2003–04, broken down by (a) subsidies to employers, (b) payments to external providers, (c) payments to participants and (d) departmental administrative costs. [177531]

Jane Kennedy: The information requested is in the table.
New Deal forecast-outturn by expenditure type 2003–04 £ million

Total expenditure	Subsidies to employers	Payment to external providers	Payments to participants	Departmental administrative costs
New Deal for young people	12	180	65	93
New Deal 25 plus	10	115	58	62
New Deal for over 50s	0	3	1	5
New Deal for lone parents	0	3	16	47
New Deal for disabled people	0	26	1	15
New Deal for partners	0	0	0	4

Source:
Jobcentre Plus





 
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