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Housing Renewal Pathfinders

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what compensation packages are offered to home owners whose homes are to be demolished in each of the nine Pathfinder areas of England; and if he will make a statement. [193232]

Keith Hill: Compensation and relocation packages are determined by the individual market renewal pathfinders and participating authorities. In the case of properties acquired by a Compulsory Purchase Order, the local authority is obliged to pay the open market value for the property. In addition, they are also obliged to cover all reasonable disturbance costs incurred by the individual who has to move house. A home loss payment to an owner-occupier is also made which is set at 10 per cent. of the value of the house purchased, subject to a minimum of £3,400 and a maximum of
 
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£34,000. Tenants can claim a flat-rate home loss payment of £3,400 in addition to any disturbance costs payable.

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many press officers are employed by each of the Housing Renewal Pathfinders in England. [193233]

Keith Hill: Staffing matters are for each individual pathfinder to decide to best meet their needs. However, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is aware that all but two of the pathfinders currently employ one Communications Officer each, for whom dealing with the press is part of their duties. Local authorities provide media support for the two pathfinders not employing press officers directly (Manchester Salford and Hull and East Riding).

Inter-departmental Co-operation

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress he has made towards working with other Government Departments to raise the levels of (a) social inclusion, (b) neighbourhood renewal and (c) regional prosperity. [191264]

Phil Hope: The Government strongly believe that the issues of social inclusion, neighbourhood renewal, and local and regional prosperity are tightly interlinked. A partnership approach—not only across Government Departments but also more widely with local and regional service providers and policy makers—are essential to tackle the difficult issues underlying deprivation and social exclusion. Both the Social Exclusion Unit and the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit work closely with all Government Departments, and this work has already produced tangible results:

on crime, where the average burglary rate in the 88 most deprived local authority areas has seen significant falls;

on education, where the average pass rate gap (for five good GCSEs—grade A-C) between the 88 local authority areas and the English average continues to narrow at a faster rate;

on worklessness, where the rise in employment rates has climbed faster in the 88 areas than it has nationally; and

through investing in children to break the cycle of disadvantage, with the Government increasing financial support for children by £10 billion since 1997.

The Government have also successfully strengthened the regional tier in order to draw together the policies, strategies and funding streams of many departments. The Government Offices for the Regions carry out work on behalf of 10 Government Departments, influence regional investment of around £9 billion and are involved in the delivery of 39 national Public Service Agreements. They play a key role in delivering the Government's policies for neighbourhood renewal, social inclusion and regional economic performance, using their programmes and influence to enable regions and localities to become better, more sustainable communities in which to live and work.

Local Authorities (Debt Collection)

Mr. Alan Campbell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what advice his Department has given to local authorities pursuing outstanding debts of (a) less than £3,000 and (b) more than £3,000. [193328]

 
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Mr. Raynsford: No general guidance has been issued to local authorities by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the pursuit of outstanding debts. Authorities are required by section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 to make arrangements for the proper administration of their financial affairs, and policies and procedures for pursuing debts would properly form part of those arrangements.

The Non-Domestic Rating Contributions (England) Regulations require authorities to have made proper arrangements for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in relation to the collection of non-domestic rates if they are to be permitted to make deductions for bad or doubtful debts from the payments they make into the national pool. Advice on this requirement was issued to local authority chief finance officers on 5 May 1993. This advice is in general terms, and makes no distinction between amounts under and over £3,000.

Local Authority Debt

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much the combined local authority debt (a) is and (b) was in 1997; and what the average rate of interest paid on that debt is. [193810]

Mr. Raynsford: The information is as follows:

(a) At 31 March 2004 the total outstanding debt of local authorities in England was £37,659 million.

(b) At 31 March 1997 the total outstanding debt of local authorities in England was £37,934 million.

The average rate of interest paid on total outstanding debt is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Source:

ODPM monthly and quarterly borrowing returns, Public Works Loan Board.

Long-term borrowing to finance capital expenditure was regulated through the issue of credit approvals up until 31 March 2004 and, as from 1 April 2004, is subject to the Prudential System.

Local Government (Coventry)

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the funding of local government in Coventry South. [193313]

Mr. Raynsford: I will make a statement on the formula grant allocations for 2005–06 in due course.

Regional Assemblies

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the total cost of holding the referendum on an elected regional assembly in the North East. [193755]

Mr. Raynsford: The cost for the North East will be approximately £2.9 million—an average cost of £1.50 per elector. This covers the cost incurred by counting officers such as printing the ballot papers and conducting the count. The maximum amounts payable to a counting officer for a Regional Referendum were set out in The Regional Assembly and Local Government
 
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Referendums (Counting Officers' Charges) Order 2004 (S.I. 2004 No. 2105), which was approved by Parliament on 22 July 2004.

The lead Yes/No campaign organisations—appointed by the Electoral Commission—have each received a grant of £100,000 from the Commission. They will also be entitled to a free mailing and free TV broadcast(s). The delivery costs of the mailing are drawn from the Consolidated Fund. The total cost of the mailing will not be known until the Royal Mail has submitted its accounts.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total cost has been of (a) visits made and (b) meetings hosted by Ministers in his Department relating to elected regional assemblies since May 2002. [193756]

Mr. Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister laid out the estimated costs of the launch of the information campaign in the answers to the right hon. Member for Skipton and Ripon (Mr. Curry) on 5 January 2004, Official Report, column 150W and 23 April 2004, Official Report, column 694W; and in the answers to the hon. Member on 6 May 2004, Official Report, column 1687W; 21 May 2004, Official Report, column 1285W and 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 212W.

The current estimate of costs for all visits and meetings since November 2003 is £184,143.

Before the 'Your Say' campaign was launched in November 2003, costs for activities carried out were not recorded centrally.

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost was of producing and publishing (a) the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", Cm 5511 and (b) the Draft Regional Assemblies Bill, Cm 6285. [193780]

Mr. Raynsford: The cost of producing and publishing the White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice, Revitalising the English Regions", May 2002 (Cm. 5511) was approximately £64,000.

The cost to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister of producing and publishing the Regional Assemblies Draft Bill, July 2004 (Cm 6285) was approximately £20,500. This figure does not include the costs of production to TSO (The Stationery Office) Ltd., which are commercial in confidence.

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