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11 Nov 2004 : Column 852W—continued
Regional Fire Control Rooms
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department sought advice from (a) the Strathclyde fire control centre and (b) the London fire control centre in developing its proposals for regional fire control rooms. [197358]
Mr. Raynsford:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister looked at the experience of a range of control centres dealing with emergency calls in developing our proposals for regional fire control centres. These included Strathclyde and London as well as other fire and rescue services, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Highways Agency, and police services across the UK. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister did not specifically seek advice from the Strathclyde fire
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control centre but the London fire control centre has provided advice and assistance to the FiReControl project, along with other fire and rescue services. The FiReControl project has several experienced fire control managers seconded from English fire and rescue services to provide advice as the project progresses.
Richard Younger-Ross: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in what percentage of calls from (a) land line phones and (b) mobile phones the location of the call can be identified in fire control rooms. [197359]
Mr. Raynsford:
In 2002–03, the most recent year for which data are available, fire control staff in England and Wales handled 1,797,193 emergency calls. It is not currently possible to disaggregate the data between
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mobile or landline calls, nor is any information available centrally on the proportion of calls where the location of the call can be identified in fire control rooms.
Mortgage Costs
Andrew George: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of household income was spent on mortgages by first-time buyers in (a) rural and (b) urban areas in England and Wales in each of the past 10 years for which records are available. [196685]
Keith Hill: Estimates of initial mortgage repayments by first-time buyers as a percentage of the gross income on which their mortgage application was based are tabled as follows. Figures are provided for each of the English regions and for Wales. However it is not possible to provide a breakdown by urban and rural areas.
Notes:
1. The mortgage interest rates used in the calculations are the general rates that applied at the time that the first-time buyers made their purchase. And, for those years when MIRAS existed, they reflect the net interest rates after MIRAS.
2. For consistency, it is assumed throughout that the type of mortgage was a "repayment" mortgage. In other words the repayments reflect both payments of both interest and part capital.
3. Data up to and including 2002 are based on a 5 per cent. sample of mortgage completions. The 2003 figures are based on a significantly larger sample.
Source:
Survey of Mortgage Lenders
Regional Government
Mr. Evans: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the timetable for a referendum on regional government in the north-west; [197376]
Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to proceed with referendums on regional government in the (a) North West and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber. [197377]
Mr. Raynsford: I refer the hon. Member to the statement given by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 8 November 2004, Official Report, columns 587–606.
Social Rented Homes
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what proportion of the 10,000 social rented homes to be provided annually by 2007–08 will be funded from (a) the additional £430 million in Approved Development Programme funding and (b) efficiency savings; [196836]
(2) if he will break down by Government office region the location of the 10,000 social rented homes to be provided annually by 2007–08. [196837]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will provide an additional 10,000 homes a year for social rent funded by direct investment through the Approved Development Programme, an expanded private finance initiative programme and efficiencies in procurement.
Decisions have not yet been taken on how regional housing pot funding, of which the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme is one element, for 2006–07 and 2007–08 (including the additional funding for affordable housing) is split between regions. This needs to reflect the different pattern of needs across regions and the Government's national housing priorities, including development of the growth areas, and targets. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister aims to complete this work, which raises some complex issues, by the end of the year.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will announce decisions on allocation of funding within
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regions next summer in the light of recommendations from Regional Housing Boards, which are due in May next year.
Even after the regional allocations are decided the location of the additional social housing rented units will not be known until after the respective bidding rounds. In many cases the homes will be provided through a combination of grant and efficiency savings.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to require social rented and shared ownership housing to be built on the same sites as his Department's proposed 60,000 homes for first time buyers. [196838]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister remains strongly committed to the provision of mixed tenure communities and we will set out full details in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Strategic Plan.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to limit access to his Department's proposed 60,000 homes for first time buyers to people in social rented housing or on housing waiting lists in that area. [196839]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently considering criteria for eligibility and will set out further details of the scheme in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Strategic Plan.
South West Regional Assembly
Mrs. Browning: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will take steps to abolish the South West Regional Assembly; and if he will make a statement. [197463]
Mr. Raynsford: No. The South West Regional Assembly is a voluntary body recognised by Government for certain purposes. The Government have no plans to alter that position.
Strategic Plan
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to publish his Department's Five-Year Strategic Plan. [196841]
Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister intends to publish the Plan shortly.
Wilf Ward Trust
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what funding has been provided to the Wilf Ward Family Trust through a Supporting People grant in 2003–04; [196753]
(2) what funding has been allocated to the Wilf Ward Family Trust through a Supporting People grant for 2005–06. [196754]
Keith Hill:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister provides grants directly to Administering Authorities to enable them to procure housing related support services. The amount of funding provided to individual services is therefore a matter of local discretion.
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