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31 Jan 2005 : Column 648W—continued

High Hedges

Mr. Pope: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to bring forward regulations to bring into force sections of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 dealing with high hedges. [211542]

Mr. Maples: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to (a) publish and (b) implement regulations under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 to allow authorities to deal with complaints about high hedges. [211527]

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister intends to issue guidance for local authorities at the same time as the regulations to bring part 8 of the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 into force are laid before Parliament. We expect the complaints system to be fully operational early this year.

Housing

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to build affordable homes for key workers in Coventry, South constituency. [211206]

Keith Hill: The Key Worker Living programme is focused on helping key workers in London, the East and the South East of England regions with funding coming from those regions allocations. In 2003, the West Midlands Regional Housing Board did not identify the provision of affordable homes for key workers as a sufficient priority to specifically allocate resources to key worker schemes in 2004–05 or 2005–06. It is however open to them to make recommendations for helping key workers in their region through the ADP in 2006–07 and 2007–08.

With regard to the new First Time Buyer Initiative announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister as part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's five year plan, there are no sites currently identified to build homes under the scheme in Coventry. English Partnerships (EP) is leading on the delivery of 15,000 homes, which at the moment are focussed on the areas of greatest need, London and the South East, where its portfolio is concentrated. However we expect Regional Housing Boards to work closely with EP to identify future housing priorities and we encourage other landowners, such as local authorities, to use this model to address issues of housing affordability in their area.

Colin Burgon: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress has been made with each of the Pathfinder private finance initiative housing schemes. [211914]

Keith Hill: The London borough of Islington and Manchester city council signed contracts for Pathfinder Housing Private Finance Initiative (PFI) schemes in
 
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March 2003. Reading borough council signed a contract for its housing PFI scheme in March 2004. Refurbishment work has started on all three schemes with work on the first homes being completed.

Leeds city council, the London borough of Newham, North East Derbyshire district council and Sandwell metropolitan borough council have appointed Preferred Bidders. These four and the London borough of Camden are in final negotiations with bidders and are expected to sign shortly.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average (a) house price and (b) first-time buyer property purchase price was in each local billing authority in England in each year for which figures are available. [211939]

Keith Hill: Estimates of average house prices at local authority level are only available back to 1996 and are based on Land Registry data. The figures for 1996 to 2003 are available from the Housing Statistics section on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's internet site.

The web link for the information is: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/page/odpm_house_609380.xls [Housing-Housing Statistics-Live Tables-Housing Market-Table no 582].

Comparable data for first-time buyers is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Identity Cards

Mr. Oaten: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he has conducted a study into the impact of the introduction of identity cards on his Department's business. [209622]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has been working closely with the Home Office to identify where the ID cards scheme will provide benefits to our business areas. This work is ongoing.

Living Spaces Programme (West Derbyshire)

Mr. McLoughlin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which projects in the West Derbyshire constituency
 
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have (a) applied for funds, (b) been supported with funds and (c) been refused funds from the Living Spaces programme; and how many applications are pending that were submitted before the 21 July 2004 deadline. [211937]

Phil Hope: Four projects in the West Derbyshire constituency have applied for funding from the Living Spaces programme. Three projects have been approved and awarded funding. They are:

Playground Development project in Sheldon, Bakewell which has been awarded a grant of £8,000.

Pilsey Jubilee Gardens project which has been awarded a grant of £9,168.55

The Matlock Rampage project which has been awarded a grant of £20,000.

The fourth group has had its initial application approved and has since worked up its plans with the help of a trained Living Spaces enabler. Once Living Spaces receives a final recommendation from the enabler a decision on funding will be taken. This project is:

Cromford Playground Improvements project which has applied for a grant of £16,118.00.

To date, no applications from groups in the West Derbyshire constituency have been refused funds from the Living Spaces programme.

Local Authority Plans

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what local authority plans each tier of local authority in England is required to produce in (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06; and which plans are not compulsory for good or excellent authorities. [207927]

Phil Hope: The table explains the plans required from the various tiers of English local authority in 2004–05 and 2005–06. Some plans are required upon cycles agreed with Government Offices or outlined in legislation, so will not be required each year. Some plans are required only in certain areas, depending on local circumstances or service specific performance. By the beginning of 2006–07 there will have been a 75 per cent. reduction in the number of separate plans required from local authorities compared to when research identified 66 plans in 2001.

Plan	2004–05	2005–06
Air Quality Action Plan (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs (Depending on local air quality standards)	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs (Depending on local air quality standards)
Behaviour Support Plan (Department for Education and Skills)	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitan, London Boroughs	Not required—Duty repealed through Children Act 2004
Best Value Performance Plan (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)	BV Parishes, Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	BV Parishes, Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs
Civil Contingencies Plans (Cabinet Office)	Not required this year—awaiting commencement of Civil Contingencies Act 2004. Existing Civil Defence Plans maintained by Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs
Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategy (Home Office)	Not required this year (three-yearly cycle)	Districts and Counties (published at District level), Unitaries, London Boroughs
Home Energy Conservation Report (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitan, London Boroughs	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitan, London Boroughs
Housing Strategy (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitan, London Boroughs (depending on cycle agreed with Government Offices)	Districts, Unitaries, Metropolitan, London Boroughs (depending on cycle agreed with Government Offices)
Joint Municipal Waste Strategy (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)	Not required this year—Waste and Emissions Trading Act 2003 requires plans in April 2005.	Counties and Districts (where not exempt under criteria set out in regulations)
Library Position Statement (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) (where performance was not excellent)	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Requirement ceased
Local Development Scheme (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)	Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs
Local Transport Plan and Bus Strategy (Department for Transport)	Not required this year (5-yearly cycle)	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitan Districts (in Passenger Transport Authority areas)
Teenage Pregnancy Strategy (Department for Education and Skills)	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs
Trading Standards Plan (Executive Summary)(Department of Trade and Industry)	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Requirement ceased
Youth Justice Plan (Youth Justice Board)	Not required this year by Youth Justice Board	Districts, Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs
Youth Service Plan	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs	Counties, Unitaries, Metropolitans, London Boroughs

 
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Good authorities will still be required to produce these plans as appropriate. Subject to the successful completion of the parliamentary procedure for the Local Authorities Plans and Strategies (Disapplication) (England) 2005 Order, excellent authorities will only be required to produce streamlined Best Value Performance Plans (in both years), Civil Contingencies Plans (in 2005–06), Crime and Disorder Reduction Strategies (in 2005–06), Youth Service Plans (2004–05) and Local Development Schemes (in 2004–05). All local planning authorities (districts and unitaries) either have to complete old development plans or prepare new development plan documents over the next three years (districts and counties, and for waste and minerals only, counties). The aforementioned Order will remove the requirement for excellent authorities to publish, produce or prepare (as the case may be) Homelessness Strategies, Home Energy Conservation Reports, Youth Justice Plans, Rights of Way Improvement Plans, Local Transport Plans and Bus Strategies and Air Quality Action Plans.

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