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22 Mar 2005 : Column 643W—continued
Housing
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the 2,000 homes for key workers announced under English Partnerships' London-wide Initiative are included in the 15,000 homes being built under the First Time Buyer Initiative. [223280]
Keith Hill: Of the 2,000 affordable homes for sale to be delivered under English Partnerships London-wide Initiative pilot, 1,000 will be made available under the First Time Buyers Initiative announced in January.
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many social rented homes have been (a) built and (b) acquired through the private finance initiative mechanism that will be expanded under Sustainable Communities: Homes for all. [223282]
Keith Hill: Through the private finance initiative (PFI) so far 51 social rented homes have been built and 150 homes have been acquired. Within the next three years the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects a further 387 social rented homes to be built through PFI schemes that reached contract signature in 2004.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects the first property constructed under the First Time Buyers Initiative to be completed. [223289]
Keith Hill: English Partnerships are currently developing the business plan that will underpin the delivery of 15,000 homes under the First Time Buyers Initiative.
It is envisaged that the first homes constructed under the scheme will be completed in 2006.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will establish criteria for the First Time Buyers Initiative that ensure the homes are prioritised for key workers and others on incomes at or below the average for the region. [223292]
Keith Hill:
I refer the hon. Member to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Public Service Plan 'Homes for All', presented to the House on 24 January of this year. Paragraphs 4.7 and 4.8 set out our proposals regarding decisions on eligibility criteria for the First Time Buyers Initiative. Copies of the Plan are available in the Library of the House.
22 Mar 2005 : Column 644W
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what powers (a) regional housing boards and (b) regional chambers will have to set (i) targets and (ii) policy for the demolition of homes in their regionalstrategies. [216651]
Keith Hill: None. However it is essential that the evidence base and analysis that underpins the regional housing and spatial strategies reflect the levels of demolition needed to tackle problems of over-supply or obsolete stock.
Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many council houses there were in Shrewsbury and Atcham in each year since 1997. [223148]
Keith Hill: The following information is provided from Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council's housing investment programmes as required by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (and its predecessors) for the relevant years.
| LA housing stock as of 1 April | |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 6,080 |
| 1998–99 | 5,972 |
| 1999–2000 | 5,843 |
| 2000–01 | 5,693 |
Shrewsbury and Atcham borough council undertook a large scale voluntary transfer of its housing stock to a registered social landlord on the 1 October 2001. Therefore, figures for subsequent years are not available.
Property Conference
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in what capacity he is attending the MIPIM Property Conference in Cannes on 8–11 March; what estimate he has made of his (a) travel costs and (b) accommodation costs for the conference; and which officials will accompany him. [221440]
Yvette Cooper: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister attended the MIPIM Property Conference to engage some of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's most important stakeholders in helping to create sustainable communities, and deliver affordable housing.
Since 1999 the Government have published on an annual basis the cost of all Ministers' visits overseas. Information for 2004–05 will be published in due course.
Social Housing
Mr. Hopkins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) if he will list those local authorities which have undertaken (a) arm's length management organisation, (b) large scale voluntary transfer and (c) private finance initiative programmes with regard to their social housing provision; [223049]
(2) how many and what percentage of local authorities have not yet chosen their preferred route for meeting the Decent Homes Standard; and if he will list them; [223050]
(3) which local authorities are still undertaking Options Appraisals. [223051]
22 Mar 2005 : Column 645W
Keith Hill: Lists have been made available in the Library of the House that show which authorities have chosen an arms length management organisation (ALMO), stock transfer, a private finance initiative (PFI) scheme, or retention, with regard to their social housing provision. Not all of these authorities have implemented their chosen option yet, or are on an approved programme
135 authorities are yet to have their options appraisal, determining their preferred route for meeting the decent homes standard, signed off. A list of these authorities has also been made available in the Library of the House.
Some authorities appear in more than one list as they have chosen multiple solutions for their stock.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his recent decision to relax performance requirements for housing associations for access to gap funding will affect the applications from (a) Tower Hamlets and (b) North East Lincolnshire. [223209]
Keith Hill: The change will not affect applications for gap funding from North East Lincolnshire and Tower Hamlets. A gap funding agreement has been signed with Shoreline Housing Partnership in respect of the housing transferring from North East Lincolnshire council. Discussions will take place with housing associations who have sought gap funding to support the transfer of housing from the London borough of Tower Hamlets.
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many of the new social rented homes that will be delivered through the expanded private finance initiative by 2007–08 will be provided in each Government Office region. [223281]
Keith Hill: The 2004 Spending Review allocated £1.22billion private finance initiative (PFI) credits to the Housing PFI programme. As yet the Office of theDeputy Prime Minister does not know where the provision of new social rented homes will be in the regions. The assessment of bids for the SR04 allocation is still underway but an announcement on the outcome is scheduled in spring 2005.
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of social rented homes which will be built in 2004–05 with the proportion of capital receipts from Right to Buy sales retained by local authorities. [223284]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not keep information on the use to which the proportion of capital receipts from Right to Buy sales retained by local authorities is put. Local authorities may use these receipts for any capital purpose they see fit.
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his decision to withdraw support from the private finance initiative scheme to bring part of the council housing stock in the London borough of Camden up to the Decent Homes Standard. [223285]
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Keith Hill: The reasons for the decision was a lack of confidence that there was effective management of costs or timetable and that the project did not represent value for money. The evidence was:
four-fold increase in the funding requirement (£119 million in PFI credits in 2005 up from £30 million in 2000)
The project still has an allocation of £55 million PFI funding available.
Officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister are working with Camden on the way forward.
Matthew Green: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the costs incurred by (a) the London borough of Camden and (b) his Department in the four years of preparatory development work on the Decent Homes Standard private finance initiative in that authority. [223286]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has made no estimate of these costs. The London borough of Camden estimated that it had spent £1.6 million on preparing for the housing private finance initiative (PFI) scheme for the Chalcots Estate in its press release on 23 February this year. We do not apportion costs to individual PFI casework.
Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to his answer of 26 January 2005, Official Report, column 433W, on council housing, how much of the £2,687 million generated from the sale of council housing in those areas in 2003–04 with-debt local authorities (a) were required to set aside and (b) were allowed to use. [223298]
Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not hold information on the value of housing capital receipts set-aside in 2003–04 as a result of Right To Buy disposals.
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