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6 Jun 2005 : Column 398W—continued
Homebuy Schemes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many households he expects will participate each year in (a) Social Homebuy, (b) New Build Homebuy and (c) Open Market Homebuy. [1113]
Yvette Cooper:
As announced in Homes for All (in January 2005) by 2010 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's new Homebuy proposals will help over
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80,000 key workers, social tenants and other priority first time buyers to buy a share of a home on the open market or one newly built with public subsidy.
As confirmed by my right hon. Friend's the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 25 May 2005, we now propose to go even further. Following negotiations with the Council of Mortgage Lenders on the introduction of private finance to fund loan assistance, we hope to extend assistance through the first joint equity products from April 2006 to 20,000 additional households, with perhaps as many as 30,000 households, if we can extend our approach to the New Build Homebuy option also. This would enable us to assist up to 110,000 households into home ownership over the next five years.
We are currently consulting on the Social Homebuy proposal, which has not yet been introduced. Take up will depend on the details of the scheme.
Keith Vaz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what steps the Government are taking to prevent speculative buyers from taking advantage of the Social Homebuy scheme; [1189]
(2) what assessment the Government have made of the amount of housing available for first time buyers wishing to participate in the Social Homebuy scheme. [1190]
Yvette Cooper: Social Homebuy is a new option to enable tenants of housing associations and local authorities to buy a share in their rented home. Full details of the scheme are set out in our consultation document Homebuy—expanding the opportunity to own" which was published on 1 April.
We are aware of the possible potential for exploitation and abuse. We will take this into account in finalising the details. The scheme will only be available to existing social tenants and we propose that tenants who sell within five years should repay the discount and that social landlords should have a right to buy back the property when the Social Homebuy purchaser wishes to move on.
We are currently consulting on the social Homebuy proposal, which has not yet been introduced. Take up will depend upon the details of the scheme.
The consultation period closes on 24 June and our aim is to have the scheme running by April 2006.
Homelessness
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what level of priority homelessness has had in each Government office region in England in each year since 1993. [1106]
Yvette Cooper: The number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need under homelessness legislation in each Government office region during each year since 1993 is contained in the following table.
After being accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, a household will be placed in some form of accommodation. They may be placed in temporary accommodation, until a settled solution becomes
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available, or they may be given a settled solution straight away depending on the accommodation available to the local authority. Alternatively, if possible, the household may remain in their current accommodation. In addition to estimates of statutory homeless households, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister publishes annual estimates of the number of people sleeping rough.
(45)Households found to be eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in a priority need group during the year, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty by a local housing authority.
Notes:
1.Figures prior to 1997 reflect decisions under the 1985 Housing Act; decisions from 1997 were made under the 1996 Housing Act, plus residual 1985 Act cases.
2.Regional figures may not sum to England totals because of rounding
Source:
ODPM P1E homelessness returns (quarterly)
Housing
Lynne Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities in England have decided their stock options appraisal in favour of (a) stock transfer, (b) arm's length management organisation, (c) private finance initiative and (d) stock retention by the council; how many homes each authority has in each case; which authorities have yet to advise his office of their intentions; and how many homes they own in each case. [400]
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities in England have decided their stock options appraisal in favour of (a) stock transfer, (b) arm's length management organisation, (c) private finance initiative and (d) stock
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retention by the council; how many homes each authority has; which authorities have yet to advise his Office of their intentions; and how many homes they own in each case. [1747]
Yvette Cooper: 73 local authorities have had stock options appraisals signed off by the relevant Government Office. The tables that show which options they have chosen have been made available in the Libraries of the House.
192 local authorities were originally subject to the requirement to have an options appraisal signed off—either for all of their stock, or part of their stock for which a solution had not already been determined. Other authorities will have chosen an option prior to the introduction of this requirement. A further four local authorities have since been deemed to require an option appraisal for all or part of their stock.
Some local authorities have opted for more than one solution for their stock and they are listed separately, with the options they have chosen, in the mixed model table. Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is never a whole stock solution, and so authorities who have chosen PFI are in this table.
Where a local authority has had an option appraisal signed off for part of its stock, but requires an appraisal for the rest, it is listed in both the table for mixed model solutions and authorities yet to have appraisals signed off.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on rent restructuring in the social rented housing sector. [1336]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister consulted on proposals last year and will announce a way forward in due course.
Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether, in setting the housing targets for St. Albans (a) calculations of the volume of water supply available from aquifers, (b) the amount of water needed to supply existing and additional properties and (c) the impact of water extraction on local rivers, including the Ver, were (i) made and (ii) taken into account; and if he will make a statement. [1388]
Yvette Cooper: Future house building targets for St.Albans will be determined through the current review of the Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England. In making recommendations on the appropriate housing targets, the panel established to conduct the Examination in Public into the draft Regional Spatial Strategy will need to have regard to water supply constraints and any potential environmental impacts of supplying additional water.
Derek Wyatt:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1)how many people who live within the Swale borough council area have (a) applied for funding and been successful, (b) applied and been refused funding and (c) applied and been put on a waiting list under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996; [1454]
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(2) how much funding for housing Swale borough council has received in each financial year since the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 came into force. [1455]
Yvette Cooper: Government funding in support of Swale borough council's housing capital investment programme since 1996 has been as follows.
From 2000–01 Government support for private sector housing renewal grants was no longer ring fenced and was included in the total for supported borrowing.
The Government do not collect centrally the number of applications for renewal grants or information on waiting lists. The number and the total value of renewal grants under the 1996 Act completed in Swale in each year since 1997 is as follows:
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the local authorities that have been given an extension to the deadline of July to complete their stock options process. [1746]
Yvette Cooper: No extensions have been given to the deadline of the end of July to have stock options appraisals signed off by the relevant Government Office.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the local authorities which have set up arm's length management organisations; what the performance rating of each is; and how much each has received in financial support. [1748]
Yvette Cooper:
Details for the arms length management organisations (ALMOs) set up under each of the first four rounds of the programme are set out in the following tables. ALMOs do not qualify for funding until they have achieved a two or three star rating from the Housing Inspectorate. 11 of the round 4 ALMOs have yet to be inspected.
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(46)Denotes the latest inspection result.
(47)In their initial inspections Hounslow, Rochdale and Stockton-on-Tees all achieved 2* Prom.
Note:
Early ALMOs are in the process of re-inspection
(48)Funding for 2005–07 yet to be confirmed.
(49)Now withdrawn from round 2
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