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Written Answers to Questions
Wednesday 8 June 2005
PRIME MINISTER
EU Constitution
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Prime Minister if he will undertake to hold a referendum in the UK on UK accession to the treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union if the French vote no in their referendum. [2187]
The Prime Minister: I refer the hon. Member to the statement my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary gave on 6 June 2005, Official Report, columns 991–92.
TRANSPORT
New Cars (Emissions)
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average emission of a new car, in grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre, has been in each year since 1985. [1489]
Dr. Ladyman:
Data for the period 1985–94 is not available. Data for 1995 onwards, is shown in the table. The data for 1995 and 1996 comes from the European Commission, that for 1997 to 2002 from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Ltd (SMMT) and for 2003 and 2004 from UK Government data obtained by the DVLA.
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| Average new car CO2 (g/km) | |
|---|---|
| 1995 | 191.7 |
| 1996 | 190.4 |
| 1997 | 189.8 |
| 1998 | 188.4 |
| 1999 | 185.0 |
| 2000 | 181.0 |
| 2001 | 177.6 |
| 2002 | 174.2 |
| 2003 | 172.7 |
| 2004 | 171.4 |
UK Presidency (EU)
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what communication activities are planned in relation to the policy areas covered by his Department during the UK presidency of the EU; and what budget has been allocated for these activities. [1661]
Dr. Ladyman: External communications activity for the presidency is being co-ordinated centrally by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
We are currently finalising communication activities to take place around our presidency programme. We expect any costs to be met from within existing resources.
Public Transport
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many passenger miles were travelled on (a) buses and (b) lightrail in each transport authority in England in each year since 1996. [1813]
Ms Buck: The data for London buses and for light rail systems are given in the table. Estimates of bus passenger miles are not collected for transport authorities outside London.
(1) Opened March 2004
(2) Data unavailable before 1999
(3) Opened May 1999
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Affordable Housing
11. Derek Wyatt: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the provision of key worker housing and affordable homes. [1973]
Yvette Cooper: The Government wants to offer everyone the opportunity of a decent home at a price they can afford. Further details are laid out in "Homes for All", copies of which can be found in the Library of the House.
Government funding, and innovative work with banks and building societies, will contribute to help as many as 110,000 first time buyers and key workers into affordable home ownership by 2010.
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12. Mike Gapes : To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his plans to increase availability of affordable homes in Greater London. [1974]
Yvette Cooper: The Government have allocated nearly £1.5 billion on the provision of affordable housing in London through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme in 2004–05 and 2005–06 to provide over 21,000 affordable homes.
In addition English Partnerships is expected to deliver about 4,500 homes through the pilot phase of its London Wide Initiative over the next five years of which around 2,000 will be affordable homes for sale to key workers and first time buyers.
15. Andrew Selous: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the merits of turning unused space over shops into flats. [1977]
Yvette Cooper: This is a potentially useful source of additional housing units, which can also help in reviving town centre living. There are however a number of barriers preventing much of this potential from being realised, including the complex ownership patterns in high street property. We are considering a number of ways in which these barriers might be overcome, and we will announce how we intend to take this forward in due course.
Ms Angela C. Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many social homes have achieved the decent homes standard; and whether he expects the Government to meet their target of ensuring that all homes meet the standard by 2010. [1976]
Yvette Cooper:
Since 1997 we have reduced the number of social homes that do not meet the decent homes standard by over a million. Schemes that have
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been approved or are already under way are set to deliver further progress towards meeting the target to ensure all social homes meet the standard by 2010.
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much from (a) Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme funding and (b) Challenge Fund sources was spent on (i) mixed funding social rented housing, (ii) temporary social rented housing, (iii) Homebuy general market purchase, (iv) Homebuy general new build, (v) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (vi) miscellaneous works to RSL stock, (vii) improvements to rented RSL stock, (viii) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (ix) works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (x) intermediate rent for key workers, (xi) Homebuy market purchase for key workers, (xii) Homebuy new build for key workers and (xiii) mixed funded sale for key workers in the East Midlands region in each year since 1997–98. [1302]
Yvette Cooper: The following table shows funding through the Housing Corporation approved development programme in the east midlands region for the categories (i) to (ix). The information in the table does not include all programmes that the ADP is used for and therefore does not represent the total funding for the east midlands region. Other categories with funding during the time period covered by the table are Right to Acquire, Voluntary Purchase Grant, Do-It-Yourself Shared Ownership, and Temporary Intermediate and Market Rent Housing.
The Key Worker Living programme is limited to London and the wider south-east, therefore there is no investment in categories (x) to (xiii) in the east midlands through this programme.
The Challenge Fund was limited to London, south-east and eastern regions, therefore there is no Challenge Fund expenditure in the East Midlands.
Note:
Categories (vii), (viii), and (ix) are included in Miscellaneous Works (vi) for years 1997–98 and 1998–99.
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units built or procured through (a) the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme and (b) the Challenge Fund were classified as (i) mixed funding social rented housing, (ii) temporary social rented housing, (iii) Homebuy general market purchase, (iv) Homebuy general new build, (v) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (vi) miscellaneous works to RSL stock, (vii) improvements to rented RSL stock, (viii) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (ix) works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (x) intermediate rent for key workers, (xi) Homebuy market purchase for key workers, (xii) Homebuy new build for key workers and (xiii) mixed funded sale for key workers in the East Midlands region in each year since 1997–98. [1303]
Yvette Cooper:
The following table shows completions through the Housing Corporation approved development programme in the east midlands region for the categories (i) to (ix). The information in the table does not include all programmes that the ADP is used for and therefore does not represent the total funding for the region. Other categories with completions during the time period covered by the table
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are Right to Acquire, Voluntary Purchase Grant, Do-It-Yourself Shared Ownership, and Temporary Intermediate and Market Rent Housing.
The Key Worker Living programme is limited to London and the wider south-east, therefore there is no investment in categories (x) to (xiii) in the east midlands through this programme.
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The Challenge Fund was limited to London, south-east and eastern regions, therefore there are no Challenge Fund completions recorded for east midlands.
Note:
Categories (vi) to (ix) do not have complete records of units.
Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on Government plans to build 21,000 homes on green belt around Bournemouth. [1876]
Yvette Cooper: There are no Government plans to build 21,000 more homes on green belt around Bournemouth. The South West Regional Assembly—as the regional planning body—are working to prepare the new Regional Spatial Strategy for the South West which will look at housing need in the period to 2026. However, no proposed planned housing figures or locations for development have been made by either the Regional Assembly, the strategic planning authorities or the Government.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many affordable housing units built or procured through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme and Challenge Fund were (a) mixed funded social rented housing, (b) temporary social rented housing, (c) homebuy general market purchase, (d) homebuy general new build, (e) mixed funded low cost home ownership for sale, (f) miscellaneous works to RSL stock, (g) reimprovements to rented RSL stock, (h) works only rehabilitation of rented RSL stock, (i) works only rehabilitation of RSL stock for sale, (j) intermediate rent for key workers, (k) homebuy market purchase for key workers, (l) homebuy new build for key workers and (m) mixed funded sale for key workers in the West Midlands Region in each year since 1997–98; and how much was spent on each category in each year. [1843]
Yvette Cooper: The following tables show completions and expenditure through the Housing Corporation Approved Development Programme, for categories from (a) to (i) . The information in the tables do not include all programmes that the ADP is used for and therefore does not represent the total funding for the West Midlands region. Other categories with funding during the time period covered by the table are Right to Acquire, Voluntary Purchase Grant, Starter Home Initiative, Do-It-Yourself Shared Ownership, and Temporary Intermediate and Market Rent Housing.
The Key Worker Living programme was limited to London and the wider South East, therefore there are no completions or investment in categories (j) to (m) in the West Midlands region through this programme.
The Challenge Fund was limited to London, south-east and eastern regions, therefore there is no Challenge Fund expenditure in west midlands.
Funding and completions are not directly comparable, as funding will relate to projects running, not necessarily units completed, in any one year.
Note:
Categories (f) to (i) do not have complete records of units.
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Note:
Categories (g), (h), and (i) are included in Miscellaneous Works (f) for years 1997–98 and 1998–99.
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