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30 Jun 2005 : Column 1647W—continued
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Casinos
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1)when he intends to implement a change in the use class of casinos; and if he will make a statement; [6969]
(2) what consultation his Department has undertaken since 1 November 2004 on the use class of casinos; which organisations were consulted; on what dates that consultation occurred; and if he will make a statement. [6970]
Yvette Cooper: On 1 November 2004, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced that the Government were minded to make a change in the Use Classes Order in respect of casinos.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister commissioned consultants to look into the case for changes to the Use Classes Order and the implications of such a change. We are considering the consultants report. No change will be made without full public consultation.
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Computer Crime
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many cases of computer (a) hacking, (b) fraud and (c) theft his Department recorded in each year since 2001–02; and for each year, on how many occasions computer systems have been illegally accessed by computer hackers (i) within and (ii) outside his Department. [7182]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established on 29 May 2002. For ODPM-owned systems instances of hacking, fraud, theft and illegal access recorded in each complete year since that date are as follows:
| Hacking | Fraud | Theft | Illegal access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002–03 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2003–04 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2004–05 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Employees (Assaults)
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of local authority employees who have been assaulted at work in each London borough in each year since 1997. [7468]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The information requested is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
EU Funding (West Midlands)
Paul Farrelly: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether appraisals of priority projects on the reserve list for Objective 2 funding in the West Midlands are continuing following the extraordinary meeting of the West Midlands Objective 2 Programme Monitoring Committee held on 18 May. [7719]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 28 June 2005]: At the Extraordinary meeting of the West Midlands Objective 2 Programme Monitoring Committee on 18 May it was agreed that:
The appraisal of priority projects on the reserve list requiring Advantage West Midlands (the Regional Development Agency) match funding is suspended until a full application is submitted to and accepted by AWM. These projects will then be subject to a joint appraisal approach.
Programme resource will not be committed to priority projects on the reserve list until the MG Rover package of projects has been approved and then subject to resource availability, the confirmation of all match funding and necessary planning approvals being in place.
The Programme Monitoring Committee will monitor the situation, on the basis of progress reports supplied by the European secretariat in the Government Office for the West Midlands.
Fire Brigade
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average response time was to an emergency call to the fire brigade in each London borough in each year since 1997. [7473]
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Jim Fitzpatrick: The available information has been supplied by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA). This shows the average response time for emergency calls in each London borough averaged over the period April 1999-September 2003.
Source:
LFEPA Incident Recording Information System (IRIS) Aril 1999 to September 2003
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fire crews have trained for Lancashire fire brigade in each of the last three years; and how many are on the waiting list for training. [7655]
Jim Fitzpatrick: This is a matter for the local fire and rescue service. The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing
Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects the licensing scheme for houses in multiple occupation to come into force; and when he expects to announce his decisions on the outcome of the consultation on licensing in the private sector. [8648]
Yvette Cooper:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is proposing that the licensing scheme for Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) comes into force in October 2005.
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Decisions on the key issues arising from the consultation exercise on HMO licensing were announced by my right hon. Friend, the former Minister for Housing and Planning on 6 April. Decisions on the remaining issues will be announced before the summer recess.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many, and what proportion of, (a) privately rented and (b) privately owned homes in each English region do not meet the Decent Homes Standard; and what steps his Department is taking to improve these homes. [7143]
Yvette Cooper: The English House Condition Survey 2001: Regional Report (ODPM, 2003) includes details of the numbers of private sector homes that did not meet the decent homes standard in 2001. Separate data are not available for privately rented and privately owned homes. The report is available on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister website.
We are fully committed to improving the quality of private sector housing stock by encouraging, through financial support and guidance, the development of innovative housing renewal policies by local authorities through the powers made available to them by the Regulatory Reform Order (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002. The Housing Act 2004 contains measures to tackle private sector non-decency through the implementation of the new housing health and safety ratings system, and licensing on homes in multiple occupancy.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total expenditure on the Starter Homes Initiative was; and how many people were helped to buy a home in each year of its operation. [7173]
Yvette Cooper: The total expenditure on the Starter Home Initiative was the original budget of £250 million, plus £53 million of extra funding from the ADP in March 2004 to help those key workers whose purchases were in the pipeline when SHI finished.
The numbers of key workers who were helped to buy a home in each year of operation:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 2001–02 | 107 |
| 2002–03 | 2,616 |
| 2003–04 | 5,998 |
| 2004–05 | 1,295 |
There were also 306 cases where a second key worker was assisted in the same household.
Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the total expenditure on the Key Worker Living scheme has been in each year since its inception; how many key workers have benefited from the scheme in each year; and what resources have been allocated to the scheme for future years. [7174]
Yvette Cooper:
Key Worker Living (KWL) began in April 2004. In 2004–05 expenditure was £265 million and 4,015 key workers benefited from the scheme. £374 million has been allocated for 2005–06 which has so far helped another 930 key workers since April 2005 and £86 million is allocated for 2006–07. The KWL target is to help 16,348 key workers by March 7. The
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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently awaiting recommendations from regional housing boards on future funding levels for key workers.
Lynne Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homes available for rent through (a) Birmingham city council and (b) registered social landlords in Birmingham have been (i) demolished and (ii) built in each of the last 10 years. [6104]
Yvette Cooper: The information is as follows.
(27)RSL new build completions data taken from Birmingham city council website Development in Birmingham 2003–04".
(28)Local authority demolitions data taken from city council's business plan statistical appendix—ODPM database.
(29)New build/acquisition local authority data provided by Birmingham city council housing department
(30)No data
(31)2004–05 demolition data taken from the draft HRA business plan, and is the planned demolitions figure, not outturn
The Housing Corporation, the funding and regulatory body for registered social landlords (RSLs) sponsored by the Office for the Deputy Prime Minister, only collects demolition data on a national level and therefore it is not possible to provide the information requested for RSL demolitions in the Birmingham area.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what eligibility criteria will be used to determine access to the Homebuy Joint Shared Equity Loans with Mortgage Lenders scheme. [6455]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently consulting on the details of our proposals for a range of new HomeBuy products, as set out in the consultation document 'HomeBuy—Expanding the Opportunity to Own' (a copy of which is available from the Library of the House).
Under our proposals the eligibility criteria for the public/private funded equity loans variant of HomeBuy will remain the same as under our proposals for Open Market HomeBuy. We will receive advice for Regional Housing Boards on eligibility. Subject to the outcome of the consultation exercise the programme will, as at present, be focussed on assisting key public sector workers such as teachers, nurses and police officers. Some social tenants and those on housing registers (iethose waiting for a council or housing association home to rent) may also be eligible.
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