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Council Housing
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many consultants and tenants' advisers consulted by councils on housing options have recommended against transfer; and to which councils. [9637]
Yvette Cooper: Consultants and tenants' advisers do not make recommendations on housing options.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether his Department keeps a list of consultants for councils considering their housing options; and what criteria determine which consultants are on the list. [9639]
Yvette Cooper:
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister keeps a list of consultants for training and networking purposes. This is occasionally shared with councils when requested. No recommendations are made.
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Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much his Department has paid in gap funding and to how many registered social landlords taking over council housing. [9655]
Yvette Cooper: To date one payment of £7.65 million has been made to Shoreline Housing Partnership.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the number and value of council housing properties transferred to (a) registered social landlords and (b) arm's length management organisations since 1999. [9656]
Yvette Cooper: Since 1999 approximately 639,000 council dwellings have been transferred to registered social landlords at a total gross transfer price of approximately £3 billion. Proposals to pass the management of 796,000 dwellings to arm's length management organisations (ALMOs) have been approved since the programme was launched in 2001. It is not possible to estimate the value of the stock managed by ALMOs. As the stock remains in the ownership of the local authority, a valuation does not have to be carried out when an ALMO is set up.
Council Tax
John Hemming: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assumed national council tax figure was used by central government in each year since the introduction of the council tax. [9209]
Mr. Woolas: Assumed national council tax (ANCT) was introduced in 2003–04. Before that, council tax for standard spending (CTSS) was used in an analogous way. The annual figures used are set out in the table.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the council tax for a band E house in (a) each London borough and (b) each local authority in Essex is; and what the comparable figures for each of the last three years for which figures are available were. [10567]
Mr. Woolas: Details of the council tax for a band E property in (a) each London borough and (b) each local authority in Essex for the last four years are published on the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website and can be found under the heading Information For Taxpayers—Council Tax" at:
Departmental Requests
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will place in the Library a copy of the internal guidance produced by his Department for its staff on handling (a) written parliamentary question requests, (b) Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests and (c) requests made under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. [7401]
Jim Fitzpatrick: Answers to parliamentary questions are drafted in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance to officials on drafting answers to parliamentary questions, copies of which are available in the Library of the House. In addition, guidance is available to officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) on the processing of parliamentary questions, including written questions. A copy of that guidance has been placed in the Library of the House.
Guidance issued to ODPM officials on handling requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 has been placed in the Library of the House.
Development Tariffs
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the South East Regional Assembly's proposals for development tariffs across the South East. [5573]
Yvette Cooper: We understand that the South East England Regional Assembly is still in the process of developing and refining its proposals in respect of development tariffs and we have not yet seen the details of the proposals.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Drew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many refuge places for victims of domestic violence there are in England; how many (a) women, (b) children and (c) men stayed in them in the last year for which figures are available; and how much central Government funding was made available to such refuges in that year. [8410]
Mr. Woolas: Through the Supporting People programme information is collected by the Department from administering authorities on the number of units of support available to women who are at risk of domestic violence. A unit is either accommodation based, including places within a women's refuge, or a service that allows the victim to remain in their own accommodation where appropriate. At April 2003, there were 5,831 units of support for women at risk of domestic violence, of which 3,523 were accommodation based and 2,308 were other support services. No information is collected by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) on the number of men who are victims of domestic violence.
Information is also collected by the ODPM from service providers on the number of new clients accessing services through the Supporting People programme, including the number of women who are at risk of domestic violence and the type of service provided to them. Between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2004 some
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22,200 women, with around 24,000 children, who accessed a service through Supporting People were at risk of domestic violence. Of these 22,000, 14,000 were placed in a women's refuge and 4,400 received other support. The remainder received other types of service.
In 2003–04 over £50 million was allocated by local authorities through the Supporting People programme for housing-related support for victims of domestic violence.
English Wine
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will ensure that English wine is made available at dinners, receptions and parties he hosts at which hospitality involving wine is appropriate (a) during the EU presidency and (b) generally; and if he will make a statement. [9151]
Jim Fitzpatrick: All procurement in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is undertaken in line with the EC's procurement rules and to obtain value for money.
However, British products are used where possible, and we will certainly be considering British produce for events planned in connection with the Presidency.
E-projects (Funding)
Robert Key: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of the Environment and Community Online Residents E-Services project has been in each year since it was established. [6559]
Mr. Woolas: The Environment and Community Online Resident E-Services National e-Government project was allocated a total of £3.5 million in 2003–04. To date the project has claimed a total of £2,561,724.51. This includes—for 2003–04—no payment, 2004–05—£1,604,012.10 and 2005–06—£957,712.41.
Fire-related Deaths
Mr. Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many fire-related deaths in dwellings in (a) Southend and (b) Essex there were in each year since 1997. [10568]
Jim Fitzpatrick: The following information is as follows:
(b) Information on the number of deaths in dwellings fires attended by Essex fire and rescue service is shown in the following table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 14 |
| 1998 | 6 |
| 1999 | 6 |
| 2000 | 10 |
| 2001 | 6 |
| 2002 | 7 |
| 2003 | 8 |
| 2004 (Provisional) | 6 |
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDR1 returns to ODPM.
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