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11 Jul 2005 : Column 807W—continued

Local Authority Contractors

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list contractors based in other EU member states that are providing services to local authorities in England. [9368]

 
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Mr. Woolas: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Local Authority Pension Funds

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the likely shortfall in local authority pension funds under the (a) Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2004 and (b) Local Government Pension Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2005. [6418]

Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 6 July 2005, Official Report, column 411W.

Local Authority Targets

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the targets that his Department sets for local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [9536]

Mr. Woolas: Local authorities contribute to the delivery of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister's Public Service Agreement targets. These are set out in the ODPM Annual report, a copy of which has been made available in the Library of the House. They also contribute to the delivery of targets set out in the ODPM five-year plans, Sustainable Communities: People, Places and Prosperity and Sustainable Communities: Homes for all". These do not include targets set by other Departments for local authorities.

Motorway Advertisements

Mark Tami: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what planning constraints apply to the (a) size and (b) location of advertisements adjacent to motorways. [9222]

Yvette Cooper: The limits to the size and location of advertisements which may be displayed with the deemedconsent of the local planning authority are set out in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992, otherwise local planning authorities must consider amenity and public safety on a site-specific basis.

Oil Firing Technology

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will take steps to raise professional standards among oil fired heating installers by means of the oil firing technical association scheme. [10374]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 7 July 2005]: The Oil Firing Technical Association for the Petroleum Industry Ltd. (OFTEC) is an industry body which installers can choose to join if they wish. It has robust entry competence standards and continuing training requirements for installers registered with it. Its installers have been found to deliver a high level of compliance with the requirements of the Building Regulations.
 
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No information is available on the competence level of installers which are not registered with OFTEC. They are under a duty to inform local authorities of all installations that they carry out and the local authorities are responsible for making sure that these installations meet the minimum required standards in the Building Regulations.

Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Oil Firing Technical Association Scheme was last reviewed; and when the next review is scheduled to take place. [10375]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 7 July 2005]: The building regulations competent person scheme operated by the Oil Firing Technical Association for the Petroleum Industry Ltd. (OFTEC) began operation on 1 April 2002. It was subject to a formal review after a year of operation. The review concluded that it had achieved a higher level of building regulations compliance than would otherwise have been the case and had helped to raise installation standards. Since that time the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has kept OFTEC under informal review and believes that the conclusions reached by the formal review remain valid.
 
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The next formal review of OFTEC will take place in conjunction with its application for UKAS accreditation to the appropriate standard, likely within the next 18 months.

Planning Policy Guidance

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1)when he expects to publish his revision of Planning Policy Guidance 3; [9542]

(2) which national planning policy documents the Government are seeking to revise or update; and what timetable has been set. [9543]

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 20 June 2005, Official Report, column 835W, which set out the Government's plans for revising planning policy guidance (PPG3) on housing.

The written statement made by my right hon. Friend the then Minister for Housing and Planning on 17 June 2004, Official Report, column 45WS, indicated that priority would be given to replacement of Planning Policy Guidance notes (PPGs) by Planning Policy Statements (PPSs) where it was required for good policy reasons. Progress on replacement of those PPGs (other than PPG3) identified in the statement as a priority is tabled as follows.

PPS Number	Subject	Consultation draft	Publication of revised PPS/PPG
1	Delivering Sustainable Development	23 February 2004	1 February 2005
4	Economic Development	To be decided	—
6	Planning for Town Centres	15 December 2003	21March 2005
7	Sustainable Development in Rural Areas	15 September 2003	3 August 2004
9	Nature Conservation/ Biodiversity	8 September 2004	August 2005
10	Waste Management	6 December 2004	Summer 2005
11	Regional Planning	13 October 2003	7 September 2004
12	Development Plans	13 October 2003	7 September 2004
22	Renewable Energy	5 November 2003	9 August 2004
23	Pollution Control	February plus July 2002	3 November 2004
24	Planning and Noise	Autumn 2005	Summer 2006
25	Development and Flood Risk	Autumn 2005	—

The review and replacement of other PPGs will take place as and when necessary in the light of their policy and strategic significance. In the meantime the current PPG will remain in place.

It is not proposed to produce any additional PPSs at present, although good practice guidance on specific topics may be produced from time to time.

Private Rented Accommodation

Danny Alexander: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the (a) regional and (b) local variation in availability of private sector rented accommodation. [10145]

Yvette Cooper: Estimates of the number of privately rented households in England during 2003–04, broken down by Government Office Region, are set out in the following table. The figures are derived from the Survey of English Housing", which is an annual survey of around 20,000 households. While the survey is large enough to provide reasonable estimates of the number of private renters by region, it cannot be used to provide estimates at local authority level.
Number of privately renting households by region, 2003–04

Government office region	Privately renting households	All households	Private renters as a percentage of all households
North East	84,000	1,100,000	8
North West	235,000	2,822,000	8
Yorkshire and Humber	176,000	2,137,000	8
East Midlands	156,000	1,768,000	9
West Midlands	153,000	2,170,000	7
Eastern	241,000	2,250,000	11
London	507,000	3,013,000	17
South East	337,000	3,262,000	10
South West	260,000	2,105,000	12
Total	2,149,000	20,627,000	10

Source:
Survey of English Housing, 2003–04

A comprehensive breakdown of the number of privately rented households at the time of the 2001 census is available in a table entitled: KS18 Tenure: census 2001, Key Statistics of local authorities"

This can be accessed via the National Statistics website using the following link: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/ssdataset.asp?vlnk=6579&More=Y
 
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The number of households who were privately renting at the time of the last census can be determined by adding together the figures in columns H and I of this table.

Safer Stronger Communities Fund

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much money has been allocated to each Hampshire local authority from the Safer Stronger Communities Fund. [9796]

Mr. Woolas: There are no local authorities in Hampshire receiving Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) funding from the Safer Stronger Communities Fund (SSCF).

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