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House Fires

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many people died in house fires in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in each of the last three years. [11139]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is as follows:

(a) Information on the number of deaths in house fires attended by Lancashire fire and rescue service is shown in the following table.
Fire-related deaths in dwellings in Lancashire, 2002–04

	Deaths
2002	24
2003	13
2004 (provisional)	16

Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDRl returns to ODPM.

(b) Information for Chorley is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times the fire brigade was called out to house fires in (a) Lancashire and (b) Chorley in each of the last three years. [11140]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The information is as follows:

(a) Information on the number of house fires attended by Lancashire fire and rescue service is shown in the following table.
 
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House fires attended by Lancashire FRS, 2002–04

	Number of fires
2002	2,096
2003	2,169
2004 (provisional)	2,077

Note:
Data includes estimates for incidents not recorded during periods of national industrial action in 2002 and 2003.
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDR1 returns to ODPM.

(b) Information for Chorley is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Housing

Mr. Soames: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many key workers in West Sussex have benefited from the Starter Home Initiative, broken down by district council area. [10174]

Yvette Cooper: 248 key workers in West Sussex were helped to purchase homes under the Starter Home Initiative. The following table breaks down the figure by district council and by key worker group.
Number of key workers assisted

Local authority	Nurses/health workers	Teachers	Police	Others
Adur	8	7	1	0
Arun	5	10	2	2
Chichester	55	5	5	4
Crawley	17	10	6	1
Horsham	9	14	1	2
Mid Sussex	25	12	6	1
Worthing	18	12	9	1
Total	137	70	30	11

Note:
Other key workers helped under the Starter Home Initiative included social workers, fire fighters, occupational therapists, prison and probation service staff.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will give high performing councils the freedom and flexibility to run their own housing services. [10305]

Yvette Cooper: All local housing authorities already have considerable freedom and flexibility to ran their own housing services.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will (a) provide financial support and (b) make land owned by his Department available for social housing in Chorley. [10785]

Yvette Cooper: The Regional Housing Board is responsible for making recommendations to Ministers about the use of the single housing pot within the North West. As these recommendations are currently with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister I am unable to comment further at this time. An announcement on allocations is expected shortly.

The Office of Deputy Prime Minister does not have any surplus land in Chorley.

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many new houses have been built in Ellesmere in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [10931]

 
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Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister only collects house building data at local authority level so there are no figures available for the town of Ellesmere. The annual numbers of new build completions reported for North Shropshire local authority since 2000–01 are tabled as follows:

	Number
2000–01	246
2001–02	233
2002–03	192
2003–04	141
2004–05	296

Source:
Returns (P2/NHBC) to ODPM on building control completions

Housing Development (Flood Risk)

Mr. Todd: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister further to his answer of 23 June 2005, Official Report, column 1137W, on housing development (flood risk), when he expects to publish revised planning guidance on development and flood risk to which he refers. [11619]

Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects to issue a draft of a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS) 25 for consultation later this year.

Micro-bikes

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have made byelaws (a) prohibiting the use of micro-bikes in particular areas and (b) granting the power to seize vehicles causing noise nuisance. [10163]

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

Morecambe

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much funding the North West Development Agency has provided for the West End Masterplan in Morecambe; and how much funding will be provided during 2005–08. [10156]

Yvette Cooper: The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has made available £60,000 for a feasibility study into the establishment of an arts/creative industry campus in the West End by St. Martin's College. NWDA will also consider investing up to £3 million from 2006–07 onwards in projects that will encourage the growth and establishment of businesses in the area. This is subject to satisfactory progress implementing the masterplan, the completion of NWDA's appraisal and approval processes and the availability of resources.

Population Growth

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the projected growth of the population in (a) Oswestry borough and (b) North Shropshire district is for the next 10 years. [10933]

 
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Yvette Cooper: The population projections from 2005 to 2015 are (a) Oswestry borough 40,600 (an increase of 2,100), and (b) North Shropshire district 63,600 (an increase of 4,300). The projections are based on Office for National Statistics mid-year estimates 2003.

Right-to-buy Scheme

Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many housing association tenants in (a) the county of Bedfordshire and (b) the constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire are eligible for (i) the right-to-buy, (ii) the preserved right-to-buy, (iii) the right-to-acquire and (iv) voluntary purchase grants. [11016]

Yvette Cooper: No information is held centrally on the number of housing association tenants who have a right-to-buy in Bedfordshire or in the constituency of Mid-Bedfordshire.

Around 13,500 housing association tenants who have transferred with their homes from local authorities to housing associations in Bedfordshire have a preserved right-to-buy.

A further 1,332 housing association tenants in Bedfordshire may qualify for the right-to-acquire because the homes were provided with public funds since 1 April 1997. Some of the tenants whose properties have transferred from local authorities after the same date may also qualify for the right-to-acquire.

It is not possible to say how many housing association tenants in Bedfordshire are eligible for voluntary purchase grants. This scheme is offered at the discretion of housing associations, which bid to the Housing Corporation for funds to cover the discount offered to the tenant. Eligibility therefore depends on whether housing associations choose to participate in the scheme, which properties are included, and the availability of funding.

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