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18 Jul 2005 : Column 1440W—continued
Design for Manufacture Competition
Mrs. Spelman:
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister in which Government Office Regions he expects the homes provided under the Government's £60,000 homes
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competition will be built; and whether he expects homeswill be built on (a) formerly contaminated land and (b) privately owned land. [11396]
Yvette Cooper: The sites in the design for manufacture competition are located in the South East (seven sites), East Midlands (one site), London (one site) and Yorkshire and the Humber (one site).
All the sites in the Design for Manufacture competition include formerly contaminated land. Site appraisal will be carried out in due course.
All the sites are owned by the public sector. School Road, Hastings, is owned by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and all the other sites are owned by English Partnerships.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate the Government has made, or what conditions the Government has required, for the longevity or building life of the residential accommodation provided in the £60,000 home competition. [13111]
Yvette Cooper: All the homes to be built through the Design for Manufacture competition will be to high quality standards. The competition evaluation process includes examination of the component life, building process and material performance of the construction process proposed by bidders as well as the maintenance costs and the environmental sustainability of the proposals. The competition also requires that all building methods proposed are capable of achieving all necessary approvals, including conformity with current building regulations and certification by the National House Building Council, and are also capable of being insured and attracting mortgage lending.
Housing Standards
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the proportion of households satisfied with the quality of homes in whichthey live (a) in England and (b) in deprived areas in each year since 1996–97 for which figures are available. [11397]
Yvette Cooper: Figures on households' overall satisfaction with their accommodation for (a) England and (b) deprived areas for each year since 1996–97 are in the following table.
| England | Deprived areas | |
|---|---|---|
| 1996–97 | 90 | 83 |
| 1997–98 | 91 | 84 |
| 1998–99 | 91 | 85 |
| 1999–2000 | 91 | 85 |
| 2000–01 | 91 | 83 |
| 2001–02 | 91 | 85 |
| 2002–03 | 92 | 86 |
| 2003–04 | 91 | 82 |
Source:
Survey of English Housing.
The deprived areas" referred to in the above table are the 10 per cent. most deprived wards in England as based on a combination of measures covering six
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domains: income; employment; health and disability; education and skills; housing; and geographical access to services.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what role the Government offices of the regions play in setting targets and priorities for local councils in relation to housing. [11420]
Yvette Cooper: The Government Offices work closely with local authorities to support them deliver targets and priorities determined by central Government. For example, helping local authorities ensure that all their properties by 2010 (and an increased proportion of private sector homes occupied by vulnerable people) meet the Decent Homes standard.
Milton Keynes Local Development Scheme
Dr. Starkey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the implication for the Milton Keynes growth area of the overlapping timetables for the (a) Western Expansion Area Development Framework, (b) Local Plan and (c) Master Plan. [10448]
Yvette Cooper: The Milton Keynes Council's Local Development Scheme (LDS), which is a project plan for producing new planning documents, provides information on the emerging Western Expansion Area Development Framework, Local Plan and Master Plan. It sets out how they will be prepared in the context of the new planning system and their relative status, relationship and timing. The LDS has been assessed by the First Secretary of State who decided to allow it to proceed and is publicly available.
Housing (Chorley)
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will use English Partnership land for low cost and social housing in Chorley. [11141]
Yvette Cooper: English Partnerships (EP) currently owns 54.6 hectares of land in Chorley. One site (consisting of 4.4 hectares) has planning consent for residential development. This site will be jointly marketed with Chorley borough council (CBC) in about three months time. EP and CBC are also discussing the development brief for a parcel of land adjacent to this site that is owned by CBC.
The amount of low cost and social housing on the site will be determined by the borough council as the planning authority.
Development of the other approximately 50 hectares of land owned by English Partnerships in Chorley is either employment or agricultural land or has some form of constraint.
Home Buying and Selling
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to publish the Regulations to implement the provisions of the Housing Act 2004 relating to changes to the home buying and selling system; and if he will publish them first in draft. [11871]
Yvette Cooper:
An announcement will be made shortly. Regulations will be published in draft in each case.
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Housing Tenure
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many households comprised (a) social tenants, (b) private rented tenants, (c) owner occupiers owned outright and (d) owner occupiers, with a mortgage in England in (i) 1997 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available. [13198]
Yvette Cooper: Estimates of the number of households within each housing tenure in England in 1997 and in 2004 are tabled as follows:
Source:
Labour Force Survey
Key Worker Living Initiative
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how long homes built under the Key Worker Living Initiative have to remain empty before alternative uses can be found. [12756]
Yvette Cooper: Each scheme is dealt with on an individual basis taking into account the marketing activities of the Registered Social landlord and local market demand and supply. There is flexibility which allows for changes to tenure and widening of the eligibility criteria where local evidence demonstrates that this is needed and where no added grant is required. Scheme review will be triggered only where units have been empty for at least three months.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what mechanisms are in place to prevent an oversupply of properties available to key workers. [12757]
Yvette Cooper: The Housing Corporation is monitoring supply of property for key workers in all of its regions to ensure that what is available is sold or let and that future supply is not in competition with existing proposals and does not exceed demand.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the special discounts that individual local authorities in England have chosen to adopt under Clause 76 of the Local Government Act 2003. [11986]
Mr. Woolas:
A table setting out data provided by local billing authorities on the CTB1 Supplementary Form 2005–06 on discounts provided from April 2004 to March 2005 under section 13A of Local Government Finance Act 1992, inserted by section 76 of the Local Government Act 2003, has been placed in the Library of the House. We will collect data relating to April 2005 to March 2006 from the CTB1 Supplementary Form 2006–07 which will be sent out this autumn.
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Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how a decision by a billing authority to adopt a special discount under Clause 76 of the Local Government Act 2003 affects (a) the revenues of precepting authorities other than the billing authority and (b) Government grant to the billing authority and other precepting authorities. [11987]
Mr. Woolas: The revenues of precepting authorities are unaffected where a billing authority grants a special discount under section 13A of Local Government Finance Act 1992, inserted by section 76 of the Local Government Act 2003. The shortfall that would otherwise arise is adjusted by a transfer from the general fund of the billing authority to its collection fund and the balances in the collection fund are then shared with precepting authorities accordingly.
No adjustment to Government grant is made in respect of discounts provided by billing authorities under section 13A of Local Government Finance Act 1992, inserted by section 76 of the Local Government Act 2003.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the decision to adopt a special discount under Clause 76 of the Local Government Act 2003 is the decision solely of the billing authority. [11989]
Mr. Woolas: The power to provide special discounts under section 13A of Local Government Finance Act 1992, inserted by section 76 of the Local Government Act 2003 rests with the billing authority alone.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what proportion of local government total assumed spending in England was made up of specific grants in each year since 1996–97. [11387]
Mr. Woolas: The information requested is provided in the following table:
(37)Formerly Standard Spending Assessments up to 2002–03.
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