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15 Nov 2005 : Column 1119W—continued

Local Government Finance

Margaret Moran: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what (a) revenue and (b) capital funding his Department has allocated to Luton council in each of the last five years. [26106]

Mr. Woolas: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) was established following the Machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. The following table sets out payments made to Luton council since
 
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2002–03. For earlier years, the table shows the amount paid by ODPM's predecessor Departments from programmes which are now administered by the Office.
All figures (£ million)

Funding	(a) Revenue	(b) Capital
2000–01	136.000	5.163
2001–02	141.859	3.013
2002–03	148.423	3.063
2003–04	171.619	6.323
2004–05	179.599	7.946
Total	777.500	25.508

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the revenue support grant per head was in each local authority in (a) 1998, (b) 2001 and (c) 2004; and what the figure for the relative level of grant per head was for each authority in each year if the average level of grant per head in England in each year is represented by 100. [26893]

Mr. Woolas: A table showing formula grant per head for 1998–99, 2001–02 and 2004–05, together with the relative level of grant per head for each authority in each of these years has been placed in the Library of the
 
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House. Formula Grant comprises Revenue Support Grant, Redistributed Business Rates and Police Grant. It is not appropriate to look at only the amount of Revenue Support Grant an authority receives since floor damping operates across formula grant.

Please note that for every area in England there is more than one authority providing services. In order to get a true comparison for an area compared to the English average for the year it is therefore necessary to add together the authorities that cover that area, thus for the Isle of Wight it is necessary to add together the data for the Isles of Wight plus that for Hampshire police. For example, in 1998–99 the Isle of Wight received £592.77 per head to cover all services except police and Hampshire police received £88.08 per head to cover police services. Therefore, the figure for the Isles of Wight area to cover all services was £592.77+£88.08=£680.85 which compares to an England average of £653.14.

Pathfinder Renewal Projects

Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the Answer of 25 October 2005, Official Report, column 339W, on Pathfinder Renewal Projects, what information he requires from Pathfinder Renewal schemes about their expenditure, including the Capital Modernisation Fund; and what the frequency is of those financial returns. [24242]

Yvette Cooper: All nine of the Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders submit monthly claims for expenditure occurred in the previous month. The claims are divided in each case between capital and revenue costs and show expenditure on:

i. Physical implementation

ii. Non-physical implementation

iii. Management, administration and scheme development costs.

At six monthly intervals the pathfinders submit their core indicator returns which show progress on each of their agreed outputs.

All Capital Modernisation Fund (CMF) moneys were spent in 2002–03 and 2003–04. The information then collected was not submitted on an agreed pro-forma or broken down into any fixed categories for each pathfinder but submitted on local authority or pathfinder own forms depicting various items of expenditure relating to scheme development and capacity building.

Smithfield Market

Mr. Swire: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what representations he has made to the Corporation of London about the proposed redevelopment of the old Smithfield Market site. [27998]

Yvette Cooper: My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has not made any representations to the Corporation of London.

Social Landlords

Paul Holmes: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) whether members of boards and gateway boards of registered social landlords are legally required to act in the best interests of the organisation; [26207]
 
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(2) whether councillors are prohibited by law from being members of the boards and gateway boards of registered social landlords; [26208]

(3) whether tenants' representatives are legally required to act in the best interests of their registered social landlord. [26209]

Yvette Cooper: All board members of registered social landlords (RSLs), including tenant board members, owe a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of the organisation. This is a common law duty which imposes a general requirement on them to act in good faith and for the benefit of the RSL. This applies to all RSLs, including those established using the Community Gateway model.

There is no prohibition on councillors being RSL board members. However, as councillors they are subject to a code of conduct which requires them to remove themselves from, or not vote at, any council meeting where they might have a prejudicial interest in the matter being discussed.

Thames Gateway

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to extend (a) motorways and (b) A roads in Essex to take account of the Thames Gateway. [25081]

Yvette Cooper: In 2003 the Secretary of State for Transport announced a £1.6 billion investment in the widening of the M25. This programme will take in junctions 27–30 in the Essex stretch of the motorway.

The transport authorities in Essex have an opportunity to bring forward improvements to non-strategic roads through their respective local transport plans. Provisional plans are currently with the Department for Transport and are being assessed.

Additionally, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Department for Transport are working with the South Essex Transportation Board to identify the further transport and other infrastructure needs of the area in the context of the Thames Gateway.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of the Thames Gateway project will be accounted for by social housing. [25082]

Yvette Cooper: The ultimate percentage of affordable housing (which includes social housing) in the Thames Gateway will be dependent upon a number of factors such as local development plan requirements. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not set targets centrally for affordable housing.

However, Creating Sustainable Communities: Delivering the Thames Gateway" sets out our expectation that at least 35 per cent. of new homes will be affordable for rent or purchase, while supporting the different local circumstances across the Gateway. The London Plan, published in February 2004, set an affordability target of 50 per cent. for new developments. Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs) for the South East of England and the East of England regions are currently under review. At present neither existing RSS sets a target for affordable housing, but an anticipated target of 30 per
 
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cent. was put forward in the Interregional Planning Statement agreed by the three Gateway regional planning authorities.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many properties the Government plan to build in (a) Essex, (b) Basildon, (c) Southend, (d) Thurrock and (e) East Tilbury in the context of the Thames Gateway project. [25097]

Yvette Cooper: The draft Regional Spatial Strategy developed by the East of England Regional Assembly proposes a total of 43,800 new dwellings in the period 2001 to 2021. This is spilt between the areas as follows:

	Number
Thurrock	18,500
Basildon	10,700
Southend	6,000
Castle Point	4,600
Rochford	4,000

These proposals will be tested through the Examination in Public of the East of

England Plan. This began on 1 November.

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