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DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Councillors (Pensions/Income)
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 14 December 2005, Official Report, column 1964–1965W, on councillors (pensions/income), on what date the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions issued the press release on the proposals for consultation on pensions for councillors. [42600]
Mr. Woolas: The press release consultation covering documents on allowances and pensions for councillors was published on 12 September 2001. A further consultation on proposed amendments to the Local Government Pension Scheme was carried out on 23 December 2002 following the Government's response to the Transport, Local Government and Regional Affairs Select Committee's Report on 'How the Local Government Act 2000 is Working' (Command Paper 5687).
Student Accommodation
Tim Farron: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will estimate the number of students living in accommodation provided by (a) registered social landlords and (b) universities in 2005–06. [50813]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
For (a) Based on figures from the three most recent Survey(s) of English Housing (for 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05) it is estimated that there were, on average over the three year period, 140,000 full-time students living in Registered Social Landlord (RSL) accommodation. This total comprises 75,000 students aged 16–18 and 65,000 aged 19 or more. These figures include students at school who were living at home in their parents' RSL accommodation.
For (b) the latest figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that, in 2004–05, around 193,000 students on full-time undergraduate courses were living in accommodation described as Institution maintained properties".
Traffic Enforcement Staff
Tom Brake: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) traffic enforcement officers, (b) traffic wardens and (c) council parking attendants have been operating in each police authority area in each year since 2002–03. [51730]
Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.
The available statistics are given in the table. Information on council parking attendants is not collected centrally.
Police officers 'traffic' function includes staff who are predominantly employed on motor-cycles or in patrol vehicles for the policing of traffic and motorway related duties. This includes officers employed in accident investigation, vehicle examination and radar duties. This also includes staff who are predominantly employed to support the traffic function of the force including radar, accident investigation, vehicle examination and traffic administration. Also included
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are those officers working with hazardous chemicals and those administrative staff predominantly serving the internal needs of the traffic function of the force and those officers/staff in supporting roles.
(9) Many forces have transferred responsibility for parking controls to the respective district/unitary authority, which has resulted in some forces not having any traffic wardens by March 2005.
(10) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. Full-time equivalent figures includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
(11) Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. The deployment of police officers is an operational matter for individual chief constables.
(12) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between the totals in this table and totals in similar published tables. Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
(13) Data quality may be an issue with this force. Kent did not provide data for 2003–04.
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Urban Task Force 2005
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what response he has made to Lord Rogers's 2005 Urban Task Force's observations in relation to (a) the Thames Gateway regeneration scheme governance and (b) the Government's regeneration programme. [42606]
Yvette Cooper:
On 22 November 2005 the Urban Task Force, chaired by Lord Rogers, launched its report Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance" reviewing progress to date on delivering the original task force vision set out in 1999 in its previous report Towards an Urban Renaissance". It is an independent report based on the personal experience of the Urban Task Force members on the ground, designed to stimulate public debate and encourage new thinking".
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This new report acknowledges that there have been some notable successes, and that English cities are very different places from the post-industrial centres of unemployment and failing public services of 20 years ago. The report also identifies challenges to the continuation of the urban renaissance and provides recommendations on steps necessary to strengthen the progress already made.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has welcomed the task force's new report as a useful contribution to our ongoing work on urban design and the cities and regional policy agenda, and will take full account of the report's recommendations in the context of other research and analysis undertaken by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and elsewhere. For maximum effectiveness any new approaches must also be integrated with policy developments emerging from, for example, the December 2005 EU Ministerial informal, the Government response to Kate Barker's review of Housing Supply and the consultation on the draft PPS3 document and the Code for Sustainable Homes.
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