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15 Mar 2006 : Column 2370W—continued

Fires

John McDonnell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) accidental dwelling fires started by cigarette lighters by (i) children under the age of nine years, (ii) youths aged 10 to 17 years, (iii) adults of 18 plus years and (iv) other of unspecified age and (b) related casualties there were in (A) 2004 and (B) 2005. [58339]

Jim Fitzpatrick: The following table shows the data for financial years 2003–04 and 2004–05 in England. Data for calendar year 2005 are not available yet.
 
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Accidental dwelling fires started by cigarette lighters and related casualties by firestarter group, England, 2003–04 and 2004–05

	2003–04			2004–05(65)
	Fires	Fatal casualties	Nonfatal casualties	Fires	Fatal casualties	Nonfatal casualties
Total	468	11	244	350	9	195
Child (0–9 years)	339	5	203	225	6	136
Youth (10–17 years)	45	0	13	28	0	10
Adult (18 years and over)	59	5	23	90	3	45
Other	13	0	0	6	0	3
Unknown	11	1	5	2	0	1

⁽⁶⁵⁾ Data for 2005 are provisional
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDR1 returns to ODPM.

Home Energy Efficiency

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to encourage consideration of efficiency in the use of (a) energy and (b) water in the construction of (i) new housing and (ii) commercial facilities in connection with his growth area strategy. [53747]

Yvette Cooper: Last September, I announced that the energy efficiency standards set out in Part L of the Building Regulations are being raised by around 20 per cent. for new housing and by up to 27 per cent. for commercial buildings; these changes come into effect from April 2006. In the response to Barker's review of housing supply published in December 2005 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said that the ODPM would also regulate to achieve water efficiency savings. In addition the Code for Sustainable Homes will set environmental performance standards that are higher than those stipulated by regulation.

The Growth Area programme is an opportunity to promote sustainable construction and can encourage higher standards by including sustainability as one of the key criteria for appraising applications for funding and through guidance to Local Delivery Vehicles.

Homelessness

Jim Cousins: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many households were accepted as eligible for assistance for homelessness in Newcastle upon Tyne in each quarter from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2005; and how many households left temporary accommodation in Newcastle upon Tyne in each quarter of the same period. [58675]

Yvette Cooper: The following table presents information reported by Newcastle upon Tyne city council in each quarter since January 2000 on the number of households under homelessness legislation which were accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty. The table also shows the number of households reported as leaving temporary accommodation which had been arranged by the council, or no longer registered as homeless at home", during each quarter.

The duty owed by the local authority is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available. As an alternative to the provision of temporary accommodation some authorities arrange for
 
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households to remain in their current accommodation (homeless at home), until a settled solution becomes available.
Newcastle upon Tyne city council

	Households accepted(66) as homeless	Households leaving(67)
2000
January-March	98	44
April-June	103	29
July-September	91	28
October-December	88	68
2001
January-March	98	20
April-June	157	30
July-September	141	30
October-December	132	n/a
2002
January-March	128	n/a
April-June	183	n/a
July-September	n/a	n/a
October-December	196	n/a
2003
January-March	216	n/a
April-June	179	n/a
July-September	266	n/a
October-December	265	n/a
2004
January-March	292	n/a
April-June	265	31
July-September	278	n/a
October-December	205	n/a
2005
January-March	158	n/a
April-June	143	n/a
July-September	140	77
October-December	161	137

n/a=Information not reported.
⁽⁶⁶⁾ Households found to be eligible for assistance, unintentionally unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category and, under 1996 Housing Act provisions, consequently owed a main homelessness duty.
⁽⁶⁷⁾ Leaving temporary accommodation secured by the local authority under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996, or no longer registered as homeless at home" during the quarter, and consequently no longer owed a main duty.
Source:
ODPM P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly)




 
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Housing

Anne Main: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2005, Official Report, columns 681–2W, on housing, whether the figures were (a) submitted by each local authority and (b) collected by his Department. [54430]

Yvette Cooper: The figures provided on Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) 64, were submitted by local authorities who are also responsible for publishing their performance data for BVPIs in their annual Best Value Performance Plans.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much the Government has made available for housing in Coventry South in the last three years. [55256]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 6 March 2006]: It has not been possible to disaggregate figures for Coventry South. Over the last three years the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has made available over £18,183,000 to Coventry as a whole. This split is as follows:

	Amount (£)
2003–04
Housing Annual Capital Guidelines (ACG)— (before the introduction of the Regional Housing Board)	5,096,000
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFGs)	865,000
2004–05
Regional Housing Board allocations	5,283,000
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFGs)	(68)848,000
2005–06
Regional Housing Board allocations	5,131,000
Disabled Facilities Grant (DFGs)	960,000

⁽⁶⁸⁾ Includes £260,000 Kickstart funding.

Housing Repair Bills

Sarah Teather: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what was the (a) total and (b) average repair bill for non-decent (i) private-rented, (ii) owner-occupied, (iii) housing association and (iv) council housing in the last year for which figures are available. [55768]

Yvette Cooper: Data on the average cost to make a property decent by tenure is published in Table 3.1 in the 2001 English House Condition survey main report available from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's website at: http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1155281

This cost covers only the expenditure required to make existing homes decent now and does not take account of work required to ensure current non-decent dwellings remain decent until 2010, work needed to deal with additional dwellings likely to become non-decent between 2001 and 2010 and additional important environmental and security work and disabled adaptations which do not impact on the standard as such.
 
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Inter-council Partnerships

Vera Baird: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he plans to take steps to develop inter-council partnerships among smaller unitary authorities. [57920]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 13 March 2006]: We have launched a public debate about the best governance arrangements for local areas in the future and are interested to hear views on the merits of change and how it might be made. We plan to publish a White Paper on the future of local government in the summer.

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