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18 Apr 2006 : Column 513W—continued
Homelessness
Dr. Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whatassessment he has made of the implications for his Department's work on reducing homelessness of thedecision by the Legal Services Commission to withdraw funding for specialised support and advice on housing. [54721]
Yvette Cooper: This is a matter for the Minister of State for the Department for Constitutional Affairs. I understand that the decision to withdraw funding has now been revoked.
Housing
Ed Balls: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many units of shared equity housing there are in (a) Wakefield district and (b) Normanton constituency; and what share the purchasers receive of these houses. [62645]
Yvette Cooper: Information on the numbers of shared equity units by local authority district is available from Part O of the Regulatory and Statistical Return of the Housing Corporations. This information is published at the following address:
According to this information there were 279 units of shared ownership, leasehold housing for older people and other leasehold homes where the purchaser had not acquired 100 per cent. of the equity, in Wakefield district on 31 March 2005. These data are not published for parliamentary constituencies.
Information on the share the purchasers have of these houses is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Charles Hendry: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what information he has received about plans by owners of sheltered and residential housing schemes to sell off wardens' flats; and if he will make a statement. [57901]
Yvette Cooper: We have received no information about such plans.
Advances in technology mean that some sheltered schemes are ran without resident wardens.
The Housing Corporation has not heard of any wardens' flats being sold off and if schemes were grant funded, the registered social landlord would need the Housing Corporation's consent.
John Hemming: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities that are subject to an inquiry into affordable housing have approved an affordable housing retirement village to be built in partnership with a registered social landlord and the private sector without Housing Corporation funding. [61546]
Yvette Cooper: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not hold information on individual schemes which are being considered by local authorities.
I have asked officials in Government Office West Midlands to investigate with Birmingham city council its approach to the sale of housing land, and the implications of this for the provision of affordable housing and wider neighbourhood regeneration in the City in the long term.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many of the new social rented homes promised in the Spending Review 2004 will be built or acquired as a result of (a) the National Affordable Housing Programmes in 2004 to 2006 and 2006 to 2008, (b) the private finance initiative and (c) Section 106 agreements. [63414]
Yvette Cooper: We estimate around 67,000 social rented homes will be provided through the Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Programme over the three years, 2005–08. In addition, some 1,200 will be provided through the Private Finance Initiative and 4,000 through Section 106 agreements without grant funding over the same time scale.
Ed Balls: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many units of social housing have been made available in (a) Wakefield district and (b) Normanton constituency since 1980; and how many are planned for the next five years. [62646]
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Yvette Cooper: For the number of social housing units made available I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 21 March 2006, Official Report, column 279W. Provisionally 35 social rented homes were provided through the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme in 2005–06 in Wakefield. The Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing Programme for 2006–08 is currently allocating resources to Wakefield to provide 150 social rented homes. Not all of these will be completed in the two year time frame.
Planned annual housing requirements are developed as part the Regional Spatial Strategies. The Government have set a target of providing 75,000 social rented homes, through a mix of new build and purchase, from 2004–05 to 2007–08. Future delivery of social housing after 2007–08 will be dependent on the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) social rented homes and (b) shared ownership homes were built with Transitional Local Authority Social Housing Grant in 2004–05; and what his latest estimate is of the number of completions in 2005–06. [63415]
Yvette Cooper: In 2004–05 a total of 3187 homes were provided through Transitional Local Authority Social Housing Grant (TLASHG) for social rent and 508 for shared ownership
Provisional figures indicate that there will be around 2,500 homes provided for social rent and 400 for shared ownership through TLASHG in 2005–06.
Licensing (Carlisle)
Mr. Martlew: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many licences for the sale of alcohol over 24 hours have been granted in Carlisle in the last 12 months. [63192]
Mr. Woolas: There have been six 24 hour licences granted in Carlisle in the last 12 months; three to nightclubs, two to superstores and one to a hotel.
Lancashire Fire Service
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the average time taken by the Lancashire Fire Service to arrive on the scene of an incident in response to a 999 call has been in each of the last 12 months. [64325]
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Jim Fitzpatrick: The available information covers attendance at primary fires only. 2004 is the latest year for which finalised data are published.
The following table shows the average response time to primary fires attended by Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service each month during 2004. This is measured in minutes from time of first call to the fire and rescue service to time of arrival at the scene.
Note:
Data excludes late calls, heat and smoke damage only incidents.
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service FDR1 returns to ODPM.
Local Authority Staff
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the change in the whole-time equivalent number of staff, including education staff, employed by (a) local authorities in England and (b) City of York council has been in (i) absolute and (ii) percentage terms since April 2003. [62865]
Mr. Woolas: ODPM does not collect this information. Some overall information may be available from the Local Government Employer's (LGE) organisation, and specific local authority information from the authority in question.
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much was spent by (a) local authorities in England and (b) City of York council on employing staff, including education staff, in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) the latest year for which figures are available; and what the change in expenditure on staff has been (A) at constant prices and (B) as a percentage of 2002–03 expenditure. [62866]
Mr. Woolas: The requested information is tabled as follows:
(232) Total expenditure on employees as reported by authorities to ODPM on Revenue Outturn (RO) forms. This includes all direct and indirect employee expenses and contributions to employee-related provisions, including national insurance contributions, pensions and employee related expenses.
(233) Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changes in the method of reporting the information. In particular, the outturn data for 2002–03 have been calculated on a non-FRS (financial reporting standard) 17 basis while the outturn data for 2004–05 have been calculated on an FRS 17 basis. Hence, figures for the different years may not be directly comparable.
(234) The 2002–03 prices have been re-valued at 2004–05 prices using the latest ONS/HMT GDP deflators.
Note:
All data are as published in Local Government Financial Statistics or in National Statistics Releases as available from http://www.local.odpm.gov.uk/finance/stats/index.htm.
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