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Yvette Cooper: The total cost of the Homelessness and Housing Support Directorate's event at Hampton Court was £5,731.48. Sixty-eight civil servants and one independent consultant attended.
House Prices
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will estimate (a) the number of houses in £50,000 bands up to £1 million, (b) the number of houses worth in excess of £1 million and (c) the average price of a house in each such band in England and Wales in the latest year for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [73827]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average house price was in Coventry South in each of the last five years. [79031]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 22 June 2006]: It is not possible to provide separate figures for Coventry South. The following information has been sourced from the Land Registry.
| March | Overall average price (£) |
House Sales
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her estimate is of the median number of houses (a) sold and (b) marketed in England and Wales per annum over the last five years; what her assessment is of the reasons why house selling transactions fell through; and how many more transactions she expects to succeed every year as a result of the introduction of home information packs. [75413]
Yvette Cooper: The median number of annual property transactions of homes in England and Wales between 2001 and 2005 was 1,228,000, based on figures from the Land Registry. Information on the number of properties marketed annually is not collected, but this is estimated to be 1.6 million.
The Department’s 1998 research study, “Key research on easier home buying and selling”, reported that 28 per cent. of transactions fail between offer acceptance and completion. The research study, a copy of which has been deposited in the Library, also described the reasons why transactions fail. For example, the report indicated that 43 per cent. of transaction failures were attributable to an unfavourable survey report and the remainder were due to a seller deciding to sell elsewhere, unacceptable delays, chain breakdown and the property being taken off the market. The key findings of the research study indicated that many of the problems associated with the current system are down to information emerging later in the process and that buyers, sellers and professionals all agreed that sellers should offer more information up front.
Baseline research is currently under way to update the 1998 findings.
Housing
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she is taking to encourage the development of shared ownership housing schemes in (a) Peterborough and (b) other growth areas; and if she will make a statement. [73354]
Yvette Cooper: The Government have allocated a substantial increase in funding for the East of England for 2006-08, much of which will be invested in new affordable housing. In Peterborough, the regional housing board for the East of England (RHB) has allocated just over £19 million which is expected to deliver 572 new affordable units, via the Housing Corporation’s National Affordable Housing Programme. In the other growth areas of the region, the RHB has allocated£152.7 million which is expected to deliver 6,081 new affordable units.
The Housing Corporation is delivering the Government’s affordable housing agenda in partnership with local authorities, registered social landlords and developers in developing schemes across the range of tenure which meets the needs of local people including the pathway to low cost home ownership.
The Government’s shared equity task force is currently examining other ways to increase shared ownership schemes.
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was allocated per head of population by the Housing Corporation to (a) the North East and (b) London and the South East in each of the last three years. [75884]
Yvette
Cooper: The following table shows the
funding per head based on allocations through the Housing
Corporation’s Affordable Housing Programme for 2006-08
in relation to 2004 mid year population estimates for North East region
and London/South East regions combined from the Office for National
Statistics.
| Region | ||
| North East | London and South East | |
Affordable Housing Programme allocated funding 2006-08 (£ million) | ||
Mr. Mullin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria the Housing Corporation used to determine bids for funds under the National Affordable Housing Programme; and if she will make a statement. [75886]
Yvette Cooper: The Housing Corporation invited bids for funding from the National Affordable Housing Programme 2006-08. These were assessed for compliance with the competition requirements as follows:
(i) Additionality—grant must be necessary for the affordable housing to be delivered;
(ii) Rent levels in accordance with Corporation or statutory rent regimes to ensure affordability;
(iii) Schemes must be financially independent;
(iv) Schemes must meet or exceed the minimum standards covering design and quality (expressed through the Corporation’s Scheme Development Standards, Housing Quality Indicator system, and a Very Good EcoHomes rating);
(v) Scheme must start on site by 31 March 2008;
(vi) Schemes must complete before 31 March 2011;
(vii) Scheme must conform to the relevant regional housing board priorities;
(viii)Schemes must meet management and maintenance standards (for housing associations schemes must comply with all of the Corporation’s regulatory requirements in relation to the management and maintenance of affordable homes);
(ix) Bidders must have the capacity to enter into a programme agreement.
Bids which met these competition requirements were then subject to competitive assessment using four criteria:
Value-for-money;
Quality;
Fit with regional and local housing strategies;
Deliverability within the programme time scale.
The compliance requirements and criteria were set out in the Housing Corporation’s pre-prospectus and prospectus published at the time of launch of the bidding round in July 2005.
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will introduce a bill to harmonise tenancy rights along the lines recommended by the Law Commission. [75920]
Yvette Cooper: We are still considering the final report and draft Bill on Renting Homes published by the Law Commission on 5 May and have not yet decided on the best way forward.
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to provide a right of appeal to owners of properties subject to final empty dwelling management orders. [76051]
Yvette Cooper: An owner already has the right of appeal where their property is the subject of a final empty dwelling management order (EDMO).
Where the owner objects either to the making of the final EDMO or some of the terms on which it is made (including the terms of the management scheme), and the council has not accepted their representations, they will be able to appeal to a Residential Property Tribunal.
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many houses with gardens and two or more bedrooms have been built in Vauxhall since 1 January 2004. [76548]
Yvette Cooper: Information on new build dwellings is collected by the Department for Communities and Local Government and is available by local authority not constituency. No information on new build dwellings with gardens is held centrally.
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what advice her Department has issued to councils on best practice for use of the money given to them by her Department for discretionary housing payments. [76761]
Mr. Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
General guidance was issued to all local authorities when the Discretionary Housing Payments scheme was introduced in July 2001, setting out the conditions for entitlement to an award. However, the decision on whether to make a Discretionary Housing Payment is entirely at the discretion of the local authority concerned so we cannot prescribe whether or not an authority must make a payment in any particular circumstances.
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department provided for housing in Tees Valley in 2005-06; and whether an element of the funding was ‘top-sliced’ for regional housing purposes. [77106]
Yvette Cooper: In total during 2005-06, the Department provided funding totalling £39 million for housing in the Tees Valley region.
All of this funding was directly related to housing activities and it was not ‘top-sliced’ for regional housing purposes.
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether a central inventory is kept of non-housing accommodation held by local authorities. [77572]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not available centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Some of the information may, however, be available from the National Land Use Database of Previously-Developed Land (NLUD-PDL). This is a list of sites supplied by local authorities covering vacant and derelict land and also land currently in use with known potential for development. It does not cover other land currently in use but does record whether a site is owned by the local authority.
Information on the sites is available from the NLUD website:
www.nlud.org.uk
The database does not claim complete coverage, particularly of small sites.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to respond to the recommendations of the Affordable Rural Local Housing Commission. [77790]
Yvette Cooper: The Government will use a range of channels and mechanisms to respond in a constructive way to the agenda set by the Commission, including in the forthcoming Spending Review.
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been built by Wirral borough council in Wirral West since 1997. [78382]
Yvette Cooper: Wirral borough council has built no new dwellings in Wirral since 1990. Total development (by the private sector and Registered Social Landlords) in Wirral west constituency since 1997 has totalled 1,032 gross new build dwellings (20.7 per cent. of the borough total of 4,992 gross new dwellings).
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average house price was in (a) Wirral West and (b) Wirral borough area on 30 April in each of the last five years. [78383]
Yvette Cooper: The Department for Communities and Local Government publishes quarterly information on average house prices for local authority areas on our website at: http://www.communities .gov.uk/ embedded_object.asp?id=l 156155
For the Wirral, the average house prices for the past five years in the second quarter of the year, excluding sub-market sales, are given as follows:
| £ | ||
| Quarter 2: | Wirral | Merseyside |
| Source:
Land
Registry | ||
The Department hold no datasets for Wirral West.
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether a local authority has made use of its powers under section 183 of the Housing Act 2004. [75304]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. It is for each local authority to use this provision as it considers appropriate to meet its housing needs.
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the resources available to district councils in housing expansion growth areas to process large-scale planning applications. [75185]
Yvette Cooper: Local authorities in the growth areas have received £75,770,362 in total Planning Delivery Grant since 2003 to help them deal with major applications and other planning requirements. They also receive funding of £7,000,000 annually to support local delivery vehicles in the major growth locations, some of which directly help with handling big schemes.
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new affordable housing units were completed in (a) Dudley, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England in each year since 2000. [74196]
Yvette Cooper: According to information provided by local authorities the number of new affordable housing units completed is as follows. These numbers include both homes for rent, shared ownership, and other affordable private sector homes. They include homes funded by the Government and those funded by the private sector under SI06 agreements negotiated by local councils.
| Dudley | West Midlands | England | |
| (1)
Figures for 2005-06 are forecasts as at April 2005 because local
councils have not yet supplied actual data for
2005-06. | |||
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to encourage the provision of affordable housing for key public sector workers in Swindon. [79187]
Yvette Cooper: The Key Worker Living programme does not currently operate in the South West region. In the South West region £302.7 million has been allocated by the Housing Corporation for housing schemes to start in 2006-08. They will provide 8,465 new affordable homes, of which 625 will be in Swindon.
Of the 625 homes being provided in Swindon, 455 will be for social rent, eligibility for which will be decided by the local authority through their nomination procedures. The remaining 170 will be for low cost home ownership or intermediate rent.
Key public sector workers will be eligible for these units alongside social tenants, those on the housing register and first-time buyers prioritised for assistance by regional housing boards.
Mr. Todd: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the future of arm's length management organisations in council housing. [68595]
Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the final bidding round of the Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) programme and launched the publication of the outcome of the ALMO review, which sets out how Government sees the long term future of ALMOs, and a discussion paper setting the decent homes programme in its broader context in a written statement to the House on Wednesday 7 June.
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to increase the number of dwellings available for low-cost home ownership. [74193]
Yvette Cooper: The Government aim to help an additional 100,000 households into home ownership from 2005-10. We are implementing a number of measures to boost housing supply and deliver more affordable housing. This includes increased investment of £970 million being provided through the Housing Corporation’s Affordable Housing Programme in 2006-08 for low cost home ownership schemes to help 35,000 new homeowners get their first step on the home ownership ladder and bringing forward more public sector land to increase the supply of new homes.
The Shared Equity Task Force, led by myself and John Healey, has been established to examine further ways to increase the number of people able to benefit from shared equity products. The task force will report by the end of 2006 to inform decisions on the comprehensive spending review in the summer of 2007.
In addition, the Government intend to publish a revised “Planning Policy Statement for Housing” (PPS3) later this year to improve the delivery of both market and affordable housing through the planning system.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been built by Coventry borough council in Coventry South since 1997. [79029]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 22 June 2006]: Coventry city council has not built any new homes since 1997. New provision of affordable housing is now delivered through the Governments Affordable Housing Programme (AHP) which primarily funds housing associations who can lever in additional independent borrowing.
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