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Housing

Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many single vulnerable households were accepted as homeless in West Suffolk in each of the last five years. [82718]

Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly, at local authority level. The parliamentary constituency of West Suffolk consists of Forest Heath DC and part of St Edmundsbury DC.

Statistical returns distinguish the number of households accepted as eligible for assistance, and unintentionally homeless according to the main category of priority need the applicant falls within. The returns do not identify the number of people in the household. Information reported by Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury district councils, which covers the whole of their districts, in each year since 2001-02 is summarised in the following table:

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Households accepted as eligible, unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category
	Total households	Of which
		Containing dependent children	Containing an expectant mother	Applicant or family member vulnerable( 1)
Forest Heath district council
2001-02	43	31	5	7
2002-03	45	31	8	6
2003-04	57	37	9	11
2004-05	55	44	11	—
2005-06	55	31	13	11
St Edmundsbury district council
2001-02	120	93	6	21
2002-03	146	96	17	33
2003-04	141	87	20	34
2004-05	188	119	20	49
2005-06	139	89	21	29
(1 )As well as applicants, or members of their household, considered vulnerable, figures also include households homeless in an emergency, applicants aged 16 or 17 years old, and applicants formerly in care and aged 18 to 20 years old. Source: DCLG P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly).

Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes for (a) sale , (b) rent and (c) shared ownership were (i) agreed, (ii) started and (iii) completed by each planning authority years under section 106 agreements in each of the last five. [84229]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 13 July 2006]: A table showing the number of dwellings built for (a) sale, (b) rent and (c) shared ownership as well as planning permissions given as a result of section 106 agreements in each local authority in England, in each year from 2000-01 to 2004-05, has been placed in the Library of the House. Information on the number of building starts is not held centrally.

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant homes there are in (a) West Sussex and (b) the area covered by the South East plan. [84842]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 13 July 2006]: As at 10 October 2005 there were 9,000 vacant dwellings in West Sussex and 100,400 in the South East. The area covered by the South East plan is the same as that covered by the South East region.

These figures are for all vacant dwellings, including dwellings that have been empty for less than six months, some for less than one month.

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Government’s estimate is of the number of residential housing transactions that took place in England and Wales in the most recent year for which figures are available. [85702]

Yvette Cooper: Figures for the number of residential housing transactions by local authority areas based on data from the Land Registry are published on the DCLG website at: http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/162/Table588_id1156162.xls.

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There were 1.02 million residential housing transactions in 2005 in England and Wales. In 2004 there were 1.23 million transactions. The number of transactions varies significantly from year to year due to a range of factors in the housing market.

Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many houses were built in rural areas in each year since 2000. [85131]

Yvette Cooper: New build completions data is only available at local authority level therefore it is only possible to measure how many dwellings have been built in local authorities classified as rural by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) rural definition and local authority classification. This will include dwellings built in towns that are within a local authority classified as rural.

The following number of dwellings were reported to have been built in local authorities classified as rural in England since 2000:

Number
Rural classification	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Significant Rural	20,428	20,109	20,882	21,559	21,974	21,807
Rural-50	19,996	18,651	18,482	18,898	18,407	20,692
Rural-80	21,306	21,098	22,271	21,419	21,709	22,626
Total	61,730	59,858	61,635	61,876	62,090	65,125

For further information on the DEFRA classification please see: http://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/rural_resd/rural_definition.asp

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the latest timetable is for producing guidance and draft regulations under the Housing Act 2004. [75418]

Yvette Cooper: The information requested is in the following table.

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Housing Act 2004: Timetable For Guidance And Regulations
Provision/Part	Proposed/Actual publication date of regulations and guidance
Part 1 - Housing Conditions	The HHSRS (England) Regulations 2005 (3208) were laid on 28 November and came into force on 6 April 2006. The HHSRS Operating Guidance and HHSRS Enforcement Guidance were published in February 2006.
Parts 2, 3, 4 and 7- HMO and Selective Licensing	The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations, the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Descriptions (England) Order, the Licensing and Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation and Other Houses (Miscellaneous Provisions) (England) Regulations, the Selective Licensing of Houses (Specified Exemptions) (England) Order and the Housing (Interim Management Orders) (Prescribed Circumstances) (England) Order were laid on 22 February and came into force on 6 April. The Houses in Multiple Occupation (Specified Educational Establishments) (England) Regulations and the Housing (Approval of Codes of Management Practice) (Student Accommodation) (England) Order were laid on 16 March and came into force on 6 April 2006. The Residential Property Tribunal Procedures (England) Regulations and the Residential Property Tribunal (Fees) (England) Regulations were laid on 23 March and came into force on13 April. Draft regulations relating to section 257 HMOs will be published for limited consultation soon. Explanatory information including leaflets and a dedicated website has been available since March.
Part 4 - Empty Dwelling Management Orders	The Housing (Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Prescribed Exceptions and Requirements) (England) Order and The Housing (Management Orders and Empty Dwelling Management Orders) (Supplemental Provisions) (England) Regulations were laid on 22 February and came into force on 6 April 2006. Non-statutory guidance for local authorities on Empty Dwelling Management Orders will be published in July 2006.
Part 5 - Home Information Packs	The Home Information Pack Regulations, Procedural Guidance and Certification Scheme Business and Technical Standards documents were published on 14 June 2006.
Part 6 - Right to Buy modifications	The Residential Property Tribunal (Right to Buy Determinations) Procedure (England) Regulations were laid on 13 June 2005 and came into force on 4 July 2005. The Housing (Right to Buy)(Information to Secure Tenants) (England) Order was laid on 5 July 2005 and came into force on 26 July 2005. This Order provides guidance on the provision of information to secure tenants. The Housing (Right of First Refusal) (England) Regulations were laid on20 July 2005 and came into force on 10 August 2005. The guidance booklet 'Your Right to Buy your Home' was revised together with the relevant Right to Buy forms. Guidance on landlords' discretion not to require repayment of discount, which was clarified by section 185 of the Act, was also issued in January 2005.
Part 6 - Suspension of certain rights in connection with anti-social behaviour	ASB measures in Part 6 of the Act commenced in June 2005. They include enabling local authorities to extend the period of introductory tenancies and withhold consent to mutual exchange on ASB grounds as well as measures to prevent tenants exercising the right to buy. Regulations regarding the form a review should take where a landlord decides to extend the period of an introductory tenancy came into force on 3 May 2006
Part 6 - Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs assessments	Draft guidance was produced in February 2006 under Section 226 of the Housing Act, in respect of Section 225, relating to the assessment of the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers. This document is subject to further consultation. Definitive guidance will be published in the autumn of 2006.
Part 6 - Tenant Deposit Protection	In order to consider stakeholder concerns raised by that consultation, we are reviewing the commencement date and will confirm a date before Parliament rises

Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been allocated for housing renewal in Morecambe since 1997. [85032]

Yvette Cooper: There is no specific funding allocation data available for Morecambe.

Allocations to Lancaster city council of capital funding for housing purposes over the period 1997-98 to 2005-06 exceeds £30 million. This includes the major repairs allowance first introduced in 2001-02 specifically for the improvement of local authority stock alongside the Decent Homes standard which sets out minimum standards to be met by 2010.

A further £1.9 million was allocated to Lancaster city council by the Regional Housing Board in 2006-07 under priority 1.3 of the Regional Housing Strategy, which seeks to provide a better housing mix in the region’s costal towns i.e. Blackpool Morecambe and Fleetwood. This amounted to an 11 per cent. on year increase in funding.

In addition the North West Development Agency would have contributed towards housing renewal in Morecambe via the Single Regeneration Budget Programme.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she has undertaken studies on the impact of planning gain supplement on the provision of affordable housing in rural areas. [83277]

Yvette Cooper: No such studies have been undertaken.

The Government are currently considering responses to their consultation on the Planning-Gain Supplement (PGS), including on the issues of the PGS's impact on rural exception sites and the proposal to retain affordable housing delivery within the scope of planning obligations. Further announcements will be made towards the end of 2006.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the number of homes that have been purchased outright by occupiers of affordable housing on a shared ownership or homebuy basis under the Common and Leasehold Reform Act 2003 in (a) rural and (b) non-rural areas; and if she will make a statement. [84966]

Yvette Cooper: No data is collected centrally on the number of homes that have been purchased outright, having been originally acquired through shared ownership, or homebuy.

The Government are keen to expand home ownership through the new homebuy scheme.
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However, we recognise the need to ensure the longer term supply of affordable housing in rural areas which are subject to particular housing pressures.

Therefore we will continue to allow housing associations to restrict the outright purchase (“staircasing out”) of shared ownership or homebuy properties on rural exception sites, where possible and appropriate under leasehold legislation. This flexibility, coupled with the additional safeguards within the homebuy scheme which allow providers to buy back properties when a purchaser who has staircased to full ownership wishes to move, should enable affordable housing to be retained where it is essential to do so and ensure delivery of the rural programme.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he expects the decent housing targets will be met by 2010 by local authorities which have transferred their stock (a) to arm’s length management organisations and (b) by large scale voluntary transfers. [41141]

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.

All local authorities currently on the ALMO and transfer programmes have undertaken to meet the Decent Homes target by 2010. However, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced on 7 June that where greater flexibility and allowing a little longer will allow a better result for the community—or where spreading the work out would deliver better value for money, we will negotiate later dates on a case-by-case basis. That said, we still expect 95 per cent. of social housing to be decent by 2010.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many houses built in West Lancashire in rural settlements according to the rural exceptions policy have been built in each of the last five years. [83647]

Yvette Cooper: I have been asked to reply.

Over the last five years 2000-01 to 2004-05, West Lancashire have reported that no new dwellings were built in their area in accordance with the rural exceptions policy.

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