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9 Oct 2006 : Column 372W—continued
| Years ended 31 March | 2004-5 | Percentage | 2005-6 | Percentage | |
| Note: 1. For the purposes of this answer the south of England includes South East, South West, East of England and London, with other regions taken to mean the north of England. 2. The "national" includes EP's purchase of a national portfolio of NHS sites in early 2006 which amounted to 302m and other expenditure that EP accounts for on a national basis. | |||||
The figures demonstrate increased Government investment through EP's programme across England in urban regeneration and the communities plan including the supply of high-quality affordable housing in areas experiencing housing pressure. EP investment has grown significantly nationwide over the period quoted. (More information can be found about EP's programmes in its annual reports over recent years, copies of which are held in the Libraries of both Houses or can be found on its website at http://www.englishpartnerships.co.uk/home.htm).
It is worth noting that the impact of a single transaction can be seen from the spend figure of £137 million for 2005-06 in the East of England. This included the single, extraordinary acquisition of a Ministry of Defence site at Oakington near Cambridge for the development of a new community at Northstowe for over £100 million. Excluding that one transaction from the table would have changed EP's 2005-06 investment figures to £218 million for the south and £216 million for the north.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) market, (b) low-cost home ownership, (c) sub-market rented and (d) social rented homes will be built on each of the sites involved in English Partnerships’ pilot London-Wide Initiative; and if she will make a statement on the progress of each scheme. [91528]
Yvette Cooper: The London-Wide Initiative is a scheme developed by English Partnerships to provide additional affordable homes in Greater London. The homes will be developed on 16 publicly owned brownfield sites including one provided by the London Development Agency, and the initiative is expected to deliver more than 4,500 homes over the next five years.
It is too early to provide precise figures across the portfolio of sites because in the majority of cases planning consents, planning agreements and community consultations have yet to be concluded. Estimates show that overall the scheme has the potential to deliver about 1,600 market homes, over 2,000 low-cost home ownership homes and up to 1,000 social rented homes. At this stage there are no plans to include sub-market rented homes in the programme. The first of the 16 sites, Adelaide Wharf in Hackney, is now under construction. Planning consent for schemes in Wandsworth and Croydon has now been granted, with work having started or due to start shortly. A rolling programme of planning consents and starts on sites is planned for 2007 and 2008 for the remaining sites.
EU Interreg III
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the (a) status, (b) role and (c) purpose of the EU Interreg III project. [90388]
Meg Munn: Interreg III is an EU community initiative, funded from the European regional development fund (ERDF) for the period 2000 to 2006, which has three programmes designed to promote territorial and social cohesion across the European Union. The three programmes are:
Interreg IIIA, a programme to promote joint projects involving regions in neighbouring member states to promote regional economic development and regeneration.
Interreg IIIB, a transnational programme which aims to strengthen economic and social cohesion across large groupings of European regions through transnational co-operation.
Interreg IIIC an inter-regional programme intended to improve the effectiveness of policies and instruments for regional development co-operation across the whole of the European Union and neighbouring countries.
Fire Service
Mr. Salmond:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many fire appliances would normally be sent to an educational
establishment in response to (a) an automatic fire alarm alone and (b) a 999 call in each fire authority area. [89805]
Angela E. Smith: Fire and rescue authorities in England are required by the Fire and Rescue Service National Framework to have in place and maintain an Integrated Risk Management Plan (IRMP) which reflects local need and sets out plans to tackle effectively both existing and potential risks to communities. It is, therefore, for each fire and rescue authority to determine appropriate fire cover in its area, including the number of fire appliances sent to an educational establishment in response to an automatic fire alarm alone or a 999 call.
Decisions on operational proposals are made by the elected members of the authority concerned. They are best placed to act on the professional advice of principal officers and to balance the competing local demands on available resources for the benefits of the communities they serve.
Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) fires, (b) hoax 999 fire service calls and (c) false fire alarms other than hoaxes have been recorded in educational establishments in each of the last 10 years in each fire authority area. [89806]
Angela E. Smith: The available information covering part (a) of the question is set out below. Information on parts (b) and (c) is not held centrally.
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