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25 Oct 2006 : Column 1936W—continued
Connect Programme
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) budget and (b) purpose is of the Government Connect ‘GC Accounts’ programme. [94614]
Angela E. Smith: ‘Government Connect Accounts’ is part of the Government Connect programme. The total Government Connect programme budget is £26.5 million.
Government Connect is an initiative led by local authorities, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Cabinet Office to provide a common infrastructure for secure electronic interaction
between local government, central Government and citizens. The Government Connect Accounts element of the programme is used to check user identity and is currently working with other government identity management initiatives to make use of cross-Government standards and technologies.
Council Homes
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the cost of bringing all council homes up to the decent homes standard in each local authority which does not have tenant support for stock transfer, private finance initiative or arm’s length management organisation and which has indicated that it cannot meet the standard using its own resources. [86676]
Yvette Cooper: Only one local authority, the London borough of Camden, is not pursuing an arm’s length management organisation or stock transfer, and has reported that it can not meet the decent homes standard using existing resources. Camden is using PFI to deliver decent homes for part of its stock.
Camden has reported that the cost to make decent all of their dwellings below the decent homes standard at 1 April 2005 was £261,000,000.
Source:
Business Plan Annual Monitoring Return 2005.
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many full-time equivalent staff work in her Department’s international planning division; [94557]
International Planning
(2) if she will place in the Library a copy of each edition of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s “International Planning Newsletter”. [94569]
Yvette Cooper: The international planning and emerging policies branch within the Planning Directorate has responsibility for coordinating the UK’s contribution to the work led by EU member states on territorial cohesion. The staff resource identified for this work amounts to the equivalent of one full-time staff member.
Production of an “International Planning Newsletter” was discontinued two years ago.
Departmental Staff
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on performance-related bonuses to civil servants in the most recent year for which figures are available. [94622]
Angela E. Smith: The total amount of performance-related bonuses paid to staff in the Department for Communities and Local Government in the most recent year, based on latest available figures, was £905,000.
Dwelling House Codes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many domestic properties in England do not have (a) three, (b) four, (c) six and (d) eight dwelling house codes. [94808]
Mr. Woolas: At 3 October 2006, 96.3 per cent. of the Valuation Office Agency’s electronic records for domestic properties in England contained eight or more dwelling house codes. Out of the total 22,176,931 dwellings, the number without property attribute codes were: (a) three or more codes missing 527,149 (b) an additional 29,277 with four or more codes missing (c) an additional 42,996 with 6 or more codes missing and (d) a further 218,038 with eight or more codes missing. In total there were 817,460 with eight or more dwelling house codes missing.
Energy Efficiency (Building Regulations)
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what criteria were used to (a) include carbon emitting technology and (b) exclude thermal mass and night-time cooling from the new L2 building regulations iSBEM model; and if she will make a statement; [96712]
(2) what assessment she has made of the performance of the software model iSBEM that has been launched in support of the new building regulations L2; and if she will make a statement. [96715]
Angela E. Smith: The simplified building energy model (SBEM) was developed to conform to the emerging European standards for energy calculations and therefore it has incorporated those energy flows for which procedures have been developed in the draft European Standards (prENs).
The impact of thermal mass on energy demand is included in the energy calculation as far as its impact on normal heating and cooling strategies are concerned. SBEM does not address night cooling strategies because this is difficult in a monthly calculation method like SBEM. It was always recognised that certain design features would not be included in early versions of SBEM, and that is why the Government included in the overall national calculation methodology the option to use more detailed hourly simulation models, which can address features such as night cooling. This means that options exist whereby any design strategy can be assessed in terms of its contribution at achieving compliance with part L.
The SBEM calculation method has been developed in close discussion with industry who have been provided with beta test versions and invited to test the tool and provide feedback on their experience. The tool has also been used on a number of case studies in both this country and abroad.
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to include passive heating techniques in the code for sustainable homes. [96713]
Angela E. Smith: Passive heating techniques are recognised in the Government’s standard assessment procedure (SAP) for the calculation of energy efficiency. It is intended to use SAP in the code for sustainable homes, and accordingly the code will give credit for passive heating techniques.
Energy Performance Inspections
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the average length of time it will take to conclude an energy performance certificate inspection. [96287]
Yvette Cooper: Trials are planned to take place during November 2006 to assess the indicative time and costs of producing energy performance certificates. We expect the time taken to vary according to the size, type and location of the property.
Green Belt
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what total acreage of land was designated as green belt in each of the last 20 years. [93788]
Yvette Cooper: The total area of land designated as green belt in England for each year for which data are available is presented in the following table:
| Area (Hectares) | |
| Source: DCLG Statistical Releases: Green Belt Statistics, England. | |
The total area of land designated as green belt in Scotland for which data are available is for 2004: 144,000 hectares.
Source:
The Scottish Executive.
There is no designated green belt in Wales.
Home Inspectors
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government where the number of the Government home inspector advice line is publicised; and whether this number is solely for advice on home information packs. [94869]
Yvette Cooper: The Home Inspector advice line number is publicised on the Department’s website, the home information packs subsite, the home inspector careers website and other general careers publications. The telephone number is 08000 567160.
This number is to advise potential home inspector candidates on their training opportunities, rather than as a general contact point for the public.
Home Insulation
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many inspectors for home insulation had their accreditations withdrawn in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement; [92646]
(2) how many inspectors of home insulation were accredited in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [92648]
Angela E. Smith: Central records are not kept. The home energy efficiency scheme in Wales is administered for the National Assembly for Wales by the EAGA Group which employs a number of contractors to carry out insulation works under the grant scheme.
Housing
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect on private sector tenants who find it difficult financially to take on local authority accommodation in cases when councils have been successful in meeting the Government’s void times targets. [92386]
Yvette Cooper: Best value performance indicator (BVPI) BV212 measures the average time taken to re-let local authority housing. BV212 does not differentiate according to the type of tenure the person was in prior to the letting, nor does it look at the effect a local authority let has on the financial circumstances of the a tenant who was previously housed in the private rented sector. Targets set against BV212 are determined by individual local authorities themselves and not by the Government.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when Professor John Hills is due to report on his review of social housing. [94564]
Yvette Cooper: Professor Hills is due to present the findings of his assessment of social housing to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State in December 2006.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her estimate is of the number of (a) housing associations, (b) local authorities with council-run social housing and (c) local authorities with social housing run through arm’s-length management organisations in England. [94571]
Yvette Cooper: On 1 October 2006 there were nearly 2,000 housing associations; there were 108 local authorities who had opted directly to manage all their social housing and there were 53 local authorities with social housing run through arm’s-length management. There were a further 52 who had opted to either transfer their homes to a housing association or set up an ALMO but they have yet to complete the process and so are currently managing some or all of their stock directly. Some local authorities have more than one management structure for their social housing.
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were classified as (a) homeless and (b) unsuitably housed in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area. [95454]
Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected in respect of households rather than persons. The number of households accepted by local authorities in England as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and consequently owed the main homelessness duty, in each year since 1997-98; and the number of households in temporary accommodation arranged by the authority under homelessness legislation as at 31 March of each year, are in the following table. From 1998, information has also been collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are presented in the tables.
| Households accepted( 1) as owed a main duty during the year | Households in temporary accommodation( 2 ) at end of year (31 March) | |
| (1) Households eligible under homelessness legislation, found to be unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty. (2) Households in accommodation either pending a decision on their homelessness application or awaiting allocation of a settled home following acceptance. Excludes those households designated as "homeless at home" that have remained in their existing accommodation and have the same rights to suitable alternative accommodation as those in accommodation arranged by the authority. (3) Mid-year estimates Source: DCLG P1E Homelessness returns (quarterly); and Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (annual) (for Rough Sleepers data) | ||
| Rough Sleepers( 1) (number of persons) June | |
| (1) Mid-year estimates. | |
Data on acceptances and households in temporary accommodation for each local authority area since 1997-98, and rough sleeper figures back to 1998, have already been placed in the Library this month (PQ 8631 the hon. Member for Romford (Mr. Rosindell)).
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