Written Answers to Questions
Tuesday 7 November 2006
Communities and Local Government
City Regions
23. Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she expects to publish further guidance on the future management of city regions. [99693]
Mr. Woolas: The Government will bring forward a range of measures for city-regions, including:
draft guidance on city development companies;
a package of reforms for Passenger Transport Authorities and Executives; and
the review of sub-national economic development which will report ahead of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
Proposals are set out in the Local Government White paper, which is available on the Department’s website.
Housing
24. Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the expenditure to be allocated to affordable housing at the next comprehensive spending review. [99694]
Yvette Cooper: I have had, and will continue to have wide ranging and regular discussions with ministerial colleagues in Treasury about preparations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of homes built in (a) Chorley and (b) Lancashire since 1997 have been affordable social housing. [98725]
Yvette Cooper: Local authorities have the powers to bring forward affordable housing policies as part of their local development frameworks.
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties owned by registered social landlords have been sold on the open market in (a) Greater London and (b) England in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area. [91098]
Yvette Cooper
[holding answer 13 September 2006]: Information on the number of properties owned by registered social landlords (RSLs) which have been sold on the open market is collected on the regulatory statistical return of the Housing Corporation. Although information is collected from all RSLs, they are not asked to break down this information by local
authority area. In addition, data were not collected prior to 2001-02. Summary information on total sales for the year available is given in the following table.
| Dwellings sold by RSLs to the private sector (Number) | Total owned stock (Thousand) | Total stock sold to private sector (Percentage) | |
| Notes: 1. Data excludes Abbeyfields and Almhouses. 2. Only RSLs completing the long form RSR provided information in 2005-06. Source: Regulatory Statistical Return, Housing Corporation. | |||
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made, for the purposes of estimating housing demand, of the number of households formed by workers who have come from the 2004 accession countries. [96628]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 7 November 2006 (Question 94217).
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what factors she took into account when estimating that the cost of providing the fourth option for council housing would be £12 billion as stated in her speech of 26 September; and if she will provide a breakdown of the estimated costs. [99319]
Yvette Cooper: As set out in the document “Decent Homes to Sustainable Communities” there are a range of costs for introducing a "fourth option" depending on how many councils took it up as the approach would have to be fair for all councils. The factors taken into account when estimating the £12 billion were: the extra average investment per dwelling required to give local authorities the same level of investment per dwelling as under stock transfer, and the number of local authority dwellings in 2004-05 that would need this extra investment (number of dwellings sourced from the Business Plan Statistical Appendix 2005).
The estimated increase in investment needed to maintain Housing Associations for local authorities retaining ownership and management, and for those planning transfer but yet to achieve this, was £10,000 per dwelling and for authorities pursuing an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) the increased cost of investment was £1,500 per dwelling.
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people have taken up Government initiatives on (a) shared ownership and (b) subsidised home ownership; and what the cost of each initiative has been in each year since its introduction. [99544]
Yvette Cooper:
The tables show Housing Corporation Affordable Housing Programme-funded low-cost home ownership initiatives between 1992-93
and 2005-06. Table A shows completions from each financial year up to 2005-06 and table B the same information on expenditure.
| Table A: Units completed | |||||||
| Shared ownership | DIYSO( 1) | Homebuy | Tenants incentive scheme | Right to acquire | VPG( 2) | Total | |
The figures in the table do not include homes provided without grant through S.106 agreements.
| Table B: Expenditure | |||||||
| £ million | |||||||
| Shared ownership | DIYSO( 1) | Homebuy | Tenants incentive scheme | Right to acquire | VPG( 2) | Total | |
| (1 )Do it yourself shared ownership (2) Voluntary purchase grant | |||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |