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22 Jan 2007 : Column 1518W—continued


Audit Commission

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in what circumstances the Audit Commission requests the bank details of spouses and partners of local authority employees; what the purpose is of requesting such information; what use will be made of the information; and under what legislation such requests are made. [116865]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 19 January 2007]: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission. I have asked the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member. A copy of his reply has been placed in the Library of the House.

Buncefield Oil Disaster

Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what measures have been put in place since the Buncefield disaster to inform hon. Members about control of major accident hazard registered sites within their constituency. [114938]

Mrs. McGuire [holding answer 18 January 2007]: I have been asked to reply.

Regional and local resilience fora are informed of sites which are subject to the Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (as amended) for civil contingencies purposes. The information is also available to chief planning officers of local authorities for planning purposes.

There are no measures in place to separately inform Members of Parliament about such sites in their constituencies. This has not changed since the fire and explosion at Buncefield in December 2005.

Council Housing

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which councils in Essex (a) retain ownership and (b) are consulting on the disposal of ownership of council housing stock. [115898]

Yvette Cooper: Basildon, Brentwood, Colchester, Epping Forrest, Harlow, Tendring and Uttlesford retain ownership of council housing stock. Of these Colchester has delegated its housing management
22 Jan 2007 : Column 1519W
functions to an arm’s length management organisation (ALMO) and Basildon has applied for the round six ALMO programme.

Braintree and Rochford have places on the 2006 large scale voluntary transfer programme, and have already balloted their tenants, who voted in favour of stock transfer in both cases. Castle Point also has a place on the 2006 programme but have yet to formally consult with tenants on their proposals.

Council Tax

Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) disabled people and (b) people who receive disability allowance have benefited from the disabled band reduction scheme in relation to their council tax. [116522]

Mr. Woolas [holding answer 18 January 2006]: 121,996 properties were benefiting from the council tax disabled band reduction scheme as at 18 September 2006.

Information on how many (a) disabled people and (b) people who receive disability allowance were benefiting from the scheme is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Annual Report

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding streams aimed at tackling homelessness were reduced as referred to on page 45 of her Department’s annual report for 2006. [115706]

Yvette Cooper: Since 2002-03 every local housing authority in England has received a grant from my Department to help deliver its homelessness prevention strategy, including the delivery of key Government targets around rough sleeping, Bed and breakfast usage and achieving a 50 per cent. reduction in the use of temporary accommodation by 2010.

In 2004-05, 36 local authorities received a reduction in their homelessness grant compared with the previous year, as a result of a redistribution of the Department’s overall homelessness grant to better reward performance and focus on priority areas. As part of the same exercise, 18 local authorities received an increase in grant. In general, there has been no evidence of the reductions resulting in a negative impact on homelessness acceptance levels in the areas concerned.

Details of the Department’s total grant to local housing authorities over the last three years is in the following table. In the same period, new cases of homelessness have reduced by 22 per cent. as a result of successful prevention schemes being put in place, supported by DCLG’s homelessness grants.

£ million

2004-05

45. 8

2005-06

44.5

2006-07

46.3


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Departmental Communications

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on external media trainers in the last financial year for which figures are available. [114728]

Angela E. Smith: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Fire and Rescue Service

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many training days were delivered at divisional level by East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in each of the last five years. [116556]

Angela E. Smith: The Department does not hold this information in the form requested. Available figures for training days delivered at all levels are given in the following table:

Training days delivered by East Sussex FRS
Uniformed staff Non uniformed staff Total

2001-02

5,836

207

6,043

2002-03

3,767

263

4,030

2003-04

7,298

404

7,702

2004-05

4,728

364

5,092

2005-06

5,918

779

6,697

Note:
15 working days were lost because of strike action in 2002-03.
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service returns to Communities and Local Government.

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) work related and (b) fire related injuries were sustained by Lancashire fire fighters in each of the last five years. [117217]

Angela E. Smith [holding answer 18 January 2007]: The information available is for the period 2002-03 to 2005-06, and is provided in the following table.

Number of Lancashire fire fighters injured
At fires Other work related Total

2001-02

n/a

n/a

n/a

2002-03

57

64

121

2003-04

51

53

104

2004-05

60

58

118

2005-06

34

54

88

Notes:
15 days were lost because of strike action in 2002-03.
Figures were not provided by the fire and rescue service for 2001-02.
Source:
Fire and Rescue Service returns to Communities and Local Government

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average pay rise awarded to senior management at the Kent Fire Service was for (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [117361]


22 Jan 2007 : Column 1521W

Angela E. Smith: The Department does not hold specific details of individual pay awards. The national pay and conditions for fire and rescue service senior managers are negotiated by the National Joint Council for Brigade Managers of Fire and Rescue Services.

In December 2006 the National Joint Council reached agreement on a two-year settlement to cover the period from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2007 as follows:

The scheme of conditions of service provides guidance to Fire and Rescue Authorities on the process of setting salary levels. This process should include consideration of the minimum salary levels for chief officers in relevant sized local authorities, market rates of pay for senior managers in a range of private and public sector organisations, and evidence of recruitment and/or retention difficulties with existing minimum rates.

Green Belt

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006, Official Report, column 1131W, on the green belt, how many hectares of green belt land had green belt designation removed in the most recent year for which figures are available. [114567]

Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 13 December, Official Report, column 1131W.

Home Information Packs

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home information pack training courses have been subsidised from the public purse. [114411]

Yvette Cooper: No home inspector training courses have been subsidised from the public purse.

Home Inspectors

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department has provided from the public purse towards the training of home inspectors. [114410]

Yvette Cooper: No home inspector training has been funded from the public purse by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Homebuy Scheme

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate she has made of the Government support to be
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provided as part of the Open Market HomeBuy scheme in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009 and (e) 2010; and on what basis these estimates were made; [116253]

(2) what estimate she has made of the Government support to be provided as part of the New Build HomeBuy scheme in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009 and (e) 2010; and on what basis these estimates have been made; [116255]

(3) what estimate she has made of the Government support to be provided as part of the Social HomeBuy scheme in (a) 2006, (b) 2007, (c) 2008, (d) 2009, (e) 2010 and (f) in total to date; and on what basis these estimates have been made. [116256]

Yvette Cooper: The allocations for 2006-08 for Open Market HomeBuy, New Build HomeBuy and Social HomeBuy through the Housing Corporation’s Affordable Housing Programme are as follows:

£ million

Open Market HomeBuy

315

New Build HomeBuy

655

Social HomeBuy

14


Allocations for years beyond March 2008 will be subject to the forthcoming spending review.

Housing

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant dwellings there were in (a) Chorley and (b) Lancashire in the latest period for which figures are available. [117191]

Yvette Cooper: At October 2005 Chorley district council reported a total of 1,293 vacant homes. At October 2005 there were an estimated 27,028 vacant homes in Lancashire. These figures are based on all vacancies, including those of less than 6 months.

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant dwellings there were in (a) East Sussex and (b) Eastbourne in the latest period for which figures are available. [116539]

Yvette Cooper: At October 2005 there were an estimated 12,896 vacant homes in East Sussex. At October 2005 Eastbourne district council reported a total of 2,596 vacant homes. These figures are based on all vacancies, including those of less than 6 months.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the (a) total cost of and (b) cost per house to (i) councils, (ii) housing associations and (iii) arm's length management organisations of meeting the decent homes standard. [107433]

Yvette Cooper: The cost per house of meeting the decent homes standard varies across the country and the Department does not collect those figures
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separately. Some local authorities are refurbishing the houses in their area significantly above the decent homes standard. What the improved standard is and how it will be achieved will be determined by local circumstances and the level of resources that can be brought to the programme locally. The Government expect over £40 billion to be spent on refurbishing council houses by 2010, this includes raising houses above the decent homes standard.

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 local authority housing up to the decent homes standard by 2010; what resources have been made available to achieve this standard; and what plans she has to make additional funding available in the next three years. [107434]

Yvette Cooper: Since 1997 the Government have increased the funding available to councils to invest in the improvement of their stock. This year spend by council per home is about £1,100 compared with spend equivalent of £800 in 1997. This is a 30 per cent. increase in real terms. On top of that we will have also made £3.7 billion available for ALMOs delivering improvements to council housing stock, and £2.7 billion for PFI schemes by March 2008. Future levels of funding for gap funded transfers and ALMOs are being negotiated as part of the comprehensive spending review process.


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