Written Answers to Questions
Monday 29 January 2007
Communities and Local Government
Affordable Housing
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new affordable houses are planned to be built in each of the next five years. [115899]
Yvette Cooper: We are planning to provide 30,000 social rented homes in 2007-08 and expect to help 160,000 households to access home ownership through private or public shared equity schemes by 2010.
The number of homes to be provided each year from 2008-09 will be subject to the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.
Energy Performance Certificates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2006, Official Report, column 1814W, on energy performance certificates, what the basis is for expecting the price of certificates to vary according to the location of a property. [114543]
Yvette Cooper: The cost of an energy performance certificate is expected to vary according to the location of a property as this may influence things like local energy assessor labour rates and some areas may experience greater competition than others. The eventual price of an energy performance certificate will be set by the market and not by Government.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2006, Official Report, column 1814W, on energy performance certificates, what estimate her Department has made of the (a) average cost, (b) minimum cost and (c) maximum cost of a certificate. [114544]
Yvette Cooper: The statutory instrument to set out requirements for energy performance certificates is scheduled to be laid before Parliament in due course and the regulatory impact assessment to support this is in preparation. Contributing to this will be the outcome of trials undertaken to assess the indicative costs of producing certificates for a range of building types, sizes and locations. The eventual price of an energy performance certificate will be set by the market and not by Government.
Government Auctions
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government where her Department publishes information about Government auctions which it arranges or to which it contributes in (a) Blackpool, (b) Lancashire and (c) the north- west; and when the next such auction will take place in each area. [117436]
Angela E. Smith: The Department does not arrange auctions in Blackpool, Lancashire or the north-west. Information about auctions that it may have contributed to could be found only at disproportionate cost.
The policy of the Department is to use the MOD Disposals Sales Agency to facilitate the sale and/or auctioning of any substantial amounts of surplus equipment.
Housing: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what temporary housing provision was made available to the homeless in Chorley constituency in each of the last 10 years. [117193]
Yvette Cooper: Information about local authorities' actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. The constituency of Chorley covers the whole of Chorley borough council.
Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, and the types of temporary accommodation. The figures include both those households who have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and those for which inquiries are pending.
Data are published in our quarterly statistical release on statutory homelessness, which includes a supplementary table showing the breakdown of key data, including temporary accommodation and type, by each local authority. These are published on our website each quarter (the latest—July to September 2006—can be found at the following address:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/60/Supplementary tables_id1505060.xls, and the tables have also been placed in the Library of the House.
Data provided include the total number in temporary accommodation for each year, broken down between bed and breakfast, hostel, local authority/registered social landlord stock, private sector leased and other types of housing.
A summary table showing the total number of households in temporary accommodation, from 1997-98 to 2005-06, for each local authority (including Chorley) was placed in the Library in October 2006, in response to PQ 8631 (Chris Ruane)—Table B.
In January 2005 the Government set a target of halving the number of households in all forms of temporary accommodation used by local authorities to discharge their main duty under the homelessness legislation.
Local Government
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what Tamworth borough council's net budget is. [111358]
Mr. Woolas: The budget requirement for Tamworth borough council in 2006-07 is £9.1 million.
Budget requirement is that part of the estimated net revenue expenditure, calculated in advance of each year by each local authority, to be met from formula grant and from council tax income.
Mental Health
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what measures she is taking to promote actively the employment within (a) her Department and (b) public sector bodies for whom she has responsibility of people with mental illnesses in line with the advice and codes of practice produced by the Disability Rights Commission. [117078]
Angela E. Smith: Under the disability equality duty introduced by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the public sector bodies for which I am responsible are required to publish and implement disability equality schemes. These are plans setting out how we will carry out the disability equality duty, monitor, and report on progress. In particular this includes our arrangements for gathering information on the effect of our policies and practices on the recruitment, development and retention of our disabled employees, including those with mental health conditions, and making use of that information.
The arrangements are set out in my Department's disability equality scheme with the priority given to improving and providing correct infrastructure to enable disabled staff to work effectively. The scheme also provides guidance for the Department’s managers on how to support the needs of disabled staff.
The public sector bodies sponsored by my Department that are subject to these requirements are responsible for publishing and implementing their own disability equality schemes.
Roadside Advertisements
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with local authorities on removing unauthorised roadside advertisements. [116390]
Yvette Cooper:
I have written to the leaders of councils where unauthorised roadside advertisements remain a problem to underline the need for action to get them removed. Officials have had three meetings and corresponded with local planning authorities about removing unlawful advertisements alongside motorways and trunk roads. Officials are working with local planning
authorities to set up an unlawful advertisements and fly-posting database which will record details of successful prosecutions and help local planning authorities to successfully prosecute offenders. Phase 1 is expected to be operating by 31 March.
Social Housing
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average grant per unit for low-cost (a) home ownership and (b) rented social housing was (i) nationally and (ii) in each region in each of the last three years. [116131]
Yvette Cooper: The following table shows the average grant per unit for both low-cost home ownership and social rented homes for each region and nationally for the 2004-06 and 2006-08 Housing Corporation Affordable Housing Programmes at the time these programmes were allocated. The level of grant will be affected by the kinds of projects and units built and the extent of section 106 contributions, as well as the cost of construction.
| Low-cost home ownership | ||
| £ | ||
| 2006-08 | 2004-06 | |
| Social rent | ||
| £ | ||
| 2006-08 | 2004-06 | |
| Source: Housing Corporation | ||
Turner Village Hospital
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the sale of the former Turner Village Hospital in Colchester. [114595]
Yvette Cooper
[holding answer 11 January 2007]: The former Turner Village Hospital in Colchester is one of the sites included in the portfolio of 96 sites acquired by English Partnerships on 6 April 2005 from
the Department of Health and forms part of the agency's Hospital Sites Programme.
English Partnerships announced on 20 December 2006 its decision to select Galliford Try Partnerships as its preferred developer for this site. We anticipate completion of the sale by the end of February 2007 with construction on site expected to begin in the autumn.
The scheme will comprise 430 homes of which 107 (25 per cent.) are designated as affordable either for sale under a shared equity scheme or for rent.
All new homes on the site will meet or exceed English Partnerships’ design and quality standards, including EcoHomes "Excellent", Secured by Design and Lifetime Homes. Additionally, as part of this redevelopment, Galliford Try Partnerships Limited will provide Essex county council with a site for a much needed 330-place primary school.
Valuation Office Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 474W, on the Valuation Office Agency, if she will give a current example of a code EF (a) functional factor and (b) economic factor associated with dwellings that have value significance. [114573]
Mr. Woolas: Code EF is available to use as a Value Significant Code (VSC) within the Valuation Office Agency's (VOA's) dwellinghouse coding system. It allows members of VOA staff to flag up that a property's value might be influenced by a functional/economic factor. An example of where a code EF has been applied is where a property or group of properties is close to an industrial area, which might affect value to an extent that it/they should be differentiated from other similar properties in the wider locality.
Wales
Departmental Offices
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what area of office space his Department and its agencies used in central London in (a) 2004 and (b) 2006; and if he will make a statement. [112190]
Mr. Hain: The Wales Office occupies one building in London, Gwydyr House, which affords 675 sq m; one room on the ground floor is used by the National Assembly for Wales. From September 2004 to June 2006 we also occupied space in Dover House of 110 sq m and during that period the National Assembly used two ground floor rooms in Gwydyr House.
HM Revenue and Customs
Mr. Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales when he last met the Paymaster General to discuss proposals to reorganise HM Revenue and Customs offices in Wales. [112038]
Mr. Hain: My hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State met the Paymaster General on 15 January to discuss the HM Revenue and Customs Change Programme and its impact on Wales.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |