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European Regional Development Fund

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will break down by programme the expenditure on the European Regional Development Fund initiative in the (a) East Midlands and (b) Eastern region in the most recent year for which figures are available. [112629]

Yvette Cooper: East Midlands and the Eastern region both have two European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) programmes—Objective 2 and Community Initiative Urban II. The total ERDF expenditure by programme for 2005-06 is as follows:

Total ERDF programme spend by region—2005-06
Programme Amount (£ million)

East Midlands Objective 2

28.9

East Midlands—Derby Urban II

1.1

Eastern Region Objective 2

16.1

Eastern Region—Peterborough Urban II

1.0

Total

47.1


Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will break down by programme the expenditure from the European Regional Development Fund initiative in the (a) South West, (b) West Midlands, (c) Yorkshire and Humberside, (d) South East, (e) North West, (f) North East and (g) London regions in the most recent year for which figures are available. [118101]

Yvette Cooper: The total European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) expenditure by programme for 2005-06 is as follows:


6 Feb 2007 : Column 782W
Total ERDF spend by programme: 2005-06
Programme £ million

South West Objective 1

30.2

South West Objective 2

13.0

South West—Bristol Urban

1.3

West Midlands Objective 2

31.3

Yorkshire and Humberside Objective 1

72.0

Yorkshire and Humberside Objective 2

40.6

Yorkshire and Humberside—Halifax Urban

1.2

South East Objective 2

2.5

South East—Thames Gateway Urban

1.2

North West Objective 1—Merseyside

64.3

North West Objective 2

65.1

North West—Burnley Urban

1.4

North East Objective 2

49.9

North-East—Hetton and Murton Urban

1.0

London Objective 2

29.9

London—Stockwell Urban

1.0


Home Inspectors

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home inspectors (a) are fully qualified, (b) are in training and (c) have withdrawn from training. [114493]

Yvette Cooper: Figures on the number and status of candidates are reported regularly by the individual assessment centres on a voluntary basis.

As at 5 November 2006:

Figures for December were not complete and figures for January are still being collated.

Housing

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant dwellings there were in West Lancashire in the latest period for which figures are available. [112215]

Yvette Cooper: At October 2005 West Lancashire district council reported a total of 1,471 vacant homes. This includes properties which have been vacant for less than six months.

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will break down the Government’s objective for a 200,000 net increase in the number of homes by 2016 by (a) rural and (b) non-rural areas; and if she will make a statement. [118690]

Yvette Cooper: In their response to Kate Barker’s review of housing supply, the Government outlined their ambition to increase housing supply to 200,000 homes per year by 2016.

How the ambition will be achieved across the country at regional, sub-regional and local level is determined through statutory planning processes.

Local Authority Services

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether (a) new and (b) higher taxes which increase the costs of providing local authority services will be compensated for by additional central Government funding under her Department's new-burdens principle. [114748]


6 Feb 2007 : Column 783W

Mr. Woolas: The Government look at all pressures on local government, including any increased costs through tax changes, and the extent to which they can be managed, when setting the overall level of funding for local authorities. The specific new-burdens principle applies only to policies which impact solely or disproportionately on local government.

Milton Keynes Tariff

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her plans are for the level of the contribution made under the Milton Keynes tariff. [118737]

Mr. Woolas: The Milton Keynes Prospectus, commonly known as the “tariff”, is a planning obligation, under the Town and Country Planning Act and covers part of Milton Keynes. The final agreement has yet to be signed by all concerned parties, and until this has been completed the full details of the tariff will not be available.

The Milton Keynes Partnership’s Business Plan 2006-07 to 2010-11 explains that Communities and Local Government agreed to English Partnerships forward funding projects within the tariff to a maximum peak funding of £80 million. The business plan also sets out that it expects to raise £311 million from developers of the relevant expansion areas.

Minerva

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which Minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister took the decision not to call in the planning application for the Minerva Park Place shopping development in Croydon. [111971]

Meg Munn: Lord Rooker, the then Minister for Planning, Housing and Regeneration, took the decision not to call in the planning application for the Croydon Park Place retail development.

Privacy Impact Assessments

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what privacy impact assessments have been produced by her Department and its predecessors since 2002. [112083]

Angela E. Smith: I am unaware of any privacy impact assessments having been produced by Communities and Local Government and its predecessors during this period.

Public Information

Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on her Department's response to the Office of Fair Trading's report “The commercial use of public information”. [112014]

Angela E. Smith: I refer the hon. Member to the answer by the Minister of State for Trade and Industry on 8 January 2007, Official Report, column 315W.


6 Feb 2007 : Column 784W

Regional Bodies

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was allocated to (a) regional assemblies and (b) Government offices for the regions for 2006-07, broken down by budget heading. [117138]

Angela E. Smith: The total estimated Communities and Local Government allocation to (a) regional assemblies and (b) Government offices for the regions for 2006-07 are tabled as follows:

(a) Regional assemblies
£
Regional assembly Single pot Planning delivery grant (PDG) Total

East

1,618,000

735,000

2,353,000

East Midlands

1,426,000

771,000

2,197,000

North East

1,355,000

544,000

1,899,000

North West

1,588,000

1,049,000

2,637,000

South East

1,725,000

1,656,000

3,381,000

South West

1,496,500

793,000

2,289,500

West Midlands

1,505,210

713,000

2,218,210

Yorkshire and the Humber

1,490,000

574,000

2,064,000

English Regions Network

240,000

240,000

Total regional assemblies grant

12,443,710

6,835,000

19,278,710


(b) Government offices for the regions
£
Government office Administration funding Programme funding Total

East

4,712,000

27,515,000

32,227,000

East Midlands

3,999,000

58,521,000

62,520,000

North East

3,944,000

91,453,000

95,397,000

North West

6,627,000

311,832,000

318,459,000

South East

5,613,000

38,106,000

43,719,000

South West

4,686,000

105,610,000

110,296.000

West Midlands

4,365,000

119,698,000

124,063,000

Yorkshire and the Humber

4,147,000

238,687,000

242,834,000

London

7,735,000

139,652,000

147,387,000

Total

45,828,000

1,131,074,000

1,176,902,000


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