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8 Feb 2007 : Column 1172W—continued

Departmental Contracts

Mr. Grogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which public affairs firms have been given contracts by (a) her Department and (b) public bodies sponsored by her Department in the last five years; and what the purpose was of each contract. [118452]

Angela E. Smith: The information is as follows:

Domestic Violence

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will provide a breakdown of how the £74 million grant announced in her Department’s news release of
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19 December 2006 will be used to tackle domestic violence; and whether this funding is separate to that referred to by the Prime Minister in his answer of 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 302, on domestic violence. [112643]

Yvette Cooper: £74 million homelessness funding for 2007-08 is allocated to local authorities and the voluntary sector to prevent and tackle all forms of homelessness. It includes a target to reduce the number of households living in temporary accommodation and to tackle the wider symptoms and causes of homelessness, including action on health, employment, relationship breakdown (including as a result of domestic violence), and other associated issues. Grants to local authorities are not ring-fenced and therefore it is for them to determine how homelessness funding is used to best tackle and prevent homelessness.

A survey of local authorities undertaken by DCLG in September 2005 showed that 120 local authorities had a Sanctuary Scheme in place and that a further 165 plan to have one in place by March 2007.

This money is different from the £70 million mentioned by the Prime Minister on 6 December 2006, Official Report, column 302.

East of England Plan

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost was of (a) preparing, (b) consulting on and (c) producing the Draft East of England Plan for (i) Go East, (ii) the East of England Regional Assembly and (iii) her Department, including the Inquiry in Public held in 2006. [110968]

Meg Munn: The estimated cost of holding the examination in public into the draft East of England plan from November 2005 to March 2006 is £343,000. This includes such items as staff costs of the panel secretariat and the panel itself, office accommodation, venue hire and subsistence. This figure does not include the staff costs of either GO East, my Department or the Regional Assembly, nor associated research costs and overheads incurred over the whole period of plan preparation since 2002.

It would be a very long and complex exercise to try to ascertain the full costs of the whole plan making process on the part of all the publicly financed bodies involved—not all of which are listed in the question. Such an exercise would be expensive and inconclusive, for example because of the difficulties in apportioning overheads and the time of many staff whose input has been at the margins of the process. It would be a poor use of taxpayers’ money.

Home Condition Report

Dr. Starkey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) if she will set milestones by which to judge the success of the take up of the voluntary home condition report; [110947]

(2) what criteria her Department has developed to assess the case for making the home condition report a mandatory part of the home information pack; and what information she plans to collect to inform the decision. [110955]


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Yvette Cooper: Home information packs aim to reduce carbon emissions from homes and improve the home buying and selling process for consumers. We are currently undertaking area trials to test the impact of packs and, in particular, the extent to which they reduce transaction times, failure rates and wasted costs as well as encouraging improvements in energy efficiency.

We will monitor all aspects of implementation, and will be getting regular feedback on the area trials from the independent research that we have commissioned to monitor the trials. The first report from the independent researchers is expected in February. We will publish the findings as the trials progress

Homelessness: North West Region

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people in Warrington were registered as homeless in each year since 1997. [117900]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 1 February 2007]: Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected in respect of households rather than persons. A table showing the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need for each year since 1997-98, by each local authority (including Warrington), is available in the Library of the House.

The duty owed to a household accepted as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.

Housing

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projection the Government have made of additional demand for housing from migration; on what migration estimates that projection is based; and whether these estimates have been revised in line with recent changes in the level of immigration. [110915]

Yvette Cooper: Household projections are based on the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) population estimates. The 2003 based household projections produced by Communities and Local Government estimated that an average 209,000 additional households would form each year between 2003 and 2026. Of these additional households 31 per cent. (65,000) are attributable to net migration into England.

The 2003 based household projections were produced using the Office for National Statistics’ 2003 based population projections. These population projections are based on the assumption that the long term annual average net migration into England will be 124,000.

The Office for National Statistics’ 2004 based population projections take account of more recent trends in migration. In 2007 Communities and Local
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Government plan to publish updated household projections based on these 2004 based population projections.

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether measures are in place to ensure that newly built social housing is available to local residents before being sold to housing associations; and if she will make a statement on the role that housing associations play in the current social housing configuration. [112249]

Yvette Cooper: Since the 1990’s, almost all of the new supply of social housing has been provided by registered social landlords as they are able to add an additional 40-50 per cent. funding on top of Housing Corporation investment through independent borrowing. Local authorities are often partners in these developments, providing land and other support in return for access to the provision. A small number of additional homes are built and retained by local authorities and we are exploring opportunities to increase this where it would offer good value for money.

Registered social landlords make available vacancies to which local authorities may nominate people from the local authority waiting list. The Housing Corporation has issued regulatory guidance which sets out the requirements on registered social landlords in this matter (Housing Corporation Regulatory Circular 02/03, February 2003).

Registered social landlords have a duty to co-operate with local authorities in offering accommodation to people with priority under the authority’s allocation scheme, and in assisting the local authority to discharge its homeless functions.

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she plans to take toward ensuring zero carbon emissions in all new housing by 2017. [118963]

Angela E. Smith: The proposals the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government published on 13 December 2006 set out our draft strategy for moving to zero carbon new homes by 2016. The consultation period on these proposals closes on 8 March 2007, and during this period there are several speaking engagements and seminars at which we will set out the proposals to stakeholders and other interested parties. My hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning also established a small taskforce chaired jointly with Stewart Baseley from the Home Builders Federation to examine and address any barriers to implementation of the zero carbon homes standard. We expect to publish the final proposals later this year.

Mr. George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 26 October 2006, Official Report, column 2036W, on the Supporting People programme, when she expects to publish the report on housing-related support through the Supporting People programme. [120005]

Mr. Woolas: The report is currently being finalised. We hope to publish shortly.


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Housing: Milton Keynes

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the impact of the Milton Keynes tariff on the cost of affordable housing in Milton Keynes. [112259]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 29 January 2007]: 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 not yet been signed by all concerned parties. It aims to deliver affordable housing in line with the Milton Keynes plan.

Local Enterprise Growth Initiative

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria were used in assessing which bids for second round funding under the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative would be approved. [112280]

Mr. Woolas: All applicants had to demonstrate that their proposals would address the headline outcome framework set for the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI) which is:

Full guidance on round two was issued to authorities in June 2006 and copies have been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Local Government

Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have (a) applied to be and (b) made inquiries about becoming unitary authorities. [110600]

Mr. Woolas: I refer the hon. Member to the statement that I made to the House on 30 January 2007, Official Report, column 7WS.

Local Government Finance

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much each local government re-organisation in England cost in each year since 1980. [118099]

Mr. Woolas: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 10 July 2006, Official Report, column 1554W.

PPS3

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes the new version of Planning Policy Statement 3 made to the planning regulations for development on (a) former and (b) existing airfields. [111980]


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Yvette Cooper: Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) does not change the status of airfields compared to Planning Policy Guidance 3 (PPG3), or policies in relation to their development.

PPG3 said that where a building occupies only a small proportion of a previously developed site, and the remainder is open land, then it would not normally be appropriate to develop to the boundary of the site.

PPS3 continues this approach. It includes a clear statement that there is no presumption that previously developed land is necessarily suitable for housing development, nor that the whole of the curtilage should be developed.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether (a) existing and (b) former airfields are considered to be brownfield land under the new Planning Policy Statement 3. [111981]

Yvette Cooper: The Planning Policy Statement 3 (PPS3) definition of previously developed land is land “which is or—was occupied by a permanent structure, including the curtilage of the developed land and any associated fixed surface infrastructure” Agricultural and forestry buildings are excluded from the definition.

Airfields are treated in exactly the same way under PPS3 as under the previous PPG3. Whether airfields, or former airfields, are considered as previously developed land will depend on local circumstances.

It is for local authorities to judge in individual cases whether an airfield or former airfield should be treated as previously developed land.

There is no presumption that land that is previously developed is necessarily suitable for housing development nor that the whole of the curtilage should be developed.

Recruitment Agencies

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department paid to recruitment agencies for the hire of temporary staff in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [110484]

Angela E. Smith: The Department uses three contracted temporary staff employment agencies to which contracts were awarded as a result of a tender exercise.

Communities and Local Government was created on 5 May 2006. The figures available are as follows (includes figures for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister):

Amount (£)

2005-06

2,496,966

2004-05

2,431,606

2003-04

2,732,022


Information prior to January 2003 is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

The figures shown exclude CLG Agencies.


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Safer Stronger Communities Fund

Mr. Letwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will break down by programme expenditure from the Safer Stronger Communities Fund initiative in the (a) Eastern, (b) East Midlands, (c) London, (d) North East, (e) North West, (f) South East, (g) South West and (h) West Midlands regions in the most recent year for which figures are available. [118207]

Mr. Woolas: The Safer Stronger Communities Fund is a fund pooled by two Government Departments, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Home Office.

Funding for 2006-07
Region Home Office Department for Communities and Local Government Total

East (a)

8,544,389

7,240,194

15,784,583

East Midlands (b)

7,834,593

8,644,024

16,478,617

London (c)

14,708,771

15,421,877

30,130,648

North East (d)

5,059,314

16,040,444

21,099,758

North West (e)

13,103,944

33,775,551

46,879,495

South East (f)

13,181,292

4,018,287

17,199,579

South West (g)

8,663,422

7,033,647

15,697,069

West Midlands (h)

9,819,323

9,614,249

19,433,572

Yorkshire and The Humber(1)

8,826,537

16,848,085

25,674,622

Total

89,741,585

118,636,358

208,377,943

(1 )Although information was not requested figures are included for Yorkshire and the Humber region to give whole of England amount.

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