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27 Mar 2007 : Column 1422W—continued
The total cumulative saving over the lifetime of the Part L measures was estimated at £1,531.5 million.
| Approved Document F | |
| £ million | |
| (1 )Not significantly greater than before. | |
The amendments will make a significant and cost-effective contribution to reducing carbon dioxide emissions from new buildings. The total benefits of the part F changes were estimated to be between £1.5 million to £5.2 million per year (average of £3.1 million).
The Building (Amendment) Regulations 2003 introduced revisions of part M and Approved Document M of the Building Regulations. Part M deals with access to and use of buildings. The amendments relate solely to buildings other than dwellings, and support, and complement, the aims of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA).
A regulatory impact assessment was carried out and is on the Department’s website. It gives the following estimates:
| £ million | |
| (1) It was estimated that, on average, an additional quarter to half full time equivalent member of staff may be required to carry out the additional functions, the cost of which will be reflected in building control charges. | |
One-off cost to business and regulators was not estimated separately in the RIA but was assumed to be nil, since the regulations did not incur administrative costs additional to or separate from those normally incurred by the building control process.
The changes were shown to deliver substantial benefits which far outweighed the costs. To put this into perspective the expected annual cost for new buildings of £120 million was estimated to provide benefits to the value of approximately £10 per annum for each of the estimated 11.7 million people with disabilities. In view of the wide range of personal and social benefits that would result from improved access for disabled people and taking account of additional accessibility benefits for other groups and businesses, the actual benefits of these proposals are expected to exceed this by a considerable margin.
Housing: Floods
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the number of new homes which have been built in high risk flood areas in the last year for which figures are available. [129758]
Ruth Kelly: In 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, 16,500 dwellings were built within flood risk areas. This is 11 per cent. of all dwellings built in 2004.
Flood risk is a major factor in the location of new development. The Government published a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS25) in December 2006 to strengthen and clarify earlier policy on this issue. Flood risk must be taken into account and carefully managed at all stages of the planning process.
Housing: West Midlands
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes in (a) England, (b) the West Midlands and (c) Birmingham were (i) demolished and (ii) built in each year since 1996, broken down by tenure. [124599]
Yvette Cooper: The information requested at various levels of disaggregation is available in Housing Statistics tables on the Communities and Local Government website.
(i) Conversion and demolitions (England) (Table 101)
Due to the way estimates are compiled it is not possible to produce these at a regional or local authority level.
(ii) Housebuilding by tenure and region (Table 231)
Housebuilding by local authority district and tenure (Table 253)
Due to the timing of when the information is collected the final tenure is not always known so some of the registered social landlord dwellings may be classed as ‘private’.
Local Authority Charging
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2007, Official Report, column 1354W, on local authority charging, what the timetable is for the research into local authorities charging for pre-application advice and discussions. [129466]
Ruth Kelly: The Department has commissioned research into the cost of the planning service to local authorities, including the costs of non-fee related work such as pre-application advice and discussions. We will consider the research and plan to publish the results later this year.
Mapping Data and Services
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2007, Official Report, columns 1355-56W, on mapping data and services, if she will list the functions which were transferred from the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office that accounted for the £1,160,000 of expenditure. [129468]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the Deputy Prime Minister’s letter of appointment of 16 May 2006 from the Prime Minister, a copy of which is available in the Library of the House.
Parking: Fees and Charges
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the revenue was of each local authority with responsibility for parking enforcement in England from net income from (a) parking charges, (b) parking penalty notices and (c) balance of the Parking Places Revenue Account in 2006. [128651]
Gillian Merron: I have been asked to reply.
Information on net income from (a) parking charges and (b) parking penalty notices is not available. The balance of gross income from parking charges and parking penalty notices and gross expenditure for 2005-06 (for most recent year available) is provided in the table that has been placed in the Libraries of the House.
Unitary Councils
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she would approve a bid for unitary council status where a majority of local residents (a) in total and (b) participating had voted against the proposal in a referendum held under the Local Government Act 2003. [128594]
Mr. Woolas: As previously stated, proposals for unitary status will be implemented only where, in the Government's judgment, they meet the five criteria set out in the Invitation issues on 26 October 2006.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether 2008 elections will be (a) postponed and (b) cancelled for councils which are approved to move to unitary status. [129766]
Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 March 2007, Official Report, column 995W.
Northern Ireland
Departments: Postal Services
Mr. Fraser: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland which postal companies handle mail dispatched by his Department and its agencies. [128255]
Mr. Hain: My Department and its agencies use the following postal companies to handle dispatched mail: DHL Global Mail, DX Network Services, Royal Mail and TNT Post UK Limited.
Firearms
Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many legal firearms have been stolen in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [129638]
Paul Goggins: The Police Service for Northern Ireland does not hold information in the form requested, however the Chief Constable has provided in the following table details of burglary, robbery and theft offences in the last five financial years where the property stolen included firearms.
| Number of offences | |
| Source: Central Statistics Unit, PSNI | |
Motoring Offences
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many road traffic offences were recorded in Northern Ireland for drivers whose vehicles were registered in (a) England, (b) Wales, (c) Scotland, (d) the Republic of Ireland and (e) other European countries in each of the last six years, broken down by country of vehicle registration; and what penalties were imposed on drivers in each category. [129650]
Paul Goggins: I have been informed by PSNI that information in respect of motoring offences committed involving foreign registered vehicles is recorded by driver ethnicity as opposed to vehicle origin, therefore it is not possible answer this question.
From 1 April 2007, PSNI will record offender nationality.
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
Jane Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he plans to meet retired Royal Ulster Constabulary officers to discuss their views on the consequences of the conduct of Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland investigations. [127332]
Paul Goggins: The views of retired police officers were outlined during an Adjournment Debate (21 March) about the Police Ombudsman's role in investigations. A report by the Retired Police Officer's Association was presented to me following the debate, and I have agreed to meet representatives of the association at the earliest opportunity to discuss their concerns further.
Culture, Media and Sport
Broadcasting Programmes: Children
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of hours per week of children's programming shown on each public service broadcaster channel; and if she will make a statement. [129172]
Mr. Woodward: The most recent figures available, as collected by Ofcom, are for the number of hours of children's programmes broadcast per week in 2006 and these are set out in the table.
| Hours per week for 2006 | |
| (1 )Including GMTV. Source: Ofcom. | |
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent assessment her Department has made of the amount of children's programming commissioned by each public service broadcaster; and if she will make a statement. [129173]
Mr. Woodward: The most recent figures available for first run qualifying independent commissions, as collected by Ofcom, are set out in the following table:
| Qualifying independent commissions for 2005 | |
| Hours/minutes (average per week) | |
| (1)Including GMTV. Source: Ofcom. | |
Casinos: Licensing
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what guidance was sought by the Casino Advisory Panel from her Department on how to test the willingness to license within a local authority applicant for a regional casino. [130350]
Mr. Caborn: The Casino Advisory Panel was set up to operate entirely independently of the Government. It was a matter for the panel how it interpreted the criteria.
The factors which the panel took into account when assessing each of the proposals before it against its remitted criteria are set out clearly in chapter 6 of the panel's report.
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