| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
16 Apr 2007 : Column 275W—continued
Housing: Hartlepool
Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) affordable and (b) social houses were built in Hartlepool constituency in each of the last five years. [130905]
Yvette Cooper: The numbers of affordable and social rent homes provided in Hartlepool in each of the last five years are tabled as follows. Some affordable homes are provided through the acquisition and refurbishment of dwellings purchased on the open market, these figures have been included.
Affordable housing has been classified to include homes for social and intermediate rent as well as those provided thorough low cost homeownership schemes. Local authorities can require contributions towards affordable housing as part of Section 106 agreements.
| Affordable homes provided: Hartlepool | ||
| All affordable homes | O f which : social rent | |
| Source: Housing Corporation | ||
Housing: Inspections
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many qualified (a) home inspectors and (b) domestic energy assessors there are on the (i) Buildings Research Establishment, (ii) Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and (iii) SAVA Government-accredited schemes. [129069]
Yvette Cooper: As at 23 March there were 1,085 home inspector candidates who had successfully passed their exam. There were over 3,000 DEA candidates who were in or about to begin training, all of whom could qualify by June.
All home inspector certification schemes are operated by private companies, so enquiries on their current membership would be more appropriately addressed to individual schemes.
The contact details for the three schemes are:
(i) Building Research Establishment
Telephone: 01923 664947
Email: enquiries@breinspector.co.uk
(ii) Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
Telephone: 0870 333 1600
Email: safeas@rics.org
(iii) Surveyors and Valuers Association
Telephone: 0870 837 6500
Email: info@sava-cs.org.uk
Accreditation schemes for domestic energy assessors are in the process of being approved by the Secretary of State, and will receive formal approval shortly. As no approval has yet been made details cannot be provided.
Tony Baldry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department provides to government-accredited schemes to train (a) home inspectors and (b) domestic energy assessors. [129070]
Yvette Cooper: No public funding has been provided to the commercial companies currently offering training courses to prospective home inspectors and domestic energy assessors.
The trainees themselves are responsible for payment of their own fees, but have access to the range of Government-backed schemes such as career development loans which are available to those wishing to upgrade their skills or undertake a new career.
Housing: Low Incomes
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government are taking to provide (a) low cost housing for sale and (b) affordable rented housing over the next three years. [130153]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 29 March 2007]: We are on course to meet the target of delivering 30,000 social rented homes by 2008, a 50 per cent. increase on 2004-05.
We are expanding our programme of low cost home ownership, building on innovative private financing to help more people into partial ownership on a shared equity basis. We expect 120,000 households to access home ownership through publicly funded shared equity schemes in the five years to 2010.
Investment for 2008-09 to 2010-11 and plans for increasing social housing supply will be subject to the outcome of Comprehensive Spending Review 2007.
Housing: Racial Discrimination
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what sanctions are applicable to housing bodies which fail to take account of the needs of the Irish community under the requirements of race equality schemes. [128209]
Yvette Cooper: If a body with housing functions is specified in Schedule 1A of the Race Relations Act 1976 (“RRA”) when carrying out its functions it will be subject to the general duty in section 71(1) RRA. This is a duty to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups. Breaching this duty could make the body subject to a judicial review challenge by the Commission for Racial Equality or any interested party.
Additionally, the body may also be subject to the specific duty in section 71(2) RRA, the purpose of which is to ensure the body’s better performance of the general duty. If subject to the specific duty, the body will be under a duty to publish a race equality scheme which must state, among other things, the functions and policies or proposed policies it has assessed to be relevant to the performance of its general duty, the arrangements for assessing and consulting on the likely impact of its proposed policies on the promotion of race equality and arrangements for monitoring its policies for any adverse impact on the promotion of race equality. In assessing whether the body has complied with its specific duty it would be necessary to consider that body’s individual race equality scheme. Failure to comply with the specific duty may leave the body open to a compliance notice being served by the CRE under s7ID RRA.
Depending on the facts of the case, a failure to comply with its s71 duties may also leave the body open to a claim of unlawful race discrimination.
Housing: West Midlands
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) social rented homes and (b) low cost home ownership properties have been built or acquired in each local authority in the West Midlands in each year since 1997; and how many included a contribution from section 106 planning gain. [120529]
Yvette Cooper: The numbers of social rent and low cost home ownership homes built or acquired in each local authority in the West Midlands, in each year since 1991-92, have been placed in the Library of the House. The numbers of homes provided with a contribution from a section 106 agreement are also shown.
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes for sale on the open market have been built in (a) Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and (b) the West Midlands in each year since 1997. [120531]
Yvette Cooper: Communities and Local Government do not collect data on homes for sale on the open market. However we do collect data on the number of private dwellings that are built and these are presented in the following table.
| Number of private enterprise units completed | ||
| (a) Sandwell metropolitan borough council | (b) West Midlands region( 1) | |
| (1) House building data for the West Midlands regional total includes imputation for missing local authority returns. (2) Data for 2006 are provisional. Source: Local authority P2 house building return and NHBC figures | ||
IPPR
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding the Disability Rights Commission has provided to (a) the IPPR and (b) IPPR Trading Ltd. in each year since May 1997; and for what purpose. [125728]
Mrs. McGuire: I have been asked to reply.
As the Disability Rights Commission’s financial transactions are an operational matter, I have asked the Commission's chief executive to write to you in answer to your question, and I understand that he has done so.
Land Use: Planning
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in what form the forthcoming proposals for reform of land use planning will be published; on what date they will be published; and if she will make a statement. [129508]
Yvette Cooper: Later this spring, the Government will set out in a White Paper its response to Kate Barker's recommendations for improving the speed, responsiveness and efficiency in land use planning. It will also make proposals for taking forward Kate Barker and Rod Eddington’s recommendations for reform of major infrastructure planning. A statement will be made at the time of publication.
Local Authority Land Sales
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidelines there are on the process of land sale decisions by local authorities; what assessment she has made of the appropriateness of such decisions being taken without public knowledge or discussion; and if she will make a statement. [130040]
Yvette Cooper: No general guidelines have been issued to local authorities in relation to the sale of local authority land. However, local authorities have general and discretionary powers under s.123 of the Local Government Act 1972 to dispose of land in any manner they wish. The Secretary of State's only statutory function is to give or refuse consent to a proposed disposal where the authority will receive less than the best consideration that can reasonably be obtained which is usually the open market value of the site.
The General Disposal Consent issued in August 2003 in ODPM Circular 06/2003 gave local authorities a very wide discretion in relation to their land disposals and enables them to make disposals which will contribute to the promotion or improvement of the economic, social or environmental well-being of an area at less than best consideration provided the undervalue does not exceed £2 million. The circular provides advice on making an application for a disposal that falls outside the terms of the general consent and it also makes it clear that, when disposing of land an undervalue, authorities should remain aware of the need to fulfil their fiduciary duty in a way that is accountable to local people.
If the land is held planning purposes it can be disposed of by means of a specific consent under s.233 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Disposal consents have also been issued in relation to housing land under the Housing Act 1985.
Local Government Executive
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities in England have elected mayors, broken down by mayoral model; on what date a mayor was first elected in each such local authority; and when the date is of the next election in each case. [129747]
Ruth Kelly: 12 local authorities in England have elected mayors. Their details, including mayoral elections, are as follows:
| Authority | Model | Inaugural election | Second election | Next election |
| (1) In addition, a by-election for the mayor took place on 12 June 2003. | ||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |