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6 Jun 2007 : Column 530W—continued
Disabled: Warrington
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of Warrington borough council’s services for children with disabilities. [139928]
Mr. Dhanda: I have been asked to reply.
Ofsted with other inspectorates will undertake a joint area review of children’s services in Warrington in autumn 2007. This will include making a judgment and reporting specifically on services for children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
The annual performance assessment of local authority children’s services undertaken by Ofsted, with, until 2006, the Commission for Social Care Inspection, does not make a scored judgment specifically on services for such children. However, it considers such services in reaching a judgment on the council’s overall performance on children’s services. The letter summarising the 2006 annual performance assessment of Warrington, issued by the two inspectorates on 1 November 2006, notes as an area for improvement the delivery of services to children with disabilities to support their staying safe.
The recently published Disabled Children’s Review announced a funding package of £340 million over the next Comprehensive Spending Review period for 2008-09 to 2010-11, to be spent on improving service provision across the board for disabled children.
European Regional Development Fund
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what response her Department has received from the European Commission on its proposal that administration of the European Regional Development Fund and its successor be delivered by the regional development agencies rather than Government offices for the English regions. [140720]
Yvette Cooper: The European Commission has agreed that the day to day administration of the 10 English European Regional Development Fund programmes covering 2007 to 2013 will be carried out by the regional development agencies. The precise arrangements for implementing the transition from the Government offices to the RDAs are currently under discussion.
John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the transfer of functions will take place in respect of the proposed transfer of European Regional Development Fund administration from Government offices for the English regions to regional development agencies; what will be the role of the Department in managing the new programme; and what arrangements are in place to manage the wind-down and closure of the existing programme. [140721]
Yvette Cooper:
My Department will be the Managing, Certifying and Audit Authority for 2007 to 2013 European Regional Development Fund programmes in England,
although we will delegate most of the day-to-day Managing Authority functions to the regional development agencies. We are aiming formally to transfer these functions as from 1 October 2007.
Government offices are managing the closure of the 2000 to 2006 ERDF programmes. Action is well advanced to meet the European Commission's closure deadlines.
Farmers: Markets
Mr. Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she provides to local authorities who operate or organise farmers’ markets on certification under the scheme operated by the National Farmers Retail and Markets Association. [139728]
Barry Gardiner: I have been asked to reply.
My Department encourages farmers’ markets in a number of ways: directly, through funding under a range of grant schemes; and indirectly through our work with bodies such as FARMA (the National Farmer and Retail Markets Association) and local authorities to facilitate the establishment of farmers’ markets. We have written to the chief executives of local authorities drawing their attention to the benefits to the rural economy and to town centres that such markets can bring. We have also sponsored the Local Government Association Guide on Farmers’ Markets,
“Developing good practice for sustainable farmers’ markets—a practical guide for local authorities”.
Highlight issues of interest to local authorities in relation to farmers’ markets;
Link farmers’ markets to related areas of interest;
Signpost local authorities and market organisers to areas of good practice; and
Stimulate further relevant research and interest into farmers’ markets.
First Time Buyers
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she is taking to mitigate the effect of increases in house prices for first time buyers. [139812]
Yvette Cooper: Kate Barker’s Review of Housing Supply recommended that a step-change in housing supply was necessary to address worsening affordability due to a long term undersupply of housing. Government’s response, published in 2005, set out an ambition to increase housing supply to 200,000 per annum by 2016.
Good progress has been made, with supply increasing from a low of around 130,000 new homes in 2001-02, to over 180,000 in 2005-06. We recognise however, that we still need to go further to address demand, and are determined to maintain momentum.
Since publishing the Barker Response, we have been working to implement the measures it announced. Among other achievements, we have published a new Planning Policy Statement 3, announced a series of new Growth Points, announced proposals that all new
homes should be built to zero carbon standards by 2016, and set up a National Housing and Planning Advice Unit.
In addition our HomeBuy scheme will help people on modest incomes to get a step on the housing ladder. The Government’s HomeBuy scheme will expand the opportunity for home ownership to over a 120,000 households between 2005 and 2010. In 2006-08 we are investing £970 million through the National Affordable Housing programme to deliver 35,000 new low cost home ownership properties.
Benefits: North East Region
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many pensioners (a) in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) on Teesside and (c) in the North East are entitled to claim housing benefit; what percentage of those eligible to make a claim do not do so; and what the value of unclaimed housing benefit was in each area in the last year for which figures are available; [139736]
(2) how many pensioners (a) in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) on Teesside and (c) in the North East are entitled to claim council tax benefit; what percentage of pensioners in each area entitled to make a claim do so; and what the average value is of the unmade claims by pensioners in each area; [139739]
(3) how many people (a) in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) on Teesside and (c) in the North East are entitled to claim council tax benefit; what percentage of people in each area entitled to make a claim do so; and what the average value is of the unmade claims in each area; [139740]
(4) what estimate she has made of the amount of unclaimed council tax benefit (a) in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, (b) on Teesside and (c) in the North East. [139741]
Mr. Plaskitt: I have been asked to reply.
Information is not available below national level.
The latest estimates of the take-up of the main income-related benefits: income support, pension credit, housing benefit, council tax benefit and jobseeker’s allowance (income-based) can be found in the DWP report entitled “Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2004-05”. Copies of the publication are available in the Library.
Housing: Children
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many children were registered as living in (a) temporary accommodation, (b) non-decent accommodation and (c) overcrowded accommodation in each London borough in each year since 1997. [130743]
Yvette Cooper [pursuant to the reply, 18 May 2007, Official Report, c. 978-79W]: Information on children in temporary accommodation is only available from 2004. Figures for local authorities in London are provided in table 1.
| Table 1: number of children in temporary accomodation( 1) on 31 December 2004-06: by London local authority | |||
| Local authority | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
| (1) Households in temporary accommodation (excluding applicants recorded as homeless at home) on the last day of the quarter, as arranged by a local housing authority as a discharge of their statutory homelessness functions. (2) Local authority did not report. Source: PIE quarterly returns | |||
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