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15 Jun 2007 : Column 1337W—continued

The proportions of all local authority lettings to statutorily homeless households in each London borough for the past five years are provided in the following table. These figures include sheltered and supported housing.

15 Jun 2007 : Column 1338W

(i) Proportion of all local authority lettings (not excluding sheltered housing) let to statutorily homeless households: By London borough 2005-06
Percentage
	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Barking and Dagenham	0	4	21	32	4
Barnet	42	36	33	26	21
Bexley	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Brent	63	52	46	41	53
Bromley	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Camden	33	46	35	36	36
City of London	2	12	5	9	7
Croydon	16	7	15	16	12
Ealing	45	47	52	36	42
Enfield	46	46	44	38	38
Greenwich	35	33	37	34	30
Hackney	36	44	46	44	40
Hammersmith and Fulham	37	37	35	32	23
Haringey	34	32	37	40	44
Harrow	36	34	35	31	28
Havering	10	0	0	26	8
Hillingdon	24	43	39	29	24
Hounslow	43	33	46	54	41
Islington	49	51	53	45	34
Kensington and Chelsea	25	34	30	37	41
Kingston upon Thames	51	51	47	45	39
Lambeth	38	46	56	58	66
Lewisham	30	35	37	42	21
Merton	19	20	24	29	27
Newham	33	20	13	12	16
Redbridge	29	35	27	17	18
Richmond upon Thames	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Southwark	59	54	49	46	36
Sutton	37	26	8	15	20
Tower Hamlets	27	27	32	25	57
Waltham Forest	58	56	41	33	38
Wandsworth	33	37	35	34	37
Westminster	53	44	53	47	47
London average	35	35	36	35	32
England	16	19	23	24	22
Source: HSSA

Housing: Camden

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding the Government intends to provide to Camden council for the purpose of bringing social housing up to Decent Homes standard. [141302]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 11 June 2007]: The Government have increased the basic funding for council housing by 30 per cent. in real terms since 1997. Where local authorities need more than this funding to make all social housing decent, additional funding is available through setting up a high-performance Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO); entering into a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract; or transferring stock to Registered Social Landlords.

15 Jun 2007 : Column 1339W

Camden has one PFI scheme which covers the refurbishment of the Chalcots Estate, in Swiss Cottage. The scheme was awarded £65 million in PFI credits, and will receive PFI subsidy from 2006-07 onwards.

Housing: Construction

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 21 May 2007, O fficial Report, columns 1101-02W, on housing: construction, what plans she has to introduce penalties for failure to comply with a completion notice. [143240]

Yvette Cooper: We have no plans to introduce penalties for failure to comply with a completion notice. Completion notices are rare, but effective in most cases. If a completion notice is ignored, the relevant planning permission ceases to be valid, except insofar as it authorises the development already carried out. Any further development carried out after the period specified in the completion notice is over may be liable to enforcement action.

It would be impracticable to give the local planning authority power to compel the completion of a development once started, for example where the developer lacked the finance to complete the work.

However, a local planning authority may compel the removal of any partially erected buildings by making a discontinuance order under section 102 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. If an order, confirmed by the Secretary of State, is not complied with, the authority can enforce it in accordance with sections 189 and 190 of the Act. Where a discontinuance order has not been complied with, section 190 of the 1990 Act enables the local planning authority to take the steps required under the order (such as removal of buildings, works or any plant or machinery, or steps to protect the environment), and to recover any expenses reasonably incurred by them in doing so from the owner of the land.

Housing: Expenditure

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much from public funds was paid to Catholic housing agencies in each year since 1997. [117948]

Yvette Cooper [holding answer 1 February 2007]: 44 of the 650 registered social landlords funded by the Housing Corporation in the three years 2003-06 could be considered in some way faith-based on the basis of their constitutions. These received £52.2 million in grant over the three-year period out of a total spend of £4.9 billion, or just over 1 per cent. We do not currently have figures covering the years 1997 to 2003.

‘Faith-based’ here includes several categories:

(i) organisations which are run only or substantially by members of that faith;

(ii) those required to operate in the spirit of a faith or in furtherance of that faith; or

(iii) those that require that homes are let only or substantially to members of that faith, or ethnic groups closely identified with a particular faith.

15 Jun 2007 : Column 1340W

In 2003-06, £40.8 million was paid to organisations in the second category, i.e. which operate in the spirit of a faith.

The majority of faith-based organisations are Christian, but we do not hold details on how many are Catholic.

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