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25 Jun 2007 : Column 179Wcontinued
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of social housing units built in (a) the London borough of Merton, (b) south-west London and (c) London in each of the last five years. [121555]
Yvette Cooper: The number of social rent homes built or acquired in each London borough in each of the last five years is tabulated as follows. Communities and Local Government do not define an area for south-west London so figures have been provided for each London borough.
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many personnel were employed by Somerset county council in (a) 2001-02, (b) 2002-03, (c) 2003-04, (d) 2004-05 and (e) 2005-06. [143967]
Mr. Woolas: Somerset county council employed the following (from the March of each year):
Full- time equivalents | |
The changes have occurred as a result of some increases in schools, employees, both teaching and non-teaching and also as a result of Local Management of Schools and the re-internalisation of some services.
The increase in joint working and partnership working, with external fundingexamples are the NHS, the Supporting People Programme, National Care Standards, the Older Peoples Commissioning Strategy, the Early Years Initiative, Care Direct, Surestart and Passenger Transport has also increased staff levels. In all these cases the county council has been the nominated employer.
Bob Spink:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of children living in (a)
bed and breakfast and (b) temporary accommodation; and if she will make a statement. [116375]
Yvette Cooper: Information reported quarterly by local authorities includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, as arranged by the local authority under homelessness legislation. The number of these households which include dependent children or a pregnant woman has been reported since March 2002, and the number of children or expected children in these households has been reported since June 2004.
Latest figures, for 30 September 2006, show that there were 1,871 dependent children in bed-and-breakfast style accommodation and 129,341 in all forms of total temporary accommodation. These figures also include expected children when a pregnant woman is part of the household.
The Government have made significant progress in tackling the use of inappropriate temporary accommodation for families assisted under the homelessness legislation. In March 2002, the Government set a target that no family with children should have to live in bed and breakfast provided as temporary accommodation under the homelessness legislation for more than six weeks. At that time, there were 6,960 families living in bed and breakfast as temporary accommodation, of which it was estimated that between 3,500 and 4,000 had been in bed and breakfast for more than six weeks. The target was met by 31 March 2004 and, to ensure it would be sustained, the Government made the Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003, which came into force on 1 April 2004. The effect of the order is that, under the homelessness legislation, bed and breakfast cannot not be regarded as suitable accommodation for families with children unless alternative accommodation is not available, and even then cannot be regarded as suitable for more than six weeks.
In addition, in January 2005 the Government announced in Homes for All its commitment to halve the number of all households in temporary accommodation by 2010, and more recently on 14 November 2006, a further commitment that by 2010, no 16 or 17-year-olds should be placed in bed-and-breakfast accommodation by a local authority under the homelessness legislation, except in an emergency.
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