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25 July 2007 : Column 1141W—continued

East of England Development Agency: Contracts

Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many contracts the East of England Development Agency has with Luton-based social enterprises; and what the value is of each contract. [152267]

John Healey: As a strategic body, East of England Development Agency does not fund specific projects in the same way that many other funding organisations do and funding is delegated locally. Local projects in Luton are taken forward by the Investing in Communities (IiC) partnership there and Luton borough council is responsible for taking forward the social enterprise interventions. Information on the number of contracts and value of these would be held by Luton borough council as it would fall within the delegation levels EEDA has for the IiC partnerships.

Emergency Services

Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the Fire and Rescue Service's preparations for responding to a chemical, biological, radioactive or nuclear incident. [151590]

Mr. Dhanda: Through the Home Office led CBRN resilience programme we are working closely with partners across Government to ensure that the Fire and Rescue Service and other emergency services have the necessary equipment and training available to fulfil their part in responding to a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incident.

Communities and Local Government's New Dimension Programme has provided the Fire and Rescue Service with 18 strategically located Detection, Identification and Monitoring Units to analyse suspected CBRN substances, 73 Incident Response Units for mass decontamination of the public, personal protection equipment to protect firefighters in a CBRN contaminated environment, and relevant training.

Fire Services

Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 13 December 2006, Official Report, column 1139W, on Regional Fire Control, what the expected date is by which the proposed new regional fire control centres for (a) London and (b) England will be fully networked and operational; and if she will make a statement. [151551]


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Mr. Dhanda: The first Regional Fire Control Centres are expected to go live in October 2009, with the entire network operational by September 2011. London is expected to join the network in November 2010.

Homelessness

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the ratio was between the number of social housing new lets and the number of households accepted as homeless in the last 12 months in each local housing authority area in England. [151352]

Mr. Iain Wright: A table has been placed in the Library which shows the ratio between the number of social housing lettings and the number of households accepted as homeless in each local housing authority area in England.

Local authorities in England report the number of lettings in their annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix returns. Registered social landlords record the number of lettings on their Continuous Recording of Social Lettings (CORE) lettings logs. These two data sources have been combined to give the total number of new social lettings in each local authority area, made between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 (figures include transfers of existing tenants where new lettings are made).

Local authorities report the number of households accepted as homeless in their area on quarterly PI (E) housing returns. Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.

The ratio has been calculated by dividing the number of households accepted as homeless by the number of new social housing lettings.

It is important to note that not all households accepted as homeless go into social housing. For example, some may go into temporary accommodation for a period of time immediately after acceptance, and others move to accommodation in the private sector or have the homelessness duty otherwise ended.

Housing

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Valuation Office Agency’s target is for increasing the number of domestic dwellings with (a) value significant code data and (b) dwellinghouse code data. [152379]

John Healey: No such targets exist.

Housing Act 2004

Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she has issued to local authorities on the carrying out of additional licensing under the Housing Act 2004. [152920]


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Mr. Iain Wright: The Department published the “Approval steps for additional and selective licensing designations in England” guidance for local authorities in November 2006.

Housing: Carbon Emissions

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the market demand for zero-carbon homes. [152409]

Mr. Iain Wright: Demand for housing is high. That is why the Prime Minister increased the annual housebuilding target for 2016 from 200,000 to 240,000 new homes a year. As set out in the Budget, the time limited stamp duty land tax relief should help to generate interest in the market for zero carbon new homes. The Government have set a target that from 2016, all new homes will be zero carbon. Furthermore, a recent survey found that 92 per cent. of respondents want to see sustainability features offered as options on new homes.

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of construction costs of (a) a zero carbon home and (b) an average non-zero carbon home. [152410]

Mr. Iain Wright: The costs of zero carbon homes and non-zero carbon homes vary depending on the technologies and construction products used. A regulatory impact assessment was undertaken to support the Government's announcement that from 2016, all new homes will be zero carbon. The regulatory impact assessment sets out the estimated cost of a zero carbon new home in 2016 above the cost of a non-zero carbon home. The regulatory impact assessment can be found on the Department's website and in the Library of the House.

Housing: Combined Heat and Power

Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department's Sustainable Buildings Division has carried out on the development of local heat distribution from community-scale combined heat and power plants. [152277]

Mr. Iain Wright: Communities and Local Government Sustainable Buildings Division has not conducted any direct research on the development of
25 July 2007 : Column 1144W
local heat distribution from community-scale combined heat and power plants (CHP). However, Communities and Local Government has indirect involvement in CHP research through its participation in the heat project being undertaken by the Office of Climate Change, which is looking at the carbon impact of heat generation and cooling, and the potential for this to be reduced.

Housing: Construction

Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath of 25 June 2007, Official Report, column 166W, on housing: construction, how many residential sales transactions for (a) all properties and (b) new build properties were (i) flats and (ii) houses in each year since 2000. [152530]

Mr. Iain Wright: The numbers of flats and houses that were sold in England for (a) all properties and (b) new build properties since 2002 is presented in the following table. Figures prior to 2002 are not available.

Numbers of residential sales transactions for all properties (a) and new build properties (b) by dwelling type, England, 2002-06
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

All properties

Flats

218,550

204,617

219,839

190,657

243,440

Houses

1,039,427

943,169

950,288

783,623

979,530

New build properties

Flats

30,652

35,299

41,371

46,602

57,655

Houses

77,960

69,633

66,901

55,065

57,124

Source:
HM Land Registry

Housing: Cornwall

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households were on waiting lists for homes in Cornwall in each year since 1997. [147701]

Mr. Iain Wright: The number of households on the waiting list for social housing in Cornwall in each year since 1997, as at 1 April each year, is published on the Communities and Local Government website in Table 600. The link for this table is:

Specifically, the waiting list for social housing in Cornwall in each year since 1997 is given in the following table:


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25 July 2007 : Column 1146W
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly

8,124

9,004

8,723

7,944

7,964

9,743

12,475

13,795

15,610

18,212

Caradon

1,832

2,310

2,323

1,575

1,331

1,327

1,739

1,883

2,608

3,404

Carrick

1,315

1,290

1,334

1,453

1,301

1,397

1,488

1,692

2,362

2,813

Kerrier

875

1,072

850

643

777

1,498

1,905

1,744

1,992

1,990

North Cornwall

1,339

1,473

1,528

1,462

1,500

1,608

1,805

2,261

2,795

2,965

Penwith

1,055

1,216

1,062

1,304

1,028

1,125

1,359

1,379

1,081

2,161

Restormel

1,627

1,583

1,580

1,455

1,970

2,731

4,120

4,769

4,702

4,807

Isles of Scilly

81

60

46

52

57

57

59

67

70

72

Note:
As reported by local authorities.
Source:
Communities and Local Government Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix return (HSSA)

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