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12 Sep 2007 : Column 2134W—continued
Mr. Dhanda: In the participatory budgeting pilots, residents are having a say in the spending priorities for the following types of services:
Bradford: services for community and neighbourhood development in deprived areas, tackling safer communities, children and young people, environmental improvements, and health, housing issues, learning, sport and leisure and older people.
Newcastle: services for young people to help social cohesion and sporting activities; and safer, cleaner greener issues, for example, to counteract minor crime, improvements to parks, community cohesion and engagement.
Salford: minor road works to help safety.
Sunderland: funds to strengthen the community and undertake capacity building which includes projects to support young and older people working together, to support and develop young people and help ethnic minorities. Re-profiling of services under a number of themes including community safety, housing, environment, capacity building, job creation and education.
Manton: services funded include play areas, facilities for teenagers, sports and leisure, local police services, abating litter and rubbish.
Lewisham: The spending priorities have not yet been decided. Priorities will be selected under the following headings: encouraging volunteering, supporting young people, addressing community concerns, improving the health of local people, and bringing together diverse communities.
The services over which residents might have a say for the other four pilots have yet to be confirmed.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what form consultation with councils taking part in the participatory budget pilots took. [153686]
Mr. Dhanda:
In the cases of Bradford, Newcastle, Sunderland, Salford, Manton and Lewisham (where the participatory budgeting funds have been
confirmed), the participatory budgeting unit held discussions with senior officials and/or elected representatives of the local council before assisting the lead organisation in the development of a pilot. A similar approach is being taken in the other pilot areas of St. Helens, Merseyside, Erdington in Birmingham and Thornhill in Southampton.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities listed increased revenue from (a) parking fines and (b) fly-tipping fines as an efficiency gain in their annual efficiency returns to her Department. [153689]
John Healey: Our guidance (available at www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1508167) makes clear that the monetary sum of fines collected should not be counted as efficiency gains in annual efficiency statements.
Planning Permission: Cornwall
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 24 July 2007, Official Report, columns 968-9W, on planning permission: Cornwall, what quarterly aggregated statistics her Department collects; what the results are on a (a) Cornwall-wide and (b) national level in each of the last five years; and where data for individual planning applications are collected. [155076]
Mr. Iain Wright [holding answer 10 September 2007]: The department currently collects 150 items of data on development control from local and county planning authorities. Key information on decisions taken on planning permissions during the last five years are given in the table as follows:
| Number of planning applications decided and percentage granted: 2002-03 to 2006-07 | |||||
| 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| (1 )Consists of Restormel. Carrick, Caradon, Penwith, Kerrier and North Cornwall planning authorities. Source: Communities and Local Government General Development Control Returns, PS1/PS2. | |||||
More detailed information is published by the department and can be accessed at:
Planning: South West Region
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the (a) viability of Multi-Area Agreements (MAAs) between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and (b) effectiveness of MAAs in the South West region. [155335]
Mr. Dhanda: We have not received a proposition for a multi area agreement (MAA) between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, but would be happy to discuss this further with the areas concerned. MAAs are a new concept and we are at the stage of initial proposals for their possible development. None exist yet to evaluate.
Playing Fields: Planning
Michael Jabez Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 226W, on playing fields: planning, when the consultation on the review of statutory consultees is expected to take place. [155300]
Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Bath (Mr. Foster) on 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 226W, which remains the current position.
Regional Planning and Development: South West Region
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what representations the Minister for the South West has made to (a) the Department (i) for Transport, (ii) of Health, (iii) of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, (iv) for Communities and Local Government, (v) for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and (vi) for Work and Pensions and (b) the Wales Office regarding (A) the interests of the South West in the formulation of central government policy and (B) the development of the single regional strategy; [155168]
(2) what discussions the Minister for the South West has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer and HM Treasury on the comprehensive spending review. [155149]
Mr. Dhanda: The Minister for the South West has had discussions with a range of ministerial colleagues and others on issues impacting on the region.
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the Minister for the South West’s most recent assessment is of the priorities for the South West. [155169]
Mr. Dhanda: The priorities for the South West are the provision of more affordable housing and infrastructure improvements which will ensure the region’s economy continues to grow at the rate it has over the last 10 years.
Road Traffic Control: Kettering
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the grant awarded by her Department in 2007 towards improving the operation and co-ordination of traffic lights in Kettering has been spent on; and what the impact of that spending has been on levels of co-ordination and operation. [155133]
Mr. Dhanda: The grant to which the hon. Member refers is being paid through the Department’s Growth Area Fund, and the scheme is called the Kettering Intelligent Transport Scheme (KITS). The scheme was approved in January 2007 and will be delivered by the end of March 2008. To date, delivery has been focussed on the planning required although I understand orders have now been placed and the main works are about to commence. It is therefore not possible to assess the impact at this stage although the scheme was appraised to Treasury Green Book standards prior to the grant being approved.
Rural Areas
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she intends formally to establish any rural or non-metropolitan equivalents of city regions. [155336]
Mr. Dhanda: City-regions are currently voluntary local authority partnerships and are not established by the Government.
The review of sub-national economic development and regeneration, undertaken by HM Treasury, The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and my Department, was published in July 2007 and sets out the economic benefits of sub-regional working. The review states that the Government will work with interested sub-regions to explore the potential for allowing groups of local authorities to establish sub-regional authorities which enable pooling of economic development responsibilities. This offer is open to rural and non-metropolitan areas, as well as city-regions.
Supporting People Programme
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has for the level of financial support provided through the Supporting People programme; and if she will make a statement. [155288]
Mr. Dhanda: Levels of future funding for the Supporting People programme and its distribution are subject to the current Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). Details about the outcome of CSR07 for the programme will be announced alongside the local government settlement later in the year.
Temporary Accommodation
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households are living in temporary accommodation. [155230]
Mr. Iain Wright: 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 is found.
The number of households in temporary accommodation is available in our quarterly statistical release on statutory homelessness, which provides data at the national (Table 6) and regional level (Table 7), and is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 10 September 2007 and contains data for the period April to June 2007:
Thames Gateway: Finance
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the budget was for the Thames Gateway project in each year since its inception, broken down by main budget heading. [149731]
Yvette Cooper: The information is as follows:
| TG Budgets Resource | ||
| £ million | ||
| Consumption | Capital | |
|
(1 )Including £12.4 million resource investment | ||
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