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15 Oct 2007 : Column 844Wcontinued
The data are taken from the BR1 and 2 returns completed annually by local authorities and returned to Communities and Local Government; early data are taken from the CIPFA publication, Finance and General Statistics.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to respond to the recommendations in the Communities and Local Government Committee Report on council tax benefits (HC 718); and if she will make a statement. [156695]
John Healey: The Government's formal response to the Select Committee's report on council tax benefit will be published shortly.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will amend the regulations on mandatory council tax discounts to give the spouses or partners of members of the armed forces a single person discount while their partner is away on active service overseas. [155704]
John Healey: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence announced on 25 September 2007 that armed forces personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan who pay council tax, will receive a flat-rate, tax free payment of £140 for a six month tour of duty. The payment is worth around 25 per cent. of the average council tax bill for six months.
The Ministry of Defence intends to widen the scheme to all those deployed on operations and we will continue to liaise with the Ministry of Defence on the feasibility, in the longer term, of a statutory discount scheme.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list the foreign trips which (a) she and (b) each other Minister in her Department has undertaken at cost to the public purse since the creation of her Department; and what the (i) destination and (ii) purpose was of each visit. [155688]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government publish on an annual basis a list of all overseas visits by Cabinet Ministers costing in excess of £500, as well as the total cost of all ministerial travel overseas. Copies of the lists are available in the Libraries of the House. Information for 2006-07 has been published and a nil return was entered for Communities and Local Government.
All travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many first-time buyers there were in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Birmingham and (c) Birmingham, Northfield in the last year for which figures are available. [157713]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data on numbers of first time buyers (FTBs) using a mortgage is available from the regulated mortgage survey which is supplied to Communities and Local Government by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. However, as the survey is a sample, data on the number of FTBs is unavailable.
Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average price was for (a) a house and (b) a house bought by a first-time buyer in (i) the West Midlands, (ii) Birmingham and (iii) Birmingham, Northfield in the last year for which figures are available. [157714]
Mr. Iain Wright: The mean property price for a property and the mix-adjusted mean price for a property bought by a first-time buyer in the West Midlands and Birmingham are as follows.
Mean property price 2006 | ||
£ | ||
All buyers | First time buyers | |
Sources: HM Land Registry, Regulated Mortgage Survey. |
Data on house prices is available from HM Land Registry. Data is unavailable below district level.
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given today (PQ 157713).
Mr. Syms: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on the marketing and advertising campaign to promote home information packs and energy performance certificates in the South West Government Office Region; and if she will make a statement. [151588]
Yvette Cooper: By the end of September 2007 the Department will have spent in the order of £169,800 on the publicity and advertising campaign promoting home information packs and energy performance certificates in the south west of England.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home condition reports have been uploaded to the home condition report database. [152543]
Yvette Cooper: Between 6 November 2006 and 16 September 2007, 1,574 home condition reports have been lodged in the home condition report register.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government why energy performance certificates will be valid for 10 years for properties for rent but not for properties for sale. [155684]
Yvette Cooper: We will shortly consult on the appropriate age for an energy performance certificate (EPC).
Homeowners want up-to-date information on what is likely to be one of the most important purchases of their lives. Once they move in they are more likely than tenants to invest in the property especially in the first year after buying. So it is important that they have recent information at their disposal which is why we are proposing EPCs on properties for sale are no more than one year old.
For tenants the EPC plays a different role. Renters are less likely to invest in the property they live in. That is why the current proposal is for the maximum life of an EPC for rented properties to be 10 years.
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she expects home information packs to cost more for (a) four bedroom homes and (b) three bedroom homes than the figures stated previously for an average pack. [155711]
Yvette Cooper: The price of a home information pack is be set by the market, not by Government. A number of home information pack providers are charging a standard rate for all properties regardless of size and location.
The only new cost to the home buying and selling process is the EPC which is providing valuable energy information for the first time and many local authorities have reduced their search charges.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding has been provided under the new burden principle to local authority building control departments to enforce home information packs and energy performance certificates for new build properties. [156565]
Yvette Cooper: No funding is being provided under the new burden principle to local authority building control departments to enforce energy performance certificates for new build properties because the Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 1998 requires local authorities to set their own charging schemes to recover the cost of their prescribed building control functions. Home information packs are enforced by the local weights and measures authority and not by local authority building control: authorities have been given additional funding to do so.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of home condition reports commissioned to date in the south-east Government office region; and if she will make a statement. [154570]
Yvette Cooper: 1,562 home condition reports have been lodged in the HCR register to date. The Department does not hold details of the number of home condition reports by Government office region.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for the review of the regional spatial strategies before 2011, further to the publication of the Housing Green Paper; and whether this will be undertaken by the regional chambers. [153993]
Yvette Cooper: The eight RSSs which cover England are currently being reviewed and the indicative timetables are as follows.
The task of reviewing the RSSs is being undertaken by the Regional Assemblies and the Secretary of State in accordance with guidance in PPS11.
The Housing Green Paper stated that the revision of existing RSSs, will continuewith subsequent partial reviews if necessary.
Proposed Changes Consultationautumn 2007
Issue of final RSSnew year 2008
Proposed Changes Publishedautumn 2007
Proposed Changes Consultationautumn 2007/new year 2008
Issue of final RSSspring 2008
Proposed Changes Publishedautumn 2007
Proposed Changes Consultationautumn 2007/winter 2007
Issue of finalspring 2008
Panel Report Publishedautumn 2007
Proposed Changes Publishedspring 2008
Proposed Changes Consultationspring 2008
Issue of finalautumn 2008
Proposed Changes ConsultationSeptember 2007/November 2007
Issue of final RSSnew year 2008
Draft RSS to SoSwinter 2007
Consultation on draft RSSwinter 2007/spring 2007
EiPsummer 2008autumn 2008
Panel Reportwinter 2008
Proposed Changes Publishedwinter 2009
Proposed Changes Consultationwinter 2009/spring 2009
Issue of final RSSsummer 2009
Issue of final RSSwinter 2007
Proposed Changes Publishedwinter 2007
Proposed Changes Consultationwinter 2007/spring 2007
Issue of final RSSsummer 2008
Panel Reportwinter 2007
Proposed Changes Publishedspring 2008
Proposed Changes Consultationspring 2008/summer 2008
Issue of final RSSautumn 2008
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) home condition reports and (b) energy performance certificates have been logged on their respective online registers. [153794]
Yvette Cooper: 1,562 home condition reports have been lodged in the HCR Register to date and 37,879 energy performance certificates have been lodged in the CPC Register as of 5 September 2007.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of the likely annual number of energy performance certificates that will need to be commissioned for (a) Social Homebuy sale, (b) New Build Homebuy sales and (c) Open Market Homebuy sales. [156563]
Yvette Cooper: At present, energy performance certificates (EPCs) are only required for those properties which also require a home information pack (HIP).
Currently all three or more bedroom properties for sale on the open market, including those bought under open market homebuy, require the marketer of the property to provide a HIP. We will roll out to all properties having taken into account market operation and other factors ensuring a smooth implementation. As new build homebuy properties are also marketed, they will also require an EPC in line with the HIP duties.
Sales under the social homebuy scheme to sitting tenants are not subject to the HIP duties and do not currently require an EPC. As we are still rolling out HIPs, it is not yet possible to make an estimate of the number of homebuy properties that the HIP duties will apply to. HIPs will help first-time buyers who will receive the packs for free, giving them extra support as they try to get onto the housing ladder.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding was allocated to the Planning Delivery Grant programme in each year of its operation. [157475]
Mr. Iain Wright: The total funding for Planning Delivery Grant was £605 million which can be broken down to:
£ million | |
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what targets local authorities will have to meet to receive housing and planning delivery grant. [157674]
Mr. Iain Wright: The mechanism for rewarding housing and planning delivery grant will be subject to a consultation exercise during the autumn.
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