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30 Oct 2007 : Column 1162W—continued
Floods: Boscastle
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what financial assistance her Department made available to the town of Boscastle following floods there. [161189]
John Healey: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Gazumping
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to tackle gazumping. [157697]
Yvette Cooper: The introduction of compulsory home information packs, coupled with e-conveyancing and the Department’s work on wider reforms to home buying and selling aim to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the current home buying and selling process, including by discouraging gazumping.
Green Belt
Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proposals for reviews to the green belt are contained within the draft regional spatial strategies. [151311]
Yvette Cooper: I will write to the hon. Member.
Green Belt: Planning
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans the regional spatial strategies have to review the green belt in each Government Office region. [155685]
Yvette Cooper: I will write to the hon. Member.
Home Information Packs
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was paid in aggregate to staff within the home information pack division in bonuses in the last year for which figures are available. [155708]
Yvette Cooper: I will write to the hon. Member.
Home Information Packs: Finance
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total funding is being provided by her Department to subsidise (a) home information packs and (b) energy performance certificates. [155714]
Yvette Cooper: In September 2006 the Department announced that up to £4 million would be allocated to support six area trials in England and Wales.
In addition in May 2007 the Department announced funding of up to £0.5 million for up to 5,000 EPCs to be included in HIPs ordered prior to 1 August.
In July 2007, the Department offered 50 per cent. funding for pilot projects to examine the technical production of EPCs for social housing. £2 million funding was allotted for registered social landlords (via the Housing Corporation) and up to £1.5 million for local authorities.
Home Information Packs: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the impact of the
introduction of home information packs on the residential housing market in the Peterborough city council area; and if she will make a statement. [157949]
Yvette Cooper: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Homebuy Options
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to increase the take up of the different Homebuy options. [109683]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 18 December 2007]: Since 1 April 2006, over 20,000 households across all regions have been helped into home ownership through open market homebuy, new build homebuy (shared ownership) and social homebuy, the shared ownership and shared equity products funded through the Housing Corporation. The Housing Corporation is on course to meet its overall target for 2006-08.
To increase overall take up of Homebuy and particularly to increase new build shared ownerships schemes the Government will invest through the Housing Corporation to fund at least 25,000 low cost home ownership homes a year from 2008-09. In addition the Government are promoting other ways to increase investment in the affordable housing industry though use of public sector land and piloting local housing companies.
Open market homebuy, which enables purchasers to buy with the help of an equity loan, aims to build a market for private sector involvement in shared equity which could ultimately stretch grant funding further. Currently four lenders are participating and offering shared equity mortgages under the scheme, though these products only suit some groups of first time buyers. In order to extend this to provide products suitable for a wider range of first time buyers we want to promote further private sector involvement in shared equity mortgages, to make products more competitive, and to widen choice and access. Therefore we will launch new shared equity products next year based on the competition being run by the Housing Corporation.
We have also appointed Brian Pomeroy to advise us on development of the private shared equity market.
In the meantime we agreed in the Green Paper that Government will provide an additional 17.5 per cent. shared equity product in the interim from July 2007 in order to widen access and choice and provide more flexibility.
The provision of new shared ownership housing continues to rise and is helping purchasers to get on the housing ladder with shares from 25 per cent.
Social homebuy is running as a voluntary pilot scheme until March 2008. The pilot scheme enables tenants of nine local authorities and 77 housing associations to purchase a minimum 25 per cent. share in their rented home at a discount. The Government are reviewing the operation of the pilots in order to look at more ways to help social housing tenants own assets.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households have taken advantage of each of the three homebuy options since their inception. [109682]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 18 December 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to my answer earlier today (Question 109683).
The following table sets out the completions for the homebuy/shared ownership products from April 2006 until September 2007.
| Total c ompletions | |
| Notes: 1. NBHB/SO excludes 11 units through LASHG LA with debt schemes. 2. NBHB/SO figures include RCGF units of 1,044 and 2,562 of RCGF units from 2005-06 not previously counted. 3. 1/4/07 to 30/9/07 NBHB/SO figures include 50 units through Thames Gateway social homebuy includes sales in both the housing association and local authority sectors. | |
Hometrack
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library a copy of the written submissions by Hometrack to (a) her Department and (b) the Valuation Office Agency. [152832]
Yvette Cooper: The Valuation Office has received no written submissions from Hometrack. I refer to my answer of 29 October (question 152685) with regard to communications between Hometrack and CLG.
Housing
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what schemes her Department sponsors designed to assist all categories of first time buyers to buy a home; what public expenditure has been on each such scheme since inception; how many first time buyers have used each scheme since inception, broken down by region; and what estimate she has made of potential total demand for each such scheme in 2008-09. [155526]
Yvette Cooper: I will write to the hon. Member.
Housing: Energy
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations her Department has received from organisations calling for energy performance certificates to be attached to valuations. [155712]
Yvette Cooper: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Housing: Green Belt
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many dwellings were built within the 1997 designated Green Belt in each year between 1997 and 2006. [130758]
Yvette Cooper: I will write to the hon. Member.
Housing: Immigrants
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many dwellings were (a) vacated and (b) taken up by A8 EU accession country migrants in each month since January 2004 through Peterborough city council’s choice-based lettings scheme. [160802]
Yvette Cooper: Information on dwellings that were (a) vacated by A8 EU Accession Country Migrants is not collected centrally. Information on (b) social lettings made to A8 EU Accessions Country Migrants through Choice-based Lettings scheme is not currently available. Since this Government came into power, we have strengthened the regulations which restricts access to social housing for foreign nationals.
Housing: Low Incomes
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households participated in (a) social homebuy, (b) newbuild homebuy and (c) open market homebuy in each financial year since the inception of the relevant scheme. [128531]
Yvette Cooper: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) today , (PQ 109682).
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much public expenditure was incurred on (a) social homebuy, (b) newbuild homebuy and (c) open market homebuy in each financial year. [128532]
Yvette Cooper: The following table sets out the expenditure through the Housing Corporation affordable housing programme for the delivery of shared ownership and shared equity products from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007
| Forecast public expenditure (£ million) | |
Funding and completions are not directly comparable, as funding will relate to projects running, not necessarily units completed, in any one year.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households took out a mortgage under new building homebuy in each month since the creation of the scheme. [128614]
Yvette Cooper: New build and shared ownership completions as a result of the Housing Corporation funding are set out in the following table. These figures do not include shared ownership homes funded through FTBI, transitional local authority social housing grant for with debt authorities and section 106 without grant.
| New build homebuy and shared ownership—completions from 1 April 2006-30 September 2007 | |
| Number | |
| Note: These figures do not include completed units through recycled capital grant fund | |
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households took out a shared equity mortgage under open market homebuy in each month since the creation of the scheme. [128618]
Yvette Cooper: The table sets out completions under the open market homebuy scheme which is promoting private sector involvement in shared equity mortgages. Currently four lenders are participating in the joint public/private 25 per cent. equity loan. The Government believe more competitive products are needed to reach a wider number of first time buyers and has asked Brian Pomeroy to look at ways to better extend private sector involvement in shared equity in order to help more first time buyers.
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