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20 Nov 2007 : Column 784W—continued
It is not possible to give the actual level of housing revenue account (HRA) subsidy paid to authorities to support their ALMO borrowing as the ALMO supported borrowing forms a part of their overall HRA supported borrowing.
Support for local authority PFI schemes in 2006-07 and the number of dwellings affected is shown as follows:
| Authority | 2006-07 (£) | Reduction in number of non-decent units( 1) |
| Authority | 2006-07 (£) | Number of additional social rented units( 2) |
| (1) Total includes units that are refurbished, units that are demolished and replaced with new council stock and units that are demolished without replacement (2) Units are owned by RSLs with councils having nomination rights | ||
The PFI subsidy payments are a contribution to the annual payments that the local authority has to make to the PFI contractor under the terms of the PFI contract.
Planning: Electric Cables
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance has been issued to local authorities to ensure that planning applications for developments underneath overhead power cables are assessed to ensure that such developments are within safe limits of exposure to electrical and magnetic fields. [162331]
Mr. Iain Wright: No planning guidance on this subject has been issued to local authorities. At present, there are no planning restrictions on development close to power lines other than the need to observe safe clearance distances.
Railway Stations: Hampshire
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the degree of compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 of railway stations in Hampshire; what steps are being taken to ensure full compliance; and if she will make a statement. [165860]
Mr. Tom Harris: I have been asked to reply.
Under Part 3 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 station operators are required to take reasonable steps to ensure that disabled people do not find it impossible or unreasonably difficult to access their services. This may be done by altering physical features at stations, taking steps to avoid them or by providing the service by other means. Operators are responding to these duties and over half of rail journeys now originate from step-free stations.
In addition, we recognise station access as being a key issue and in 2005 launched the £370 million Railways for All programme to provide step free access to selected stations. So far 92 stations have been announced for inclusion in the programme including in
Hampshire Fareham, Farnborough, Brockenhurst, Fleet, Havant, Fratton and Southampton Airport Parkway.
Religious Buildings
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will compile a register of mosques in the UK. [165450]
Mr. Dhanda: The Government do not hold definitive lists for any places of worship in the UK. The Government are working with a range of partners to further develop their understanding of the UK's Muslim community and its infrastructure.
Social Rented Housing: Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many social rented homes will be built in Leeds West constituency in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [166278]
Mr. Iain Wright: We announced in the Housing Green Paper an increase of new affordable housing to at least 70,000 per annum by 2010-11; of these, 45,000 homes will be for social rent, with a goal to go further in subsequent years to 50,000 new homes for social rent in the next spending review period.
Regional Assemblies are currently providing advice to Ministers on their priorities for investment in 2008 to 2011 and completions in particular locations and constituencies will depend on the bids received by the Housing Corporation.
South Downs National Park
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her timetable is for (a) receiving and (b) making a decision on the recommendations of the report on the South Downs National Park consultations. [165861]
Jonathan Shaw: I have been asked to reply.
On 25 October, I announced that the South Downs public inquiry to consider certain new issues relating to the proposed South Downs National Park (Designation) Order 2002 (as varied by the South Downs National Park Designation (Variation) Order 2004) will be re-opened on 12 February 2008. We anticipate a decision about the National Park will be taken in the latter part of 2008.
Terrorism
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral statement of 14 November 2007, Official Report, columns 667-86 on national security, if she will list the projects devoted to countering violent extremism to which her Department is allocating the £20 million; how much funding is being provided to each project; and where each project is based. [165838]
Mr. Dhanda:
In his statement of 14 November my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister confirmed that £70 million is being invested in community projects
that are dedicated to countering violent extremism over the next three years (financial years 2008-09 to 2010-11).
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced on 31 October that around £25 million of that would be invested in national scheme to directly support communities, including:
Equipping faith leaders with the skills and understanding required to lead communities, building their capacity to engage with young people on the challenges they face, including extremism. For example, ensuring imams can communicate more effectively with young people;
Support communities to broaden the provision of citizenship education in mosque schools, equipping young people themselves with the understanding and arguments to reject extremists' messages;
Developing new minimum standards for public institutions (e.g. prisons, universities) engaging imams working with young or vulnerable people;
Supporting the Charity Commission's work to improve governance standards in faith institutions, including mosques;
Increase the provision of leadership training available to Muslim communities, particularly women and young people.
Further announcements will be made as and when the details of the grant funding are decided.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State also announced £45 million would be available to local authorities and their community partners. This will build on work funded by the Preventing Violent Extremism Pathfinder Fund in 2007-08, guidance on which can be found at www.communities.gov.uk/communities/preventingextremism. Further guidance will be issued is due course.
Children, Schools and Families
Adoption
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what action the Government have taken to encourage more families to consider adopting children since 1997. [162971]
Kevin Brennan: Since 1997 the steps we have taken to encourage more people to consider adopting children from care, include:
extending eligibility criteria for people who may apply to adopt to include single people, married couples, civil partners and unmarried couples (same sex and opposite sex);
introducing rights to statutory adoption and paternity leave and pay, parental leave, flexible working and time off for dependants;
requiring local authorities to make a range of adoption support services available in their area, including financial support;
investing £66.5 million in transforming the management and delivery of adoption services, through the Quality Protects Grant;
issuing National Adoption Standards setting out what children, prospective adopters, birth families and the general public can expect from their local adoption service;
issuing an Adopter Recruitment Toolkit to help adoption agencies develop their local media activities for recruiting prospective adopters;
providing funding to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering to support National Adoption Week which helps raise awareness about adoption, the number of children in care waiting for families and encourages more prospective adopters to come forward; and
making information available through leaflets and Government websites about adoption and the adoption process.
Adoption: Minorities
Ms Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to support the work of organisations attempting to increase the number of black and ethnic minority adopters; and if he will make a statement. [164417]
Kevin Brennan: We are currently providing funding to the British Association for Adoption and Fostering to support National Adoption Week, which helps raise awareness about adoption and encourages people from all backgrounds to come forward to adopt. This year's National Adoption Week had a particular focus on encouraging people from minority ethnic backgrounds to come forward to adopt.
Over the past 10 years this Government have provided financial support to a number of voluntary adoption agencies in England to help them recruit more black and minority ethnic adopters.
Aviation
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was spent by his Department on (a) business class and (b) first class flights in the last 12 months. [163096]
Kevin Brennan: The spend on (a) business class flights in the 12 month period October 2006 to September 2007 for the former Department for Education and Skills was £241,936 and (b) first class flights in the 12 month period October 2006 to September 2007 for the former Department for Education and Skills was £24,658.
Centre for Procurement Performance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the costs were of his Department's Centre for Procurement Performance in each year since its inception; and if he will make a statement. [164232]
Kevin Brennan: The Centre for Procurement Performance (CPP) was launched in April 2005 to raise procurement performance, and work with organisations across the whole of the education, skills and children and families' system to release significant efficiency gains back into frontline services by March 2008.
To date, the work of the CPP has realised combined reported efficiency savings of £286.5 million for the financial years 2005/06 and 2006/07 across the Schools, HE and CYPF sectors. A further estimated £41.3 million in efficiencies are expected from the further education sector for financial year 2006/07. Combined estimated efficiencies for the financial year 2007/08 are £404.3 million.
The costs of CPP in each year since its inception are as follows:
| £000 | |||
| Financial year | Programme spend | Admin spend | Overall year spend |
| (1 )To date (31 November 2007). | |||
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