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21 Nov 2007 : Column 880Wcontinued
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many reports have been made to her Department's nominated officers under paragraph 16 of the revised Civil Service Code since its publication on 6 June 2006; [162474]
(2) how many allegations of victimisation for whistleblowing have been reported to her Department by departmental staff since 6 June 2006; [162475]
(3) when her Departments whistleblowing procedures were reviewed to reflect the provisions in the revised Civil Service Code. [162476]
Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron) on 19 November 2007, Official Report, column 596W.
Mr. Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the full-time equivalent headcount in her Department is; what the forecast full-time equivalent headcount for her Department is for (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and if she will make a statement. [163986]
Mr. Dhanda: The full-time equivalent staffing levels for the Department for Communities and Local Government, are published by the Office of National Statistics at:
The Departmental business planning process is not yet complete and so future year forecasts are not yet available.
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has received on fire control centres; from whom the requests came; and how many received responses. [165915]
Mr. Dhanda: We have received 15 Freedom of Information requests relating to the FiReControl project since 1 January 2005. Details of who made the requests is shown in the following table. This includes eight from FBU officials, two from Gloucestershire county council, one from an FRS employee, three from journalists and one person who did not specify their connection to any organisation.
The responses to all 15 requests are available on the FiReControl website and a copy of these will also be placed in the House Library.
Mr. Truswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations she has received on the effects on previously retired firefighters of the amended guidance on the ill health benefits of the Firefighters Pension scheme; and if she will review the guidance in the light of these representations. [164489]
Mr. Dhanda: Representations have been received from the Fire Brigades Union, the Fire Officers Association, the Retained Firefighters Union and the Association of Principal Fire Officers and several other representative organisations about the arrangements for ill-health retirements under the Firefighters Pension scheme. The issues raised are being considered so that we can be satisfied that the provisions and their associated informal guidance are operating effectively.
Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the impact on housing policy of Government proposals to move towards a lower carbon national grid. [162664]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department works closely with the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to ensure that the impacts on housing policy of proposals on energy policy, and vice versa, are identified and considered. For example, delivery of our ambitious and world leading policy for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016 will depend on use of renewable and low carbon energy.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many house building starts there were in each of the last 24 months; and if she will make a statement. [165779]
Mr. Iain Wright: Figures on new build are only available centrally on a quarterly basis and are presented as follows:
New build starts by quarter, Oct ober 2005 to September 2007, England | |
Quarter | Starts |
Source: New build completions from P2 returns submitted by local authorities and National House Building Council (NHBC) |
Mr. Whittingdale: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many qualified domestic energy assessors need to be in place in (a) England, (b) Essex and (c) the Maldon district to allow a full roll-out of the Energy Performance Certificate scheme. [163087]
Yvette Cooper: The implementation update published on 11 June set out the criteria for roll-out of further phases of home information packs.
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been built within the Leeds, West constituency in each year since 1997. [166274]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department does not have data on house building below local authority level. New build completions as reported by Leeds city council for the metropolitan district as a whole are provided in the following table:
Number | |
Source: P2 returns as reported by the National House-Building Council and Leeds City Council |
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the levels of overcrowding in Leeds, West constituency; and if she will make a statement. [166275]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department does not have information on the level of overcrowding for areas below Government office regions. The Departments Survey of English Housing shows that in 2003-04 to 2005-06, there were 30,000 overcrowded households in Yorkshire and the Humber, representing a rate of overcrowding of 1.4 per cent., compared to 2.5 per cent. for England.
Overcrowding is a difficult issue that cannot be treated in isolation from other kinds of housing pressure. We recognise that it is unacceptable that children are growing up in overcrowded households and are committed to ensuring that we have a way to help these households that does not impact adversely on other issues of housing need.
We are committed to updating the current statutory standards for overcrowding and have already taken legislative powers in the Housing Act 2004 to enable us to do so.
Most of the 2006-08 National Affordable Housing Programme in Leeds was directed towards family homes rather than one and two person flats.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what public expenditure has been made on affordable housing in the West Midlands in the last 12 months. [162778]
Yvette Cooper [holding answer 12 November 2007]: Housing Corporation expenditure through their affordable housing programme in the West Midlands region for 2006-07 totalled £98 million.
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her assessment is of the level of affordable housing which will need to be included overall in any planning applications to satisfy the level of assessed need in the South East over the next 10 years. [165951]
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