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4 Dec 2007 : Column 1149W—continued

Teenage Pregnancy: Housing

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pregnant teenagers under the age of 18 were being housed in
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(a) bed and breakfast accommodation and (b) hostels for single homeless adults in each local authority area, in the latest period for which figures are available. [167127]

Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Communities and Local Government

Bristol International Airport

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when her Department plans to carry out an area action plan on Bristol International Airport. [169447]

Mr. Iain Wright: It is for North Somerset council to carry out an area action plan on Bristol International Airport as part of their local development framework.

North Somerset council intend to timetable work on such a plan to coincide with the review of Bristol International Airport’s own airport masterplan, which is likely to be reviewed in 2011.

Departmental Data Protection

Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what mechanisms her Department has in place to ensure that databases containing personal information on members of the general public are not accessed (a) by unauthorised staff and (b) by authorised staff for unauthorised purposes; [168962]

(2) how many requests her Department received from the National Audit Office for access to databases containing personal information on members of the general public in each year since 1997; [168964]

(3) how many times her Department’s databases containing personal information on members of the general public were accessed in each month of the last five years; [168965]

(4) how many staff of each grade in her Department have access to electronic databases which contain personal information on members of the general public; [168966]

(5) how many security breaches regarding access to personal data occurred within her Department in each year since 1997; [168967]

(6) when each electronic database held by her Department containing personal information on members of the general public was first created; [168968]

(7) how many electronic databases containing (a) names, (b) addresses, (c) bank details and (d) other personal information of members of the general public are held by her Department; [168969]


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(8) how many times electronic data containing personal information on members of the public have been transferred (a) physically and (b) electronically between her Department and another body in each year since 1997. [169777]

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 requiring investigation there have been in the last five years in her Department; what the nature such breaches were; and what the results of the investigations were in each case. [169254]

Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions the Information Commissioner was contacted by her Department to report breaches of data protection security in each of the last five years. [169333]

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to review how her Department transports data; and whether her Department uses TNT to transport data. [169380]

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many confirmed data security breaches there have been in her Department in the last 36 months; and what action was taken after each occurrence. [169895]

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many items of post sent by her Department and its predecessors were reported missing by the intended recipient in each year since 1997; [171294]

(2) what steps her Department has taken to protect the personal data on members of the public which it holds. [171424]

Mr. Dhanda: I refer the hon. Members to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 21 November 2007, Official Report, column 1179. The review by the Cabinet Secretary and security experts is looking at procedures within Departments and agencies for the storage and use of data. A statement on Departments' procedures will be made on completion of the review.

Departmental Labour Turnover

Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the percentage turnover of staff was in (a) her Department and (b) her Department’s agencies in (i) the last 12-month period and (ii) the last 24-month period for which figures are available. [169031]

Mr. Dhanda: In the 12 months to 31 March 2007, the percentage staff turnover in Communities and Local Government was 22 per cent. In the 24 months to 31 March 2007, staff turnover was 36 per cent.


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Turnover has been calculated on a headcount basis as the number of leavers over the period expressed as a proportion of the staff in post at the start of the period. The figures include Communities staff working in the Government Office network. Information for Executive agencies is not held centrally.

Departmental Publications

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library copies of the in-house staff magazine of her Department from the last 12 months. [171555]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department for Communities and Local Government was created on 5 May 2006. Copies of every issue of the Department's staff magazine have been placed in the Library of the House.

Empty Property

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she will announce her conclusions and intentions in response to the consultation on modernising empty property relief. [168903]

Mr. Iain Wright: Following consideration of responses to the consultation document “Modernising Empty Property Relief”, we intend to announce our decisions on the future exemptions from reformed empty property rates and on proposed new anti-avoidance regulations later in the year.

Energy: Conservation

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) enforcement notices have been served and (b) prosecutions have been brought as a result of non-compliance with the energy efficiency requirements in Part L of the Building Regulations in each year since 2002. [169934]

Mr. Iain Wright: Enforcement of compliance with the Building Regulations is undertaken by local authorities. There is no central register of enforcement notices served or prosecutions brought. In the main, local authorities aim to resolve issues that arise through inspection of and advice to those undertaking work. Enforcement notices and prosecution are only used as a last resort.

EU Grants and Loans

Alistair Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) if she will set out her response to the concerns of the European Commission which have led to the suspension of European Regional Development Fund funding in (a) the west midlands, (b) London and (c) the north West; and what steps she is taking to tackle the concerns; [163956]

(2) how much European Regional Development Fund funding is suspended by the European Union in relation to (a) the west midlands, (b) the north west and (c) London; [163957]


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(3) when she expects the suspension of European Regional Development Fund funding in (a) the west midlands, (b) the north west and (c) London to be lifted. [163958]

John Healey [holding answer 13 November 2007]: The suspension of ERDF payments stems from specific concerns identified by the Commission in the level of on-site project monitoring. The Government have carried out intensive work to increase the level of checks and strengthen reporting. Each affected region is being assessed individually by the Commission and as a result the suspensions have now been lifted in the west midlands, northeast, Yorkshire and The Humber, northwest objective 1, and Peterborough. A total of £243 million in ERDF payments was held back for those regions by the Commission, and payments have now been fully resumed. We are waiting to hear about the lifting of the suspensions of payments for London. In the case of the northwest objective 2 programme we are carrying out urgent further work to re-assure the Commission before a final decision is taken.

The European Commission is currently holding back around £7 million in relation to the London objective 2 and Stockwell urban programmes and around £19 million in relation to the north-west objective 2 and Burnley urban programmes.

Fire Services: Consultants

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on consultants’ fees for the Firelink project to date, broken down by consultancy. [169606]

Mr. Dhanda: For the period August 2002 to October 2007 the individual costs of consultancies used by the Firelink project are:

Consultancy Costs (£000)

Mott MacDonald Ltd.

19,500

BOS consulting Ltd.

6

Bourton Group Ltd.

27

Denton Wilde Sapte

882

Ernst and Young LLP

1,044

Gardiner and Theobald

20

Hedra plc

75

Hudson Global Resources

632

INOVEM Ltd.

8

Keymedia Design Ltd.

7

Malcolm Hutchinson Associates Ltd.

6

Mouchel Parkman Services Ltd.

274

Office of Government Commerce

147

PA Consulting

19

PKF

2

QuinetiQ

15

SERCO

137

Willis Ltd.

18


Fire Services: Finance

Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the total cost of the FiReControl project team has been to date including (a) staffing costs, (b) secondment costs, (c) payments made by fire authorities under the new burdens principle and (d) travel costs. [169491]


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Mr. Dhanda: To the end of October 2007 the cost (net of receipts) for the National FiReControl Team was £42,011,903. This figure includes (a) £5,767,265 staffing (including civil servants, interim and agency staff), (b) secondments at £4,394,071 and (c) travel costs at £813,603.

In addition, we have made payments to local authorities under the new burdens principles of £19,054,757.

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on the (a) staffing costs, (b) secondment costs, (c) payments made to fire consultancies under the new burdens principle, (d) travel costs and (e) other costs of the FireLink project team. [169607]

Mr. Dhanda: The following table sets out the Firelink project costs under the requested headings for the period August 2002 to October 2007. Project management costs are met in part by the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government.

£ million

(a) Staffing costs

3.44

(b) Secondment costs

2.6

(c) Payments made to fire consultancies under the new burdens principles, presuming this is meant to indicate payments to Fire and Rescue Authorities

0

(d) Travel costs

0.71

(e) Other costs of the Fire Link National Project Team

6.26


Haven Gateway Partnership

Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings (a) she and (b) her officials have had with (i) Haven Gateway Partnership and (ii) lobbyists engaged by Haven Gateway Partnership in the last 12 months. [166911]

Mr. Iain Wright: My right hon. Friend has not had any meetings with the Haven Gateway Partnership or their lobbyists in the last 12 months. Communities and Local Government officials have met with members of the Haven Gateway Partnership and some of their stakeholders in January 2007 and with representatives from Colchester borough council in July 2007. In addition, officials from the Government Office for the east of England meet with the Haven Gateway Partnership on a regular basis in support of their growth ambitions, as they do with all New Growth Point areas in their region. There have been no meetings between officials and lobbyists.

Housing: Construction

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of new builds in (a) Uxbridge constituency, (b) each London borough and (c) England were built on (i) previously developed land and (ii) back gardens in the last five years. [169828]


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Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows statistics on the percentage of dwellings built on previously-developed (“brownfield”) land and on previously-residential land.

There is no direct indicator which can be used to determine how many dwellings have been built on back gardens. The Land Use Change Statistics dataset contains information on changes in land use in England and is used to answer questions on this topic. In this dataset, land use is divided into 24 categories. However, gardens, patios, garages and other cartilage as well as dwellings themselves are all classified as ‘Residential’. It is therefore not directly possible to determine whether or not dwellings have been built on a garden. This has not changed since the Land Use Change Statistics were introduced in 1989.

As a proxy, we use data on previously-residential land instead of back gardens, but this includes conversions, sites where dwellings are demolished and replaced as well as building on back gardens and other types of development.

Over the period 2002 to 2006 (the most recent years for which data are available) 94 per cent. of dwellings in the Uxbridge constituency were built on previously-developed land. This compares to 95 per cent. across the whole of London and 70 per cent. across England. Over the same period 33 per cent. of dwellings in the Uxbridge constituency were built on previously-residential land. This compares to 20 per cent. across the whole of London and 18 per cent. across England.


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