| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 Dec 2007 : Column 1328W—continued
Estimates for each year are not available because of small sample sizes.
The benchmark for assessing whether or not a household is overcrowded is the bedroom standard. This is determined for each household in accordance with its age/sex/marital status composition and the relationship of the members to one another. A separate bedroom is required:
for each married or cohabiting couple;
for any other person aged 21 or over;
for each pair of adolescents aged 10-20 of the same sex and
for each pair of children under 10.
Further, any unpaired person aged 10-20 is paired, if possible with a child under 10 of the same sex, or, if that is not possible, he or she is counted as requiring a separate bedroom, as is any unpaired child under 10.
This standard is then compared with the actual number of bedrooms (including bed-sitters) available for the sole use of the household. Bedrooms converted to other uses are not counted as available unless they have been denoted as bedrooms by the residents. Bedrooms not actually in use are counted unless uninhabitable.
If a household has fewer bedrooms than implied by the standard then it is deemed to be ‘overcrowded’. Since one bedroom will be sufficient for single person households and for married/cohabiting couples, these households cannot be overcrowded according to the bedroom standard. If a household has two or more bedrooms, fewer than implied by the standard, then it is deemed to be ‘severely overcrowded’.
On 12 December, my right hon. Friend, the Minister for Housing announced an additional £15 million funding for overcrowding and launched an action plan setting out the Government’s commitment to tackling overcrowding—copies have been placed in the Library of the House. We have already announced an increase in the provision of new social housing including a year-on-year increase in the number of family homes, namely those with three or more bedrooms.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether any local housing authorities have informed her Department that they will not be able to achieve the decent home standard by 2010; [171957]
(2) how many local housing authorities are on target to meet the decent home standard by 2010. [171959]
Mr. Iain Wright: Of the 354 district and single tier local authorities 293 have delivered or have plans in lace to deliver decent homes for their own housing stock by the end of 2010. 61 have negotiated decent homes delivery deadlines later than 2010, or are in the process of negotiating those deadlines.
Illegal Immigrants
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many illegal immigrants have been discovered working for her Department and its agencies in the last year for which figures are available. [170481]
Mr. Dhanda: There is no information to suggest that anyone without the appropriate employment status has worked in the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Local Authorities: Equal Opportunities
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the cost of the implementation of the Disability Equality Duty on local authorities. [173550]
John Healey: It is for the Department introducing new legislation to undertake a regulatory impact assessment of the legislation, including the costs to different sectors, including—where appropriate—local government. This was done as part of the impact assessment for the Disability Equality Duty, published in April 2005.
Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much local authorities in England have received in cash terms from the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive scheme in each year of its operation; and what amount is forecast to be received in each of the next three years. [171630]
John Healey:
Details of the current Local Authority Business Growth Incentive Scheme (LABGI) were first announced in a written ministerial statement to the House on 21 July 2005, Official Report, columns 118-120WS. This said that local authorities would stand to gain up to £1 billion through the scheme in England and Wales over three years, with the first payment to be made in February 2006. Under LABGI,
local authorities in England have received cash payments of £150 million in 2005-06 and £384 million in 2006-07. We remain committed to allocating up to £935 million across England over the three years of the scheme.
The future of LABGI will be determined in part by responses to an ‘issues paper’, published in October, which seeks views on reform of LABGI and its incorporation into the mainstream system of funding. This paper can be found at:
The reformed incentive scheme would be phased-in from 2009-10. £50 million will be available in England for 2009-10 and this will double to £100 million in 2010-11.
Local Government Finance
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will rank each English local authority by real terms (a) percentage change and (b) expenditure in revenue support grant in each year since 1992. [170637]
John Healey: Information on settlements in the years 2007-08 and 2006-07 are available on the Department’s website at:
Information on settlements are, as a matter of course, each year, placed in the Libraries of the House.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of specific grants to local government were ring-fenced in the latest period for which figures are available. [171716]
John Healey: Excluding Dedicated Schools Grant and other schools grants, the level of ring-fencing of local authority funding is 10.5 per cent. in 2007-08. On a comparable basis, ring-fencing in 2006-07 was also 10.5 per cent.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much is expected to be allocated by her Department in (a) specific and (b) ring-fenced grants in each of the next three years. [173322]
John Healey: Information on specific revenue grants intended to be provided to local authorities from this Department is set out in the following table:
In addition, the Department intends to provide £2,993.073, £4,829.169 and £4,742.056 million area based grant over the next three years. Area based grant is a new general grant to be paid by CLG. Supporting People funding is included within the total for 2009-10 and 2010-11, but is subject to review(1).
The Department will also provide specific grants to fire and rescue authorities to support their work on the resilience programme which, in the main, will be provided without conditions attached.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which (a) specific and (b) ring-fenced grants will cease to be ring-fenced under her Department’s plans to reduce ring-fencing in the period up to 2011. [173325]
John Healey: Under the Department’s plans to reduce ring-fencing up to 2010-11, the following formerly ring-fenced specific revenue grants will have the ring-fence removed from 2008-09 onwards:
School Travel Advisers
School Improvement Partners
Primary National—Central Co-Ordination
Secondary National Strategy—Central Co-Ordination
Secondary National Strategy—Behaviour and Attendance
Extended Schools Start Up Costs
General Duty on Sustainable Travel to School
School Development Grant (Schools Element)
Extended Rights for Free Travel
Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services
Mental Health
Children’s Services Grant
Teenage Pregnancy Local Implementation
Respect—Youth Taskforce Areas
Connexions
Children’s Fund
Choice Advisers
Education Health Partnerships
Stronger Safer Communities Fund
Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund
Working Neighbourhoods Fund (formerly Neighbourhood Renewal Fund)
Supporting People (2009-10 onwards)
Supporting People Administration
Waste Performance and Efficiency Grant
Local Enterprise Growth Initiative
Housing Market Renewal Grant
Growth Areas, Points and Eco Towns
Rural Bus Subsidy Grant.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether councils with above-average collection rates for (a) council tax and (b) business rates receive any financial reward in terms of additional revenue as a consequence of the higher collection rates. [173489]
John Healey: A council’s performance on collecting council tax or business rates does not affect the amount of formula grant it receives.
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will provide additional funding to local authorities for work on the bids for unitary status from (a) Exeter city, (b) Bedford borough, (c) Chester city and (d) Ipswich borough council. [174640]
John Healey: No. In the course of their business, local authorities respond to many consultation exercises and requests for information, and consequently, budget for this as part of their business planning.
Local Government Finance: Herefordshire
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the local authority grant settlement was per capita for Herefordshire in each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [170964]
John Healey: The following table shows the average formula grant per head for Herefordshire for each year since 1997. Formula grant comprises Revenue Support Grant and redistributed business rates. In order to compare grant on a like-for-like basis we calculate a notional adjusted formula grant for the previous year which reflects the changes to funding and function. From 2006-07 support for schools was financed through the Dedicated Schools Grant; prior to 2006-07 support for schools was included within formula grant.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |