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Rough Sleepers

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many rough sleepers there were in England in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of these were estimated to be military veterans. [182265]

Mr. Iain Wright: A national estimate of the number of rough sleepers in England is published every September. The estimate is based on the results of local authority street counts in those areas where a known, or suspected, rough sleeping problem has been identified. The following table sets out the national rough sleeping estimate over each of the last 10 years.

	Number
1998	1,850
1999	1,633
2000	1,180
2001	703
2002	596
2003	504
2004	508
2005	459
2006	502
2007	498

We do not hold national data on the proportion of rough sleepers who are military veterans. However, there is specific data for London provided under the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) recording system. In 2006-07, for those rough sleepers in London contacted by services, CHAIN records show around 5 per cent. of rough sleepers had spent time in the armed forces in the past.

Standards Board for England

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints were (a) made to, (b) investigated by, (c) dismissed by and (d) upheld by the Standards Board
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for England in each of the last five years; and what sanctions were imposed in each case upheld by the Board. [182186]

John Healey: The information requested, which has been provided by the Standards Board, is set out in the
25 Jan 2008 : Column 2340W
following table. The power to impose sanctions rests with either a local authority standards committee or the Adjudication Panel for England, following their consideration of the results of the investigations by either a local authority monitoring officer or one of the Standards Board’s ethical standards officers.

	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-present
Total complaints received	3,566	3,861	3,836	3,549	2,550
Complaints referred for investigation	1,105	949	857	634	389
Complaints not referred for investigation	2,144	2,756	2,842	2,591	2,224
Other (for example, outside the SBE’s remit)	317	273	244	164	139
Complaints referred for investigation
Complaints referred to the Standards Board’s ethical standards officers (ESO) for investigation	1,105	1,009	465	241	127
Complaints referred by the ESO for local investigation by the local authority monitoring officer	n/a	96	385	347	203
Directions issued by ESO to the local authority monitoring officer(l)	n/a	n/a	7	46	58
Completed cases by final findings (investigated by ESO)
No evidence of breach of the code of conduct	154	310	119	128	65
No further action	462	947	459	182	93
Referred for local determination by monitoring officer	58	78	66	12	10
Referred to Adjudication Panel for England	89	111	94	9	7
Standards Committee decisions and sanctions
No breach of the code of conduct	2	4	3	1	0
No further action	3	8	5	1	0
Censured	18	26	18	7	1
Suspended for up to 2 months	14	19	12	6	5
Suspended for up to 3 months	2	15	19	2	3
Adjudication Panel decisions and sanctions
No breach of the code of conduct	3	8	12	5	1
Breach but no sanction imposed	3	7	24	5	0
Suspended 0-6 months	13	13	5	3	2
Suspended 6 months-1 year	0	6	13	0	0
Disqualified for up to 6 months	3	1	5	0	3
Disqualified for 6 months-1 year	19	11	15	5	1
Disqualified for 18 months	4	4	1	1	1
Disqualified for 2 years	12	3	7	0	0
Disqualified for 3 years	10	2	1	0	0
Disqualified for 4 years	2	3	2	0	0
Disqualified for 4.5 years	0	0	1	0	0
Disqualified for 5 years	1	1	0	0	1
(1) Direction issued by an ESO to a local authority monitoring officer for action falling short of full investigation, for example conciliation or training to be undertaken by the member.

Treasury

Capital Gains Tax: Second Homes

Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact his proposals for changes in the capital gains tax regime applied to second homes will have on the housing market in rural areas. [182305]

Jane Kennedy: The 2007 pre-Budget report announced a reform of the capital gains tax regime for individuals. The impact on investors will depend on their personal circumstances and economic conditions more generally. The Government continue to monitor such issues.

Child Tax Credit: Poland

Andrew Selous: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many Polish children living in Poland are in receipt of (a) child tax credits and (b) child benefit; and how much was spent on those payments in the last year for which figures are available. [174673]

Jane Kennedy [holding answer 17 January 2008]: Further to the answer given on 3 December 2007, Official Report, column 1018W, to the hon. Member
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for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond), at the end of September 2007, out of the 16,286 ongoing awards to Polish nationals, child benefit was being paid for around 26,000 children. The other information requested is not available.

Migrants from the new EU member states continue to come to the UK to work and contribute to the success of the UK economy.

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