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28 Jan 2008 : Column 113W—continued
Fire Services: Pensions
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her reasons were for replacing departmental Guidance 2004 (FSC 30/2004) on the ill-health retirement provision in the firefighters pension scheme with CLG Revised Guidance 2006 (FPS Circular 11/2006); and if she will make a statement. [182051]
Mr. Dhanda: The 2006 Guidance reminded fire and rescue authorities informally that the test for eligibility for an ill-health pension is permanent disablement for firefighting and for performing other duties appropriate to the role. It was issued because it was clear that some authorities were still applying the pre-September 2004 test which was limited to permanent disablement for firefighting.
Floods: Fire Services
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance is given to fire authorities on the assistance which should be given to householders who have experienced flooding. [182292]
Mr. Dhanda: Individual fire and rescue services provide advice on the steps which need to be taken by the householder once firefighters have left an incident, usually in the form of a leaflet, with the information also available online.
No central guidance is issued to fire and rescue authorities on the form that such advice should take.
Homes and Communities Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what powers the proposed new Homes and Communities Agency will have to enter private property and land. [171710]
Caroline Flint: Having given at least 28 days notice, the Homes and Communities Agency will be able to enter land it wishes to acquire, or regarding which compensation is to be determined, at a reasonable time, in order to estimate its value or survey it.
These powers are modelled on the existing powers of the Urban Regeneration Agency, which will be dissolved once the Homes and Communities Agency is established.
Homesale Network
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will place in the Library the minutes of the Home Sale Network meeting of 9 November. [174308]
Caroline Flint: The Home Sale Network conference of 9 November was not a Department of Communities and Local Government event.
Housing: Contamination
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether she has been informed of any cases where residential houses have been built on contaminated land before such land has been signed off by an environmental health officer; [182210]
(2) what consideration has been given to amending planning policy statements so that houses may not be built on contaminated land that has not been signed off by an environmental health officer. [182211]
Caroline Flint: There have been cases where the remediation of contaminated land was not addressed appropriately prior to redevelopment. This is why the Government published new planning policy on land remediation in 2004. The policy, set out in Planning Policy Statement 23: “Planning and Pollution Control” (PPS23) and supporting annexe, expects a local planning authority in granting planning permission for new development to be satisfied that the proposed development is appropriate, having regard to the information available to it about the contamination and the proposed remediation measures and standards. PPS23 makes it clear that the developer is responsible for ensuring appropriate, competent professional advice is available to carry out investigations of land potentially affected by contamination, assessment of risk and the design and execution of remediation works, including verification of their effectiveness. The local planning authority is entitled to rely on that advice or to challenge it on the basis of similarly-qualified expert advice accessible to it in-house or externally. In all cases the standard of remediation to be achieved through the granting of planning permission for a new development is the removal of unacceptable risk and making the site suitable for its new use.
Housing: Renewable Energy
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the new planning policy statement on climate change will (a) allow local authorities to continue to implement the Merton Rule and (b) require that a minimum proportion of all new developments’ energy needs should come from on-site renewables. [182089]
Caroline Flint: The new planning policy statement (PPS) on climate change will boost the use of local renewable and low carbon energy in new development. The PPS sets out our ‘Merton-Plus’ approach. It expects all local planning authorities to have a council-wide target (like existing Merton rules) and, additionally, tailored targets for sites where there is greater potential for using decentralised energy to supply new development. These targets should be flexible enough to consider community schemes (for example, wind turbines or CHP schemes serving more than one site) as well as building specific technologies.
Councils could still set an on-site target in their Development Plan Document (DPD) provided they can show this is the only local energy option and there are no other options than on-site. In practice, we think there are unlikely to be many situations like this. We wouldn’t rule out on-site renewables targets in DPDs
provided it is clear that the DPD policy/target will be applied flexibly and will allow carbon savings from local energy supplies to be considered and count towards it.
Housing: Sales
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes were (a) placed on sale and (b) sold through (i) Social HomeBuy, (ii) New Build HomeBuy, (iii) Open Market HomeBuy and (iv) the First Time Buyers Initiative in each region in each of the last five years. [170352]
Caroline Flint: The HomeBuy scheme, including the First Time Buyers Initiative, commenced on 1 April 2006. In general it is not possible to provide data on the number of homes placed on sale.
(i) For Social HomeBuy, some participating landlords are offering the scheme widely across their stock. Others are targeting specific estates, locations or local authority areas. We estimate that the pilot scheme will be available by the end of this year across 5 per cent. of social stock.
(ii) New Build HomeBuy and (iv) the First Time Buyers Initiative homes are sold on a continuous basis and marketing generally starts at three to six months prior to completion of the property.
(iii) Properties purchased under Open Market HomeBuy are selected by the purchaser on the open market.
Completions for the HomeBuy scheme, including the First Time Buyers Initiative, in 2006-07 and from 1 April to 31 October 2007 are set out in the following tables broken down by region.
| 2006-07 | ||||
| Region | Open Market HomeBuy | New Build HomeBuy/Shared Ownership | Social HomeBuy | First time Buyers Initiative |
| Note: Regional figures do not include 1,044 RCGF completion or 2,562 2005-06 RCGF completions as these cannot be broken down by region. | ||||
| 2007-08: 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007 | ||||
| Region | Open Market HomeBuy | New Build HomeBuy/Shared Ownership | Social HomeBuy | First time Buyers Initiative |
Institute for Public Policy Research: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 10 December 2007, Official Report, column 142W, on the Institute for Public Policy Research: finance, what the name of the research commissioned by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion was; and how much public funding was allocated to the work. [182886]
Mr. Dhanda: The Institute for Public Policy Research wrote a paper for the Commission on Integration and Cohesion entitled “Challenging attitudes, perceptions and myths”. This paper informed the Commission’s final report and was published on their website:
IPSOS Mori
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what payments her Department has made to IPSOS Mori in the last 24 months; and for what purposes. [173288]
Caroline Flint: IPSOS Mori has undertaken a range of work for the Department over the last 24 months, for which total payments amount to some £1,958,779. The most significant items are:
| £ | |
|
Post implementation of Home Information Packs—qualitative research | |
Radical Middle Way
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government further to the letter of 18 December 2007 to the hon. Member for Wycombe from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda), about the Radical Middle Way roadshows, when officials from her Department and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will contact the hon. Member for Wycombe about the commitment given in that letter. [181859]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 24 January 2008]: I understand that officials in my Department have been in contact with the hon. Member's office to organise a meeting to discuss the Radical Middle Way roadshows.
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