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18 Feb 2008 : Column 30W—continued
Floods: Homelessness
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many central homelessness advisers are working with local authorities affected by flooding in 2007; and if she will make a statement; [185483]
(2) how much further funding is planned to be made available to local authorities in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09 in respect of assistance for those residents currently in temporary accommodation due to flooding; and if she will make a statement. [185484]
John Healey: There are currently nine homelessness specialist advisers working with all local housing authorities. They are available to respond to requests from councils for support with their work to tackle and prevent homelessness effectively, including homelessness that has arisen due to flooding.
To date, £18.4 million of Flood Recovery Grant has been released to local authorities hardest hit by the 2007 summer floods, of which £17.4 million was paid out in the June and July schemes, with funds being allocated to reflect the relative number of households affected. An additional £1 million was allocated in January 2008 to those local authorities with over 200 households still displaced as of 17 January 2008.
Local authorities were able to decide how to best to use the Flood Recovery Grant based on their own local circumstances and needs.
There are no current plans to make any more payments under the Flood Recovery Scheme to the authorities affected by the June and July 2007 floods.
As part of our work on tackling homelessness, local housing authorities will receive homelessness grant of almost £100 million over the years 2007-08 and 2008-09 to support their strategies for tackling and preventing homelessness. This includes support to households who are in temporary accommodation.
Gravel
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what proportion of (a) gravel and (b) mineral demand she estimates will be met from (i) land, (ii) marine and (iii) recycled sources in the next (A) five, (B) 10 and (C) 20 years; [185177]
(2) what proportion of mineral extraction in the UK was from (a) land, (b) marine and (c) recycled sources in each of the last three years; [185215]
(3) how many sites are being used for gravel extraction; how many sites have been used and have not been restored to their former condition in the last five years; and what the Government’s policy is in respect of land that has not been restored; [185219]
(4) what forecasts of gravel demand have been made by her Department for the next (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 years; [185221]
(5) what the gravel extraction targets set for each local authority are for the next (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 20 years. [185223]
Mr. Iain Wright: My Department collects mineral extraction data for Great Britain. Of the minerals extracted, only sand and gravel are extracted from both the land and marine environments and these are shown in the following table for 2004-06.
| Land-won and marine dredged aggregates extraction in Great Britain | ||
| Million tonnes | ||
| Land-won | Marine | |
| Source: Annual Minerals Raised Inquiry (PA 1007), 2004, 2005, 2006. ONS | ||
Land-won and marine-dredged aggregate supply is augmented by supply of aggregates from the recycling of construction, demolition and excavation waste, as well as secondary materials, largely by-products of industrial processes. Total arisings in the last survey year, 2005, were estimated for Great Britain as 67.2 million tonnes.
The current national forecasts for aggregates demand in England were published in 2003 as “National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England, 2001-16”. Guidelines are published at the national and regional level. They are not targets, nor are they set for individual local authorities. The current national guidelines are given as follows.
| National and Regional Guidelines for Aggregates Provision in England 2001-16 | |
| Million tonnes | |
These guidelines are currently under review; a consultation will be published shortly and I will ensure the hon. Member receives a copy.
There are 699 active sand and gravel extraction sites in the UK (British Geological Survey, 2008). We do not collect data on the number of sites that have been restored to their former condition. However, planning permissions for mineral working should contain conditions and legal agreements to ensure appropriate restoration, which are enforced by the mineral planning authority. Policy for the restoration of mineral working sites in England is set out in Minerals Policy Statement 1 “Planning and Minerals”.
Home Information Packs
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home information packs were subsidised, in whole or in part, under the scheme to provide £0.5 million funding for energy performance certificates in home information packs ordered prior to 1 August; and what was the outturn expenditure of the scheme. [171530]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the replies given to the hon. Member for Beckenham (Mrs. Lait) on 30 October 2007, Official Report, column 1163W and 10 October 2007, Official Report, column 663W.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which organisations received subsidy for the production of energy performance certificates in home information packs ordered prior to 1 August. [171635]
Caroline Flint: The organisations were HIPs Direct, HIPSYNC, Prohip Ltd, Simply HIP and Richards Gray.
Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of (a) energy performance certification assessors and (b) energy performance certificates for non-dwellings that will be required in the first six months after the introduction of the scheme. [175512]
Caroline Flint: The number of assessors needed will depend on market conditions and on the level of demand for voluntary certificates ahead of time.
Lembit Öpik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the oral answer of 15 January 2008, Official Report, columns 780-1 on home information packs, if she will
place in the Library copies of case studies of house purchases held by her Department which indicate that the purchase has been materially influenced by the content of a home information pack. [180424]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1526W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any (a) home owners and (b) estate agents have been fined for marketing a property without a home information pack. [182601]
Home Information Packs: Pilot Schemes
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which companies were commissioned to undertake (a) qualitative and (b) quantitative research for the home information pack dry run; and at what cost. [176160]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1526W and 28 January 2008, Official Report, column 117W.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the contractual deadline is for Ipsos-MORI to provide her Department with its research into the home information pack trials; and when she plans to publish this research. [183246]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 21 January 2008, Official Report, column 1526-27W, to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles).
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home sellers took part in each home information pack area trial. [183259]
Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to the home information packs update written ministerial statement made on 22 November 2007, Official Report, columns 140-42WS.
IPSOS-MORI is still in the process of finalising its conclusions and a copy of the research report will be placed in the Library of the House once the project has been finalised.
Home Information Packs: Surveying
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many accredited surveyors for home information packs there were in each district and unitary council area on 1 January 2008. [178194]
Caroline Flint: The most recently published numbers of accredited assessors, broken down by region, are available on the dedicated home information pack website:
http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/industry/163_ Assessorinspectornums.html
Regular updates are provided on this site
Homelessness
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless people there were in (a) England, (b) each English region, (c) Tees Valley district and (d) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each of the last 10 years; and how many of these were under 25 years old. [185502]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level, in respect of households rather than people. This information includes the number of households accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty. The duty owed to an accepted household is to secure suitable accommodation. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority may secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
National and regional data on acceptances and temporary accommodation over the last 10 years are published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness, in tables 3 and 7. Key data (including acceptances and temporary accommodation) are shown at local authority level in Supplementary Tables accompanying the release. These are also published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 10 December 2007 and contains data for the period up to July to September 2007.
Since 1998, information has also been collected on the number of people who sleep rough—that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night—and these are also published on our website, nationally and by local authority:
A table summarising homelessness figures for each local authority for the past 10 years, including (a) the total number of households accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, (b) the total number of households in temporary accommodation and (c) the mid-year estimates of the number of rough sleepers, was placed in the Library of the House on 8 October 2007, as part of the answer given to the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice).
The local authorities comprising the Tees valley District are Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton-on-Tees. The constituency of Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland falls within two local authorities: Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland.
Data on acceptances by age-band of applicant are available from the April-June 2006 quarter onwards, and are provided in the Statistical Release at the national level (table 10(b)). The first age-band is those applicants who are aged between 16 and 24 years old (all applicants must be 16 or over).
A table showing acceptances by age-band of applicant by local authority and region has been deposited in the Library of the House.
No such age breakdown is collected for households in temporary accommodation, or the rough sleeper estimates.
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households were assisted with securing private rented accommodation by homelessness units in (a) England, (b) each English region and (c) each London local authority area in each year since 2003-04. [185974]
Caroline Flint: This information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Homes and Communities Agency
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the proposed powers of the Homes and Communities Agency to enter and survey land will include powers to enter (a) domestic and (b) business premises. [171647]
Caroline Flint: Yes, the powers of the Homes and Communities Agency will include power for a person authorised by the Agency to enter and survey land, including domestic and business premises. However, this power may only be exercised within the statutory framework: the power arises only in connection with a proposal by the Agency to acquire land or a claim for compensation in respect of an acquisition of land by the Agency. Land may only be entered in order to survey it or to estimate the value of the land.
This proposed power mirrors a power of the current Urban Regeneration Agency (part of English Partnerships) that is set out in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993.
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to require a net return to the public purse from the regulatory work of the Homes and Communities Agency; what discussions she has had with the Treasury on the matter; and if she will make a statement. [184474]
Caroline Flint: The Homes and Communities Agency will be an investment body and will have no regulatory role.
Under the Housing and Regeneration Bill, all of the regulator functions of the Housing Corporation will pass to Oftenant—the new social housing regulator. The Bill gives the regulator no powers to make payments to central Government (except as repayment of loans) and the Secretary of State no power to
require it to do so. The Bill also requires the regulator, when setting fees to registered providers, to ensure that:
fee income matches expenditure on the performance of functions;
each fee is reasonable and proportionate to the costs to which it relates; and
actual or potential registered providers can see the relationship between the amount of a fee and the costs to which it relates.
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