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18 Feb 2008 : Column 52W—continued

Sexual Harassment

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many complaints of (a) sexual harassment and (b) sexual discrimination have been made by staff in (i) her Department and (ii) its agencies in the most recent year for which figures are available. [184690]

Mr. Dhanda: As the number of formal complaints in either category is less than five, the Department for Communities and Local Government is unable to provide the information on the grounds of confidentiality.

Street Cleaning: Expenditure

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent on street cleaning in each local authority in England in each of the last five years. [185460]


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John Healey: I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the information on street cleansing (not chargeable to highways) in each local authority in England in each of the last five years. Information for England has been published in Statistical Releases and editions of “Local Government Financial Statistics”.

Sustainable Development: Urban Areas

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many eco-towns are to be built in each of the next 10 years. [184998]

Caroline Flint: Through the eco-towns programme we expect that there will be up to five eco-towns by 2016 and 10 by 2020.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she proposes to take to manage the impact of eco-towns on local traffic networks. [184999]

Caroline Flint: As part of the current cross-government assessment of eco-town proposals we are assessing proposals against the criteria set out in the Eco-towns Prospectus, and this includes transport. As part of the transport criteria consideration must be given to the impact on roads and congestion when siting the eco-town, and planning for the public transport infrastructure requirements. We will want to see design that reduces the need to travel, promotes a high degree of sustainable transport usage and reduces car dependency, so as to minimise the impact on local transport networks.

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been allocated for the construction of eco-towns; and from what budgets. [185000]

Caroline Flint: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given on 6 December 2007, Official Report, column 1397W to the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry).

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will take steps to ensure that funding for the construction of eco-towns will not be taken from existing allocations for local projects. [185001]

Caroline Flint: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) on 6 December 2007, Official Report, column 1397W. As that answer sets out, funding has been provided to support the Growth Areas, the Thames Gateway, New Growth Points and eco-towns. This ensures that there will be provision of funding for eco-towns and it will not be taken from existing allocations for local projects.

Temporary Accommodation: Greater London

Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households were housed in temporary accommodation by each London local authority in each year since 1997. [186143]


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Caroline Flint: Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. 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.

A table summarising homelessness figures for each local authority for the past 10 years, including the total number of households in temporary accommodation at the end of each year, 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).

Data are also published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness, which includes a Supplementary Table showing the breakdown of key data, including temporary accommodation for each local authority. The Supplementary Tables are 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 July to September 2007:

Temporary Accommodation: Unemployed

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of households living in temporary accommodation had someone in work in each of the last 10 years. [185897]

Caroline Flint: This information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

However, Communities and Local Government and Department for Work and Pensions are supporting the working future pilot to test the effect that reduced rents and increased access to employment services have on incentivising housing benefit claimants in expensive temporary accommodation to find work.

The pilot was set up to run for two years starting from 2005. It was running in the East London boroughs of Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest and led by the GLA and the East Thames Group. We are currently in the process of evaluating the outcomes of the pilot.

Thames Gateway: Finance

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which publicly funded organisations are in receipt of monies in respect of the Thames Gateway project; and if she will make a statement. [184831]

Caroline Flint: The Thames Gateway Growth Fund has provided funding to the following organisations:


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Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what projects have been identified for funding under the auspices of the Thames Gateway Economic Development Investment Plan; at what indicative cost and over what period of time; and if she will make a statement. [184833]

Caroline Flint: No projects have yet been identified under the auspices of the Thames Gateway Economic Development Plan (EDIP). The three Regional Development Agencies that cover the Thames Gateway area have not yet completed the EDIP. It is expected to be signed off by the end of March.

Travelling People

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse was of each of her Department’s five annual conferences on developing services for Gypsies and Travellers. [186206]

Mr. Iain Wright: Communities and Local Government does not hold an annual conference on developing services for Gypsies and Travellers. Ministers and officials support an annual conference on this topic arranged by the private sector by
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attending as speakers. A delegate fee of £390 (plus VAT) was paid by the Housing Corporation to enable attendance in 2005.

Travelling People: Caravan Sites

Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate her Department has made of trends in the demand for authorised traveller sites from migrant travellers from (a) Romania and (b) the Republic of Ireland. [183241]

Mr. Iain Wright: Under the Housing Act 2004 local authorities are required to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers living in their areas. All accommodation needs assessments should by now have been completed. Regional Assemblies are responsible for determining need for pitches for Gypsies and Travellers across the region and revising regional spatial strategies to allocate pitch numbers to individual local authorities.

Waste Management

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what stage each local authority’s minerals and waste development proposals has reached. [185654]

Mr. Iain Wright: Hampshire county council have adopted a minerals and waste core strategy.

The following local authorities have submitted waste and/or minerals development plan documents to the Secretary of State:

64 other planning authorities preparing waste and minerals development Plan Documents are yet to submit them to the Secretary of State.

Defence

Afghanistan: Drugs

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the policy of (a) UK and (b) US forces is on spraying drug crops in Afghanistan in order to destroy them. [185350]

Des Browne: Troops deployed as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are authorised to support the Government of Afghanistan’s counter-narcotics effort as part of the NATO operational plan. The operational plan stipulates that military personnel will not be involved in the eradication of poppy.


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Afghanistan: Medical Services

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what training medical locums serving in Afghanistan received to prepare for operations; [183130]

(2) what proportion of medical locums serving in Afghanistan have prior military experience. [183132]

Derek Twigg: The Defence Medical Services deploys small numbers of civilian medical staff on operations in specialties where there are currently shortfalls, such as neurosurgery and ITU and A&E nursing. Individuals are recruited through the specialist agency “Frontier Medical”. Before deployment to Afghanistan, medical locums undergo similar Operational Training and Advisory Group (OPTAG) training and pre-deployment briefs as their military colleagues. They are fully briefed on security issues and what to do if involved in the vicinity of aggressive military action. They are issued personal protective equipment (PPE) and receive constant advice and supervision before and during an operational tour. Most of them will not have prior military service (other than possible prior deployment with the military in a similar locum role).

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

James Duddridge: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of staff in his Department (a) speak Pashtun and (b) are training to speak Pashtun. [176084]

Des Browne: Records held by the Ministry of Defence as at 5 February 2008 indicate that there are 130 personnel who can speak Pashtun, with a further 92 people studying the language.

Mr. Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the order of battle of 16 Air Assault Brigade will be on its deployment to Afghanistan. [185642]

Des Browne: I refer the hon. Member to my written ministerial statement on 6 February 2008, Official Report, column 68WS, outlining the force package that we currently plan to deploy in the next roulement of UK forces to Afghanistan.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the (a) required and (b) actual expected strength is of each unit deploying to Afghanistan in spring 2008. [186283]

Des Browne: All units deploying with 16 Air Assault Brigade will do so with the numbers required to meet the operational requirement. This may require some units to be backfilled with augmentees, in line with established practice. I am withholding information on deployed strengths as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Dr. Fox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many helicopters will be operating in Afghanistan after the next roulement. [186284]

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