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19 Feb 2008 : Column 627W—continued
| The Minister for the East Midlands | |
| Break down by county | Number of visits |
The table combines visits for my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln, the previous Minister for the East Midlands, and those of my hon. Friend the Member for Corby who was appointed on the 24 January 2008.
The Minister for London has made eight visits within Greater London not including visits made by the Minister relating to her Olympic responsibilities.
| The Minister for the West Midlands | |
| Un itary a uthorities | Number of visits |
Energy: Conservation
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the performance in reaching residential energy efficiency targets of (a) local authorities in England, (b) local authorities in each region and (c) each London local authority in respect of (i) private, (ii) registered social landlord and (iii) local authority housing; and if she will make a statement. [185755]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
The 1995 Home Energy Conservation Act requires local authorities with housing responsibility to prepare a strategy for improving energy efficiency within residential accommodation in their areas and report annually on progress. Since 1996, authorities have reported an average total improvement of approximately 19 per cent. to 31 March 2006. A breakdown of reported progress by English region can be found on the DEFRA website.
Results for the period up to 31 March 2007 will be published shortly.
A number of programmes are likely to have contributed to this improvement in energy efficiency, particularly the Energy Efficiency Commitment, Warm Front and Decent Homes.
It is important to note that the figures have not been independently verified and that, because Home Energy Conservation Act strategies and monitoring techniques differ, the information should not be used to compare the performance of authorities.
Enfield Borough Council: Finance
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much money was held in reserve by Enfield council in each of the last 10 years. [186500]
John Healey: The amount of revenue reserves held by the London borough of Enfield in each of the last 10 years is shown in the following table. Information for England has been published in Statistical Releases and editions of ‘Local Government Financial Statistics’.
| £000 | |||
| Level of revenue reserves | |||
| Date | Schools | Other earmarked | Unallocated |
| Notes: 1. Figures are as supplied by the local authority to Communities and Local Government. 2. Use of the schools reserves is not controlled by the council, but by the individual schools to which the reserves belong. 3. Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities. Source: Communities and Local Government Revenue Outturn (RO) returns | |||
Fire Services: Buildings
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the lease for each of the proposed regional control centres in respect of the FiReControl Project commences; how long each lasts; and if she will make a statement. [186134]
Mr. Dhanda: The Regional Control Centre (RCC) building leases commence five working days after practical completion of the buildings. Four buildings have achieved practical completion, as detailed in Table 1.
| Table 1: RCC buildings that have achieved practical completion | |||
| Region | Practical Completion Date | Building Lease Began | Lease Term (years) |
The remaining five RCC buildings are contracted to achieve practical completion as detailed in Table 2.
| Table 2: Planned dates for remaining RCC buildings | |||
| Region | Practical Completion Date | Building Lease Begins | Lease Term (years) |
Fire Services: Contracts
Mr. Clapham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when Firebuy will sign a managed service contract with the preferred bidder for the integrated cloth project (ICP). [186822]
Mr. Dhanda: Firebuy Ltd. expects to sign the fully managed service and purchase with managed services contracts for the integrated clothing project with the preferred-bidder in February 2008.
Floods: Finance
Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department has provided to (a) Gloucestershire County Council, (b) Tewkesbury Borough Council and (c) Cheltenham Borough Council for (i) flood recovery and (ii) improved flood resilience in the last 12 months; what restrictions she has placed on the ways in which such funds can be spent; what plans she has for further similar expenditure over the next 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [183648]
John Healey: To date the Government have made available up to £73 million to support communities in England affected by the floods last summer.
Gloucestershire county council has been allocated £12,107,900 of this funding:
£1,100,000 from the Department for Communities and Local Government through the Bellwin scheme, a scheme providing financial assistance for local authorities dealing with emergencies, with more to come.
£1,007,900 from the Department for Children, Schools and Families for schools and children’s services affected by the floods; and
£10,000,000 allocated by the Department for Transport for repairs to local highways, with further funding expected.
Tewkesbury borough council has received £673,500 in Flood Recovery Grant from Communities and Local Government and Cheltenham borough council £646,500 respectively. Both councils have submitted Bellwin claims and we are currently looking at the detail with a view to making payments within the next few weeks.
Local authorities have flexibility to decide how to best use Flood Recovery Grant based on their own local circumstances. In practice this has included:
Support payments to flood affected households;
Purchase and provision of new household items to flood affected households;
Provision of temporary caravans to allow people to remain within their communities while houses are repaired;
Resilience and rescheduling of home improvement programmes to support families in flood damaged homes;
Other priorities set through consultation with flood-affected householders and communities.
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.
DEFRA is progressing with its £500,000 pilot grant scheme to encourage flood resilience and will be reporting to Ministers by the summer. The pilots, together with a parallel research project, are providing useful information that will help Ministers take a long term decision on whether such measures should feature in the long-term approach to flood risk reduction.
Homelessness
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government is taking to bring forward a new statutory definition of homelessness as proposed in the Housing Act 2004; and if she will make a statement. [183178]
Mr. Iain Wright: There are no current proposals to bring forward a new statutory definition of homelessness. The Housing Act 2004 does, however, include a power for the Secretary of State to change the existing statutory definition of overcrowding. We have pledged to update the statutory overcrowding standards, to the Bedroom Standard.
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