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3 Apr 2008 : Column 1338W—continued

Table 5: Average council rents by Government office region, England, 1994-2007
£ per week
	England	North East	North West	Yorkshire and Humber	East Midlands	West Midlands	East	London	South East	South West
1996	40	33	38	31	34	37	41	53	46	41
1997	41	34	38	32	36	38	43	54	47	41
1998	42	35	39	34	37	39	44	55	48	42
1999	44	37	41	35	38	40	46	58	51	44
2000	46	39	42	37	40	41	48	60	52	45
2001	48	40	44	39	41	45	50	62	54	47
2002	50	42	46	42	44	47	52	65	56	48
2003	51	42	47	43	44	47	52	65	58	49
2004	53	44	47	44	46	49	55	67	59	50
2005	55	45	49	46	48	51	58	69	62	52
2006	58	48	51	48	50	54	61	73	64	54
2007	61	51	54	51	54	57	64	77	68	57
Notes: 1. The figures reflect gross rents (before deduction of housing benefit, if applicable). 2. Figures are unaudited and therefore indicative only. Source: Second Advance Claim Forms submitted by local authorities to Communities and Local Government. Derived from CLG Live Table No. 715: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/table-715

3 Apr 2008 : Column 1339W

3 Apr 2008 : Column 1340W

Table 6: Average private rents by Government office region, England, 1995-96 to 2006-07
£ per week
Two-year period	England	North East	North West	Yorkshire and Humber	East Midlands	West Midlands	East	London	South East	South West
1995-96 and 1996-97	86	65	71	61	59	69	78	127	90	71
1996-97 and 1997-98	88	61	64	62	61	70	82	133	97	73
1997-98 and 1998-99	90	59	66	62	70	65	82	141	101	78
1998-99 and 1999-2000	93	55	76	65	70	64	83	148	102	82
1999-2000 and 2000-01	97	59	76	66	64	73	89	151	109	84
2000-01 and 2001-02	106	70	77	68	75	79	94	165	119	91
2001-02 and 2002-03	116	72	79	75	82	82	96	188	135	95
2002-03 and 2003-04	120	72	81	81	84	85	102	191	135	97
2003-04 and 2004-05	119	75	83	86	86	85	113	179	130	103
2004-05 and 2005-06	123	75	86	83	89	88	122	184	136	108
2005-06 and 2006-07	128	83	91	79	94	94	126	194	141	114
Notes: 1. The figures reflect gross rents (before deduction of housing benefit, if applicable) 2. Assured and Assured Shorthold tenancies only—accessible to the public without special conditions. 3. Sampling variability is too great for regional figures to be published for individual years. Source: Survey of English Housing Derived from CLG Live Table No.734 http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/141656

Income: Gold

Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has been raised from sales of (a) gold and (b) mobile telephone licences in the last 10 years; and what such revenue was used for. [196808]

Angela Eagle: The information requested is as follows:

Gold

395 tonnes of gold were sold from the reserves between July 1999 and March 2002 and re-invested in interest-bearing foreign currency assets. The total proceeds were around $3.5 billion, equivalent to around £2.3 billion (using exchange rates at the time of the sales).

Mobile telephone licences

The auction of wireless telegraphy licences for 3G mobile telephony raised £22,477.4 million in May 2000. Ofcom has since held three further auctions of licences on a technology and application neutral basis in frequency bands suitable for mobile communications (in May 2006, October 2006 and May 2007) raising a total of £5.64 million.

The aim of the auctions was not to raise revenue but to secure optimal use of the radio spectrum. Receipts from spectrum awards are passed to the Consolidated Fund. The Consolidated Fund receives the proceeds of taxation and certain other Government receipts and finances the nation's general expenditure.

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