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26 Jun 2008 : Column 453W—continued
For Hercules C130, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 April 2008, Official Report, column 2178W.
Television
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on (a) commissioning and (b) funding the production of television programmes (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) in 2008-09 to date; what programmes these were; and which companies made them. [213553]
Derek Twigg: The MOD does not generally fund the commissioning or production of any television programmes. Documentaries are funded by the television companies that pay for additional use of MOD assets.
The Ministry of Defence has, however, partially funded one television series in the period stated. This series was entitled ‘Everest—Man to Man’ and was jointly funded by the Army and the Bravo television channel. The Army invested £230,000 in the Bravo production, which was a six part documentary showing the variety and challenges of life in the service and the quality and training of personnel.
Wood
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how much timber and how many timber products were procured by his Department in each of the last five years; and at what cost; [213728]
(2) how much timber and how many timber products were procured by his Department originating from independently verified legal and sustainable sources or from a licensed FLEGT partner in each of the last five years; and at what cost. [213729]
Derek Twigg: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
MOD policy requires that all timber or wood-containing products, excluding paper, paper products and card, must be procured from legal sources. In addition, every effort is to be made to acquire these items from a sustainable source. Where practicable, the use of reclaimed, re-used or recycled timber or timber products should be considered.
These requirements have been published in a Department Timber Strategy which can be found on the MOD website at
This strategy incorporates the revised Government requirements for procurement of timber, which will apply from 2009 and 2015 respectively.
Communities and Local Government
Community Infrastructure Levy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the community infrastructure levy will be chargeable upon extensions to domestic dwellings. [213885]
Mr. Iain Wright: Our publication on the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) published on 24 January set out, at paragraph 78, that the Government do not intend that CIL liability will arise in relation to householder development by homeowners.
The 24 January CIL publication “The Community Infrastructure Levy” is available in the House Library.
Further announcements on the CIL will be made shortly.
Geographical Information Systems
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when she will publish the national strategy for geographical information; and if she will make a statement. [211260]
Mr. Iain Wright: It is expected that ‘Place Matters: The Location Strategy for the United Kingdom’ will be published, with a full statement, before the summer recess.
Home Information Packs
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to issue a formal response to the Carsberg review on home information packs. [213921]
Caroline Flint: Sir Bryan Carsberg's report stresses the importance of improving both information and service provision through better regulation.
We will consider Sir Bryan's recommendations in conjunction with the Stakeholder Panel on Home Buying and Selling.
Homelessness
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the level of homelessness was in each region in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) ethnicity and (b) disability. [212347]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about English local authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level.
Information collected includes the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
National and regional data on acceptances and temporary accommodation are published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness. This is published on our website and placed in the Library each quarter. The latest release was published on 12 June 2008, and provides national and regional acceptance figures in table 3, and temporary accommodation figures in table 7, both dating back to 1997:
Information collected on acceptances includes details on (a) the ethnicity of the applicant, and (b) acceptances found to be in priority need through vulnerable due to the applicant or member of the household having a physical disability or mental illness/disability. Though the information is collected on a quarterly basis, extracting 10 years worth of data would exceed disproportionate cost thresholds. We have provided three years worth of data in the answer: for 1998-99 (10 years ago), 2003-04 (when total acceptances peaked), and 2007-08 (the most recent year for which data are available).
(a) Table 1 shows the total number of accepted households in each region by ethnicity 1998-99, 2003-04 and 2007-08:
| Table 1: Households accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, by ethnicity | ||||||
| 1998-99 | ||||||
| White | Black | Asian | Other ethnicity | Not stated | Total acceptances | |
| 2003-04 | ||||||
| White | Black | Asian | Other ethnic origin | Not known | Total acceptances | |
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