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9 July 2008 : Column 1634W—continued
Housing: Public Participation
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many consultation exercises her Department has initiated seeking the views of property managers since its consultation on statements of accounts and designated client accounts. [216974]
Mr. Iain Wright: The latest consultation exercise on the statements of account and designated client accounts took place in July 2007.
Consultation exercises were carried out prior to this in November 1998, August 2000 (The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Draft Bill and Consultation Paper), and June 2004.
These exercises have informed the proposed amendments to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 which are contained in the Housing and Regeneration Bill currently before Parliament.
Housing: Standards
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of homes met the decent homes standard at the most recent date for which figures are available; and what estimate she has made of the number which will meet the standard in 2013. [216280]
Mr. Iain Wright: In 2006 63.2 per cent. of all homes in England met the decent homes standard, as reported by the English House Condition Survey.
We have not made any estimate of the number of homes which will meet the decent homes standard in 2013.
Housing: Sustainable Development
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many homes in each region meet the criteria for level (a) 3, (b) 4, (c) 5 and (d) 6 under the Code for Sustainable Homes; [214297]
(2) how many homes have been built in each region which meet the criteria for level (a) 3, (b) 4, (c) 5 and (d) 6 under the Code for Sustainable Homes in each year since 2000. [214298]
Mr. Iain Wright: Since the code was launched in April 2007, 1,633 developments representing over 45,000 homes have been registered to the scheme. It was always anticipated that there would be a time lag from the code’s inception to the completion of substantial numbers of new code homes due to the time it takes to incorporate the code standards within the design and land acquisition process.
The register of code certificates and the data underpinning it are administered by the BRE on behalf of the Government, who provide reports on a monthly basis. A breakdown of these figures by local authority area, Government office region and by landlord type is provided on a quarterly basis. We are due to receive the first quarterly report in late July 2008.
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether homes with a level 6 Code for Sustainable Homes are restricted
in the white goods that they can use, with particular regard to the make of (a) tumble drier and (b) washing machine. [216009]
Mr. Iain Wright: Credits are awarded under the code where energy efficient white goods are supplied to each dwelling or where information is provided relating to energy efficient white goods under the EU Energy Efficiency Labelling Scheme.
A developer who chooses to build to code level 6 will need to gain over 90 per cent. of the credits available within the code and so may choose to provide highly efficient white goods in order to help achieve this. However, provision of such white goods is not itself mandatory and the code in no way restricts the make of goods provided.
Housing: Thames Gateway
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 39W, on Housing: Thames Gateway, if she will provide a breakdown by local government administrative area of the location of the 26,400 new dwellings completed in the period January 2003 to March 2007 within the Thames Gateway area; and if she will make a statement. [216810]
Caroline Flint: The figure of 26,400 new build dwellings included in the previous answer is an estimate of new build dwellings within the Thames Gateway area. The estimate was produced by apportioning the total number of new build completions in ‘Thames Gateway’ local authorities with information from Land Use Change Statistics (LUCS).
The following table provides an approximate breakdown by local authority of the 26,400 new build total.
| New dwellings completed between April 2003 and March 2007 | |
| Local authority | New build completions |
The estimates using these sources are approximate. Communities and Local Government is working with the Valuation Office Agency on a methodology to develop a more accurate measure of net dwelling supply (which takes account of new build, change of use and demolitions) within the Thames Gateway area. It will then be possible to disaggregate the figures more precisely to local authority level, but not before further quality assurance.
Local Authority Business Growth Incentives Scheme
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was allocated to each London local authority through the Local Authority Business Growth Incentive scheme in each year since its inception. [216663]
John Healey: The allocations to each London local authority in each year of the scheme can be found on the Communities and Local Government website at:
Non-domestic Rates: Empty Property
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what notifications her Department has received from local authorities of cases of properties becoming intentionally dilapidated to avoid empty property business rates in the latest period for which figures are available. [216019]
John Healey: As I indicated to the Legislation Committee on 26 March in the debate on the Non- Domestic Rating (Unoccupied property) Regulations the Government would monitor the impact of the reforms. The Government have asked local authorities to provide information about how reforms to the empty property rate are working.
The information provided will be based on the informed judgment of individual local authority officers and is being gathered as a broad indicator of the scale of possible avoidance activity and not a detailed survey. As at 20 June the Department has been notified of four possible incidences where local authorities consider that avoidance of empty property rates may have been a factor in the deliberate dilapidation of a property. There is no suggestion the actions in question were unlawful.
Non-domestic Rates: Out of Town Shopping Centres
Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what rules apply to the apportionment of business rates for (a) out-of-town retail premises and (b) car parks which serve the customers of such premises. [217276]
Each rateable non-domestic property that is separately occupied is given its own rateable value based on its rental value. In practice the rent paid, and hence rateable value assessed on a retail unit, fully reflects the benefit of any car parking provision.
Non-domestic Rates: Tax Allowances
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent work has been undertaken by her Department on reviewing business rate exemptions. [216008]
John Healey: The last review of business rate exemptions was conducted following a Lyons inquiry recommendation to review all reliefs and exemptions within business rates. The pre-Budget report 2007 announced that the review had concluded.
Olympic Delivery Authority: Finance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what monies were vired from the growth area funding originally allocated to the Thames Gateway area to the Olympic Delivery Authority in each of the last three financial years; and if she will make a statement. [216942]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 8 July 2008]: A memorandum was provided to the Communities and Local Government Committee on 5 March 2008, as per the entry at Appendix III, paragraph 1 of the Votes and Proceedings for 25 March 2008, in which the Department's contribution to the Olympics was set out.
Pedestrian Crossings: Manpower
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many school crossing patrol officers there were in each year since 1990, broken down by local authority area; and if she will make a statement. [217220]
Jim Fitzpatrick: I have been asked to reply.
The figures requested are not kept centrally but individually by each local authority.
Planning Obligations
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what auditing procedures are in place to evaluate the use made of section 106 agreement monies received by local authorities as a result of domestic housing developments. [214871]
Mr. Iain Wright: Where a planning obligation (‘s106 agreement’) requires a contribution to be paid to a local planning authority and for it to be put towards a named piece of infrastructure (eg a play area), the local planning authority would be under an obligation to provide that infrastructure. Developers can enforce planning obligations through the courts.
Copies of planning obligations must be placed on the planning register and Government recommend that local planning authorities monitor the implementation of obligations entered into using standardised systems such as IT databases to ensure that information is readily available to the local community. Such systems should link to the on-line planning register so that the public can access this information from a single source.
Research by University of Sheffield and the Halcrow Group (‘Valuing Planning Obligations in England’ 2006) estimates that in 2003-04, 74.5 per cent. of LPAs in England used electronic databases to monitor the implementation of planning obligations.
Regional Planning and Development: Thames Gateway
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; over what period of time; and if she will make a statement. [216811]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 7 July 2008]: An Economic Development Investment Plan for the Thames Gateway is currently being developed by the three Greater South East Regional Development Agencies. Projects identified for funding will be set out in the plan.
Social Rented Housing: Finance
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much capital has been spent on social housing in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997. [210973]
Mr. Iain Wright:
The Department collects information on housing capital expenditure from local authorities
through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) annual return. Constituency level information is not collected centrally. The parliamentary constituency of Jarrow falls into two local authorities: South Tyneside and Gateshead and figures for these are provided instead.
Capital works includes (a) installation, replacement or major repair; (b) demolition and conversion; and (c) new building/acquisition. Local authorities’ reporting on capital expenditure is based on the work to properties where either they are the owner or they share financial responsibility for capital works.
Since 1998-99 the data have been collected first through the Housing Investment Programme (HIP) and then by the HSSA return from 2001-02. The information in table 1 is published and available via the Department’s website:
| Table 1: Local authority housing capital expenditure | |||||||||
| £ million | |||||||||
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
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