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21 July 2008 : Column 780W—continued
| Table 2: Average registered social lan dlord rents, for one, two, three and four bedroom dwellings in each region in 2006-07 | ||||
| £ per week | ||||
| Region | One bed | Two bed | Three bed | Four bed |
| Notes: 1. Figures as at 31 March 2007. 2. General needs properties only. Refers to information collected on the long form (in general this is for RSLs with stock of over 1,000 properties). Source: Housing Corporation’s Regulatory Statistical Return (RSR). | ||||
Social Rented Housing: Foreigners
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 16 May 2008, Official Report, column 1800W, on social rented housing: foreigners, if she will break down by nationality the new general needs lettings by registered social landlords to (a) the 1,769 foreign nationals from EEA countries and (b) the 2,259 foreign nationals from non-EEA countries; and if she will break down the lettings by UK region. [207148]
Caroline Flint: Information on the number of new registered social landlord general needs lettings made in England during 2006-07 broken down by tenant nationality and by region can be found on the CORE website at www.core.ac.uk in table 28b of the 'CORE Annual Digest for Housing Associations 2006-07'.
From this information it is possible to separately identify new tenants who are UK nationals and nationals of each of the A8 Eastern European accession states. It is not possible to separately identify the nationality of tenants from “other European economic area countries” or from “any other countries” as this information is not collected.
Trees
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration she has given to reinstating the annual condition survey for amenity trees. [220459]
Mr. Iain Wright: Funding of the condition survey of non-woodland amenity trees project undertaken by Forest Research ended in 2005. There are currently no plans to reinstate this funding.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps the Government has taken to discuss the United Nations Human Settlements Programme guidelines on decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities with local authorities; and what measures it plans to introduce to implement the best practice outlined in the guidelines. [219804]
John Healey: Local government, through the LGA, have been involved in such discussions, and an officer of the LGA joined the official from my Department who led the EU’s input at the UN HABITAT Governing Council last year when the guidelines were adopted. The guidelines reflect the more rigorous European Charter of Local Self-Government, which the Government signed on 3 June 1997 and ratified on 24 April 1998, and the principles of which are reflected in the United Kingdom system of local democracy.
Waste Disposal: Finance
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of the budget of each local authority was spent on the disposal of household and commercial rubbish in each of the last 10 years. [220838]
John Healey: I have placed in the Library of the House a table showing the proportions of revenue expenditure spent on waste disposal by each local authority in England in the last nine years.
Aggregate information for England is published in editions of Local Government Financial Statistics and the information is drawn from the Communities and Local Government revenue outturn (RO) returns.
Revenue expenditure is defined as the expenditure funded from aggregate external finance (AEF), council tax and authorities' reserves. AEF is central Government revenue funding that comprises formula grant (revenue support grant, redistributed non-domestic rates and police grant) and specific grants inside AEF, i.e. revenue grants paid for council's core services.
Figures for 1997-98 have not been included due to complexities arising from the extensive local government reorganisation which took place around that time.
Comparisons across years may not be valid due to changing local authority responsibilities.
Duchy of Lancaster
10 Downing Street: Catering
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will place in the Library copies of the menus, including prices, for the 10 Downing Street canteen from 30 June to 4 July 2008. [217353]
Phil Hope: The Prime Minister's Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office catering provider offers a range of food across the Cabinet Office estate. Records of menus are not held by the Cabinet Office.
Departmental Land
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which areas of land are held for development by the Duchy of Lancaster as outlined on page 20 of its 2007 report and accounts. [210871]
Edward Miliband: On page 20 of the 2007 annual report and accounts land held for development is valued at £4,030,000. This relates to £3.9 million within the Duchy's Crewe Survey with the balance within the Duchy's Yorkshire Survey.
Departmental Official Cars
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which make and model of car he has chosen as his ministerial car to be provided by the Government Car and Despatch Agency. [217746]
Edward Miliband: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary for the Department of Transport (Jim Fitzpatrick) on 16 July 2008, Official Report, column 414W.
Departmental Pensions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on what date and for what reason the Duchy of Lancaster staff pension final salary scheme was closed to new entrants. [210872]
Edward Miliband: The Duchy of Lancaster Staff Pension Scheme was closed to new entrants with effect from 6 February 2002.
In line with a large number of other businesses, those running the Duchy estate wished to have greater certainty in the level of contribution within the business. The Duchy makes a contribution to new employees personal pension plans based upon a percentage of their gross salary.
Departmental Research
Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what proportion of his Department's budget was used for research within its areas of responsibility in each of the last 10 years. [218060]
Edward Miliband: Expenditure incurred on research services is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Fish
Mr. Peter Ainsworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much fish was procured by his Department and at what cost in each of the last five years, broken down by species; and what amount and value of such fish met the Marine Stewardship Council standard in each such year, broken down by species. [217899]
Phil Hope: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Non-profit Making Associations
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what (a) programmes and (b) support he provides for the promotion and development of social enterprise. [218717]
Phil Hope: The Government's commitments to supporting and promoting the development of social enterprise are set out in the “Social Enterprise Action Plan: Scaling New Heights” (November 2006), copies of which are available in the Libraries of the House, and in “The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration: final report” (“The Third Sector Review”—July 2007), copies of which have been placed in the Library.
The Social Enterprise Action Plan sets out a range of actions committed to by the Office of the Third Sector and other Government Departments to foster a culture of social enterprise; ensure social enterprise has access to the right information and advice; enable social enterprise to access appropriate finance; and to enable social enterprise to work with government.
Progress highlights in the delivery of the Social Enterprise Action Plan include:
Over 30 social enterprise ambassadors have been recruited;
Social enterprise models will be included in the GCSE business studies syllabus and wider school curriculum from September 2008;
£5.9 million has been provided to RDAs to improve business support for social enterprise;
Consultation on the £10 million social enterprise risk capital investment fund has concluded and work is under way to finalise the fund prior to launch;
The number of OTS strategic partners has been increased to 45 to include seven new social enterprise strategic partners.
The Third Sector Review sets out Government's support for the third sector over the CSR period. It includes four commitments specific to social enterprise:
I. Promoting social enterprise
II. Building the evidence base
III. Consulting on the use of unclaimed assets for social investment
IV. Enabling social enterprise to work with government.
Non-profit Making Associations: Ethnic Groups
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of his Department’s funding of black and minority ethnic social enterprise. [218904]
Phil Hope: The Government do not fund individual social enterprises directly, rather they provide strategic funding to organisations that represent and support social enterprise. This is in addition to the commitments to support an environment in which social enterprise can thrive as set out in the “Social Enterprise Action Plan: Scaling New Heights” (November 2006) and in “The future role of the third sector in social and economic regeneration” (July 2007).
Seven social enterprise representative organisations receive strategic funding from the Office of the Third Sector (OTS) to provide a credible and effective voice
for the sector into Government, to act as an advocate for the sector and to work with Government to develop and implement policy.
In total 20 per cent. of OTS strategic funding for social enterprise partners is ring fenced to enable them to work alongside black and minority ethnic (BME) groups to ensure their voice is heard. To draw this work together the Social Enterprise Coalition is funded to develop a strategy to engage and integrate BME social enterprise into the wider social enterprise movement. This work is ongoing and a strategy will be in place in autumn 2008.
In addition we fund Voice4Change England to enhance the effectiveness of the black and minority ethnic third sector.
Non-profit Making Associations: Trade Unions
Margaret Moran: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what recent discussions he has had with trades unions on the role of social enterprise in public service delivery. [218913]
Phil Hope: Ministers and officials engage with many people, including trade union representatives, on a wide range of third sector policy issues, among them public service delivery. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Rural Payments Agency
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how much the Duchy of Lancaster received from the Rural Payments Agency in the last financial year for which figures are available. [210898]
Edward Miliband: The Rural Payments Agency paid the Duchy £27,013.77 in relation to the Single Payment Scheme 2007. This is in respect to land held by the Duchy to protect the receipt of such payment for future tenants when the land is let.
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