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22 July 2008 : Column 1167W—continued
Local Government: Marketing
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for reviewing the guidance to local authorities on publicity. [221631]
Mr. Dhanda: As stated in the Department's White Paper, “Communities in control: real people, real power”, we will consult on potential changes to the Publicity Code and associated guidance in the autumn.
Local Government: Public Participation
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for the introduction of the duty on best value authorities to involve local people. [221534]
Mr. Dhanda: The timetable is unaltered. The duty on best value authorities to involve local people comes into effect on 1 April 2009.
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to encourage local authorities to exercise powers providing for public participation in council meetings; and what recent discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) others on the issue. [221742]
Mr. Dhanda: The recently issued White Paper “Communities in Control: Real people, real power” announced our intention to establish a new duty to promote democracy which will require local authorities to inform and encourage local people to participate in democratic activities.
This duty was proposed by the Councillors Commission which engaged widely with local government and other stakeholders in developing the report it published in December 2007, and the White Paper took into account responses to the Commission's report.
Natural Gas: Pipelines
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions (a) her Department and (b) the Thames Gateway Development Corporation have had with Calor Gas on pipe line developments in Essex in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [220913]
Caroline Flint: The Department has had no conversations with Calor Gas Ltd on pipe line developments in Essex in the last 12 months.
The Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation in its capacity as planning authority for Thurrock determined in May 2007 a planning application made by Calor Gas Ltd to construct an underground pipe line between Canvey Island and Stanford-le-Hope and for an above ground installation at the Stanford-le-Hope terminal. The decision by the TTGDC planning committee only covers the section of the pipe line in Thurrock. The planning permission was subject to a s.106 agreement, which has now been signed enabling the decision notice to be issued in June 2008.
Places of Change Programme
Lembit Öpik: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any schemes subject to awards under the Places of Change programme have been taken to judicial review by local opponents. [220370]
Mr. Iain Wright: We are aware that a judicial review claim is being brought against Northampton borough council in respect of the proposal to redevelop the Robinson House hostel into accommodation for rough sleepers.
Northampton borough council have been allocated £1.42 million from the Places of Change Programme towards the reprovision of its services for rough sleepers in Robinson House. They are currently conducting an options appraisal of sites in Northampton, including Robinson House, in order to take this project forward.
Schemes are taken forward by local authorities and are subject to the planning process. We are not aware of any other judicial review claim being made in relation to the Places of Change Programme since it commenced in April 2008.
Planning Permission
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes the proposed new Planning Policy Statement 6 makes to whether local planning authorities can take into account the identity of an occupier as a material consideration when assessing a planning application for a new retail development or change of use. [221630]
Mr. Iain Wright: The proposed changes to Planning Policy Statement 6 (PPS6) introduce no changes to the extent to which local planning authorities can take into account the identity of an occupier when assessing a planning application for retail development or a change of use.
Regional Planning and Development: Eco-towns
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 May 2008, Official Report, column 47W, on regional planning and development: eco-towns, whether the partial reviews will consider the merits of Green Belt reviews to meet the revised building targets. [217957]
Caroline Flint: The RSS should provide a broad development strategy for the region for a 15 to 20 year period. In considering whether reviews of the RSS are needed, regional planning bodies should, alongside other matters, keep the need to consider a review of the extent of Green Belt in their regions under consideration.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 19 May 2008, Official Report, column 47W, on regional planning and development: eco-towns, whether the partial reviews will be conducted by the regional development agencies. [217961]
Caroline Flint: All reviews of regional spatial strategies, where they are carried out, will be undertaken by the regional planning body (RPB). Regional development agencies are not the RPB under the terms of existing legislation.
Rents: Rotherham
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much rent has been paid by local authority tenants in Rotherham in each year since 1997. [217549]
Mr. Iain Wright: CLG does not have information on the amount of rent actually paid by tenants in local authorities. It compiles information on the rental income received by an authority towards its housing revenue account which includes rent rebates for housing benefit. On average 60 per cent. of local authority tenants are on housing benefit.
| Rent income to the housing revenue account — Rotherham | |
| £ | |
These figures are based on unaudited information provided by Rotherham council.
Social Rented Housing: Waiting Lists
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were on social housing waiting lists in (a) Leeds West constituency and (b) Leeds Metropolitan District in each of the last five years. [213358]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Chorley (Mr. Hoyle) on 21 July, Official Report, column 782W.
Information on local authority waiting lists is collected in respect of households rather than individuals. Where local authorities and registered social landlords operate a common register, households registered with the registered social landlord will be included in the data. However, registered social landlords are independent bodies and can keep their own waiting lists.
Thames Gateway Bridge
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has for re-opening the public inquiry on the Thames Gateway Bridge; and if she will make a statement. [219877]
Mr. Dhanda:
The Planning Inspectorate will be making arrangements to re-open the inquiry and it is currently envisaged that this will be in late spring 2009. The Inspectorate is waiting for the applicant, Transport for
London, to advise formally when the evidence required by the Secretary of State will be ready to transmit to parties to the inquiry.
Thames Gateway: Annual Reports
Andrew Mackinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will publish the annual report on the Thames Gateway before the House rises for the summer adjournment; and if she will make a statement. [220844]
Caroline Flint [holding answer 21 July 2008]: The Thames Gateway Annual Report 2007-08 was published on 15 July 2008. An electronic version of the report can be accessed at:
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the reason was for the time taken in publishing the Thames Gateway annual report in 2008. [221228]
Caroline Flint: The Thames Gateway Annual Report 2007-08 was published on 15 July 2008 to coincide with the bimonthly meeting of the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership.
Thermal Insulation
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of households with cavity walls acquired cavity insulation in each year since 2004. [219680]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
Data shown in the following table for the percentage of homes with cavity wall insulation are taken from the GB-wide “Domestic Energy Factfile” for 2004 and the English House Condition Survey from 2005.
DEFRA estimates that there are around 7.3 million households with fillable but unfilled cavities in 2008, plus around 800,000 households with cavities that are difficult or impossible to fill. This implies that around 54 per cent. of cavity homes in GB had cavity insulation at March 2008. It is anticipated that around 2.9 million additional cavities will be filled during the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target programme, which runs from 2008-11.
| Estimated number of cavity insulations per year (GB) | Percentage of cavity homes with filled cavities | |
| n/k = Not known (1) GB. Source—Domestic Energy factfile (2) England only, BRE Thermal insulation update (3) GB. Estimate around this figure | ||
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of households with hot water tanks installed tank insulation in each year since 2004; and what proportion of these were first-time installations. [219681]
Mr. Woolas: I have been asked to reply.
Tank insulation is one of the approved measures in the Energy Efficiency Commitment. The independent review commissioned by DEFRA on EEC1 (2002-05) estimated that around 195,000 tanks were insulated by this programme, which is an average of 65,000 per year.
Ofgem is due to report on the second phase of the Energy Efficiency Commitment (2005-08) on 1 August 2008. The headline report will probably not contain information on tank insulation, as this is not a major measure, however, DEFRA is commissioning a detailed study of EEC2 measures, to be completed by the end of the year.
The Thermal Insulation Updates for 2004 and 2005 (which apply to England only) states that around 2 per cent. of tanks were uninsulated in 2003 and around 1.5 per cent. were uninsulated in 2005.
Note also that the increasing market for combination boilers means that there are fewer hot water tanks to insulate.
Travelling People
Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what funding her Department has given to the Gypsy Reform Council in the last year. [221658]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department for Communities and Local Government has given no funding to an organisation called the Gypsy Reform Council in this financial year (2008-09) or in financial year 2007-08.
Utilities: Voluntary Organisations
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on the effects of rising water and fuel bills on charitable organisations, with particular reference to places of worship. [220802]
Mr. Dhanda: My right hon. Friend has had no such discussions.
Work and Pensions
Access to Work Programme
John Barrett: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what percentage of the Access to Work budget was spent on the provision of support workers in each of the last 10 years. [220555]
Mr. Timms [holding answer 21 July 2008]: The information is not available prior to 2007. In 2007 48 per cent. of Access to Work expenditure was on the provision of support workers.
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