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6 Oct 2008 : Column 363W—continued
Regional Planning And Development: South West
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 2 June 2008, whether the Government Office for the South West has issued instructions to local councils to approach local land owners regarding developments in the Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Maltravers area. [224197]
Mr. Khan: The Government office for the south-west has not issued any instructions to local councils in respect of developments in the Lytchett Minster and Lytchett Matravers area.
Rented Housing: Antisocial Behaviour
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families with children have been evicted as a result of anti-social behaviour in each local authority area in each of the last five years. [221795]
Mr. Iain Wright: Social landlords (including local authorities and registered social landlords) can move to evict anti socially behaved families under Ground 2 of the Housing Act 1985 (for secure tenancies) and Ground 14 of the Housing Act 1988 (for assured tenancies), which both provides that social landlords can take possession action against tenants who have been guilty of conduct which has caused a nuisance or annoyance to their neighbours.
The Housing Corporation asks registered social landlords to provide numbers of evictions made during the year, broken down by reason, which includes rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, both or other. This information is not possible to break down at the local authority level, nor is it possible to identify families with children.
CLG has asked local authority landlords in England to submit data on the number of evictions they have made for 2005-06, 2006-07 and, most recently, 2007-08. This includes a breakdown by reason, specifically rent arrears, antisocial behaviour, or both, but it is not possible to identify families with children.
Repossession Orders
Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will bring forward proposals for measures to allow local authorities to raise finance against their assets to purchase homes (a) undergoing and (b) pending repossession by commercial creditors. [224188]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities can already borrow to support capital investment, such as purchasing shares in homes, provided that the interest on such debt is affordable, i.e. that the interest payments can be met from the council’s income.
On 2 September, the Government set out a package of measures to help the housing market. This includes a £200 million mortgage rescue scheme which will bring together local authorities and registered social landlords to prevent repossession for up to 6,000 vulnerable home owners, over the next two years.
Right To Buy Scheme
Mrs. Lait: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will adjust right-to-buy discounts to take account of changes in house prices since 1997. [222716]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government have no plans to change the current maximum Right to Buy discount limits.
South East
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on services, broken down by type in (a) Dartford Borough, (b) Kent Thameside, (c) the Thames Gateway, (d) Kent County Council area and (e) the South East region in each of the last five years. [222453]
John Healey: Information is not held centrally in the form requested. The following information is available, however. Grants paid by Communities and Local Government, and predecessor Departments since 2003-04 were as follows:
| To Dartford borough council | ||||||
| £ million | ||||||
| Programme | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total |
| To Kent county council | ||||||
| £ million | ||||||
| Programme | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | Total |
| (1 )Formula Grant comprises Revenue Support Grant and redistributed business rates. Prior to 2006-07 support for schools was paid through formula grant. In 2006-07 funding for schools transferred to the Dedicated Schools Grant. The amount of formula grant for 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 refers to the amount under the respective Amending Reports for those years. | ||||||
Expenditure by function for the South Eastern region for all Government Departments is published annually in “Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses”. The latest edition was published in April 2008 (HC 489) and includes data for years up to and including 2007-08.
Sportsgrounds: Eltham
Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will make a statement on the future of the Gaelic Sports Ground in Eltham following the High Court judgement to uphold her decision to reject the appeal from Novalong. [224301]
Mr. Iain Wright: In the light of the High Court judgment to uphold the Secretary of State’s decision to dismiss Novalong Ltd.’s appeal, the future of the Gaelic Sports Ground in Eltham is a matter for the site’s owners and the local planning authority, Greenwich borough council.
Stress
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what arrangements her Department has in place to assist officials to overcome the effects of stress experienced in the workplace. [222178]
Mr. Khan: Individual stress risk assessments are completed by line managers and when appropriate, referrals made to our Occupational Health Provider. This allows reasonable adjustments to be made to workloads and the working environment if appropriate.
Taxis
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) her Department and (b) its agencies spent on taxis in the last financial year for which figures are available. [223027]
Mr. Khan: The central Department, including the Government Offices, spent £149,566 on taxi fares in the financial year ended 31 March 2008. The Planning Inspectorate, the Department's sole executive agency, does not record details of taxi fares separately from other travel costs incurred by their inspectors in attending site meetings and hearings and the cost of identifying this information would be disproportionate.
Tenants Rights
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what statutory protection exists for people (a) living in poor conditions and (b) experiencing bullying or harassment from landlords, where those landlords are not registered social landlords. [222527]
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