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20 Nov 2008 : Column 759W—continued
Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) are providing organisational support and facilitation in the delivery of theme-based and regional workshops, hosting an e-forum and developing narratives. This contract will be concluded towards the latter stages of the Review and will be under £100,000 in total;
GFK-NOP - Research into tenants' attitudes towards Council Housing Finance and Rents Policy - £28,898;
Professor Steve Wilcox - Analysis of Rents - £18,500;
Sharp Research Services - Processing of Tenant Questionnaire - £8,550;
Tribal Consulting - Analysis of Debt Options - £16,400;
David Hall and Professor Michael Jones, CLG Expert Panel - Analysis of Evidence Gaps - £14,687;
Wave 9 of the Housing Corporation Residents' Panel Survey - £11,900;
Sheffield City Council has seconded a member of staff for up to 3.5 days per week to lead on two of the four workstreams in the Review;
In terms of (c) the housing reform green paper:
Ipsos MORI- Omnibus survey module aimed at lower income groups- £121,575;
Ipsos MORI - The housing choices of low income groups, and attitudes and experiences towards different types of housing advice, support and provisions - £41,400;
Sarah Monk and Anne Green, CLG expert panel - Review of existing data on attitudes to housing and the social housing Sector- £9,700;
Danny Dorling and Alex Marsh - CLG expert panel- Discussions on demographic and future challenges linked to the Housing Green Paper- £2,900;
Ken Gibb, CLG expert panel - Support to the Housing Green Paper Modelling Workstream- £3,000;
The CIH have developed and are managing an e-forum to allow stakeholders and members of the public including tenants to debate housing reform - £2,000. This amount is included within the wider contract with the CIH on the housing finance review (listed above).
All costs are exclusive of VAT.
Council Tax: Fraud
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate the Audit Commission has made under the National Fraud Initiative of the (a) level and (b) number of fraudulent claims of council tax discounts. [236085]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 3 November 2008, Official Report, columns 125-26W.
Deprivation Indicators
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will list in descending order the (a) current and (b) previous rankings of all lower super output areas (LSOA) in the principal seaside towns in the top 15 per cent. most deprived LSOA areas, giving the (i) local authority, (ii) seaside town, (iii) LSOA code and (iv) LSOA ward in each case. [237667]
John Healey: A table has been deposited in the Library of the House that lists the lower super output area (LSOAs) in the principal seaside towns which falls within the 15 per cent. most deprived on the Index of Multiple Deprivation for 2004 and 2007.
Eco-towns: Shelter
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 3 November 2008, Official Report, column 122W, on eco-towns (1) how much funding has been (a) provided and (b) allocated for future financial years to Shelter in relation to work on eco-towns; [236018]
(2) on what grounds her Department decided to give funding to Shelter; and whether the decision to provide such funding was made by a Minister. [236019]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have committed £166,000 + VAT to Shelter in relation to their project on eco-towns. The funding has been provided for this specific project only and at this stage there are no plans for further funding to Shelter in future financial years in relation to eco-towns. This project was supported by the then Housing Minister, my right hon. Friend for Don Valley (Caroline Flint).
We agreed to provide funding to Shelter to assist them with this project on the basis of a proposal that they put to the Department to produce publications to provide information about the housing situation in and around potential eco-town locations, with associated dissemination, so that people are able to make an informed input to decisions about whether an eco-town should go ahead. Any views expressed in the document are those of the authors and not my Department.
Energy Performance Certificates
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of energy performance certificates in encouraging homeowners to improve levels of domestic energy efficiency. [236727]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department will commission research to assess the effectiveness of energy performance certificates, including the extent to which recommendations are followed up, early in the new year.
Government Offices National Indicator Analysis Tool
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) purpose and (b) specification of her Department’s Government Offices National Indicator Analysis Tool scoping project is. [235874]
John Healey: The purpose of the national indicator analysis tool is to drive the performance management of the national indicators (NIs) and local area agreement (LAA) targets.
The specification of this stage of work is to work with the Government Office and LSP potential users of this tool to understand better their requirements and to provide advice and an options appraisal on how best to deliver the requirement.
Home Ownership Incentive Schemes
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much local authority stock was sold under the Right to Buy scheme in each year since 1997. [234925]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the number of local authority right to buy sales in England for each year since 1997-98.
| Local authority right to buy sales | |
| Source: Quarterly P1B returns from local authorities. | |
Homelessness
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce levels of (a) street and (b) youth homelessness. [237206]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have long recognised that the most visible form of homelessness is that of people sleeping on the streets. In 1998 the then Prime Minister set a target that by 2002 the number of rough sleepers should be reduced by at least two thirds. The target was met ahead of time and is being sustained. On 18 November we launched a new strategy “No One Left Out: communities ending rough sleeping”, in which we stated our vision to end rough sleeping once and for all by 2012. The strategy includes a 15 point action plan which has been developed with leading rough sleeping charities and will use action, advice and assistance across England to prevent the flow of people onto the streets, as well as to support those already there to get off the streets into stability.
In November 2006 the Government announced a package of measures to prevent and tackle youth homelessness. Alongside this we made a commitment that by 2010, no 16 or 17-year-olds should be placed in bed and breakfast accommodation by a local authority under the homelessness legislation, except in an emergency. Since then we have seen a dramatic fall from an estimated baseline of 1,000 in September 2006 to 420 at the end of June this year.
We have improved access to homelessness mediation across the country (including family mediation for young people) and have helped local authorities establish supported lodgings schemes across the country, providing accommodation, advice and mediation services for young people who can no longer stay in the family home.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps the Government has taken to promote services available to people who are homeless. [237208]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have allocated £200 million to local authorities and voluntary organisations over the next three years to support their strategies for tackling and preventing homelessness in their areas—the biggest cash injection for homelessness services. It is for local authorities to determine how they promote homelessness services that best serve their communities.
We also invested £90 million capital funding in 2005-08, to improve hostels and day centres used by rough sleepers so they can move into education and employment and make the transition from the street to a settled home. A further £80 million capital funding has been allocated through our Places of Change Programme to work in partnership with voluntary organisations to build on the success of improving hostels and day centres.
We provide £2.5 million funding to the National Homelessness Advice Service which is a partnership between Citizens Advice and Shelter, to ensure high quality advice on homelessness prevention through the network of participating Citizens Advice Bureaux and other voluntary agencies across England.
In September we announced a £200 million mortgage rescue scheme, which will help up to 6,000 of the most vulnerable households facing repossession over the next two years. The scheme will be launched very shortly.
Homelessness: Cornwall
Matthew Taylor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people have been recorded as homeless in (a) Cornwall, (b) the South West and (c) each
parliamentary constituency in Cornwall since 1979. [235194]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include all decisions made on applications by eligible applicants, and the number of applicants 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). These households are known as ‘accepted’ households. If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available. Information on acceptances and number of households in temporary accommodation at local authority level is available from 1997-98 onwards.
Figures at parliamentary constituency level are not held centrally. A table summarising homelessness figures for the South West region and each local authority within Cornwall, for the past 10 years, including (a) the total number of households accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and (b) the total number of households in temporary accommodation are provided as follows:
| Table A: Number of households in local authorities within Cornwall accepted( 1) as owed a main homelessness duty during the year, 1997-98 to 2007-08 | |||||||||||
| Cornwall | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| (1) Households eligible under homelessness legislation, found to be unintentionally homeless and in a priority need category, and consequently owed a main homelessness duty. (2) Data not reported. (3) Regional figures are rounded to the nearest 10. | |||||||||||
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