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Local Government Finance

Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will revise her guidance to local authorities on capitalisation in order to allow them to re-profile expenditure for street works and construction projects. [238876]

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John Healey: The Department has no plans to review the guidance in order to allow local authorities to re-profile such expenditure, as these costs are not appropriate for capitalisation.

Local Government: Public Appointments

Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance she issues to local authorities on the appointment by them of non-executive directors; and what requirements there are on local authorities to appoint non-executive directors on the basis of open competition. [240041]

John Healey: Communities and Local Government has not issued any specific guidance on the appointment of non-executive directors to local authorities. Section 112 Local Government Act 1972 says that an authority can appoint such officers as it thinks fit and on such reasonable terms and conditions, including conditions as to remuneration, as the authority appointing him think fit. Section 7 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 states that every appointment of a person to a paid office or employment under a local authority shall be made on merit.

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Minister for the South West

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if the Minister for the South West will assist hon. Members from constituencies in the South West who are experiencing difficulty securing responses to their correspondence with Ministers. [238863]

Mr. Khan: The Regional Minister for the South West has no formal powers with which to assist Members from the South West on this issue.

Mortgages

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the mean (a) mortgage payment and (b) rent payment was in England in each year since 1997, broken down by (i) age of household reference person and (ii) disposable income of household reference person and partner. [226458]

Kitty Ussher: I have been asked to reply.

The available data are provided in the following tables.

Table 1: Mean weekly mortgage( 1) payments for mortgaged households, by age of household reference person( 2) (£)
	Age of household reference person
	16 to 25	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 plus	All
1997-98	62	81	81	72	54	35	74
1998-99	71	88	89	79	62	36	81
1999-2000	66	85	89	76	58	36	79
2000-01	76	98	100	84	62	43	89
2001-02	82	103	102	87	69	39	93
2002-03	80	103	106	87	66	37	93
2003-04	84	104	107	93	77	46	97
2004-05	99	121	126	103	80	43	110
2005-06	116	134	133	117	92	56	121
2006-07	129	146	143	125	101	62	131
Source: Family Resources Survey

Table 2: Mean weekly rent( 3) for private tenancy households, by age of household reference person( 2) (£)
	Age of household reference person
	16 to 25	25 to 34	35 to 44	45 to 54	55 to 64	65 and over	All
1997-98	94	88	108	95	80	54	89
1998-99	102	100	101	94	71	58	94
1999-2000	105	102	92	89	72	58	93
2000-01	106	106	100	92	83	56	97
2001-02	121	125	117	103	83	65	112
2002-03	128	122	113	101	89	69	113
2003-04	128	133	127	119	105	66	123
2004-05	131	134	127	123	98	80	124
2005-06	127	142	136	119	103	75	128
2006-07	146	146	133	131	117	91	136
Source: Family Resources Survey

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Table 3: Mean weekly mortgage payments( 1) for mortgaged households, by weekly income of household reference person( 4) (£)
	Weekly net income
	Under £200	£200 to under £400	£400 to under £600	£600 to under £800	£800 and over	All
1997-98	54	57	75	103	147	74
1998-99	54	62	80	105	158	81
1999-2000	50	60	79	101	144	79
2000-01	54	65	85	106	163	89
2001-02	62	64	82	108	169	93
2002-03	58	63	82	106	166	93
2003-04	64	67	86	111	160	97
2004-05	77	74	96	121	181	110
2005-06	88	82	102	129	190	121
2006-07	88	86	110	137	203	131
Source: Family Resources Survey

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