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20 Jan 2009 : Column 1275W—continued
Mid-year rough sleeping estimates have been published annually since 1998, and give a snapshot of the number of people sleeping rough on a single night, based on local authority street counts in those areas where there is a known or suspected rough sleeping problem. Rough sleeping estimates for Eastbourne borough council are shown in the following table.
| Number of rough sleepers in Eastbourne borough council (mid-year estimate) | |
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless (a) children and (b) adults in the Eastbourne Borough Council area were placed in temporary accommodation in each of the last five years. [248830]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about English local authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level, about households rather than individuals.
Data collected includes the number of households 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). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Information on the number of households housed in temporary accommodation is reported quarterly by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter. The figures include: those households which have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty; those for which inquiries are pending; those being accommodated for a limited period because they have been found intentionally homeless and in priority need; those being accommodated pending possible referral to another authority, and those being accommodated pending the outcome of a local authority review or county court appeal.
The number of dependent children (or expected children) in these households is also collected, but data on the number of adults is not. Figures for total households, households with dependent children and total children reported by the Eastbourne borough council over the last five years are shown in the following table.
| Households, households with children, and children in temporary accommodation, as at end March each year | |||
| Total households in TA arranged by local authority | Total households in TA arranged with dependent (and expected) children | Total children (and expected children) within these households( 1) | |
| (1) Children in TA was not collect until the 2(nd) quarter 2004. | |||
Homes and Communities Agency
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the expected running cost of the Homes and Communities Agency will be in (a) 2008-09 and (b) each of the two subsequent years; how many staff the Agency will employ; how many staff will work on cohesion-related issues; and if she will make a statement. [245525]
Mr. Iain Wright: The forecast full year running costs for the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) in 2008-09, and planned budgets for 2009-10 and 2010-11, are £86 million per annum; in addition £4 million is being provided to the HCA in 2009-10 for transitional costs. The HCA has 789 permanent staff (‘full-time equivalent’) currently in post plus 30 staff on secondment to the HCA from my Department, from an establishment of 972 (‘full-time equivalent’). It is not possible, however, to provide an estimate of the number of HCA staff working on cohesion-related issues, as many staff working on housing and regeneration will address cohesion-related issues to some extent in their work as part of the mainstreaming of cohesion into discussions with local partners.
Local Government: Mortgages
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will enable local authorities to advance loans to first-time buyers in the mortgage market. [249475]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities have existing powers under the Housing Act 1985 to advance loans to people for the purpose of acquiring, constructing or improving a house.
Local Government: VAT
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of local authorities which have adjusted their relevant charges in order to pass on the temporary reduction in value added tax. [249453]
John Healey: We do not collect this information centrally.
London Pensions Fund Authority: Finance
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the annual administration costs of the London Pensions Fund Authority are. [245991]
John Healey: On the basis of annual statistical returns made by the London Pension Fund Authority, in 2007-08, £14,404,000 was charged to the Authority’s fund to cover the cost of scheme administration.
Non-domestic Rates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether automated valuation model techniques are to be utilised in the proposed business rates revaluation in 2010. [245987]
John Healey: Automated analytical techniques have been used to a limited extent to assist Valuation Office Agency staff with preparatory work for the 2010 non-domestic rating revaluation. All final valuations are produced by Valuation Office staff.
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Tribunal Service has a non-domestic rates manual equivalent to that which it has regarding council tax. [246381]
John Healey: The Valuation Tribunal Service does not have its own non-domestic rates manual, instead it subscribes to, and uses as its reference work for national non-domestic rating, the commercial publication “Ryde on Rating and the Council Tax” published by Lexis Nexis, ISBN 978-1-4057-3119-5.
Non-domestic Rates: Business
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she expects the 2010 business rates revaluation to be revenue-neutral. [246546]
John Healey: We expect the 2010 business rate revaluation to be revenue-neutral in real terms. The overall national multiplier is reset to ensure the total yield from business rates is unaffected by the revaluation.
Non-domestic Rates: Empty Property
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under what circumstances automated teller machines are liable for empty property business rates. [246388]
John Healey: An automatic teller machine (ATM) located within a property, which forms part of that operator’s usual business and is controlled by that business, such as an ATM within a bank, is not separately assessed for rates. However, an ATM can be a separately assessed hereditament for rates where it is located in a property and does not form part of that operator’s usual businesses and the operator does not have paramount control over the ATM, such as an ATM at a garage shop.
Any separately assessed hereditament consisting of, or of part of, any building, together with any land ordinarily used or intended for use for the purposes of the building, or part, it may be liable for empty property rates.
Non-domestic Rates: Greater London
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 30 October 2008, Official Report, column 1284W, on non-domestic rates: valuation, how many sub-locations there are in each billing authority in Greater London. [246945]
John Healey: The number of sub-location codes in use in each billing authority in Greater London is provided in the following table. Further analysis would not be possible except at disproportionate cost.
| Sub-location codes in London as at December 2008 | |
| Billing authority | 2005 rating lists |
Social Rented Housing: Construction
Lorely Burt: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many social rented homes she expects to be built in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010; and whether such homes will be built to Code Level Three. [247837]
Mr. Iain Wright: We remain committed to a substantial increase in social housing. Our aspiration is to deliver 45,000 homes a year by 2010-11. This is still some time away and it remains too early, given current market conditions, to predict outputs in that year with certainty.
We are committed to ensuring that all homes are built to the highest levels of sustainability and as such we are increasing the energy efficiency standards set out in Part L of the Building Regulations and introducing the water efficiency into Part G. In addition, one of the requirements for grant funding through the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) Affordable Housing programme is that they should be built to Code level 3 as set out in their Design and Quality Strategy published in April 2007.
The HCA is currently considering how to harmonise the standards and commitments made by English Partnerships and Housing Corporation prior to the establishment of the HCA and will, subject to a cost-benefit analysis, confirm the timetable for building to higher levels of the code in due course.
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