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28 Jan 2009 : Column 634W—continued

Fire Services

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the Answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 17 November 2008, Official Report, column 125W, on fire services, whether (a) her Department and (b) Firebuy holds a copy of the minutes of meetings of the FireGuard Project Board. [252216]


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Mr. Khan: Firebuy, the national procurement body for the English Fire and Rescue Service, undertook the procurement process for the Fireguard project at the request of 33 fire and rescue authorities, led by the Chief Fire Officers Association. As a consequence, Firebuy was represented on the board, and received minutes of its meetings produced and distributed by the Chief Fire Officers Association.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 4 November 2008, Official Report, column 340W, on fire services, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the level of fire and rescue authority participation in the project; and what arrangements for emergency fire cover there are in the event of a (a) local and (b) national fire service strike. [252328]

Mr. Khan: The Department has not made any assessment of the reasons for the level of fire and rescue authority participation in the Fireguard project. The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 lays down duties for specified ‘Category 1 responders’, including fire and rescue authorities, to assess, plan and advise in relation to emergencies. For a fire and rescue authority, an emergency includes a period of industrial action.

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 16 July 2008, Official Report, column 487W, on fire services, if she will place in the Library a copy of the full research report. [252429]

Mr. Khan: The full research report cannot be disclosed as it is internal advice for the purposes of assisting the development of policy. A summary of the research has already been placed in the Library.

Fire Services: Industrial Disputes

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent guidance her Department has given to fire and rescue authorities on whether private contractors (a) can and (b) should cross picket lines in the event of a strike in order to utilise fire equipment and appliances owned by fire and rescue authorities. [252182]

Mr. Khan: The Department has not issued advice to fire and rescue authorities on these matters.

Fire Services: Military Aid

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the armed forces will provide emergency fire cover in the event of (a) a local and (b) a national fire strike, with reference to the FireGuard project. [252179]

Mr. Khan: The 2003 White Paper “Our Fire and Rescue Service”, made it clear that no party should proceed on the basis that the armed forces will be available to provide emergency cover in the event of industrial action.


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Fire Services: Vaccination

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what arrangements are in place to provide antiviral medicines to firefighters in the event of an influenza pandemic. [252281]

Mr. Khan: There are no specific arrangements for distributing antiviral drugs to fire fighters during an influenza pandemic. The Secretary of State for Health announced that the Government would be increasing the antiviral stockpile to meet the needs of 50 per cent. of the population, so that there would be an antiviral course available for every person infected during a pandemic, even in the UK’s reasonable worst-case scenario.

FiReBuy

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the Gateway Review of the Firebuy integrated clothing project was completed; and what the outcomes of that review were. [251860]

Mr. Khan: The Stage 3 Gateway Review on the Firebuy integrated clothing project was completed on 1 August 2007. It is not general practice to make available the outcome of Gateway Reviews.

FiReBuy: Pay

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what remuneration each board member of Firebuy receives. [252082]

Mr. Khan: The chair of Firebuy Ltd. Receives £22,000 per annum for 11 days per month. Each of the other six board members receives £4,000 per annum for two days per month.

FireGuard

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether (a) her Department and (b) its agencies were represented on the board of FireGuard. [252184]

Mr. Khan: Firebuy, the national procurement body for the English Fire and Rescue Service, undertook the procurement process for the Fireguard project at the request of 33 fire and rescue authorities, led by the Chief Fire Officers Association. As a consequence, it was represented on the Fireguard Board. The Department itself was not represented.

Green Belt: Windsor and Maidenhead

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what (a) representations and (b) instructions the Government Office for the South East has given to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead on the review of its Green Belt as part of its Local Development Framework. [252300]


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Mr. Iain Wright: The Government Office for the South East (GOSE) made representations on the Preferred Options (9 March 2006) and Submission (15 December 2006) versions of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s Core Strategy.

At the Preferred Options (9 March 2006) stage it commented:

GOSE also sought clarification as to whether proposed policies CS19 and CS27 were intended to diverge from national policy in Planning Policy Guidance Note 2 “Green Belts”, and if so what the reasoning for this was.

GOSE’s representations on the Submission Core Strategy (15 December 2006), included the following:

GOSE has not given the Council any instructions on the review of its Green Belt as part of its Local Development Framework.

Home Information Packs

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 952W, into home information packs, if she will undertake research on the typical maximum period within which a local authority search in a home information pack will be accepted as valid by a mortgage lender. [251959]

Mr. Iain Wright: On 8 December my right hon. Friend the Housing Minister (Margaret Beckett), announced that she had asked Ted Beardsall (ex-deputy director of the Land Registry) to convene a working group to consider local property searches. This group will consist of industry and consumer representatives and will consider consumers needs, utility and presentation of existing property searches information within home information packs. A representative from the Council of Mortgage Lenders has agreed to join this group.

Homebuy Scheme

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to extend the opportunities for social tenants to purchase and part-purchase their homes; and whether Social Homebuy remains a pilot scheme. [251816]

Mr. Iain Wright: As announced by the Government in December 2007, Social HomeBuy is continuing as a voluntary scheme to increase opportunities for social housing tenants to access home ownership following the ending of the pilot period on 31 March 2008.


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Social tenants are also able to purchase their rented homes through the Right to Buy or Right to Acquire schemes and have priority access to the HomeBuy products.

Homelessness: Hampshire

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homelessness applications were made in (a) Test Valley borough, (b) the ceremonial county of Hampshire and (c) Southampton city in each of the last three years. [251095]

Mr. Iain Wright: Information about local authorities’ actions under homelessness legislation is collected by the Department. Authorities provide data on the number of applications for housing assistance (including those by ineligible households), as well as the number of households who are accepted by local authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty.

Figures are collected at local authority level. The following table shows the number of applicants who have applied for housing assistance in each local authority within the ceremonial county of Hampshire (which includes Test Valley borough and Southampton city council).

Applications for housing assistance under homelessness legislation in local authorities within Hampshire (including ineligible households)—2005-06 to 2007-08

2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Basingstoke and Deane

166

135

54

East Hampshire

259

193

80

Eastleigh

175

127

123

Fareham

177

82

68

Gosport

359

286

192

Hart

16

12

Havant

816

769

672

New Forest

155

188

179

Portsmouth

954

470

456

Rushmoor

44

51

40

Southampton

705

450

265

Test Valley

135

50

30

Winchester

47

46

‘—’= Data not reported

Housing: Regeneration

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the most recent demolition output targets are for each housing market renewal pathfinder. [251824]

Mr. Iain Wright: The following table summarises the main demolition output targets agreed by HMR partnerships in their funding agreements with DCLG for 2008-09.


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HMR Partnership Demolition 2008-09

Birmingham/Sandwell

157

East Lancashire

365

Hull and East Riding

241

Manchester Salford

648

Merseyside

563

Newcastle Gateshead

400

North Staffordshire

500

Oldham Rochdale

174

South Yorkshire

572

Tees Valley

74

West Cumbria

0

Total

3,694


Interreg Programme

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which European Union Interreg (a) IVA, (b) IVB and (c) IVC projects have been approved for implementation in the United Kingdom to date. [251862]

Mr. Khan: This information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.


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