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3 Feb 2009 : Column 1140W—continued
Revenue expenditure on transport is generally supported through the Department for Communities and Local Government’s formula grant.
The Department spends funds on the strategic road network through the Highways Agency (HA). The HA’s reporting systems do not record actual expenditure for local authority areas; expenditure is recorded by project and activity. Estimates are compiled for regional expenditure to supplement data reported in the Department’s annual report.
Likewise, funding for other transport projects in England, such as rail projects, is not available on the basis of local authority boundaries.
Communities and Local Government
Compulsory Purchase
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for the Vale of Clwyd of 15 December 2008, Official Report, column 360W, on compulsory purchase, (1) how many compulsory purchase orders have been submitted for land for traveller sites since 2006, according to the casework management database; and how many have been (a) upheld and (b) rejected; [251903]
(2) how many years' data are held on the casework management database on compulsory purchase orders; and whether it contains data in respect of the whole of England. [251904]
Mr. Iain Wright: The casework management database contains basic information from 2004-05 about Housing and Planning CPOs for England submitted to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for confirmation such as the number of cases dealt with, the number opposed or unopposed, the number confirmed or refused and the CPO power used. It holds similar data about CPOs made by regional development agencies and the former English Partnerships. However, the database is not able to identify whether a CPO had been made for the purposes of acquiring land for a travellers' site.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what categories of records (a) her Department, (b) the Planning Inspectorate and (c) Government regional offices hold on compulsory purchases of land since 2006. [251910]
Mr. Iain Wright: For compulsory purchase orders submitted for confirmation to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government since 2006, the Department holds correspondence on some cases that were dealt with by the Government offices for the regions (GORs). The Planning Inspectorate holds basic information on CPOs for casework management purposes along with electronic copies of Inspectors' reports. The GORs have retained their casework files or electronic records.
Council Housing: Sales
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many completed Social HomeBuy transactions there had been at the latest date for which figures are available. [252305]
Mr. Iain Wright: Social HomeBuy is a voluntary demand-led scheme introduced in April 2006. The scheme enables tenants of participating local authorities and housing associations to buy a minimum 25 per cent. share up to 100 per cent. in their rented home at a discount. Up to the end of December 2008, over 290 households have taken up this opportunity to access home ownership and stay in their communities, including those tenants who did not previously have an opportunity to purchase their current home.
Social HomeBuy is one of a suite of options designed to help people to buy a home. Since 1997 the Government have helped more than 110,000 households into home ownership through shared ownership and shared equity schemes, with social tenants having first priority.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of households to be assisted under the Rent to HomeBuy scheme in each year; and how much funding has been allocated to the scheme in 2008-09. [252458]
Mr. Iain Wright: Rent to HomeBuy is a demand-led scheme aimed at addressing current market conditions. The Government have not set any specific targets for the number of households to be assisted or any limit on the number of homes that will be funded. Our aspiration is to help 75,000 households into low cost home ownership by 2010-11, including through Rent to HomeBuy.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been sold under each HomeBuy scheme in each month since their commencement. [252503]
Mr. Iain Wright: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne) today to PQs 251709, 251710, 251711 and 251712, which provides some of the information requested. Also, in response to the hon. Member's question which was answered on 30 October 2008, Official Report, column 1270W, tables have been deposited in the Library of the House which show completions by month and location local authority for each HomeBuy scheme in 2006-07 and 2007-08 through the Housing Corporation's Affordable Housing programme.
Demolition
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under what circumstances planning permission is required to demolish a building. [252288]
Mr. Iain Wright: The demolition of buildings constituting development is permitted development under Part 31 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995, so planning permission is not generally required. Permitted development rights do not apply where a building has become unsafe or otherwise uninhabitable by deliberate action or neglect by the owner, so planning permission is necessary in such circumstances. Where the demolition of a building is required as part of a redevelopment for which planning permission is sought, details of the demolition should be included in the planning application, and any planning permission granted for the development should include permission to demolish the building. The demolition of listed buildings, buildings in conservation areas, and buildings designated as scheduled monuments, is not classed as development but is subject to consent under separate consent regimes.
Departmental Accountancy
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons there is an entry for Overtime Ministers in her Department's Chart of Accounts 2008-09. [251790]
Mr. Khan: The account was created when the accounting system was implemented, but it is not in use.
Departmental Buildings
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on works and refurbishment to offices allocated to Ministers in departmental buildings in the last 12 months. [252368]
Mr. Khan: Expenditure from 1 January 2008 to date has been £7,257.60. During this period further works to the value of £7,705.52 have been undertaken, for which we await invoices.
Departmental Expenditure Limit
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the written ministerial statement of 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 52-7WS, on the departmental expenditure limit (2008-09), to what types of data transfer the transfer of £1 million from the local government online programme to the Department for Work and Pensions is related. [252148]
Mr. Khan: The £1 million was transferred from the local government online programme to support the roll-out of the Government Connect Secure Extranet (GCSx), as part of a financial arrangement between CLG and DWP, following the transfer of the Government Connect programme to DWP in April 2008.
GCSx is intended to provide the technical platform to enable the transfer of secure interactions such as housing and council tax benefit processing between local authorities and central Government Departments.
Departmental Information Officers
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 29 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1139-40W, on departmental information officers, if she will place in the Library a copy of each of the media summaries produced by her Department from the last week for which copies are available. [252799]
Mr. Khan: The media summaries referred to in the previous answer to the parliamentary question by the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) comprise short, informal notes of relevant press coverage of the day, which are designed for internal departmental purposes and circulated by e-mail only. There are therefore no plans to place copies in the Library.
Departmental Manpower
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her plans are for the number of staff employed by her Department in the next three years. [251793]
Mr. Khan: Our overall administration budget, from which most but not all of our staff are funded, is falling by 5 per cent. real year on year. We aim to maximise the efficiency with which we deploy our resources, and in doing so we would expect some reduction in staff numbers in the years ahead.
Departmental Mass Media
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 29 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1139-40W, on departmental information officers, which external newspaper cutting and broadcast monitoring services her Department subscribes to; and at what cost in the last 12 months. [252801]
Mr. Khan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for South-West Surrey (Mr. Hunt) on 29 October 2008, Official Report, columns 1140-41W.
Departmental Pay
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether staff in her Department’s division handling eco-towns have received bonus payments in the last 24 months. [252785]
Mr. Khan: Given the small number of staff in the division running the eco-towns programme, it would be a breach of confidentiality and therefore inappropriate to give details.
Derelict Land
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many hectares of derelict land and buildings there were in each Government Office region according to the National Land Use database in the most recent year for which figures are available. [251911]
Mr. Iain Wright: The amount of derelict land and buildings in each region in England for 2007 can be found in table 14.1.2 of the publication “Previously-developed land that may be available for Development: England 2007”.
Disabled Facilities Grants: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many payments her Department made to Castle Point borough council under the Disabled Facilities Grant scheme in each of the last five years; and how much was spent on such payments in each of those years. [251057]
Mr. Iain Wright: Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) is a mandatory grant used to provide adaptations to the homes of disabled people. Local authorities in England report their annual Disabled Facilities Grant number of recipients to Communities and Local Government through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA). Information for 2003-04 to 2007-08 is provided in the following table. The following table sets out the numbers and Government allocation of disabled facilities grant for Castle Point borough council:
| Number of grant recipients | £ | |
Eco-Towns
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire, of 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 948W, on eco-towns, which Minister took the decision to make the payment to Shelter to fund the document on eco-towns. [252715]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 20 November 2008, Official Report, column 760W.
Energy Performance Certificates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether a property with a power shower is capable of achieving Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. [252301]
Mr. Iain Wright: It is possible to have a power shower in a code level 6 home. The Code for Sustainable Homes is outcome based; it does not specify particular technologies or solutions. A code level 6 home must achieve a projected average water consumption of 80 litres per person per day, which is assessed through the code water calculator methodology. This approach allows greater flexibility for the designer as it enables them to decide which fixtures and solutions to use to achieve this target in each location.
Fire Services: First Aid
Mrs. Maria Miller:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many fire authorities participate in co-responding schemes
enabling firefighters to administer first aid emergency treatment. [253748]
Mr. Khan: At the end of 2007, the latest period for which we have verified figures, there were 18 fire and rescue services in England running co-responding schemes.
Green Belt
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer of 25 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1267-8W, on greenbelt, if she will publish the attached table referred to. [252166]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table has been provided.
| Land changing to developed use( 1) within designated 1997 Green Belt, by Region, 1996 to 2003 | ||||||||
| Hectares | ||||||||
| Government o ffice r egion | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999( 2) | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| (1) Includes sites changing from one developed use to another, as well as those changing from undeveloped to developed uses. (2) Estimates from 1999 are considered to be not robust, hence absolute numbers are not provided. Notes: 1. The data in the table above are based on records received from Ordnance Survey up to June 2007. 2. There is a time-lag between land use change occurring and it being recorded, because some changes can take a few years to be recorded, therefore data are constantly being updated. Please see LUCS Guidance 3.2 for more information. 3. This table shows sites that are within land designated as Green Belt in 1997 irrespective of whether or not the land was designated as Green Belt at the time of change. | ||||||||
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