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4 Feb 2009 : Column 1299W—continued
(t) The Partnership Support Programme is now discontinued.
(u) The Target Policing Initiative is now discontinued.
(v) The Government office for the north-west administers no funds in respect of prostitution.
(w) The Violence Against Women programme is now discontinued, but Sefton has been allocated £20,000 this year in respect of independent domestic violence advisers.
Regional Planning and Development: Castle Point
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) sites and (b) hectares of land were (i) available and (ii) potentially suitable for development in Castle Point constituency at the latest date for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [250053]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Secretary of State for Communities does not hold information for how many sites and hectares of land were available and potentially suitable for development in the Castle Point constituency. This information would be available from the local authority.
Regional Planning and Development: South West
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which Minister is responsible for overseeing the progress of the south- west regional spatial strategy. [253652]
Mr. Iain Wright: The decision-making Minister with responsibility for overseeing the progress of the south-west regional spatial strategy is Baroness Andrews.
Rented Housing: Hampshire
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many families in Hampshire were tenants of (a) council, (b) housing association and (c) privately-owned accommodation allocated by local authorities (i) in 2006-07, (ii) in 2007-08 and (iii) at the latest date for which figures are available. [251094]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information is collected at household level rather than by family. Local authorities in England report information for numbers of local authority owned (council) dwellings as at 1 April in their annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns.
Table 1 as follows provides estimates for numbers of local authority owned dwellings in Hampshire for (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. The most recent figures are for 2008.
| Table 1: Local authority stock by Hampshire district (at 1 April) | ||
| Local authority | 2007 | 2008 |
Further information on the number of local authority owned (council) dwellings for England, can be found in the statistical release “Local Authority Housing Statistics England: 2007-08: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) and Business Plan Statistical Appendix (BPSA)” This was published on 22 January 2009 on the Communities and Local Government website at:
This information is also published on the Communities and Local Government website in Table 116. Copies of the statistical release and live table have already been deposited in the Library.
Information for the number of dwellings owned by housing associations has been collected by the Tenants Service Authority (formerly the Housing Corporation), via their annual Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR). Table 2 as follows provides estimates for numbers of
Registered Social Landlord (RSL) owned dwellings in Hampshire for (i) 2007 and (ii) 2008. The most recent figures are for 2008.
| Table 2: Registered social landlord owned stock by Hampshire district (at 31 March) | ||
| Local authority | 2007 | 2008 |
Information for households housed in privately owned accommodation allocated by local authorities is not collected centrally.
Lettings Market: South West
Mr. Breed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of trends in the (a) residential and (b) business lettings market in South West England. [253433]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information on residential and business lettings is not available. However, estimates of the total number of households in private rented accommodation in South West England from 2003 to 2008 are set out in the following table. These estimates are based on data from the ONS Labour Force Survey.
| Private rented households in the Government Office Region for the South West, 2003 to 2008 | |
| Number of households (thousand) | |
| Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey | |
Rising to the Challenge
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what response she plans to make to the Audit Commission's recent report Rising to the Challenge. [253475]
Mr. Khan: The Government welcomed the Audit Commission's report when it was published last month. We supported the Commission's main findings and agreed there was more to be done to achieve efficiency savings on top of the £197.3 million the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) made between 2004 and 2008 against a target of £105 million.
The Department for Communities and Local Government will work with the FRS and other stakeholders
to address the performance issues identified by the Commission. The Fire and Rescue National Framework, published last year, already seeks delivery of a challenging efficiency target and improved performance on equality and diversity by the FRS and we are working with the service to deliver these objectives.
Of the points which the Commission addressed specifically to central Government, we are already taking action on its recommendations that we should:
actively publicise those FRSs delivering all elements of modernisation, including efficiency, and encourage those with furthest to travel;
implement agreed proposals for developing operational guidance with the Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor and other stakeholders;
advocate the role the fire service can play in achieving community outcomes to other services;
publish data on efficiency savings by FRSs;
provide leadership and guidance on equality and diversity issues and the development of an organisational culture that embraces equality and diversity.
We are considering appropriate further action, including the Commission's recommendation that we should:
review the role of regional management boards and their place in the improvement infrastructure; then define and communicate its expectations of them and their potential value to FRAS.
Social Services
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vulnerable (a) adults and (b) children have been placed out-of-area in each year since 2005; and which were the most common destinations for such placements in each year. [253614]
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, about households rather than individuals.
Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need (i.e. including dependent children, an expectant mother, or someone who is vulnerable in some way), 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.
Data collected include the number of households living in temporary accommodation pursuant to a homelessness duty at the end of each quarter, and the number of these where the accommodation was located outside the district of the placing local authority. The figures reported by each authority over the last three years, as at the last day of each year, are provided in a table which has been placed in the Library. These data are available at household level only — the number of adults and children living in temporary accommodation located outside the placing district is not held centrally.
Information on the location of temporary accommodation provided outside the placing authority’s district is also not held centrally.
Supporting People Programme
Sir Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations her Department has received on the future of the Supporting People initiative. [250476]
Mr. Iain Wright: The decision about the future of the Supporting People programme that was announced on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 90WS, was made following the evaluation of a pilot process with fifteen Pathfinder local authorities and also took into account consultation with a range of partners. This consultation included discussions at the Supporting People Sounding Board and Expert Reference Group and specific conversations with the Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
In addition to discussions at conferences and stakeholder groups since the Pathfinder process was announced in 2007, the views of a small sample of service users were also submitted and those of more than 400 Supporting People provider organisations were captured in an independent survey and report. A summary of this report can be found on the Department’s website at:
The Department also received and considered written submissions from:
Sitra (an umbrella body for providers of supported housing)
Homeless Link
The National Housing Federation
Special Needs Housing Association Group
Tenants Rights
Dr. Desmond Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications have been made in the county courts in relation to tenancy deposit protection; and how many such applications resulted in fines in each of the last 12 months. [253280]
Bridget Prentice: I have been asked to reply.
The Ministry of Justice does not hold any statistical information about county court applications relating specifically to tenancy deposit protection.
This is because the administrative computer systems used in the county courts do not presently identify this specific application type. While the relevant cases will be logged on the system, they cannot be distinguished from other types of claims issued. Changing the administrative systems to create a specific case type for tenancy deposit protection cases would incur disproportionate cost.
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