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24 Feb 2009 : Column 540W—continued
Communities and Local Government
Council Housing: Greater London
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 4 February 2009, Official Report, column 1278W, on council housing: Greater London, what data her Department routinely collects on the number of people (a) on housing waiting lists and (b) in housing need; and if she will make a statement. [256663]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities report summary information about their housing waiting list in Section C of their annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns. The latest available data are at April 2008. These include the total number of households (rather than people) on the housing register and a breakdown of their bedroom requirements. A question was recently added requesting the number of households on the waiting list in any reasonable preference category. Information is collected at local authority level.
A link to the table presenting the number of households on the housing waiting list in each local authority is as follows:
Further information on the number of households on the local authority housing waiting lists for England, including the full HSSA datasets, can be accessed from 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:
Copies of the statistical release and live table have been deposited in the Library.
Not everyone on the waiting list is necessarily in urgent housing need. The waiting list includes those who consider social housing as their preferred or one of a number of housing options, and those who decide to get onto the waiting list ladder before they need or want to move house—particularly where the priority system is heavily based on waiting time. The size of the waiting list is not an indicator of absolute need, it is only useful as a broad indicator of housing demand in an area.
Currently no information is collected on housing need. A new analytical model is currently being developed to improve the Department's capacity to estimate the number and type of households with some form of housing related need.
Council Housing: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people are on local authority housing waiting lists in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire; and what the equivalent figures were (i) five and (ii) 10 years ago. [256490]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information is available on numbers of households rather than people. The number of households registered on local authority housing waiting lists in each local authority, as at 1 April each year, is published on the Communities and Local Government website in Table 600. The latest available data are at April 2008. The link for this table is given as follows:
Local authorities in England report the numbers of households on their housing waiting list as at 1 April in their annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix returns. Hemel Hempstead is included under Dacorum district council. The number of households on local authorities’ waiting lists in Hertfordshire and Dacorum is given in the following table.
| Number of households on the council house waiting list (excludes households looking for transfers) | |||
| April | |||
| 1998 | 2003 | 2008 | |
| Source: Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA). | |||
Further information on the number of households on the local authority housing waiting lists 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:
Copies of the statistical release and live table have been deposited in the Library.
The accuracy of the local authority housing waiting list depends on the extent to which housing authorities keep the register up-to-date, e.g. some households might already have found housing, yet remain on the list. It is also important to bear in mind that not everyone on the waiting list will necessarily be in urgent housing need. It will also include those who consider social housing as their preferred choice, or one of a number of housing options, and those who decide to get onto the waiting list ladder before they need or want to move house—particularly where the priority system is heavily based on waiting time.
Council Housing: Lambeth
Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions the Minister for Housing has had with Lambeth Council on rent increases from 1 April 2009. [255822]
Mr. Iain Wright: No such discussions have taken place. Communities and Local Government issued rent guidelines for each council within the Housing Revenue Account Determination on 18 December. Councils have the discretion to set their own rent levels. They are not set by central Government.
Council Housing: Rents
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will estimate the effect on the change in the level of rents in each local housing authority in 2009-10 if the relevant month for the purpose of including inflation in her Department’s guideline rent increase was (a) October, (b) November and (c) December 2008. [255372]
Mr. Iain Wright: No. Decisions on rent levels are a matter for each local housing authority.
The national average guideline rent increase within the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) subsidy determination for 2009-10, consulted upon in October and issued on 18 December 2008, was based upon Government policy for social rents and on information available at the time, with full consideration of affordability for tenants. It would not be appropriate to estimate in retrospect the possible impact of changing inflation rates on individual guideline rents for local authorities.
Council Tax: Second Homes
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of houses were registered as second homes for council tax purposes in each county in each year since 1997. [256458]
Mr. Iain Wright:
Details of the number of properties registered as second homes for council tax purposes, and the percentage of the total number of homes this
represents, in each county in England since 2004 are given in the following table. Information for previous years is not available.
| November 2004 | October 2005 | October 2006 | October 2007 | October 2008 | ||||||
| Second homes | Percentage of total | Second homes | Percentage of total | Second homes | Percentage of total | Second homes | Percentage of total | Second homes | Percentage of total | |
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