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24 Feb 2009 : Column 544W—continued
The data are from a snapshot taken each year and are as recorded by each local authority in Council Tax Base returns submitted annually.
Departmental Databases
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost of maintaining the databases owned and managed by (a) her Department and (b) its agencies was in (i) 2006, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008. [256149]
Mr. Khan: A full answer to the question could be given only at disproportionate cost. However I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 2 November 2006, Official Report, column 619W.
Empty Dwelling Management Orders
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty dwelling management orders have been issued since the Housing Act 2004 came into force. [256651]
Mr. Iain Wright: To date, 17 Interim Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) have been approved by the Residential Property Tribunal Service (RPTS) since the legislation came into effect in April 2006. However, local authorities claim that in many cases the threat of an EDMO has been sufficient to make owners take action to bring long-term empty homes back into use.
We are confident that the legislation is beginning to work well. We always intended that the legislation should be used only as a last resort where other measures have proved unsuccessful. We want to encourage voluntary re-occupation of empty homes but this can only work well where there is realistic compulsion to back them up. EDMOs provide this compulsion and should therefore be a key component of a comprehensive empty property strategy.
We are keen for local authorities to make use of EDMOs, where appropriate, and are supporting the independent Empty Homes Agency’s new guidance on EDMOs. The guidance, which is currently being tested, is internet based and interactive and will take local authorities through the EDMO process step by step.
My right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning is providing a foreword for the guidance.
We are also hosting a seminar at which I will address local authorities encouraging them to take action and to share best practice on tackling empty homes, including the use of EDMOs.
Homelessness
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people who applied to local authorities for housing have been assessed under homelessness criteria as priority need in the last (a) six months, (b) 12 months and (c) two years; and how many of those applicants were (i) ex-service personnel, (ii) ex-prisoners and (iii) asylum seekers. [258036]
Mr. Khan: 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. Data collected include the number of applicants 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). These households are known as 'accepted' households.
In addition, some applicants may be found to be in priority need, but are not accepted as owed a main homelessness duty because they were found to be intentionally homeless. For these cases we do not hold the reason for priority need centrally.
During the last six months for which data are available (April to September 2008), 34,640 applicants were assessed as being homeless and in priority need. 30,020 of these were accepted as owed a main homelessness duty, of which 20 were vulnerable through having previously served in HM forces, 140 through having previously been on remand or in custody, and 40 through having previously been an asylum seeker (note that since April 2000, asylum seekers have been ineligible for assistance under the homelessness legislation, with certain exceptions where an asylum claim had been made prior to 3 April 2000).
The following table summarises the data for the most recent six months, and also shows figures for the most recent 12-month and two-year period:
| (a) April to September 2008 (last 6 months) | (b) Oct ober 2007 to September 2008 (12 months) | (c) October 2006 to September 2008 (2 years) | |
However it is important to note that some applicants who had previously been in the HM forces, on remand or in custody, or are a former asylum seeker, may have been accepted with alternative primary priority needs (for example through having dependent children or being a pregnant woman) and so will not be shown as being priority need for these reasons.
Homelessness: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications for housing assistance under homelessness legislation were made in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex in each of the last five years. [257084]
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 East Sussex (which includes Eastbourne).
| Applications for housing assistance under homelessness legislation in local authorities within East Sussex (including ineligible households), 2003-04 to 2007-08 | |||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| (1) Data not reported by local authority | |||||
Homelessness: Hampshire
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many applications for housing assistance under homelessness legislation were made in (a) Winchester and (b) Hampshire in each of the last five years. [258225]
Mr. Iain Wright: Information about local housing 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 county of Hampshire (which includes Winchester).
| Applications for housing assistance under homelessness legislation in local authorities within Hampshire (including ineligible households), 2003-04 to 2007-08 | |||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | |
| (1) Data not reported | |||||
Homelessness: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in York were accepted as statutorily homeless in each of the last 15 years. [257832]
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. Data collected include 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.
A summary table which includes the total number of households accepted as owed a main homelessness duty in each year between 1997-98 and 2007-08, for each local authority, including York, was provided in response to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for West Suffolk (Mr. Spring) on 26 November 2008, Official Report, columns 1499-1500W, and placed in the Library. Figures for York are shown in the following table:
| Households accepted as owed a main homelessness duty in York local authority,1997-98 to 2007-08 | |
| Number | |
| (1) Denotes data not reported. | |
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