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Rented Housing: Safety

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) socially rented homes, (b) private rented homes and (c) homes were assessed under the Housing Health and Safety Ratings Scheme in 2008-09; and of these, how many were defined as Category A hazards in (i) England, (ii) each English region and (iii) each London local authority area. [259930]

Mr. Iain Wright: The information requested is not held centrally.

Squatting

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of people who were (a) squatting, (b) facing eviction, (c) in temporary accommodation, (d) living in severe overcrowding and (e) staying with friends or family because they had no accommodation at the latest date for which figures are available. [258153]

Mr. Iain Wright: Information about the number of people who are squatting is not collected centrally.

Information about the number of people who are facing eviction is not collected centrally.

Information about English local 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.


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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.

The total number of households in temporary accommodation, as at 30 September 2008, was 72,130.

Levels of overcrowding are measured through the Survey of English Housing and assessed against the ‘bedroom standard’. The latest estimate is that 59,000 households, containing 362,000 people, live in severely overcrowded conditions. This is the estimate for 2007-08.

Information about the number of people staying with family and friends because they have no accommodation is not collected centrally.

Tenants Rights: Crosby

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will commission research into the effect of changes to council tenants’ rights since 2005 in Crosby; and if she will make a statement. [259480]

Mr. Iain Wright: There were no substantive changes to tenants’ rights following the transfer of homes from Sefton council to One Vision Housing in 2006 following a vote by tenants. One Vision Housing is regulated by the Tenant Services Authority, which will be developing new standards for landlord performance in 2009.

Children, Schools and Families

Academies

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which maintained secondary schools have been (a) converted into and (b) replaced by academies since 1997. [258315]

Jim Knight: We do not make a distinction between schools which have been converted into Academies and those that have been replaced by Academies. The following list contains all maintained secondary schools that have been replaced by Academies since 2002, which is the first year that Academies opened.

Maintained secondary schools which have been replaced by Academies( 1)


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Care Proceedings

Mr. Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many applications local authorities made for care orders in (a) July 2008, (b) August 2008, (c) September 2008, (d) November 2008 and (e) December 2008. [258304]

Beverley Hughes: The Department collates statistics relating to children in the care system on an annual basis. The Children and Families Court Advisory Service (CAFCASS), an NDPB sponsored by the Department, holds data on the number of care applications received within each month.

The following table shows the number of care applications (Section 31 applications) received by CAFCASS from July to December 2008.

Number of care (section 31) applications received by CAFCASS

Number

July 2008

485

August 2008

492

September 2008

480

October 2008

493

November 2008

590

December 2008

714


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