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11 Mar 2009 : Column 482W—continued
Mr. Khan: It is not in the interest of the security of the Department, or that of the public, to disclose detailed information pertaining to electronic breaches of security of Department’s IT systems. Disclosing such information would enable criminals and those who would attempt to cause disruptive threats to the Department to deduce how to conduct attacks and therefore potentially enhance their capability to carry out such attacks.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill) of 11 February 2009, Official Report, column 2063W, on departmental data protection, what dataset the Department has backed up in the United States. [262217]
Mr. Khan: The Public Inquiry Service Database is hosted in the USA and stores approximately 4,000 records.
Departmental Public Appointments
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information her Department holds on the number of persons appointed to executive positions in bodies for which her Department has responsibility in the last five years who previously had careers in the banking industry. [261230]
Mr. Khan: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on staff surveys in each of the last five years; and which company was contracted to conduct each such survey. [259680]
Mr. Khan: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for Upper Bann (David Simpson) on 26 June 2007, Official Report, column 631W, to the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban) on 29 November 2007, Official Report, column 681W and to the right hon. Member for Maidenhead (Mrs. May) on 8 July 2008, Official Report, column 1500W. In addition, Ipsos MORI have been paid £16,520 plus VAT to date for the CLG Pulse Survey 2008. ORC International is currently undertaking a second pilot employee engagement survey as part of a wider survey being led by the Cabinet Office. No payments have been made to date. Cost information for the 2005 and 2006 ODPM surveys, which were also undertaken by ORC International, is not held in the format requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Empty Property
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) private and (b) public sector domestic dwellings were empty in the most recent period for which figures are available. [262508]
Mr. Iain Wright: Estimates of the number of private and public sector domestic empty dwellings, as at April 2008, are shown in the following table. The term public sector has been interpreted to mean “social rented” dwellings i.e. local authority and registered social landlord owned dwellings.
| Number of vacant dwelling | |
| Sources: Council taxbase and council taxbase supplementary (CTB1 and CTB1S) returns from local authorities for 17 September 2007; housing strategy statistical appendix (HSSA) submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities for 1 April 2008; Regulatory statistical return (RSR) as reported to the Housing Corporation by registered social landlords for 31 March 2008. | |
Total vacant dwellings reported by local authorities through council taxbase returns include long term and short term empty dwellings and second homes. Figures for registered social landlords are for self-contained general needs units only. Estimates for private sector vacant dwellings have been made by deducting local authority and RSL vacant dwellings from the total. This estimate will include a small number of other public sector vacant dwellings.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what figures her Department collects on the number of vacant (a) private and (b) public sector homes in each local authority area. [262598]
Mr. Iain Wright: Vacant stock at district level is collected from a variety of sources:
The number of local authority owned vacant dwellings and the number of ‘other public sector’ (other than local authority and RSL) vacant dwellings is obtained from the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) and the HRA Business Planning Statistical Appendix (BPSA) submitted to CLG by local authorities.
The number of registered social landlords (RSLs) owned vacant dwellings is obtained from the Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR) submitted to the Tenants Services Authority by RSLs.
An estimate of the number of private sector vacant dwellings is obtained by subtracting the number of local authority owned, RSL owned and ‘other public sector’ vacant dwellings from the total number of vacant dwellings obtained from council tax records submitted to CLG by local authorities on CTB1 and CTBS1 returns.
Figures on council tax vacants can be found at
and data on stock and vacants for local authorities and RSLs can be found at
At regional level, additional information on the age, type and condition of vacant stock is available from the “English House Condition Survey” (EHCS).
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information the National Register of Social Housing holds on the property characteristics of empty public sector dwellings. [262660]
Mr. Iain Wright: The National Register of Social Housing collects the same data on vacant dwellings as it does on occupied dwellings. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 6 October 2008, Official Report, column 335W.
Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which organisations have received funding under the Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund to date; and what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value of the grant was in each case. [262161]
Mr. Khan: The Faith Communities Capacity Building Fund was distributed over the three years 2004-05 to 2007-08, in two rounds of funding. I have placed in the Library a list showing each organisation that received funding, the amount awarded and the purpose.
The fund had two categories: capacity building and inter faith activity. The purpose of the capacity building category was to help build the organisational capabilities of faith-based organisations, enabling them to play a fuller part in civil society by engaging more effectively with public authorities. Capacity building for the large grants was subdivided into three categories: leadership and management; relationships with local, regional or national Government; and mentoring smaller faith organisations. The purpose of the inter faith category was to improve cohesion between different faith groups and the wider community, thereby bringing people of different faiths together to promote mutual understanding, respect and co-operation.
Fire Services: Contracts
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip-Northwood (Mr. Hurd) of 26 January 2009, Official Report, column 108W, on fire services: contracts, in what Government Office regions contracts have been signed for the regional fire control rooms; and in which Government Office regions and for what services contracts have not been signed. [262600]
Mr. Khan: All major contracts with third party suppliers have now been signed.
In eight out of the nine Government office regions, regional control centre buildings have been built and leases have been signed. Three of these leases (in the north east, East Midlands and north west regions) have been assigned to the local authority controlled companies which will operate them. It is intended to assign the remaining leases, currently held by my Department, to the relevant local authority controlled company in due course.
In London, where the building is on track to be completed by February 2010, it is intended that the lease will be held by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
The Facilities Management contract has been signed for all the buildings.
There is a single IT contract for FiReControl between my Department and EADS Defence and Security which covers all Government office regions.
Fire Services: Working Hours
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the provisions of the EU Working Time Directive rules would apply to retained fire-fighters in the event of a fire service strike. [262240]
Mr. Khan: Yes. Those provisions include the right of individuals to opt out of the average weekly 48-hour limit on their working time.
Homebuy Scheme
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) which organisations participating in the Government’s Homebuy programme offer 100 per cent. mortgages to purchasers; and if she will make a statement; [262532]
(2) in which Homebuy schemes are potential homeowners permitted to seek a 100 per cent. mortgage. [262540]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government wish to offer every household the opportunity of sustainable home ownership. The Homebuy programme, which offers assistance on a shared ownership or shared equity basis, requires prospective purchasers to secure a mortgage from a conventional lender, registered with the Financial Services Authority, for their share of the purchase, which is less than 100 per cent. of the property value. It is for individual lenders to decide the level of mortgage they provide on this share.
Homelessness: Greater London
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North-West (Greg Mullholland) of 24 February 2009, Official Report, columns 545-56W, on homelessness, if she will provide figures equivalent to those in the table for each London borough; and if she will make a statement. [261665]
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. 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.
Figures reported by each London local authority, for the last six month, 12 month and two year periods, are provided in a table which has been placed in the Library. These show the number of applicants who were: (a) assessed as being homeless and in priority need; of which those (b) accepted as owed a main homelessness duty; and of which those that were (c) vulnerable though (i) having served in HM forces, (ii) having been on remand or in custody, and (iii) being a former asylum seeker (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).
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.
Housing North West
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to Lord Greaves of 23 February 2009, Official Report, House of Lords, column 17WA, on Housing North West, in which other Government Office regions in England regional partnerships have been established. [261836]
Mr. Iain Wright: None of the Government Office regions have regional housing partnerships similar to the North West, although there are regional partnerships in London and the West Midlands.
In London the Mayor has established the Mayor’s Housing Forum (MHF). The primary role of the MHF is to act as an advisory body to the Mayor in the development of the Mayor’s Housing Strategy and its implementation. It also aims to share information and develop ideas about key housing issues in London and to receive and consider key documentation on research, strategies and policy initiatives; and the relevant strategies of member organisations.
The MHF is chaired by the Mayor’s Office and the Greater London authority provides the secretariat. The MHF meets quarterly.
In the West Midlands there are a series of three interrelated voluntary partnerships, who work together to deliver on the housing agenda.
Strategic Advisory Panel, which provides a wide forum for planning, environment and housing policy issues to be debated.
Regional housing executive oversees the development and delivery of the regional housing strategy, and recommends investment in line with the regional housing strategy.
West Midlands Regional Housing Advisory Forum; this is an officer-led partnership group, which supports the activities of the regional housing executive.
The partnerships are all voluntary and receive no funding.
Housing: Construction
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the proposed targets are for the number of new dwellings
to be built in the most recent draft of each regional spatial strategy; and over what period those targets apply in each case. [262239]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following information provides by region the proposed targets for the number of new dwellings to be built annually in the most recent RSSs; and the plan period they cover.
7,425 new dwellings per year until 2021
23,111 new dwellings per year until 2021
22,260 new dwellings per year until 2026
18,280 new dwellings per year until 2026
20,418 new dwellings per year until 2026
26,830 new dwellings per year until 2021
20,200 new dwelling per year until 2016
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