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23 Mar 2009 : Column 75W—continued
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the cost to the public purse of large-scale voluntary transfers of housing stock was in each year since 1997. [264999]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department does not keep any central records of the total cost of large-scale voluntary transfers to local authorities.
Two separate payments can be made when a local authority transfers its housing stock to a registered social landlord (RSL).
If a local authority's attributable housing debt is not cleared either in part or in entirety by receipts from an RSL through Large Scale Voluntary Transfer (LSVT) arrangements, the debt that remains is transferred from the local authority sector to central Government through a payment made to the Public Works Loan Board. Overhanging debt (OHD) payments to the Public Works Loan Board under these debt transfer arrangements since 2000-01 are shown in the following table. The Department began payments to the PWLB in 2000-01.
| OHD amount (£ million) | |
| (1) Includes transfers expected to complete by the end of financial year 2008-09. | |
Grant funding payments can be made to RSLs taking negatively valued housing stock from local authorities under LSVT arrangements. Since 1 December 2008, the Homes and Communities Agency has assumed responsibility for the housing transfer programme and will continue to make payments as required.
These gap funding grant payments enable RSLs to lever in sufficient private finance to enable full Decent Homes investment programmes to be undertaken after transfer. Gap funding payments by the Department to registered social landlords to support large scale voluntary transfers commenced in 2004-05. The following table sets out those payments.
| £ million | |
| (1) Forecast. | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her Department's liability relating to annual gap-funding agreements for negative value transfers of council housing stock was in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement. [265084]
Mr. Iain Wright: Gap funding grant payments by the Department to registered social landlords taking negatively valued housing stock under Large Scale Voluntary Transfer arrangements commenced in 2004-05. Responsibility for the housing transfer programme passed to the Homes and Communities Agency on 1 December 2008, who assumed responsibility for these grants, making payments from that date. In 2008-09, we expect that grant payments of around £120 million to be made in respect of gap funding agreements entered into for that year.
The following table sets out the gap funding grant expenditure in each year.
| Gap funding payments | |
| £ million | |
Regional Planning and Development
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities have approved local development frameworks in place; and what progress has been made to ensure that all authorities have such frameworks in place. [265047]
Mr. Iain Wright: ‘Local development framework’ is the collective name for the various spatial planning-related documents that local planning authorities have prepared. To date the Planning Inspectorate has considered and found sound:
43 Core Strategies
30 Area Action Plans
Seven Site Allocation Policies
Seven Development Control Policies
11 Minerals and Waste Policies
Nine other plans dealing with specific themes
385 Statements of Community Involvement.
Supplementary Planning Documents do not need to be approved by the Planning Inspectorate and there is no central record of the number adopted.
The Government agree timetables for the delivery of plans (Local Development Schemes) with local authorities and hold regular discussions with them about progress. Sector-led support is provided through the Planning Advisory Service to authorities who decide they require
assistance in the preparation of their plans and the Government also fund a programme of visits by Planning Inspectors to authorities to help with plan preparation.
Repossession Orders
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect on the Government’s housing strategies in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England of trends in the numbers of (i) repossessed and (ii) empty homes in the last 12 months. [265722]
Mr. Iain Wright: We continue to monitor trends in numbers of repossessed and empty homes. Information on repossessions is available separately from the Council of Mortgage Lenders and Financial Services Authority. These data are available at the UK level only. Information on mortgage and landlord possession orders at county court level are available via the Ministry of Justice website:
For trends in long-term (over six months) vacant dwellings at England and local authority level, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 16 December 2008, Official Report, column 586W. We have strengthened local authorities’ powers to deal with empty homes through:
Use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) that allow councils to bring homes back into use without forcing change of ownership;
Supporting the publication on 10 March of the independent Empty Homes Agency’s Guidance on Empty Dwelling Management Orders, for which my right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning provided the foreword;
Promoting best practice among local authorities by hosting a seminar.
Shared Ownership Schemes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many shared ownership completions there were in each region in the last 12 months. [265074]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 3 March 2009, Official Report, columns 1540-42W. The new build Homebuy figures in the first table show the number of shared ownership completions in England, by region. These figures are only available annually, not by month.
Social Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households lived in social housing in each year since 1997. [265000]
Mr. Iain Wright: The information requested is not readily available for the United Kingdom.
Estimates of the number of households in England who were living in social housing in each year since 1997 are set out in the following table.
| Households in social rented accommodation, England 1997 to 2008 | |
| Number (Thousand) | |
| Source: ONS Labour Force Survey | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department plans to spend on providing social rented housing in (a) 2008-09 and (b) each of the next three years. [265267]
Mr. Iain Wright: In England, over the three years 2008 to 2011, we are investing over £8 billion in affordable housing through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Around £6.5 billion of this will be directed towards social rented homes.
We have not allocated specific funds in each of the next three years to allow full flexibility within the Affordable Housing programme operated by the HCA. This has allowed us to bring forward £550 million from 2010-11 into earlier years for social rented homes.
Future levels of funds available for social rent and all affordable housing beyond 2010-11 will be dependent upon the next spending review.
Tenant Services Authority
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department has allocated to the Tenant Services Authority in each of the next three years. [263352]
Mr. Iain Wright: Indicative funding allocations for the Tenant Services Authority between 2009-11 is as follows:
| £ million | |
This excludes any additional resources that may be allocated for specific initiatives at a later date. Following completion of the exercise to disaggregate the Housing Corporation spend, there was some late adjustments to the 2009-10 TSA budget. The £35.623 million is the latest position and this is reflected in the information submitted to the HM Treasury.
Budget allocations for the period after 2010-11 will be set as part of the next comprehensive spending review. Final budgets will be agreed with the TSA on an annual basis.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) dates and (b) locations of the planned regional events to be hosted by the Tenants Service Authority during phase 1 of its National Conversation are. [265258]
Mr. Iain Wright: The National Conversation events organised by the TSA for tenants commenced in Leeds on 27 January and finished on 5 March in Bristol.
The complete list of regional National Conversation events for tenants is as follows:
| Date of event | |
The TSA also hosted National Conversation events for landlords. A complete list of these is as follows:
| Date | Venue | Location |
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