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26 Mar 2009 : Column 721W—continued
Housing: Standards
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent by her Department on the English House Condition Survey in each of the last five years. [266482]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Department's expenditure on the English House Condition Survey in each of the last five financial years was:
| £ million | |
Costs include VAT where appropriate. Variations between years are mainly due to accounting arrangements and do not reflect any significant changes in the running costs of the survey.
The English House Condition Survey (EHCS) was run five-yearly from 1971 to 2001 and then continuously from 2002 to 2007, based on a random sample across all tenures of around 8,000 dwellings a year. An initial household interview was followed by an inspection of the home by a professional surveyor to provide objective and consistent measures of housing standards and energy performance. Further components were an independent market value survey and a follow-up survey of private sector landlords.
The survey provides Government with an essential source of information on the changing condition and energy performance of the housing stock.
In 2008, this survey and the Department's Survey of English Housing were merged to form the English Housing Survey. The new survey brings together the key features of both previous surveys.
Further information about the EHCS, including annual reports, can be found at:
Local Government Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what formula is used to calculate social housing grant payments to local authorities; and what changes have been made to that formula in each of the last three years. [266471]
Mr. Iain Wright:
We have announced that local authorities will be invited to bid for social housing grant in future, alongside arm's length management organisations, registered social landlords and private developers. The Homes and Communities Agency allocates grant through a competitive bidding process in which all schemes are assessed against a single set of criteria.
The criteria are set out in a prospectus published by the agency; a new prospectus is issued for each bidding period and sets out the criteria for that period. The criteria for 2008-09 are set out in the prospectus for the 2008-11 Affordable Housing Programme, and the criteria for the previous period are set out in the prospectus for the Affordable Housing Programme for 2006-08. The current prospectus is available on the Homes and Communities Agency website. The previous prospectus is available on the website of the Housing Corporation, the now closed body which was formerly responsible for running the affordable housing programme.
Local Government: Pensions
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that assets of funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are invested in a manner (a) appropriate to expect future demands, (b) which minimises risk and (c) consistent with provisions of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC on derivatives. [266097]
John Healey: The relevant sections of Article 18 of the European Council Directive 2003/41/EC is implemented by the Occupational Pension Scheme (Investment) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No 3378) made under powers in Sections 244 and 245 of the Pensions Act 2004. However, those regulations apply solely to investments made in relation to trust-based schemes and do not apply to statutory schemes, such as the Local Government Pension Scheme which is subject to its own specific provisions made under Section 7 of the Superannuation Act 1972.
In making investment decisions, scheme pension fund authorities must comply with the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 1998 (as amended), which impose on them the need to have proper regard to risk, diversification and the need to act prudently, having taken expert advice.
As part of the Funding Strategy Statements that individual pension fund authorities in England and Wales are required to publish they must consider also the liabilities of their funds in determining their funding position and assess the risks of adopting different local investment strategies.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will provide the European Commission with an implementation report of how the law applicable to the Local Government Pension Scheme complies with the provisions of the Activities and Supervision of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision Directive in accordance with Article 22(2) of Council Directive 2003/41/EC. [266098]
John Healey: Responsibility for the implementation of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC or for reporting any matters regarding its transposition to the European Commission rests with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. My responsibility extends to ensuring that the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales complies with any occupational pension scheme legislation made as a consequence of the directive's implementation.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) whether the Local Government Pension Scheme is an institution for occupational retirement provision under Article 6 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC; [266099]
(2) whether the funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are institutions for occupational retirement provision under Article 6 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC. [266100]
John Healey: The Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales and its individual funds fall within the definition of an institution for occupational retirement provision for the purposes of Article 6.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons it was decided to exempt the Local Government Pension Scheme from the provisions of Articles 9 to 17 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC. [266101]
John Healey: In exercising the power conferred on member states under Article 5 of the directive, the Government decided that statutory schemes with a guarantee from a public authority were to be exempt from the legislation which implemented Articles 9 to 17.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are legally separated from the administering authorities, in accordance with Article 8 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC. [266102]
John Healey: The legal separation referred to in Article 8 is intended to ensure that the assets of a pension scheme like the Local Government Pension Scheme are safeguarded and pension benefits protected for scheme beneficiaries in the event of the sponsoring employer being declared bankrupt. In the case of the Local Government Pension Scheme, pension benefits are guaranteed by statute and would be paid whenever entitlement arose regardless of the solvency of individual participating employers.
It was on this basis that the scheme was exempt from the Government's legislation introduced in 2005 to transpose Article 8.
Paddy Tipping: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps she has taken to ensure that the assets of funds maintained by administering authorities for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme are invested in the best interests of the scheme members, in accordance with Article 18 of Council Directive 2003/41/EC. [266103]
John Healey: The Government take the view that the Local Government Pension Scheme is compliant with Article 18 of European Council Directive 2003/41/EC. However, draft proposals are currently the subject of a statutory consultation exercise about a change in the scheme's investment regulations to clarify the duty of care owed by elected members of scheme pension fund investment committees to beneficiaries, to participating employers and to taxpayers.
Mobile Homes
Dr. Richard Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will undertake a review of planning law relating to caravan parks, mobile homes and chalets; and if she will make a statement. [264840]
Mr. Iain Wright: We have no plans to undertake a review of the planning law governing caravan parks, mobile homes and chalets.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the number of people who will receive assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme in the next 12 months. [266315]
Margaret Beckett: The £200 million Government Mortgage Rescue Scheme has been operational across the country since 1 January 2009, following “fast tracking” by up to 80 local authorities in December 2008.
The scheme aims to support up to 6,000 of the most vulnerable households in England at risk of repossession over the next two years.
The Government have not published any estimates of the number of households it expects to benefit from the scheme in its first year. The scheme is demand-led, with the number of vulnerable households benefiting from the scheme dependent on the number of eligible households approaching their local authority for assistance.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what regulatory impact assessment has been made of the (a) Homeowner Mortgage Support Scheme and (b) Mortgage Rescue Scheme. [266322]
Margaret Beckett: We are finalising arrangements for opening the Homeowners Mortgage Support Scheme with the first lenders and will publish an impact assessment when the scheme is launched in April.
The impact assessment for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme was published on 16 September and is available at:
Non-domestic Rates: Small Businesses
Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will assess the merits of making the small business rate relief scheme automatic. [265935]
John Healey: In light of the economic downturn, the Government are sympathetic to the aim of helping smaller businesses. However, without the application it would be difficult for the local authority to establish whether a ratepayer occupies more than one property. This is a condition of entitlement to the small business rate relief scheme, particularly if that property is located outside of the billing area in which relief is being claimed. Those ratepayers certifying that they meet the given criteria do receive the relief.
Mr. Cawsey: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what her most recent estimate is of the number of businesses in each local authority area which have received rate relief in each year since 2005. [265937]
John Healey: The latest reliable information on the number of businesses claiming rate relief is that, at 31 December 2006, local authorities reported that there were 392,000 businesses claiming small business rate relief.
Data on the number of businesses who receive rate relief as at 31 December 2008 are currently being collected and will be available later this year. This will include the number of businesses receiving the various mandatory and discretionary reliefs and small business rate relief but not transitional relief.
Planning Permission
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what representations she has received on planning applications being considered by planning inspectors in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. [266442]
Mr. Iain Wright: This information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The Department and the Planning Inspectorate receive a wide range of representations each year in relation to appeals and called-in applications which are before planning inspectors.
Property Transfer
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities have transferred (a) all and (b) part of their housing stock to housing associations. [266147]
Mr. Iain Wright: Tables listing those local authorities who have transferred all and or part of their housing stock to registered social landlords have been placed in the Library.
Rented Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of all homes were (a) housing association-owned, (b) local authority-owned, (c) owner-occupied and (d) privately rented in each year since 1997. [266475]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the dwelling stock in England owned by registered social landlords, owned by local authorities, owner-occupied and privately rented as a proportion of the estimated total dwelling stock in each year since 1997.
| Percentage | |||||
| As at 31 March | Registered social landlords | Local authority | Owner-occupied | Private rented | All dwellings (thousand) |
| Source: Census 2001; Housing Flows Reconciliation and joint returns by local authorities; Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) submitted to Communities and Local Government by local authorities; Regulatory Statistical Return (RSR) as reported to the Housing Corporation by registered social landlords; Labour Force Survey. | |||||
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