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2 Apr 2009 : Column 1396W—continued
USA: Military Bases
Colin Challen:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Lewes of 21 June 2004, Official Report, column 1078,
on RAF Menwith Hill, for which military bases on British soil hon. Members seeking to visit would require the permission of the US Administration; and if he will issue guidance to hon. Members on procedures for gaining approval for such visits. [268456]
Mr. Bob Ainsworth: There are no military bases on British soil for which approval is required from the US Administration for hon. Members to visit.
Wellington Barracks Bury
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to develop the site of the former Wellington Barracks in Bury; and if he will make a statement. [266518]
Mr. Kevan Jones: All but around half an acre of the former barracks site was sold to Bury Corporation in the 1960s. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has no current plans to develop the retained site, which includes the Lancashire Fusiliers Museum, Regimental Headquarters, an Army Careers Information Office, a building leased to the trustees of the Lancashire Fusiliers Regimental Association and a memorial owned by the trustees of the museum.
However, officials are in discussions with the trustees of the Fusiliers new museum, located on another site, in regard to the possible transfer there of those tasks which remain on the barracks site.
Only if the retained MOD site can be vacated will the Department seek to establish whether alternative MOD or wider Government requirements exist and consider disposal.
Work and Pensions
Crisis Loans: Eastbourne
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in Eastbourne constituency received a crisis loan in each month for the last two years. [267250]
Kitty Ussher: The information requested is not available. Information on Crisis Loan awards is not held by parliamentary constituency, only by Jobcentre Plus Social Fund budget area.
Departmental Buildings
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what buildings are owned or operated by his Department under a private finance initiative (PFI) arrangement; and which companies are involved with each such PFI arrangement. [267404]
Jonathan Shaw: In 1998 the Department entered into a 20-year private finance initiative deal with Trillium known as the PRIME contract. A list of the 1,005 buildings currently operated under the PRIME contract has been placed in the Library.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what (a) capital and (b) resource funds his Department has brought forward from its (i)
2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11 budgets for use in (A) 2008-09 and (B) 2009-10; and what schemes this funding is being used to support; [267417]
(2) what capital funding his Department has brought forward from its (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 budgets for use in (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10; and to what ends this funding has been allocated. [266207]
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much capital spending is planned to be brought forward by his Department to (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [266298]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 27 March 2009]: The Department has not brought forward any capital or resource funding from 2009-10 or 2010-11 budgets for use in earlier years.
Departmental Publications
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the (a) production and printing and (b) other costs to his Department of producing its most recent (i) departmental annual report and (ii) autumn performance report. [266683]
Jonathan Shaw: The cost of production and printing incurred by the Department, exclusive of VAT, for the 2008 departmental report were £26,875. The estimate for the 2008 autumn performance report is £8,344.
With regard to other costs, such as staff time, the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Drugs: Rehabilitation
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse for the requirement of drug users to undertake (a) rehabilitation plans, (b) substance related assessment and (c) relevant tests under the proposals contained in schedule 1(a) to the Welfare Reform Bill in their first full year of operation. [261448]
Mr. McNulty: We aim to pilot and evaluate the new approach to employment support for problem drug users set out in the Welfare Reform Bill in a small number of Jobcentre Plus districts. The detail of those pilots, including any additional resources that will be made available, is still in development at this early stage.
Housing Benefit
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number and percentage of households in the private rented sector which received housing benefit in each of the last three years. [266319]
Kitty Ussher: Information for the last three years for which data are available on the number of privately rented households in receipt of housing benefit has been supplied along with the overall numbers of households in the private rented sector. As the figures have been drawn from different sources and are based on different time scales the percentage of households receiving housing benefit in the privately rented sector has not been presented.
The available information is in the tables.
| Number of households in the private rented sector receiving housing benefit in Great Britain, 2005-07 | |
| As at August each year | Private households receiving housing benefit |
| Notes: 1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 3. Figures for any non-responding authorities have been estimated. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 5. From February 2007, DWP has been collecting more detailed HB/CTB data electronically from local authorities. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level of detail available in the published statistics. However, until the new data have been fully quality assured to National Statistics standards, the most recent summary statistics available are for August 2007. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in August 2005 to August 2007 | |
| Number of dwellings rented privately or with a job or business: Great Britain, 2005-2007 | |
| All households privately rented or with a job or business | |
| Notes: 1. Estimates for the overall number of private households are based on local authority and Registered Social Landlord dwelling counts, and the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates may not be strictly comparable between periods. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest thousand. Source: http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/table-102.xls | |
Willie Rennie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in each region have received housing benefit based on local reference rents in each of the last four years. [267786]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 30 March 2009]: The available information is in the table.
| Number of housing benefit recipients assessed under local reference rents by Government office region: 2003-06 | ||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Notes: 1. The data refer to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. 3. The totals for Great Britain include estimates for local authorities that have not responded. 4. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. 5. Figures may not sum due to rounding. 6. Statistics on tenancy schemes within the deregulated private rented sector are not currently available beyond November 2006 due to concerns over the reliability of recent data. 7. From February 2007, the Department for Work and Pensions has been collecting more detailed housing benefit and council tax benefit data electronically from local authorities. Over time this will improve the accuracy, timeliness and level of detail available in the published statistics. However, the new data have not yet have been fully quality assured to National Statistics standards. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in November 2003-06 | ||||
Housing Benefit: Elderly
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his estimate is of the number of individuals in (a) private rented and (b) social housing over the age of 65 years who received housing benefit in each year since 2000. [267278]
Kitty Ussher: The available information is in the following table.
| Number of recipients of housing benefit in Great Britain by age and tenure: 2000-04 | |||||
| Private | Social Housing | ||||
| All housing benefit recipients | Private tenants | Local a uthority tenants | Registered social landlord tenants | ||
| Notes: 1. The figures are based on a 1 per cent. sample and are therefore subject to a degree of sampling variation. 2. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2000-04. | |||||
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