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5 May 2009 : Column 136W—continued
Housing: Sales
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households purchased a home via the First Time Buyers Initiative in each region in each of the last three years; and if she will make a statement. [272102]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the number of households who purchased a home through the First Time Buyers initiative in each of the last three years by region.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | Total | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1507W, on housing: low incomes, what the average price of a property purchased with support from the First Time Buyers Initiative has been in each year since the scheme’s inception. [272105]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the average price of a property purchased through the First Time Buyers initiative in each year since its inception.
| £ | |
| Average property price | |
| (1) Figures for 2009 only available until end of February 2009. | |
Local Area Agreements
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent assessment she has made of (a) the level of progress achieved in the roll-out and (b) the effectiveness of the Local Area Agreement framework. [271574]
Mr. Khan: Communities and Local Government has commissioned a long-term evaluation of local area agreements (LAAs) and local strategic partnerships (LSPs). Early findings published late last year indicated that the new local performance framework has been broadly welcomed, though concluded that it was difficult to attribute improvements directly to the new framework at this early stage. A forthcoming report from the evaluation provides further evidence that the new LAAs are generating greater focus and improved partnership working at the local level.
The earlier report is available at:
The forthcoming report will be made available later this month at:
Comprehensive area assessment, due to start reporting from November 2009, will include the first formal assessment of the progress areas are making against LAA targets. A review of local areas’ initial efforts to prepare for LAA delivery was carried out by Government offices earlier this year indicated that the new framework was progressing well, with the vast majority of areas
strengthening their partnership and delivery arrangements to enhance their ability to meet their new targets.
Local Government
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local councils have not yet had their core strategies (a) submitted and (b) approved; and what the timetable is for such core strategies to be approved. [272428]
Mr. Iain Wright: Of 333 core strategies planned by local councils:
(a) 282 are yet to be submitted to the Secretary of State, and;
(b) 291 are yet to be approved.
According to Local Authority Local Development Schemes, all core strategies will be adopted by August 2012.
Local Government: Equal Pay
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding was disbursed during the equal pay capitalisation round in 2008-09. [271636]
John Healey: Since 2006, the Government have issued over £1.1 billion in capitalisation directions to provide support for councils to deliver equal pay for thousands of employees. Equal pay capitalisation directions issued by the Government in 2008-09 totalled £472 million.
Local Government: Standards
Mr. Keith Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 877W, on corporate improvement boards, what Audit Commission Use of Resources score each local authority received in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008; which local authorities have had their annual accounts qualified either in whole or in part in the last four years; and how much support each local authority has received for corporate or financial improvement purposes from their local regional improvement and efficiency partnership in each of the last two years. [272356]
John Healey: The following table shows Use of Resources each relevant local authority received in (a) 2006, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008.
| Audit c ommission use of resources judgment | |||
| Local authority | (a) 2006 | (b) 2007 | (c) 2008 |
We do not hold information on which local authorities have its accounts qualified.
The Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) are devolved partnerships of councils and other local services. Information on support each local authority has received for corporate or financial improvement purposes is not held centrally.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households have received support under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme. [271467]
Margaret Beckett: As part of the monitoring arrangements for the Government Mortgage Rescue Scheme, headline data will be published on a monthly basis on the Department's website starting this month. We will be publishing headline data for January, February and March 2009 on 30 April 2009, as pre-announced on the UK National Statistics Publication Hub, after which local authority breakdowns can be made available. The date of this publication has been delayed from 21 April 2009 owing to unforeseen issues with data quality and validation.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many loans she expects to be provided under the Repossession Prevention Fund; and what the maximum loan value is under the scheme; [272213]
(2) what the monetary value of her Department's Repossession Prevention Fund will be in (a) 2009, (b) 2010 and (c) 2011. [272214]
Margaret Beckett: The total value of the Repossession and Evictions Prevention Fund will be £20 million. This will be a one off payment for 2009-10 to local authorities in direct response to the current economic conditions. It will be administered through the Homelessness Revenue Grant programme, under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003. This is an established process as CLG have already allocated over £150 million, of Homelessness Grant, over three years (2008-11), to all local authorities to support their homelessness strategies to tackle and prevent homelessness effectively.
The Fund will be used to provide loans of up to a maximum value of £5,000 to prevent repossession or eviction, helping at least 4,000 households to remain in their homes.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate she has made of the effect of the Homeowner Mortgage Support scheme on the total level of mortgage debt. [272455]
Margaret Beckett: Homeowners Mortgage Support will enable eligible borrowers who suffer a temporary loss of income to cut their mortgage interest payments for up to two years to help them get back on track with their finances. Before entering the scheme, borrowers must receive independent money advice. We have estimated the increase in mortgage debt arising as part of the government scheme to be around £200 million, based on assumptions explained in detail within the impact assessment published alongside the launch of the scheme. This figure can be compared with the Council of Mortgage Lenders' latest estimate of balances outstanding on lending secured against dwellings of £1,224,856 million as at February 2009.
Mortgages: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners in (a) Hemel Hempstead and (b) Hertfordshire took out mortgages in the last five years. [272157]
Mr. Iain Wright: Data on actual numbers of mortgage taken out are available from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). However they are only available for the United Kingdom as a whole.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders latest press release on this is on their website at:
The CML data on mortgage lending are no longer freely available from their website. For detailed time series information members of the public can request to subscribe to CML to obtain access to a restricted website.
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