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8 May 2009 : Column 448W—continued
For HomeBuy Direct I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 27 April 2009, Official Report, column 1119 W.
There have been no purchases under the Rent to HomeBuy scheme, which enables potential purchasers to rent a home for up to five years before buying a share.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent on the (a) development and (b) maintenance of the homebuy.co.uk website in each of the last three years; and what budget has been assigned to the website for each of the next two years. [272814]
Margaret Beckett: HomeBuy.co.uk is not a Government website.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what expenditure she expects her Department to incur in publicising HomeBuy products in each of the next three years; and what promotional activities have been planned. [272978]
Margaret Beckett: There are no current plans for the Communities and Local Government Department to publicise HomeBuy products directly in future years.
Marketing of HomeBuy products is the responsibility of the HomeBuy Agents.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many right-to-buy sales there were in each local authority area in each year since 1997. [273645]
Mr. Iain Wright: A table showing the number of local authority right to buy sales by local authority for each year from 1997-98 has been deposited in the Library of the House.
The figures only include local authority right to buy sales. They do not include registered social landlord preserved right to buy sales, details of which are not available at local authority level.
The figures are from quarterly P1B returns from local authorities to CLG.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what percentage of housing completions in each region was of affordable homes in each year since 1997. [273647]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the proportion of affordable housing new build completions as a percentage of total house building completions in each year since 1997-98, by region.
| Percentage | ||||||||||
| North East | North West | Yorkshire and Humber | East Midlands | West Midlands | Eastern | London | South East | South West | England | |
Total new build completion figures are from P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House-Building Council (NHBC) to CLG.
Affordable housing new build figures are collated from the Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS); and Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns and P2 house building returns submitted to CLG by local authorities. Not all affordable housing is provided by new build completions, as some supply can come from acquisitions.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 30 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1397-8W, on housing: low incomes, how many homes were purchased for use as social rented housing stock in each year since 1997. [273648]
Mr. Iain Wright: The following table shows the number of homes purchased for social rent in England, from 1997-98.
| Homes purchased for social rent | |
| Source: Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System (IMS), and local authority returns to CLG | |
Total social rented housing is provided by new build completions, as well as acquisitions. In 2007-08, an additional 25,390 social rented homes were built in England, plus a further 590 homes which cannot be
broken down by new build or acquisitions, to give a total of 29,370 additional social rented homes provided in England.
Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government: Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Peterborough of 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 317W, on the Improvement and Development Agency for Local Government: finance, what the terms of reference were of the good practice on migration project. [272331]
John Healey: The aim of the Migration Excellence Programme was to develop a good practice toolkit for local government that provided local authorities with guidance on how to pool and analyse all relevant national, regional and local data and intelligence in order to build accurate local profiles of Central and Eastern European migration.
The purpose and structure of the project were to provide:
1. Local authorities with an inventory of data sources
2. Information on publicly available on-line information
3. Guidance on how partners should be sharing data
4. Examples of good practice from three case study areas.
Mortgages
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 24 April 2009, Official Report, column 918W, on mortgages, when she expects (a) Santander, (b) Nationwide, (c) HSBC and (d) Barclays to implement terms for their customers similar to those offered under the Homeowners Mortgage Support scheme. [272108]
Margaret Beckett: Santander (including Abbey and Alliance and Leicester), Nationwide, HSBC and Barclays (including First Plus) have confirmed they will now be offering comparable arrangements to Homeowners Mortgage Support to their customers, while opting not to take up the Government guarantee.
Customers of these institutions experiencing a reduction in income and willing to make regular monthly repayments will receive a similar level of support and be encouraged to seek independent money advice.
Mortgages: Government Assistance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many households in each local authority area have received assistance under the Mortgage Rescue scheme in each of the last six months. [272111]
Margaret Beckett: The Government Mortgage Rescue scheme has only been operational across the country since 1 January 2009, following successful ‘fast tracking’ by 80 local authorities in December 2008. The scheme is one part of a comprehensive package of measures to help households at risk of repossession.
Based on the January-March 2009 monitoring returns, 452 households had applied for and were being actively considered for Mortgage Rescue assistance during this period, of which 57 cases were in the final stage of the process (referral to the Registered Social Landlord) as at the end of March. It can take between three and four months for a household to complete the process from the time they approach a local authority because it is similar to that of selling a property, involving procedures such as property valuation and negotiations between the parties involved. As at the end of March, one household in the Government Office East region had completed the process, whereby a housing association had agreed to purchase their property and enable the household to remain in their own home as tenants.
Headline data from the first monitoring returns submitted by local authorities implementing the scheme were published on the CLG website on 30 April 2009:
The published tables, broken down by Government Office Region, comprise a consolidated return for January and February 2009, and a separate table for March 2009.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what regional caps will be set on (a) property value and (b) household income in respect of assistance under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme. [272450]
Margaret Beckett: The regional property price caps for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme have been reviewed and amended on the basis of feedback from delivery partners and early monitoring information. The changes, which are effective from 1 May 2009, are as follows:
| £ | ||
| Region | Original property price cap | Revised property price cap |
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