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14 May 2009 : Column 998W—continued
The data are as 6 October 2008 and are as reported to Communities and Local Government by all billing authorities in England on their annual Council Taxbase (CTB) and CTB (Supplementary) returns.
Energy Performance Certificates
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons an energy performance certificate purchased by a residential landlord to show to rental tenants may not subsequently be incorporated into a home information pack should the landlord wish to market his property for sale. [274782]
Margaret Beckett: An energy performance certificate purchased by a residential landlord for rental purposes may be used in a home information pack for a property sale, provided it is less than three years old at the first point of marketing.
Fire Services: Medals
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment her Department has made of the merits of providing funding for the award of fire service veterans badges; and if she will make a statement. [275600]
Mr. Khan: The Department has no plans to provide or fund a veterans badge for fire fighters. Some members of the National Fire services may be eligible for the Defence Medal. I understand that the British Fire Services Association designed and issued a lapel badge for veterans in the fire service. These are not funded by this Department.
First Time Buyers
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 May 2009, Official Report, columns 136-37W, on housing: sales, how many homes she expects to be sold under the First-Time Buyers Initiative in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [274892]
Mr. Iain Wright: The First Time Buyers’ initiative is a demand led programme and therefore we have not made an estimate.
Home Information Packs
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect on the availability of local search information provided for home information packs of recent unitary local government restructuring. [273688]
Margaret Beckett: No such specific assessment has been made. However, we understand from information collected by the Department that the nine new unitary authorities are providing access to property search information following the implementation of the Local Authorities (England) (Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to review the operation, cost and effectiveness of the home information pack scheme. [274905]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Winchester (Mr. Oaten) on 10 September 2008, Official Report, column 1989W.
Homes and Communities Agency
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what (a) studies and (b) reviews the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessors commissioned, in which it engaged the services of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment in each of the last five years; [272558]
(2) how much (a) the Homes and Communities Agency and (b) its predecessors have paid to the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) in each of the last five years; how much she has allocated in each of the next three years; and what services have been received from CABE. [272511]
Margaret Beckett: The predecessor bodies for the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) were English Partnerships (EP), the investment arm of the Housing Corporation (HC), and the Academy for Sustainable Communities. A range of departmental programmes also transferred to the Agency from Communities and Local Government.
The Academy, EP, HC and now the HCA have all worked with the Commission of Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE). The detail of all engagement, including studies and reviews and money paid to CABE in the last five years is given as follows:
The HCA has paid £134,590.64 to the Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) for the following services since 1 December, 2008:
Delivery of the HCA Academy's 'Space Leaders' programme.
Work with growth locations to raise awareness about the value of design, and to help embed Building for Life standards within local planning policy documents.
CABE have a Memorandum of Understanding with ATLAS, the HCA's specialist advisory service.
English Partnerships paid CABE, £56,547.68 in 2004/05; £55,000 in 2005-06; £25,000 in 2006-07 and £25,000 in 2007-08 for the following services:
Together with the Housing Corporation, EP co-sponsored European International Design Competition, which CABE manage within the UK.
Work on the production of the Design Codes publication
Partnership working on initiatives such as Building for Life (BfL).
Sitting on the final assessment panel for Design for Manufacture, and the steering group for Urban Design Compendium.
Design reviews for a number of what were EP's direct and indirect projects such as Northstowe, Frickley and Corby station.
Production of the Allerton Bywater Design Code.
Contribution to 'Enquiry by Design' event for Whitefields borough council.
The Housing Corporation paid CABE(1), £40,000 in 2004-05; £80,750 in 2005-06; £113,218.50 in 2006-07; £53,828.75 in 2007-08 and £55,106.25 in 2008-09 for the following services:
(1) These payments include remunerations for both investment and regulatory work and therefore do not wholly reflect work now undertaken by the HCA.
Provision of practical training to Housing Corporation and RSL staff throughout England.
Dissemination of best practice in the housing sector through the BfL Newsletter
Contribution to the work of the Housing Corporation Commission on Affordable Housing in the Thames Gateway.
Setting up and running of a series of Focus group meetings with RSLs;
Dissemination of best practice through the BfL Newsletter
Contribution to the development of new Best Practice Guidance.
Europan 9 (see entry for EP above).
Project management of Affordable Housing Survey.
The Academy for Sustainable Communities paid CABE, £30,000 in 2006-07 and £15,000 in 2007-08 for the following services:
Delivery of 'Space Leaders' programme.
There is no overall allocation of funds for CABE within the HCA's planning. CABE's services may be used to provide design advice across the full range of the HCA's programmes over the next three years.
Homes and Communities Agency: Expenditure
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1505W, on the Homes and Communities Agency, on which projects the Homes and Communities Agency spent £54,000 on branding, broken down by category of expenditure. [273452]
Margaret Beckett: £54,000 was spent on the development of the HCA brand, delivered through the Central Office of Information.
The expenditure can be broken down as follows:
| £000 | |
| (1) All costs exclude VAT. | |
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer my hon. Friend the Member for Welwyn Hatfield of 2 April 2009, Official Report, column 1505W, on the Homes and Communities Agency, on what categories of stationery items (a) the Homes and Communities Agency spent £99,000 and (b) the Tenant Services Authority spent £17,000. [273453]
Margaret Beckett: The Homes and Communities Agency and the Tenant Services Authority’s accounting systems cannot disaggregate expenditure by various categories of stationery item.
This information could therefore be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) when she expects the Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process to (a) complete its work and (b) publish its report; [274856]
(2) on what dates phase (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4 of the Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process was completed; what assessment she has made of the group's progress; and if she will make a statement; [274857]
(3) what phase of its work the Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process has reached; and on what date she expects it to complete this phase. [274858]
Margaret Beckett: The work of the Working Group on Condition Information in Home Buying and Selling process is ongoing and is due to report in September 2009. A copy of the final report will be placed in the Library of the House.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on what dates the Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process has met since its inception; where each meeting took place; which (a) Ministers, (b) senior civil servants and (c) other parties were present at each such meeting; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the minutes of each meeting. [274859]
Margaret Beckett: The Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process has met twice. The meetings took place on 4 March 2009 and 23 March 2009 in Eland House. No Ministers attended the meetings which were chaired by the Deputy Director of Sustainable Buildings and Climate Change Directorate. This work is ongoing and publication of the minutes could restrict the contribution of working group members to those discussions and limit their input. We will not therefore be publishing the minutes. My reply to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) 6 May 2009, Official Report, columns 240-41W, dealt with the membership of the working group.
Housing Revenue Accounts
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what housing revenue account pooling rate applies to the disposal of (a) dwellings and (b) land assets. [274842]
Mr. Iain Wright:
After taking into account costs such as administration incidental to the disposal and improvements to the asset in the three years before the disposal, local authorities are required to pool 75 per cent. of receipts arising from the disposal of dwellings and 50 per cent. of receipts arising from the disposal of other housing assets. However, housing receipts arising from sales that are neither right to buy nor to any owner-occupier can be retained by local authorities provided they are used for affordable housing or regeneration projects. Furthermore, we have consulted on provisions which will effectively allow authorities to
retain all RTB receipts, provided they are used for the same purposes, if they arise from newly-built or newly-acquired dwellings.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government at what rate local authorities are expected to include capital receipts relating to easements in their pooling amounts for their housing revenue accounts. [274843]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities are required to pool receipts arising from the disposal of easements over land held in their housing revenue accounts, where such a disposal constitutes “the disposal of an interest in housing land” as defined in regulation 12(1)(a) of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/3146 (as amended)). Whether it is a disposal that falls within the regulations is a matter for the local authority to determine, subject to the scrutiny of its auditor. If the authority considers that the easement is an interest in housing land, then the receipt is poolable at a rate of 75 per cent. if the easement is over land that constitutes a dwelling. If the easement is over any other housing asset, then the receipt is poolable at 50 per cent.
In certain circumstances, it might be possible for an authority to retain all the receipt, provided the local authority uses the receipt for affordable housing or regeneration projects.
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much (a) her Department and (b) the Homes and Communities Agency spent on the Affordable Housing Survey in each of the last three years; and how much she has allocated for expenditure on future such surveys. [272557]
Margaret Beckett [holding answer 5 May 2009]: Responsibility for the Affordable Housing Survey rests with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and as such, no funding was specifically allocated for the Affordable Housing Survey by my Department in the last three years, nor has any been specifically allocated for the next three.
The HCA, and previously the Housing Corporation, spent £25,000 in 2007-08 and £135,000 in 2008-09 on producing the Affordable Housing Survey. Nothing was spent on the survey in 2006-07. Decisions on allocations for the next three years will be made as apart of the agency's corporate planning process, which is currently under way.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much her Department spent on publicising each HomeBuy scheme in each of the last three years; and what promotional activities such expenditure funded. [272977]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 23 March 2009, Official Report, column 68W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties have been sold under the Homebuy scheme in each of the last five years. [273403]
Margaret Beckett: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 November 2008, Official Report, column 1282W, to the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather).
The following table shows the provisional figures of homes provided under each of the HomeBuy schemes in 2008-09 through the Homes and Communities Agency’s Affordable Housing Programme.
| P rovisiona l figure | |
| Source: Homes and Communities Agency Investment Management System | |
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