| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
18 May 2009 : Column 1198W—continued
The amount of RSL stock and the number of lettings are reported annually through the Regulatory Statistical Return. Table 2 gives turnover rates by region for stock owned by registered social landlords (RSLs) for each year since 1997-98. This covers general needs households only.
| Table 2: Number of general needs lettings as a percentage of general needs stock owned by registered social landlords, for each year since 1997-98, by region | |||||||||||
| Percentage | |||||||||||
| Region | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | 2007-08 |
| Notes: 1. Stock figures are reported as at 31 March each year; lettings are recorded over the period 1 April to 31 March. 2. Figures from 2000-01 and earlier relate to self-contained stock only. Source: Regulatory and Statistical Return Part N (1998 to 2001), part 0 (2002 to 2008). | |||||||||||
Repossession Orders: South Yorkshire
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many home repossessions initiated by (a) building societies and (b) banks there were in (i) Barnsley, (ii) Doncaster and (iii) South Yorkshire in each of the last five years. [275819]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Crosby (Mrs. Curtis-Thomas) on 13 May 2009, Official Report, column 818W.
Social Rented Housing
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will assess the merits of transferring social housing stock from local authority to registered social landlord control. [275482]
Mr. Iain Wright: Local authorities who wish to consider transferring their social housing to a registered social landlord (RSL) need to ensure that there are clear benefits from doing so and that the proposal would have the support of tenants. The Department has published guidance to local authorities, the Housing Transfer Manual 2005 and a 2006 supplement, which sets out the process and assessments required.
The Homes and Communities Agency has a responsibility to consider housing transfer applications from local authorities, and the Tenant Services Authority considers from a regulatory perspective the position of the RSL to whom the housing is proposed to be transferred. Housing transfer only takes place where it has the support of tenants, and has the legal consent of the Secretary of State.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average age of a dwelling owned by a (a) local authority and (b) registered social landlord was in each of the last five years. [275573]
Mr. Iain Wright: Provisional figures for the average age of social housing in England, as at May 2009, are:
(a) Local authority dwellings—53 years;
(b) Housing association dwellings—44 years.
Equivalent statistics for previous years are not available but it should be noted that there is little change in the age profile of the stock from year to year.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authority tenants received a cash incentive to vacate their home in each of the last five years. [276145]
Mr. Iain Wright: I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) on 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 322W, and on 24 February 2009, Official Report, columns 554-56W.
Urban Areas: Regeneration
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent steps her Department has taken to provide (a) guidance and (b) assistance to (i) regional and (ii) local organisations in relation to town centre regeneration projects. [275447]
Mr. Khan: On 14 April we published "Looking after our town centres", which sets out the range of powers, guidance and approaches that can help local authorities and their partners promote the vitality and viability of town centres, and explains additional steps that the Government are taking to enable further positive action to be taken, particularly through the temporary use of empty shops.
We also recently issued, for public consultation, “Planning for Prosperous Economies”, a new Planning Policy Statement streamlining planning policy for economic development. This includes policy on town centres currently in Planning Policy Statement 6. We are also consulting on associated guidance. Together these will strengthen the Government's “town centre first” policy and support regeneration schemes.
We also set out clear principles for working at regional and local levels when we launched the next stage of the Regeneration Framework on 11 May. This explains the Government's vision for regeneration and the steps we are now taking to keep regeneration moving in the current economic conditions. It takes a holistic approach—ensuring physical, social and economic regeneration are planned and delivered together.
Work and Pensions
Cold Weather Payments: Fife
Sir Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in North-East Fife constituency qualified for cold weather payments in each of the last five years. [270859]
Kitty Ussher: No cold weather payments were triggered for eligible people living in the post code area covering the North-East Fife constituency in the years 2004-05 to 2006-07. Cold weather payments were triggered once for this post code area in 2007-2008 and either once or twice in 2008-09, dependent on the relevant weather station. However, it is not possible to give a figure for the number of people who qualified for a cold weather payment, as this information is not available at constituency level, only by weather station.
Crisis Loans: Essex
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much was paid out in crisis loans by each Essex jobcentre in each year since 2005. [271987]
Kitty Ussher: The information is not available in the format requested. Information on crisis loan expenditure is not available by Jobcentre Plus office.
Foreign Workers
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) non-UK and (b) non-EU citizens applied for a national insurance number in each region in each of the last five years. [268452]
Mr. McNulty: The available information is in the tables.
The statistics show the total number of national insurance numbers allocated—not the number of migrants living in the UK. We know that many people come to work for a short period and then return—the national insurance number statistics do not measure people leaving the UK. They should not be used to make estimates about the number of foreign nationals living in the UK at a particular time.
| Total number of non-UK and non-EU registrations for national insurance numbers in each Government office region | ||||||
| Thousand | ||||||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | ||||
| Government office region | Non-UK total | Non-EU | Non-UK total | Non-EU | Non-UK total | Non-EU |
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |