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1 July 2009 : Column 311W—continued
Disabled Facilities Grants
Mr. Drew:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department is taking to monitor the delivery by local authorities of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) scheme in relation to (a) levels of local authority contributions to DFG,
(b) the prioritisation of applications from individuals in urgent need of adaptations to their homes and (c) levels of compliance with target times for delivery under the scheme; and if he will take steps to ensure that uprating of DFG funding allocations by his Department is implemented by local authorities administering the scheme. [283193]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 sets the legislative framework for the Disabled Facilities Grant programme and it is for the local housing authority to assess the need of a disabled person for housing adaptations in the light of the mandatory entitlements. Local authorities are responsible for the local management and administration of the programme and have increased discretion to make local decisions.
It is a condition of payment of every grant that the eligible works are carried out within 12 months from the date of approval of the application concerned. If local authorities act incorrectly a complaint can be made to the local government ombudsman after the correct complaint procedures have been made to the council.
Local authorities are required to complete an annual claim and monitoring form to the Department and maintain financial records which are subject to auditing requirements. This includes information on the level of contribution claimed from central Government and levels of expenditure.
Empty Property
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many empty properties there are in each region. [281935]
Mr. Ian Austin: The total number of empty dwellings reported by local authorities in England, by region, as at 6 October 2008, are shown as follows.
| Region | Number of empty dwellings |
Information about the number of empty non-domestic properties is currently being collected and will be published later in the year.
Homelessness
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many private dwellings were being leased by (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authorities for the purpose of housing homeless households in the latest quarter for which figures are available. [280293]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information about English local housing authorities’ actions under the homelessness legislation (part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected quarterly at local authority level.
Data collected include the number of households accepted by local housing authorities as eligible for assistance, unintentionally homeless and in priority need, and therefore owed a main homelessness duty (to secure that suitable accommodation is available). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes so.
The number of households housed in temporary accommodation by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter, is also collected. This figure consists of those households which have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty; those for which inquiries are pending; those being accommodated for a limited period because they have been found intentionally homeless and in priority need; those being accommodated pending possible referral to another authority; and those being accommodated pending the outcome of a local authority review or county court appeal.
The latest figures for the number of households housed in temporary accommodation leased from the private sector by (a) registered social landlords and (b) local authorities are shown as follows:
| Number of households in temporary accommodation arranged under homelessness legislation, leased from the private sector by registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities (LAs), as at 31 March 2009 | |
| Type of temporary accommodation | Number of households |
| Source: CLG P1E returns (quarterly) | |
Housing Revenue Accounts
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the net subsidy paid to each local authority from the Housing Revenue Account was in each of the last three years. [282658]
Mr. Ian Austin: The information requested has been deposited in the Library.
Housing: Construction
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what eligibility criteria apply to (a) developers and (b) social landlords in respect of assistance under the Kickstart housing delivery scheme. [282412]
John Healey: Full details on the eligibility criteria for the Kickstart housing delivery scheme is included in the guidance notes for the scheme and published on the HCA website at:
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes were built in (a) North West Cambridgeshire constituency, (b) Huntingdonshire and (c) Peterborough in each of the last eight quarters. [283412]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information on house building completions is not available by constituency.
The following table shows the number of new homes built in Peterborough and Huntingdonshire in each of the last eight quarters.
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | ||||||
| Local authority | April to June | July to September | October to December | January to March | April to June | July to Sept ember | October to December | January to March |
| Source: New build completions from P2 quarterly returns submitted by local authorities and the National House-Building Council to CLG. | ||||||||
Housing: Crosby
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes classified as energy-efficient have been built in Crosby constituency in each of the last five years. [282519]
Mr. Ian Austin: All new homes built in England in the last five years have been required to meet the energy efficiency standards set out in Part L of the Building Regulations. The Part L standard for new homes was raised by 25 per cent. in 2002 and by a further 20 per cent. in 2006. This requirement will progressively increase leading up to the target for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016. The following table shows the total number of new build dwellings in the north-west region for each year from 2004-05 onwards.
| Number | |
The Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) provides an energy rating for new dwellings by demonstrating compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations. In general, homes built to current Part L correspond with SAP ratings of B or C. Some homes are built to exceed minimum regulatory standards, for example as a result of building to the Code for Sustainable Homes.
Housing: Energy
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes classified as energy-efficient have been built in Barnsley, East and Mexborough constituency in each of the last five years. [282790]
Mr. Ian Austin: All new homes built in England in the last five years have been required to meet the energy efficiency standards set out in Part L of the Building Regulations. The Part L standard for new homes was raised by 25 per cent. in 2002 and by a further 20 per cent. in 2006. This requirement will progressively increase leading up to the target for all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016. The following table shows the total number of new build dwellings in the Yorkshire and Humberside region for each year from 2004-2005 onwards.
| Number | |
The Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) provides an energy rating for new dwellings by demonstrating compliance with Part L of the Building Regulations. In general, homes built to current Part L correspond with SAP ratings of B or C. Some homes are built to exceed minimum regulatory standards, for example as a result of building to the Code for Sustainable Homes.
SAP is used to generate Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for new build dwellings. From 6 April 2008, it became mandatory to lodge all SAP EPCs for new build dwellings on the England and Wales Domestic EPC Register. In the constituency of Barnsley, East and Mexborough 177 SAP EPC lodgements were made in 2008 and 47 SAP EPC lodgements have been made in 2009 up to and including 25 June.
Housing: Low Incomes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what criteria apply in respect of the release of funds by HomeBuy Zone Agents under the HomeBuy Direct scheme. [282408]
John Healey: The Homes and Communities Agency are responsible for releasing funds for the HomeBuy Direct scheme. HomeBuy agents are responsible for assessing an applicant's eligibility for the HomeBuy Direct scheme, these are the same as for all HomeBuy products.
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties have been sold under the HomeBuy Direct Scheme in (a) Tamworth and (b) Staffordshire. [282431]
John Healey: To date no properties have been sold under HomeBuy Direct in Tamworth and Staffordshire. Units in both areas are likely to become available to purchasers later this year.
Housing: Prices
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) in which local authorities in England the average house price is above £225,000; [282398]
(2) whether his Department plans to increase the valuation cap under the Mortgage Rescue Scheme. [282411]
John Healey: The property price cap for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme is not set at one national value; the cap varies regionally to reflect the differing level of property prices. These regional property price caps for the Mortgage Rescue Scheme have been set with reference to Q4 2008 lower quartile property prices, reflecting the aim of the scheme to provide targeted support for vulnerable households at risk of homelessness. The level of the caps was increased on 1 May and is now at least 150 per cent. of lower quartile property prices in each region which are comparable to average house prices in all English regions. We have no plans to increase the caps further. Housing Associations already have flexibility to exceed the cap if appropriate depending on households’ individual circumstances.
In the current economic conditions, we have acted rapidly to put in place help and support for households struggling with their mortgage at every stage: from free debt advice when problems start, to free support for cases that reach court. Advice is available to all households struggling with their mortgage, with targeted schemes for those in most need.
Data on average house prices at a local authority level are published quarterly by CLG and can be viewed online at:
Invest to Save Budget
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many Invest to Save bids his Department sponsored in each of the last five years; what the total monetary value of such bids was; and what proportion of such bids were related to housing projects; [282611]
(2) how much (a) his Department and (b) his Department's non-departmental public bodies received from Invest to Save budgets in each of the last five years. [282612]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department has received no funding for non-departmental public bodies from the Invest to budgets during the last five years.
The number of Invest to Save Projects supported by my department over the last five years and funding received are as follows:
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