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8 July 2009 : Column 901W—continued
West Lindsey District Council
Worcester City Council
Worthing Borough Council
Eco-towns: Construction
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his estimated timetable is for the construction of each eco-town. [284072]
John Healey: As we have previously announced, our aim is to see exemplar eco-town projects underway in the next couple of years and up to 10 eco-towns under development by 2020.
Empty Property
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the number of empty dwellings in (a) England, (b) the South East, (c) Hertfordshire and (d) Hemel Hempstead. [283673]
Mr. Ian Austin: In October 2008, there were 784,022 empty domestic dwellings in England. Of these, 105,111 were in the South East of England, 11,435 were in Hertfordshire and 1,612 were in the Dacorum council area. Data are not available at constituency level.
Energy Performance Certificates and Home Information Packs
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information his Department holds on the average maximum duration of validity of an energy performance certificate for a domestic property. [284167]
John Healey: An energy performance certificate (EPC) is valid for 10 years from the date on which it is issued, or until a newer EPC is issued for the building concerned, unless it is to be used as one of the prescribed documents in a home information pack (HIP), which is required to be in place for all residential properties marketed for sale in England and Wales, in which case it will be valid for three years from the date on which it is issued.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of (a) energy performance certificates and (b) home information packs that were purchased in the last 12 months. [284264] [Official Report, 26 November 2009, Vol. 501, c. 15-16MC.]
John Healey: Information about the number of energy performance certificates (EPCs) lodged in England and Wales in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors is available on the EPC register website at:
There is no central register for the number of home information packs however we estimate that 1.1 million home information packs have been produced during the period 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2009.
Mr. Stewart Jackson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment his Department has made of levels of
compliance with duties relating to home information packs (HIPs) by (a) sellers and (b) estate agents since the introduction of HIPs. [283882]
John Healey: Local authority trading standards offices and the Office of Fair Trading have statutory responsibility for enforcing the home information pack duties through s.166 and s.175 of the Housing Act 2004. The information requested is not held centrally.
Homelessness
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were classified by local authorities as intentionally homeless in each of the last 10 years. [283467]
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 decisions on applications from households eligible for assistance, who were found by local authorities to be in a priority need category but had become homeless intentionally. Information is not held centrally on the overall number of intentionally homeless households.
The number of households found to be intentionally homeless and in priority need, in each of the past 10 years, is published in table 1 of the Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, available on the web and in the Library at:
Housing and Planning Delivery Grant
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the likely effect on local authority budgets for 2009-10 of his Department's decision to reduce housing and planning delivery grant allocations in order to fund changes to local authority rent increases. [284442]
Mr. Ian Austin: The housing and planning delivery grant (HPDG) allocation was reduced from £160 million to £135 million in 2009-10 and from £250 million to £200 million in 2010-11 in order to balance budgets, including the impact of changes to local authority rent increases. This reflects the decline in housing completions and the lower number of plans being submitted. The baseline of HPDG will still increase significantly, almost doubling to the £200 million figure next year from £101 million in 2008-09.
The average HPDG allocation to local authorities is therefore budgeted to rise from £254,000 in 2008-09 to £340,000 in 2009-10 and £504,000 in 2010-11.
Housing: Construction
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) local authority and (b) housing association properties which will be (i) started and (ii) completed before May 2010; [284912]
(2) pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 30 June 2009, Official Report, columns 7-10WS, on housing, what estimate he made of the cost of building each new (a) local authority and (b) housing association property in order to calculate the numbers of each type to be built. [284914]
Mr. Ian Austin: The national average total cost of building a new social home has been estimated at around £150,000. All grant funding provided as part of Building Britain's Future will be subject to competitive bidding and is expected to be considerably less than the total cost of providing a new home.
The details of the number of homes to be started and completed, taking account of the additions announced in Building Britain's Future, will be published in the HCA corporate plan.
Housing: Energy
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes classified as energy-efficient have been built in Castle Point in each of the last five years. [281973]
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 East of England 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.
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 Castle Point 19 SAP EPC lodgements were made in 2008 and 11 SAP EPC lodgements have been made in 2009 up to and including 29 June 2009.
Housing: Finance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding the Homes and Communities Agency has allocated to each local authority for 2009-10. [283918]
John Healey: Information on the Homes and Communities Agency expenditure, including by local authority area, will be published annually in the Agency's report and accounts.
Housing: Low Incomes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate he has made of the number of housing (a) starts and (b) completions under the National Affordable Housing Programme in each region in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) 2010-11; [283451]
(2) what targets for housing (a) starts and (b) completions under the National Affordable Housing Programme have been set for each region for each of the next three years. [283430]
Mr. Ian Austin: Communities and Local Government do not set regional targets for the National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP). The details of how the NAHP will be managed, taking account of the Housing Pledge, part of Building Britain's Future, announced on 29 June 2009, will be published in the HCA Corporate Plan shortly.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has spent on (a) OwnHome, (b) My Choice HomeBuy and (c) Open Market HomeBuy schemes in each of the last three years. [284190]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Margaret Beckett) gave him on 21 May 2009, Official Report, column 1540W.
Infrastructure Planning Commission: Recruitment
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vacant posts at the Infrastructure Planning Commission are being advertised to civil servants only. [284009]
John Healey: None of the permanent vacancies are being confined to civil servants. Recruits are being sought through advertisements in national press, specialist publications and a wide range of media in the Bristol and south west area.
Local Government Finance
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the practice of co-mingling in relation to (a) local authority investments and (b) funds from the Local Government Pension Scheme. [284002]
Ms Rosie Winterton: No guidance has been issued specifically on co-mingling.
Within the framework of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 1998, as amended, LGPS administering authorities make their own decisions on pension fund investments and the use of pension fund monies.
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Audit Commission plans respond to the Seventh Report of the Communities and Local Government Committee of Session 2008-09, HC 164, on local authority investments. [284089]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Yes, the Audit Commission has been invited to make a formal response by the Select Committee on the inquiry into local authority investments and will do so by the required date of 21 September 2009.
Local Government: Contracts
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many procurement contracts have been agreed by (a) unitary or county councils and (b) district councils with IBM in the last five years. [284407]
Ms Rosie Winterton: This information is not held centrally.
Local Government: Debt Collection
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much and what proportion of the absolute monetary value of each local authority's net collectable debt has not been collected in each year since 1997-98. [283775]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Details of the amount of council tax and national non-domestic rates uncollected in cash terms in England in each year since 1997-98 are shown in £ millions in the following table. The data relate to the non-collection of council tax and national non-domestic rates within the year to which it relates. The table also shows the amount of uncollected council tax and national non-domestic rates as a proportion of the total amount of council tax and national non-domestic local authorities expected to collect if every taxpayer paid the full amount for which they are liable after discounts and benefit.
| Council tax not collected within year (£ million) | Council tax not collected as percentage of net collectible debit | National non-domestic rates not collected within year (£ million) | National non-domestic rates not collected as percentage of net collectible debt | |
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