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1 Sep 2009 : Column 1835W—continued
Fire Service College
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the net cost to the public purse of the Fire Service College is; and whether an assessment has been made of the potential for increasing its commercial revenue. [288826]
Mr. Malik: In 2008-09 the expenditure of the Fire Service College was £23.840 million, which it funded from £21.579 million income and £2.261 million reserves. It was unable to pay the required dividend (net of loan interest) of £1.521 million.
Over the past year the Department and College management team have jointly carried out a detailed review of all aspects of the College's business to determine how it could continue to meet the training and development needs of the Fire and Rescue Service on a financially
sustainable basis. This review looked at building College income through growing current market share and developing new public and private sector markets and products and concluded that financial sustainability could be achieved in 2010-11.
Homes and Communities Agency: Finance
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the budget for the Homes and Communities Agency for 2009-10 is. [288471]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 16 June 2009, Official Report, column 202W.
Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 14 May 2009, Official Report, column 1002W, on housing, on what dates the Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process has met since 23 March 2009; what was discussed at each meeting; and if he will make a statement. [288437]
John Healey: The Working Group on Condition Information in the Home Buying and Selling Process has met twice since 23 March 2009, on 19 May and 13 July. This work is ongoing and disclosure of what was discussed at each meeting could restrict the contribution of Working Group members to those discussions and limit their input.
Housing Market
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average length of time was between a home being placed on the market and being sold in the latest period for which figures are available. [287506]
John Healey: We do not collect the data requested.
Housing: Construction
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new housing units were completed in 2008-09; and how many are predicted to be completed in (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2011-12. [287508]
Mr. Malik: 133,710 new build dwellings were completed in England in 2008-09.
The latest statistics on house building starts and completions in England were published in the Communities and Local Government Statistics Release of 21 May 2009 and accompanying live tables. The web links are as follows:
Link to House Building Statistics Release:
Link to House Building Live Tables:
The Department does not publish forecasts for house building.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what targets his Department and its agencies have set for affordable house building in each of the next two years. [288224]
John Healey: As set out in Building Britain's Future, we will be providing a total of 110,000 new affordable homes over the next two years.
Housing: Energy
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes classified as energy efficient were built in each local authority area in each of the last five years. [286917]
Mr. Malik: 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. Tables showing the total number of new build dwellings per year in each English region can be found on my Department's website at:
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to paragraph 31 of the Building Britain's Future document, Cm 7654, what criteria will be used to decide where to deploy the £1.5 billion of new investment in energy efficient affordable homes. [287866]
John Healey: Criteria for allocations for these funds vary across the different component programmes, although all funding will be allocated on a competitive basis. For affordable housing units, standards and costing will be in line with those of the National Affordable Housing Programme. For private housing completions, the level of public subsidy required, fit with national, regional and local priorities and the quality of the homes will all be assessed. The bidding guidance and criteria for the schemes will be made available through the website of the Home and Communities Agency at
Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many energy performance certificates have been issued by local authorities in respect of privately-rented properties in each year since their introduction; what recent progress has been made in increasing the energy efficiency of buildings; and if he will make a statement. [288022]
John Healey:
The Energy Performance of Buildings (Certificates and Inspections) (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (S.I. 2007/991) ("the 2007 regulations") require the seller, prospective landlord or builder of a
property to make an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) available to a prospective buyer or tenant whenever a building in England or Wales is sold, constructed or rented out. Local authorities are not therefore expected to issue EPCs in respect of privately rented properties.
The Heat and Energy Saving Strategy consultation paper (HESS), published in February this year, sets out the combination of measures the Government have adopted and proposes for increasing the energy efficiency of existing homes, including targeted help to households on using energy better, insulating their homes, accessing low carbon heat and power, and reducing their fuel bills. The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan (UKLCTP), publish on 15 July, also sets out the route to cut emissions by 34 per cent. in comparison to 1990 levels by 2020. Consultation on the HESS has now been completed and the final policy proposals will be published later this year.
Housing: Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in which month in 2009 data collection funds from the second round of housing and planning delivery grant will be allocated to local authorities; over what period of data collection his Department will base its second round allocations; and over what period his Department will take a decision on how to allocate the funding. [288824]
John Healey: A consultation paper setting out changes to the formula for distributing Housing and Planning Delivery Grant was issued in May 2009. The data used to calculate the allocations of the second year of Housing and Planning Delivery Grant (2009-10) have been collected and we hope to make provisional allocations shortly. Following comments from local authorities we will make final allocations and payments in the autumn.
The proposed formula is based on data for housing supply (average net additions) in local authorities over the period 2005-6 to 2007-8. For planning the formula is based on data from 2008-9 for the delivery of local development frameworks, providing land for housing and publishing strategic housing land assessments.
Housing: Low Incomes
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many completed Social Homebuy transactions there have been in each Government Office region. [288225]
Mr. Malik: The following table shows the number of social homebuy sales in each Government office region between April 2006 and June 2009. Social homebuy is a voluntary and demand-led scheme in which only some social landlords choose to participate. It is one of several options available to help social tenants into home ownership. Purchasers can buy shares of between 25 and 100 per cent.
| Region | Number of s ocial h ome b uy sales |
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of social housing units contained households with at least one person in paid work in (a) 1979, (b) 1997 and (c) the most recent year for which figures are available. [288226]
Mr. Malik: Estimates of the number and proportion of social sector households with at least one person in employment in 1997 and 2008 are provided in the following table. Data are not available for 1979. These estimates are based on data from the ONS Labour Force Survey.
| Social sector households with at least one person in employment, England, 1997 and 2008 | ||
| Thousands | Percentage | |
| Source: ONS, Labour Force Survey. | ||
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress has been made towards the Government's target of delivering at least 70,000 affordable houses by 2010. [288324]
Mr. Malik: Provisional figures from the Homes and Communities Agency show a total of 47,000 affordable homes were provided in 2008-09. Market conditions have made the delivery of affordable housing much more challenging. Along with additional investment from the Housing Pledge and steps the Government have already taken, we will deliver 20,000 more affordable homes than would otherwise have been possible and allow us to deliver over 56,000 affordable homes in 2010-11.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what formula is used to allocate between regions additional monies under the National Affordable Housing Programme. [288475]
John Healey: Flexibility will be applied to the additional funding for the national Affordable Housing Programme and will reflect the extent to which local areas in regions respond on delivery and value for money.
Independent Housing Ombudsman
Grant Shapps:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees the office of the
Independent Housing Ombudsman employs; what its budget for 2009-10 is; and how much it will receive in support from his Department in 2009-10. [288479]
Mr. Malik: The Independent Housing Ombudsman (THO) currently employs 35.5 full-time equivalent employees. Its budget for 2009-10 is £3,326,734. The IHO does not receive any financial support from the Department.
Leasehold Advisory Service
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many full-time equivalent employees the Leasehold Advisory Service employs; what its budget for 2009-10 is; and how much it will receive in support from his Department in 2009-10. [288478]
Mr. Malik: LEASE currently employs 19 full-time equivalent staff. The expenditure forecast by LEASE for 2009-10 is £1,468,851. Communities and Local Government expects to provide a grant-in-aid amount of £1,325,000 for the year 2009-10.
Leasehold Advisory Service: Managers
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what remuneration the Chief Executive of the Leasehold Advisory Service received in the most recent year for which figures are available. [288487]
Mr. Malik: The remuneration for the chief executive of the Leasehold Advisory Service with effect from 8 October 2008 is equivalent to £72,235 per annum.
Local Government Finance
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what individual funding streams there are within the area-based grant; and which elements of area-based grant derive from funding streams which are managed by other Government departments. [288162]
Ms Rosie Winterton: Information on individual area based grant funding streams and their contributing central Government Departments for the period 2009-10 is available from the CLG website at the following link:
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the amount of area-based grant will be in each of the next three years. [288163]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The total of area based grant in 2010-11 is currently scheduled to be £4,776,748,906. This total is subject to change as departments contributing to ABG have the option to increase their previously announced allocations or to include new funding streams within ABG. Details of department allocations are available on the CLG website at the following link:
Spending plans for 2011-12 onwards have yet to be determined.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how the number of resident migrants who are not recorded on the census in a particular locality are reckoned for the purposes of local government finance settlements. [288982]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The distribution of Formula Grant funding takes into account a measure of the usual resident population, and does not use estimates of migrant numbers separately.
Communities and Local Government use sub-national population projections and the mid-year estimates that are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). These statistics take into account changes in the population through natural change (births and deaths), internal migration (movements between local authorities) as well as international migration.
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