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13 Oct 2009 : Column 776W—continued
Social Rented Housing: Cornwall
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties are expected to be added to the stock of social rented housing in Cornwall through (a) construction and (b) purchase in each of the next five years. [291559]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Homes and Communities Agency is delivering a £59 million affordable housing investment programme in Cornwall over the 2008-11 period. In 2008-09, 209 new social homes for rent were completed in Cornwall. 539 new social homes for rent are expected to be completed in 2009-10 and a minimum of 365 new social homes for rent are expected to be completed in 2010-11. Approximately 52 homes were bought from developers on the open market for social rent in 2008-09 and 79 homes are expected to be bought from developers on the open market for social rent in 2009-10. There are no estimates for future years.
Social Rented Housing: Standards
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether any changes are planned to levels of Decent Homes funding to fund the other housing measures announced in the Draft Legislative Programme. [289545]
Mr. Ian Austin: There are no current planned changes to levels of Decent Homes funding to fund other housing measures announced in the Draft Legislative Programme.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when expenditure is planned to start under the Decent Homes programme to improve the standards of rented homes under the management of Round 6 arm's-length management organisations which have gained a two-star rating. [289905]
Mr. Ian Austin: Four Round 6 ALMOs-Haringey, Blackpool, Enfield and Stevenage-have funded Decent Homes investment programmes. On 14 July, as part of the Housing Pledge announcement, the Minister for Housing announced that those remaining Round 6 ALMOs, who had yet to qualify for Decent Homes funding on that date, are more likely to receive their capital allocations in 2011-12, subject to the ALMO achieving the Audit Commission inspection rating required.
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much money is planned to be diverted from the arm's length management organisations decent homes programme in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11 to contribute to funding the building of new homes. [289919]
Mr. Ian Austin: There are no plans to divert funding from the Decent Homes programme in 2009-10. In 2011-11, £150 million has been reprioritised from the programme to fund the Housing Pledge initiative to contribute to the building of new homes.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of former council properties transferred out of council ownership through local authority stock transfer which meet the Decent Homes standard. [290228]
Mr. Ian Austin: As at 31 March 2009, the proportion of homes owned by registered social landlords that own stock transferred from local authorities, which met the Decent Homes Standard was 88.1 per cent.
Source:
RSR 2009
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of properties owned by arm's-length management organisations which meet the Decent Homes standard. [290229]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information reported by local arm's- length management companies in 2008 on dwellings that meet the Decent Homes standard show that 69 per cent. of their homes met the standard.
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the proportion of homes owned by registered social landlords which meet the Decent Homes standard. [290231]
Mr. Ian Austin: As at 31 March 2009 the proportion of homes owned by registered social landlords which met the Decent Homes standard was 91.7 per cent.
Source:
RSR 2009
Social Rented Housing: West Yorkshire
Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he plans to take to increase the standard of social housing in (a) West Yorkshire and (b) Leeds North West constituency in the next 12 months. [292117]
Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 12 October 2009]: The Government have provided significant funding to support delivery of Decent Homes Programmes in the social housing sector across West Yorkshire. Such works will help to uplift the condition of housing which is currently deemed non-decent. With the exception of the Wakefield local authority area all other local authority areas in the West Yorkshire sub-region are on track to complete the decency programmes in line with the December 2010 deadline.
In terms of Leeds North West, the Arm's-Length Management Organisation, West North West is on track to deliver decent homes by 2010-11. Significant investment of £1.5 million in 2009-10 and £1.8 million in 2010-11 will be made on decency works and essential maintenance. West North West has also set its own lettable standard which is published on the website and provides for a higher level decency.
In addition, West North West will be investing £74,000 in 2009-10 and £62,000 in 2010-11 on environmental works to complement housing investment and improve the standard of the public realm.
1,500 properties in West North West area will benefit from the Social Housing Energy Saving Programme which will provide insulation measures thus increasing levels of thermal comfort.
Leeds and Kirklees will also benefit from the recent first round announcement regarding the local authority new build programme which was announced in the budget and was recently strengthened by the Housing Pledge. This will provide much needed high quality additional social housing-63 units supported by £3.5 million in Leeds and 36 units supported by almost £2 million grant in Kirklees.
Northern Ireland
Departmental Motor Vehicles
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much his Department spent on hire vehicles in each of the last five financial years. [291607]
Mr. Woodward: The following table shows how much the Northern Ireland Office, including the Public Prosecution Service Northern Ireland, but excluding its agencies and non-departmental public bodies has spent on hire vehicles in each of the last five financial years.
| £000 | |
Energy and Climate Change
Climate Change: Import Duties
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what progress has been made on the Doha Declaration paragraph 31 commitment to reduce or eliminate tariffs and non-tariff barriers on environmental goods and services. [289776]
Mr. McFadden: I have been asked to reply.
The Doha Round remains the UK Government's top trade priority and we will continue to work closely with our EU and international partners to secure a deal as early as possible.
Trade liberalisation of environmentally friendly goods and services is an important part of the negotiations. The World Trade Organisation's Committee on Trade and Environment, which is mandated to take forward these negotiations, recently met where all parties, including the EU, reaffirmed their commitment to the negotiations. The UK Government are committed to seeking an early resolution that will support the comprehensive global deal on climate change that we are seeking in Copenhagen this December.
UK Low Carbon Transition Plan
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change against what criteria he expects his Department to decide on the location of the 15 test hubs as identified in the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan; and when he expects that decision to be taken. [290893]
Joan Ruddock [holding answer 9 September 2009]: The criteria against which we will be short-listing the 20 test hubs were published on 28 September and we have invited local authorities in England, Wales and N Ireland to participate.
We expect to announce the location of these short-listed test hubs by the end of this year or early next year.
Warm Front Scheme
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much has been paid to Eaga since the inception of the Warm Front scheme. [292031]
Mr. Kidney: Payments for Warm Front heating, insulation and other energy efficiency measures, as well as scheme administration, are made to the main contractor, Eaga plc. Eaga deliver these measures through a network of subcontractors. The total value of payments made to Eaga since the beginning of the current phase of the scheme in June 2005 is £1,494 million.
Women and Equality
Human Rights: Gender
Lynne Jones: To ask the Minister for Women and Equality what assessment she has made of the recommendations for Council of Europe member states on human rights and gender identity made by the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights on 29 July 2009; and if she will make a statement. [292093]
Michael Jabez Foster [holding answer 12 October 2009]: We are aware of the Commissioner for Human Rights' issue paper on Human Rights and Gender Identity.
We are considering carefully the recommendations he has made and will make clear the Government's response in due course.
Work and Pensions
Housing Benefit: Expenditure
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what percentage of the expenditure of her Department and its predecessors on housing benefit was related to (a) social tenants and (b) private tenants in each year since 1997; [292356]
(2) how much has been spent on housing benefit for (a) private tenants and (b) social tenants in each year since 1997. [292357]
Helen Goodman: The information is in the following table.
| Housing benefit expenditure on social and private tenants (£ million and as a percentage of the total expenditure) | ||||
| £ million | Percentage | |||
| Social tenants | Private tenants | Social tenants | Private tenants | |
| Notes: 1. Expenditure figures are in millions of pounds, in cash terms. 2. Figures include all housing benefit expenditure, whether funded by DWP and its predecessors, or by local authorities. 3. Figures include expenditure on discretionary housing payments. Source: Local authority subsidy returns and housing benefit administrative data. | ||||
Incapacity Benefit
Mr. Harper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many sanctions were imposed on incapacity benefit claimants who missed their (a) first, (b) second and (c) third work-focused interview in each quarter since 2003. [291008]
Jonathan Shaw [holding answer 14 September 2009]: Data are not available in the form requested.
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