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2 Nov 2009 : Column 754W—continued
Renewable Energy: Local Government
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department is monitoring the adherence of local authorities to their obligation to promote and encourage the development of renewable energy resources in their local development policy. [293426]
Mr. Ian Austin: Local planning authorities in England are required to make an annual report to the Secretary of State on the extent to which the policies set out in local development documents are being achieved. In addition my Department published research on our website in July 2009 which looked at the ambition of targets for renewable energy set in regional spatial strategies and their implementation. We are also currently undertaking research into the take up of and application of the policies in the Planning Policy Statement on Planning and Climate Change. Planning elsewhere in the UK is a matter for the devolved Administrations.
United Nations Adaptation Fund
Mr. Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what funding the Government provided to the United Nations Adaptation Fund in (a) 2008 and (b) 2009; what funding is planned for 2010; and if he will make a statement. [294337]
Joan Ruddock: The Adaptation Fund was established under the Kyoto Protocol of the UNFCCC and launched at COP-7 in Marrakech, in 2001. Its aim was to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in vulnerable developing countries. The Board of the Adaptation Fund was then established in 2008. The Fund is expected to become operational before the climate change conference in Copenhagen at the end of this year. The Adaptation Fund has a unique mechanism for financing, which is not dependent on contributions from specific countries. Instead, it is financed by a market-based source of funding-a 2 per cent. levy on the proceeds of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which was also established under the Kyoto Protocol. Nevertheless, the UK has been supporting the design and implementation of the Adaptation Fund both as a board member and through provision of £0.5 million start-up funding.
Communities and Local Government
Building Regulations: Public Consultation
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many responses were received to his Department's public consultation on proposals to revise Building Regulations (a) Part F on ventilation and (b) Part L on conservation of fuel and power; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each such response. [296888]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department received over 400 responses to the public consultation on proposals to revise Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations 2000. The responses are currently being analysed. A summary of the responses will be published on the Department's website in due course. A copy of each individual response not marked as confidential will be placed in the Library at the same time.
Chief Fire Adviser
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reason the post of Her Majesty's Chief Inspectorate of Fire Services has been renamed as Chief Fire Adviser; and if he will make a statement. [293001]
Mr. Malik: The 2003 Fire and Rescue Service White Paper proposed the reform of the role of HM Fire Service Inspectorate (HMFSI). Ministers decided that as it was no longer undertaking its original core function of inspecting all fire and rescue services in England, it should be abolished with effect from 1 February 2007. Later that year, the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser's Unit (CFRA) was established to provide strategic advice and guidance to ministers, civil servants, fire and rescue services in England and other stakeholders (including the devolved Administrations), on the structure, organisation and performance of the Fire and Rescue Service.
Community Relations
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department has taken to implement the recommendations made in the report of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion on Building united and resilient communities, developing shared futures; and what changes have been made to the funding of external organisations as a consequence of such implementation. [295761]
Mr. Malik: The Government published their plans for implementing the report of the Commission on Integration and Cohesion on 4 February 2008. This included the announcement of £50 million for community cohesion work over three years. £34 million was allocated to local authorities through Area Based Grant; £7.5 million to interfaith work; £4.5 million to positive activities for young people; and the remainder to support for local areas. More recently, the Government have allocated further funding to support local areas as part of the Connecting Communities programme. Elements of the above funding will go to external organisations.
Council Housing: East of England
Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many council tenants there were in (a) St. Albans constituency, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) the East of England in each year since 1997. [297528]
Mr. Ian Austin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Jarrow (Mr. Hepburn) on 12 October 2009, Official Report, column 356W.
Council Housing: Finance
Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the capital expenditure per unit of council housing has been in each local authority area in each of the last two years for which figures are available. [291655]
Mr. Ian Austin: A table containing the information requested has been placed in the House Library.
Council Housing: Property Transfer
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the capital receipts from the sale of local authority housing stock in Tamworth constituency were in each of the last 10 years; and what proportion of the sum was (a) retained by Tamworth Borough Council and (b) passed to his Department in each of those years. [297121]
Mr. Ian Austin: Prior to 1 April 2004, local authorities retained receipts arising from the disposal of their housing assets, although authorities with debt set aside a proportion of those receipts to repay their housing debt.
The following table shows for each financial year since 1999-2000 the total housing receipts received by Tamworth borough council and since 2004-05 the total amount of those receipts which were surrendered to the Exchequer Consolidated Fund. These do not pass directly
to the Department for Communities and Local Government, nor are they hypothecated to specific policy areas but, together with other resources, contribute towards the overall fiscal envelope within which departmental public expenditure programmes are agreed as part of the Spending Review process.
| £000 | ||
| Total housing receipts received by Tamworth borough council | Total of those receipts passed to the Exchequer Consolidated Fund | |
| n/a = Not applicable. (1) = Not available. | ||
Data for 2003-2004 and previous years were provided by the local authority on a voluntary basis in the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix. Since 2004-2005, data on housing receipts and the calculation of the proportion of those receipts that must be paid to the Secretary of State has been a requirement, and it is audited every year.
The parliamentary constituency of Tamworth covers the whole of the area administered by Tamworth borough council, and part of the area administered by Lichfield district council. Data on housing receipts are collected on the basis of local authorities, not parliamentary constituencies.
Council Housing: Waiting Lists
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average time taken for (a) all applicants and (b) single mothers to be allocated to local authority accommodation in (i) England, (ii) the North East, (iii) Tees Valley and (iv) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency was in each year since 1997. [297230]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information on the length of time taken to house applicants in local authority accommodation is not collected centrally.
Council Housing: Young People
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many 18 to 21-year-olds are housed as priority need owing to their status as a former relevant child. [295829]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) is collected at local authority level, and published by the Department in the quarterly Statistical Release on Statutory Homelessness, available both in the Library and via the CLG website:
Data collected includes 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 ("homeless acceptances"). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
The priority need categories include a person (other than a relevant student) who is under 21 and, at any time after reaching the age of 16, but while still under 18, was, but is no longer, looked after, accommodated or fostered. Between April and June 2009 (the most recent period for which data are available), 130 homeless acceptances fell within this priority need category.
The priority need categories also include a person (other than a relevant student) who has reached the age of 21 and who is vulnerable as a result of having been looked after, accommodated or fostered. Between April and June 2009, 40 homeless acceptances fell within this priority need group, but it is not possible to identify the age of the applicants.
The term "relevant student" means a person to whom section 24B(3) of the Children Act 1989 applies, who is in full time further or higher education and whose term-time accommodation is not available to him during a vacation.
Former relevant children under 21 are likely to qualify for advice and assistance from the responsible Children's Services authority, including assistance in meeting their accommodation needs. The general expectation is that they will receive sufficient support to avoid them becoming homeless. However, if a former relevant child's accommodation arrangements break down unavoidably, the homelessness legislation provides a safety net to ensure they will have suitable accommodation available.
Council Tax: Bromley
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties are recorded with each individual (a) dwelling house code and (b) value significant code in the local authority area of Bromley. [295704]
Barbara Follett: The number of properties with each individual dwelling house code and each value significant code, for all local authority areas in England, have been placed in the Library of the House.
Council Tax: Debt Collection
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2009, Official Report, column 584W, on council tax: debt collection, what the timetable is for the planned changes to the enforcement of council tax; and whether the plans will require (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation. [295895]
Barbara Follett:
Although 97 per cent. of council tax was collected in 2008-09 there are still people who, despite being able to afford to pay their bills, do not do so. That is why, on 2 July last year my right hon. Friend the Member for Wentworth (John Healey) announced that this Department was working with the Ministry of
Justice to devise new ways of collecting and enforcing council tax, in particular by allowing local authorities to transfer debt cases from magistrates courts to county courts. If the Government decide to extend the enforcement regime in this way it would have to be done through primary legislation. Local authorities have a duty to their rate payers to ensure that every one of their hard earned pounds works as hard as they do.
Council Tax: Valuation
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether it is the policy of the Valuation Office Agency to value a self-contained annexe as a separate dwelling for council tax purposes in cases where planning permission for the property was granted on the condition that the annexe should not be sold or sub-let separately. [293265]
Barbara Follett: If an annexe is a self contained unit, it must be treated as a separate dwelling under the Council Tax (Chargeable Dwellings) Order 1992. Conditions attached to planning permission that prevent a separate sale are ignored as all dwellings must be banded for council tax purposes using the valuation assumptions set out in regulation 6 of the Council Tax (Situation and Valuation of Dwellings) Regulations 1992, which include an assumption of sale.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the addition of a conservatory to a dwelling is considered by the Valuation Office Agency to be value significant for the purposes of council tax valuations and revaluations. [293419]
Barbara Follett: The addition of a conservatory is likely to be value significant and would constitute a "material increase" under section 24(10) Local Government Finance Act 1992. As such it would not affect a council tax band unless and until a "relevant transaction" took place (and only then if it added sufficient value to put a property into a higher band).
In the event of a revaluation the existence of a conservatory would be taken into account, as would any other feature, positive or negative, that affects value in the market at the time.
Council Tax: Windsor
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties in the local authority area of Windsor are recorded with each individual (a) dwelling house code and (b) value significant code, including each individual (i) type, (ii) number of rooms, (iii) number of bedrooms, (iv) number of bathrooms, (v) floors, (vi) floor level, (vii) parking, (viii) garaging, (ix) conservatory type, (x) age, (xi) outbuilding and (xii) modernisation code according to electronic records held by the Valuation Office Agency; and if he will make a statement. [296201]
Barbara Follett: The number of properties with each individual dwelling house code and each value significant code, for all local authority areas in England, have been placed in the Library of the House.
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