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2 Nov 2009 : Column 770W—continued
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless people there were in (a) Mid Bedfordshire constituency, (b) Bedfordshire, (c) the East of England and (d) England in each year since 1997. [295371]
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:
The regional and national figures for the number of applicants accepted as owed a main duty and the number of households in temporary accommodation, for each financial year since 1998-99 can be found in Tables 3 and 7 of the latest Statistical Release. The equivalent 1997-98 figures can be found in earlier additions of the Release, accessible from this link:
Data are not collected at constituency level. The Mid-Bedfordshire constituency falls within the local authorities of Bedford and Central Bedfordshire (which, prior to 1( )April 2009, comprised Mid-Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire). Data are not reported at county level. Bedfordshire includes the following local authorities:
Bedford;
Luton; and
Central Bedfordshire.
For local authority level acceptance and temporary accommodation figures between 1997-98 and 2008-09 (including those listed above), I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Castle Point (Bob Spink) on 23 June 2009, Official Report, column 843W.
Information is also collected on the number of people who sleep rough-that is, those who are literally roofless on a single night, and local authority data and count guidance can be found here:
Homelessness: Young People
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of 18 to 21 year olds who are in (a) homeless, (b) emergency and (c) night shelter accommodation. [295830]
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. The data include households housed in temporary accommodation by local authorities
as at the last day of each quarter. There were 60,230 households in temporary accommodation on 30th June 2009, 19 per cent. lower than the same date last year and 41 per cent. lower than the peak in 2004. We do not collect centrally the age of applicants in temporary accommodation households and therefore it is not possible to identify the number of 18 to 21-year-olds in these households.
Data about the number of 18 to 21-year-olds who access housing related support services, funded by the Supporting People programme are submitted by providers of housing related support services on a quarterly basis. This data source includes information on those who access 'direct access' services. 'Direct access' services are defined as night shelters, emergency or crisis accommodation, including direct access hostels, and other homeless hostels. Therefore Supporting People data does not separate out 'emergency' from 'night shelter' accommodation.
Housing Benefit: Travelling People
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether Travellers are eligible for housing benefit under the local housing allowance scheme when residing on sites which do not have planning permission. [295866]
Helen Goodman: I have been asked to reply.
Entitlement to housing benefit relies on a person being liable for rent on their home. Those who live in caravans or mobile homes do not have their housing benefit worked out based on the local housing allowance rules.
Housing: Construction
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes were built on surplus public sector land in each of the last five years. [296577]
Mr. Ian Austin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him on 19 May 2009, Official Report, columns 1346-47W.
Housing: Hertfordshire
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many properties in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) East Herts district are recorded with each individual (i) dwellinghouse code and (ii) value significant code, including each code for (A) type, (B) number of rooms, (C) number of bedrooms, (D) number of bathrooms, (E) number of floors, (F) floor level, (G) parking, (H) garaging, (I) conservatory type, (J) age, (K) outbuilding and (L) modernisation, according to electronic records held by the Valuation Office Agency. [296815]
Barbara Follett: The number of properties with each individual dwellinghouse code and each value significant code, for all local authority areas in England, have been placed in the Library of the House.
Land Use: Norwich
Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many acres of (a) brownfield and (b) greenfield land there were in Norwich North constituency in (i) 1997, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2009. [296019]
Mr. Ian Austin: Information at constituency level could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Mayors
Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on consultations on the establishment of procedures for the direct election of mayors. [295902]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The Department issued guidance to local authorities in 2000 on the consultation requirements for changing to executive governance arrangements, including for the establishment of a directly elected mayor. While the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 established new arrangements for changing to governance models, including moving to a directly elected mayor, we have issued no further such guidance. Within the statutory arrangements it is for each council to decide its own consultation process.
Members: Correspondence
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Billericay of 20 July and 5 October 2009 regarding the Travellers' site at Dale Farm, Crays Hill. [297004]
Mr. Malik: I have now replied to the hon. Member's correspondence.
Property: Rural Areas
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate his Department has made of the number of empty properties in rural areas in each year since 1997; [293211]
(2) how many social rented homes in rural areas have been sold in each year since 1997. [293212]
Mr. Ian Austin: The following table shows the total number of vacant dwellings in rural areas in each year since 1997.
Of the 47,360 increase in the number of vacant dwellings between 1997 and 2008, 90 per cent. occurred between 2002 and 2008. Over this period, growth in the number of short term vacants accounts for the entire increase. Short term vacants are defined as being empty for less than six months. Short term vacancies occur for a variety of reasons including repairs, maintenance, housing sales and other transactions. The 2007-08 increase in vacant dwellings was expected as a result of the current economic climate.
The Empty Homes Agency has found that rural local authorities are less active in bringing empty homes back into use than urban authorities. Their research shows that an empty property is three times more likely to be brought back into use if it is in an urban area compared to a rural area.
Total vacant dwellings reported by local authorities through Council Taxbase returns include long term and short term empty dwellings.
The following table shows the number of social homes sold to sitting tenants in rural areas in each year since 1997-98:
| Local authority homes sold( 1) | Registered social landlord homes sold( 2) | Total social homes sold | |
| (1 )The local authority social housing sales figures are from quarterly P1B returns from local authorities to CLG. The majority of these sales are made through the right to buy scheme, but a small number of other local authority sales are also included. (2 )The registered social landlord (RSL) social housing sales figures are from the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) Regulatory and Statistical Returns (RSR), and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Investment Management System (IMS). The RSR figures include sales through right to buy, preserved right to buy and right to acquire. The IMS figures include sales through Social HomeBuy. Some RSL sales, such as shared equity sales and disposals to the private sector, and all RSL sales prior to 2001-02, are not available at local authority level and have been excluded from the figures. | |||
All rural figures are calculated based on the DEFRA Rural Definition (2004).
Regional Planning and Development: South West
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for the revision of the draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy in relation to undertaking strategic environment assessments of the proposals to remove green belt protection and introduce urban extensions. [292581]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Government have decided to carry out additional sustainability appraisal work to appraise alternatives to the Areas of Search for strategic housing, business and other development introduced or amended by the Secretary of State's Proposed Changes to the RSS. The Government wish to be satisfied that reasonable alternatives to these proposals were tested by the Sustainability Appraisal published with the Proposed Changes in July 2008. The testing of 'reasonable alternatives' is a requirement of the EU Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive. We expect this additional work to be completed early in the new year.
In the South West, the removal of green belt protection is only proposed to accommodate strategic developments explicitly proposed in the Regional Spatial Strategy. The effects of the green belt changes will therefore generally be the same as the effects of the developments, and they will be appraised together.
In the light of the Appraisal's findings, the Government will decide what action to take to complete the SW Strategy, which will provide the clarity and certainty about the future framework for growth in the region which all partners are keen to see. It would not be sensible to speculate on what action will be necessary before the findings are available, or how long any action is likely to take.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the policy of (a) his Department and (b) the Government Office for the South West is on requiring local authorities to adopt the proposals of the draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy; and what effect his Department's decision to undertake new strategic environmental assessments will have on adoption of the draft South West Regional Spatial Strategy. [292803]
Mr. Ian Austin: Officials in the Government Office for the South West have written to local authorities advising them of the weight to be attached to the Secretary of State's Proposed Changes to the Regional Spatial Strategy. My response to the hon. Member's Question 292581 deals with the effect of the decision to carry out additional sustainability appraisal work on adoption of the Strategy.
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the oral answer of 27 October 2009, Official Report, column 145, on the regional spatial strategy, what the nature, duration and timescale will be of the proposed consultation on the South West Regional Spatial Strategy. [297140]
Mr. Ian Austin: At this time is it not possible to specify the nature, duration or timescale of any consultation but this will be announced in due course.
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