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11 Nov 2009 : Column 519W—continued
(b) The Audit Commission undertakes work for the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) on the inspection of housing associations. Prior to the creation of the TSA on 1 December 2008, this work was undertaken for DGLG in conjunction with the Housing
Corporation. DCLG continued to fund the inspection programme for the remainder of the 2008/09 financial year. During 2008/09, the Audit Commission was paid £1,800,000 by DCLG to undertake housing association inspections.
Since 1 April 2009, the Audit Commission has inspected housing associations for the TSA. Up to the end of September 2009, the Audit Commission has been paid £900,000 by the TSA for this work and will receive a further £900,000 for the period from October 2009 to March 2010.
The Audit Commission is currently undertaking a national study on the satisfaction of tenants of councils and registered social landlords. This work is jointly funded by the Audit Commission and the TSA, with the TSA contributing £35,000.
A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.
Bed and Breakfast Accommodation: Children
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeless children aged 16 years and under were accommodated in bed and breakfast accommodation provided by local authorities for more than six weeks in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [297692]
Mr. Ian Austin: Children's Services authorities have responsibility for meeting the needs of homeless children under 16 if they are a "child in need". Children's Services authorities and housing authorities both have certain obligations towards homeless 16-year-old children. Under the homelessness legislation (Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996) housing authorities must secure accommodation for applicants who are eligible for assistance, homeless through no fault of their own and who have a priority need for accommodation. Families with dependent children aged 16 have a priority need for accommodation.
Information about English local housing authorities' actions under the homelessness legislation is collected quarterly at local authority level. Data collected include the number of applicants 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). If a settled home is not immediately available, the authority must secure temporary accommodation until a settled home becomes available.
Information on the number of applicant households with dependent children (and expected children) in bed and breakfast hotels and other privately managed shared facility annexes ("B&B style temporary accommodation"), who had been resident there for six weeks or more, is reported quarterly by local authorities as at the last day of each quarter. This figure will include applicant households with children under 16-years-old or dependent children aged 16 to 18, although the number of such dependent children within these households cannot be identified.
The number of applicant households with dependent children (or expected children) in B&B style temporary accommodation in England, who had been resident in such accommodation for six weeks or more at the end of March in each of the last seven years, is shown in the following table:
| At the end of financial year (31 March) 2008-09 | Number of households with dependent children in B & B temporary accommodation for six weeks or more |
Prior to financial year 2002-03 this information was not held centrally.
The number of households headed by an applicant aged 16 or 17 in B&B style temporary accommodation in England, who had been resident in such accommodation for six weeks or more at the end of March in each of the last two years, is shown in the following table. It is not possible to separately identify those households headed by a 16-year-old applicant.
| At the end of financial year (31 March) | Number of 16 to 17-year-old households in B & B temporary accommodation for six weeks or more |
Prior to financial year 2007-08 this information was not held centrally.
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) collect information from Children's Services authorities on looked after children. It is not possible to identify, of these children, how many of them had previously been homeless and as a result are 'looked after' by the Children's Services.
Business Improvement Districts
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether an improvement in the environment due to expenditure and activity undertaken by a business improvement district is deemed by the Valuation Office Agency to be a material change of circumstance when assessing the rateable values of the hereditaments within the improvement district. [294102]
Barbara Follett: Physical improvements to the environment due to expenditure and activity undertaken by a business improvement district may, depending on the extent, nature and circumstances of the individual area, constitute a material change of circumstance, affecting rateable values of the hereditaments.
Community Relations: Finance
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, column 479W, on community relations, if he will provide a breakdown of the £8.5 million his Department spent on Prevent-related projects in 2008-09. [298517]
Mr. Malik [holding answer 9 November 2009]: The information requested has been deposited in the Library.
Council Housing: Antisocial Behaviour
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on their powers to (a) evict unruly tenants and (b) take action against tenants (i) whose refuse causes a hazard to neighbours, (ii) who frequently burn rubbish in their gardens and (iii) who have dogs which are a nuisance to neighbours. [299337]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Government have equipped local authorities and social landlords with a range of effective powers to deal robustly with antisocial tenants and has provided them with extensive advice on their use. The Respect website:
provides a regularly updated resource for agencies tackling antisocial behaviour and includes a comprehensive guide to antisocial behaviour tools and powers published last year:
Through both the 'Together' and subsequent 'Respect' campaigns we organised a series of events to inform local authorities and social landlords about, and encourage them to use, the tools and powers available to them to tackle antisocial behaviour.
Council Housing: Standards
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what decent homes standard applies to local authority tenants. [299367]
Mr. Ian Austin: The decent homes standard applies to all social rented housing. Information on the standard can be found in Sections 4 and 5 of "A Decent Homes: definition and guidance for implementation, June 2006". This is available at:
Departmental Air Travel
Mr. Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many first-class flights were taken by each Minister in his Department in 2008-09; and what the (a) origin, (b) destination and (c) cost was of each such flight. [298757]
Barbara Follett: The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
However, the Cabinet Office publishes an annual list of overseas travel over £500 undertaken by Ministers. The list for 2008-09 can be accessed at:
Travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.
Departmental Freedom of Information
Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff in his Department were employed on the management of freedom of information requests submitted to his Department in each year since 2005; and how much his Department spent on the management of such requests in each such year. [299137]
Barbara Follett: During 2005, 2006 and 2007 six staff were employed in the central Freedom of Information Advice Team that manages FOI requests in CLG. This reduced to five staff in 2008 and 2009. This represented a staff resource expenditure of £224,000 in 2006-07, £237,000 in 2007-08, £234,000 in 2008-09 and a projected figure of £231,000 in 2009-10. Comparable cost figures are not available for 2005-06.
These figures only cover the management of the service and the response to general questions which can be answered by a central team-that is staff whose involvement in FOI requests accounts for more than half of their time. The detailed policy specific FOIs are generally answered by policy officials within the policy teams but the time spent by them on this activity is not separately measured, and nor is the cost of lawyers' time involved in advising on handling of FOI requests.
Departmental Manpower
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) salary band and (b) area of responsibility is of each of the full-time equivalent staff members employed in his Department's Housing Directorate. [299232]
John Healey: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent staff by salary band for each of the Directorates within our Housing and Planning Directorate. The information was taken from our financial staff action plans as at 30 October 2009.
All civil servants are employed to provide impartial advice to ministers and are engaged on fixed-term, permanent or other recognised contractual terms.
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