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12 Nov 2009 : Column 863W—continued
(64) what (a) mortality and (b) financial assumptions were made by (i) his Department, (ii) the Homes and Communities Agency and (iii) the Tenant Services Authority in relation to its pension scheme in each of the last three years. [300057]
John Healey: Notice of these questions was only received on 11 November and it has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Homes and Communities Agency: Consultants
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 5 November 2009, Official Report, column 1124W, on the Homes and Communities Agency: consultants, (1) how much was spent by Homes and Communities Agency on High Profile Events; how much of that was spent on consultancy costs; and if he will make a statement; [299709]
(2) how much was spent by Homes and Communities Academy on the Leadership of Space project; and how much of that was spent on consultancy costs; [299710]
(3) how much was spent by the Homes and Communities Academy on the new products and programmes project; and how much of that was spent on consultancy costs; [299721]
(4) how much was spent by the Homes and Communities Academy on the Skills Action Plan project; and how much of that was spent on consultancy costs. [299749]
John Healey: The figures requested are shown in the following table.
| £ | ||
| Event/project | Total spend | Of which: Consultancy spend |
| (1) Includes event management, travel, marketing, staff salaries and press cuttings costs. (2) Includes grants and marketing costs. | ||
Housing
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much has been spent by the Homes and Communities Agency Academy on (a) developing, (b) publicising and (c) conducting its online introductory course for place-making; and if he will make a statement. [298676]
John Healey: The development cost associated with the academy's 10 week online workshops were incurred prior to the creation of the Homes and Communities Agency. Publicity costs have amounted to £816. The continued support costs associated with the course are £21,000 to deliver seven workshops since 1 April 2009. The total costs to date are therefore £21,816, which equates to a cost per person of £33.72. The workshops give practitioners and professionals advice, guidance and support from experienced tutors.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what forecasts of housing market trends (a) his Department, (b) the Homes and Communities Agency and (c) the Tenant Services Authority have commissioned; [299983]
(2) what the average cost per unit is of building a home on the Hanham Hall site in Bristol; [300003]
(3) how much surplus public sector land there was in each (a) region and (b) local authority area in each of the last eight quarters; [300006]
(4) how many affordable homes were built in rural areas in each year since 1997; [300007]
(5) how many sites on the Register of Surplus Public Sector Land have been on the register for longer than (a) six months and (b) 12 months; [300039]
(6) how many sites on the Register of Surplus Public Sector Land are classed as suitable for new homes to be built on; and what estimate has been made of the number of new homes which could be built on such sites; [300040]
(7) what recent progress has been made on the National Coalfields Programme; and if he will make a statement; [300042]
(8) what his most recent estimate is of the average cost of building a home which meets Sustainable Code Level (a) 5, (b) 6 and (c) 6*; [300048]
(9) how many homes were purchased under the National Clearing House scheme in each of the last three years; and how many such homes were subsequently (a) sold, (b) used for affordable rent, (c) purchased under shared ownership and (d) unused. [300050]
Mr. Ian Austin: Notice of these questions was received on 11 November and it has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Housing Benefit
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the cost to landlords of the introduction of direct payment of local housing allowance in (a) 2009-10 and (b) each of the subsequent five years. [299916]
Mr. Ian Austin: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.
Housing Revenue Accounts
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities would have to take on historic debt in addition to that already held under the Government's preferred option for housing revenue account reform. [299635]
Mr. Ian Austin: The debt allocated to each council under self-financing would be set at a level which it could support within a sustainable business plan which delivers the extra investment needed while continuing to set social rents in line with national policy.
The amount of housing debt allocated to each council will depend on a range of variables in addition to assumptions on annual management, maintenance and repairs costs. These include rent levels, interest rates, the pricing of risk and the funding of the backlog of
repairs. The work on assessing these issues has not yet been completed so I am not now in a position to estimate the amount of debt each council would hold under the new system. I am however clear that the additional spending on management, maintenance and major repairs which we have committed to fund as part of our reforms mean that all councils would be better off under self-financing than they would be if the current system continued unreformed.
Housing: Building Regulations
Mr. Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government for what reasons the cost-benefit impact assessment of funding for overground oil tanks contained in Proposals for amending the approved document J (combustion appliances and fuel storage systems) of the Buildings Regulations omitted (a) the potential wider costs to the environment and the potential health implications of water and environmental contamination, (b) the benefit to tank manufacturers of selling a high-specification tank as standard and (c) any estimate of the damage caused by non-reported spillages; and if he will commission a further impact assessment study. [299121]
Mr. Ian Austin: The consultation stage impact assessment, which was included in my Department's consultation document on proposals for amending part J of the building regulations, explains in some detail how the potential benefits of bunding all domestic oil tanks has been estimated.
(a) A figure for environmental damage of £10,000 per incident is included in the assessment. This is an indicative estimated average provided by the Environment Agency.
(b) The benefits to manufacturers were not considered to be significant but manufacturers of oil tanks may wish to provide estimates of this in their response to the consultation.
(c) There is no way of reliably assessing the number of unreported incidents, however the sensitivity analysis, included in the impact assessment suggests that only a very high number of unreported incidents would affect the conclusions of the assessment.
The consultation specifically invites comments on the impact assessment and my Officials have already been in discussion with the Oil Firing Technical Association and the Environment Agency to see if the impact assessment can be improved. It is normal practice to revisit an impact assessment once a consultation is complete.
Housing: Construction
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate he has made of the number of (a) council houses, (b) social houses for rent, (c) affordable houses for sale and (d) other private houses to be built in the year ending 1 April 2010. [299634]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department does not publish forecasts for house building.
The most recent information on new build housing are shown in the house building statistical release for April to June 2009 on the CLG website:
Information on the number of council homes and private homes built in England, up to 2008-09, are included in Live Table 209 on the CLG. Figures for 2009-10 will be released by CLG in August 2010.
Information on new build of social rent and affordable homes for sale to 2007-08 are included in Live Table 1009 on the CLG website. Figures for 2008-09 will be released by CLG in December 2009.
Information on the number of homes completed under the National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) for April to September 2009 will be released by the HCA on 24 November.
Housing: East of England
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes have been built in (a) Peterborough constituency, (b) Cambridgeshire and (c) the East of England since 1997. [300116]
Mr. Ian Austin: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Housing: Fire Prevention
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent assessment is of the effectiveness of his Department's guidelines contained in the (a) Decent Homes Standard and (b) Housing Health and Safety Rating System in respect of fire safety. [298281]
Mr. Ian Austin: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of the letter in the Library of the House.
Housing: Greater London
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what discussions (a) he and (b) the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have had with the Mayor of London on (i) the HCA's Public Land Initiative and (ii) the Mayor's audit of surplus Greater London Authority (GLA) land; how much of the surplus GLA land falls under the Public Land Initiative; and if he will make a statement. [299241]
John Healey: In September 2009 I discussed the delivery of affordable housing in London and the Public Land Initiative investment launched as part of the Government's Housing Pledge with the Mayor of London, and I also wrote to the Mayor stressing the important contribution that surplus public sector land can make to increasing the supply of homes across all tenures, and suggested that the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), London Development Agency (LDA) and Transport for London (TfL) should be asked urgently to prepare a joint plan for managing their land assets to support affordable housing delivery in London.
Officials from the HCA are continuing to examine with Greater London Authority (GLA) officials ways
to increase home building, in particular affordable homes, on surplus land belonging to the GLA, including the LDA and TfL.
None of the GLA's surplus land currently falls under the Public Land Initiative. Early this month I wrote to the Mayor of London proposing that he should work with HCA on this specific initiative to support delivery of homes in London.
Housing: Low Incomes
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what categories of community land trust are recognised by his Department. [298602]
John Healey: The definition of Community Land Trusts is set out in section 79 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will consider the merits of extending his Department's Kickstart Housing Delivery fund to rural areas. [298603]
John Healey: The Housing Kickstart Programme, managed by the Homes and Communities Agency, operates across the whole of England including rural areas, where it has a lower threshold for schemes to enable typically smaller schemes to be considered. In Round one of the Kickstart programme 23 of the 91 projects now approved are in rural areas. These will generate over 1,600 homes with investment of around £37 million.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many social housing tenants joined the Rent to HomeBuy scheme in each of the last three years. [299695]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 8 June 2009, Official Report, column 751W.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many social housing tenants purchased equity in a home through (a) HomeBuy Direct, (b) Rent to HomeBuy, (c) Open Market HomeBuy, (d) MyChoice HomeBuy, (e) OwnHome, (f) First Time Buyer's Initiative, (g) New Build HomeBuy and (h) Social HomeBuy in each of the last three years. [299744]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my right hon. Friend the Member for Derby, South (Margaret Beckett) on 8 May 2009, Official Report, columns 448-489W.
Housing: Owner Occupation
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners there were in (a) Vale of Clwyd, (b) each region of England, (c) Wales, (d) Scotland and (e) Northern Ireland in each of the last 20 years. [299655]
Mr. Ian Austin: Annual survey-based estimates of the number of homeowners in each region of the United Kingdom are set out in the following tables for the years 1996 to 2008.
Information prior to 1996 is not readily available and estimates for the parliamentary constituency of the Vale of Clwyd are not held by this Department.
| Number of homeowners in UK by region 1996 to 2008 | |||||||||||||
| Households ( T housand) | |||||||||||||
| North East | North West | Yorks and Humber | East Midlands | West Midlands | Eastern | London | South East | South West | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | United Kingdom | |
| Source: Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey, 1996-2008 | |||||||||||||
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