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26 Nov 2009 : Column 310W—continued

Housing: Low Incomes

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been purchased with the aid of the HomeBuy Direct scheme in the last 12 months. [301135]

John Healey: Provisional data from the Homes and Communities Agency shows there were 7,686 completions through Low Cost Home Ownership products including 997 Homebuy Direct sales, between April and September 2009.

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many housing development sites have been brought back into production as a result of the Kickstart Housing Delivery Programme. [301136]

John Healey: 136 housing schemes have to date been announced as approved for investment under the Kickstart programme. Contracts are being finalised and workers
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are returning to sites over the coming weeks. Details of approved schemes are posted on the Homes and Communities Agency's website, at:

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent assessment is of the adequacy of the supply of affordable housing. [301138]

Mr. Ian Austin: We know there is a strong case for building more housing generally and more affordable housing in particular. In order to better understand the relationship between supply and identified need CLG has commissioned a housing need analytical model from Heriot-Watt university which will improve our understanding of the impact of housing supply on housing need going forward. It is hoped this will be available to the Department by the end of the year.

There were 4 million LA and RSL owned homes in England in 2007 and we are spending £7.5 billion over the two years 2009-10 and 2010-11 to deliver around 112,000 affordable homes.

Housing: Overcrowding

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to (a) extend the funding of the overcrowding pathfinders after 2011 and (b) create more pathfinders, including ones in rural areas. [302184]

Mr. Ian Austin: Funding in support of tackling overcrowding will be considered as part of the next spending review.

We will continue to work with our 54 local authority pathfinders in developing good practice in tackling overcrowding, which is being shared with other local authorities.

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to extend the remit of the overcrowding pathfinders to include overcrowding in the private rented sector. [302185]

Mr. Ian Austin: The 54 overcrowding pathfinder authorities are tackling overcrowding in all tenures.

Ms Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Government plans to update the 1935 statutory overcrowding definition in line with the bedroom standard. [302186]

Mr. Ian Austin: Prior to making any change to the statutory standards we want to establish the impact, timing and cost of undertaking a phased and manageable move to a new statutory standard. Evidence is being generated through the 54 overcrowding pathfinder authorities.

Housing: Owner Occupation

Chloe Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homeowners there were in (a) Norwich, North constituency and (b) each region in each of the last 10 years. [301885]


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Mr. Ian Austin: Estimates of the number of homeowners in each region for each of the last 10 years can be found in table S135a, available on the Communities and Local Government website at:

These estimates are based on data from the ONS Labour Force Survey.

Estimates for the Norwich, North constituency are not available.

Local Authorities: Place Names

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what regulations govern the nomenclature of local authorities. [301029]

Ms Rosie Winterton: The Local Government Act 1972 makes provision on the nomenclature of local authorities; an order under the Local Government Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 amends the application of these provisions in the case of certain new unitary councils.

Local Authorities: Powers

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what additional decision-making powers are available to (a) Cornwall council and (b) the council of the Isles of Scilly which each of them (i) has not so far requested and (ii) has requested and is negotiating with (A) his Department and (B) another Government department or agency. [301027]

Ms Rosie Winterton: Cornwall council and the council of the Isles of Scilly already enjoy a full range of local government powers. In response to our recent consultation, "Strengthening Local Democracy", the Leader of Cornwall council commented that powers involving the delegation of funding, duties for regional and national bodies to co-operate and the ability to flex national policy to make it appropriate to local circumstances could be helpful in relation to the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Economic Forum. The Government will be publishing their formal response to the consultation shortly.

Non-Domestic Rates

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was (a) billed to non-domestic rate payers and (b) collected in business rates by each local authority in the (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10 tax year. [301891]

Barbara Follett: I have, today, placed in the Library of the House a table that gives, by each billing authority in England, the net amount of non-domestic rates that each should have collected in 2008-09 after reliefs and the amount of non-domestic rates each collected in 2008-09.

Data for 2009-10 are not yet available.

These data are also available in Table 3 of the statistical release "Collection rates for council tax and non-domestic
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rates in England 2008-09" that was published on 25 June 2009 and is available on the Communities and Local Government website at:

Non-domestic Rates: Banks

David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was paid in empty property rates on properties owned by banks with shares managed by UK Financial Investments Ltd. in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [301723]

Barbara Follett: The information is not collected by the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, we have granted all empty properties with rateable values of up to £15,000 eligibility for full relief from business rates in 2009-10. As 70 per cent. of all properties fall below this threshold this temporary relief is providing real help to ratepayers trying to manage short-term pressures in a difficult property market.

Non-Domestic Rates: Empty Property

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many (a) commercial and (b) industrial hereditaments in receipt of empty property relief there were of hereditament rateable value of (i) below £2,201, (ii) between £2,201 and £5,000, (iii) between £5,001 and £10,000, (iv) between £10,001 and £15,000 and (v) over £15,000 in (A) 2006-07, (B) 2007-08 and (C) 2008-09; and what the monetary value was of the empty property relief granted to properties in each such category in each such year; [301888]

(2) how many (a) commercial and (b) industrial hereditaments in receipt of empty property relief there were of hereditament rateable value of (i) below £2,201, (ii) between £2,201 and £5,000, (iii) between £5,001 and £10,000, (iv) between £10,001 and £15,000 and (v) over £15,000 before the (A) application of the £15,000 rateable value empty property rates exemption and (B) with the application of the £15,000 exemption; and what the monetary value was of empty property between relief granted to properties in each such category in each of those periods; [301889]

(3) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) commercial and (b) industrial hereditaments in receipt of empty property relief of a hereditament rateable value of (i) below £2,201, (ii) between £2,201 and £5,000, (iii) between £5,001 and £10,000, (iv) between £10,001 and £15,000 and (v) over £15,000 in 2010-11; and what the monetary value of empty property relief granted to properties is in each category in that year. [301890]

Barbara Follett: The information is not collected by the Department for Communities and Local Government. However, we have granted all empty properties with rateable values of up to £15,000 eligibility for full relief from business rates in 2009-10. As 70 per cent. of all properties fall below this threshold this temporary relief is providing real help to ratepayers trying to manage short term pressures in a difficult property market.


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Regional Government: South West

Mr. Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding his Department provided to the South West Regional Assembly in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; how much funding he expects to provide to the South West Councils/South West Strategic Leaders Board in 2009-10; and what estimate he has made of the reduction in his Department's expenditure in (i) 2009-10 and (ii) in subsequent years following the abolition of the South West Regional Assembly. [301893]

Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has provided the following funding:

 Body funded Amount (£)

2007-08

South West Regional Assembly

2,469,811

2008-09

South West Regional Assembly

2,300,164

2009-10

South West Strategic Leaders' Board

2,070,148


In 2009-10 the saving to my Department will be in the order of £230,016.

In 2010-11 the South West Strategic Leaders' Board will undertake functions connected with the production of regional strategies under part 5 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. For this work the amount to be allocated will be subject to receipt of a business plan. In subsequent years funding for this work will be subject to the outcome of the next comprehensive spending review.

Children, Schools and Families

Children: Advertising

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment his Department has made of the effects on the development of children of the advertisement of (a) food and (b) non-food products. [300665]

Ms Diana R. Johnson: In the Children's Plan we made a commitment to commission an independent assessment of the impact of the commercial world on young people.

Subsequently, the Secretary of State announced that Professor David Buckingham, Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, would lead the assessment and that it would be conducted by a panel of independent experts.

Having conducted an extensive review of the available evidence, and having spoken to stakeholders representing the broad spectrum of opinion on this subject, Professor Buckingham and his team have now completed the assessment. I expect it to be published in the next few weeks.

Children: Protection

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer of 9 November 2009, Official Report, column 107W, on children: protection, on what ground each of the 34 appeals was upheld. [300708]


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Dawn Primarolo: [holding answer 23 November 2009]: Information on appeals, including the detailed judgments and the reasons for decisions issued by the Tribunal, can be found on the First-Tier Tribunal's (FTT) website at

The judgments issued by the FTT set out the facts of each case, the evidence presented by the Appellant and Respondent during the hearing and the FTT's reasons for its judgment.

In general terms, the burden of proof lies with the Secretary of State as Respondent. The FTT upholds an appeal if it considers, on the balance of probabilities, that

(i) in List 99 appeals, the Secretary of State's direction preventing an individual from working with children is not appropriate; and

(ii) in PoCA appeals, it is not satisfied that the individual was guilty of misconduct which harmed a child or placed a child at risk of harm and that the individual is unsuitable to work with children .

Since the reply given on 9 November 2009, Official Report, column 107W, the Tribunal has re-heard (upon instruction from the High Court) one appeal which had been previously allowed and was included in the 34 appeals reported in that answer. As a result of the Tribunal's decision in this case to dismiss the appeal on re-hearing, the total number of appeals allowed by the Tribunal is now reduced to 33.

Judgments, containing the reasons for decisions, for each of the 33 appeals upheld by the Tribunal can be accessed at the following addresses:


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