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30 Nov 2009 : Column 506W—continued
John Healey:
The Homes and Communities Agency has purchased two sites since its inception on 1 December 2008. Elmcroft and St. Giles nursing home was purchased from West Sussex county council for £1.5 million, and
Bullpoint, a former naval ordnance depot in Plymouth, was purchased from Defence Estates for £1.4 million. Elmcroft and St. Giles nursing home has now been sold jointly with Southlands hospital for a total of £1.775 million.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the financial exposure of the Homes and Communities Agency was in each of the last three years; and to how many single counterparties of more than (a) £50 million and (b) £100 million the Agency is exposed. [300455]
John Healey: The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has only been in existence since 1 December 2008, though its financial statements 2008-09 were prepared on a merger accounting basis giving full year accounts for 2008-09 and 2007-08. The carrying values of the HCA's financial assets are the agency's maximum exposure to credit risk. The carrying values for 2008-09 and 2007-08 can be found in the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) annual report and financial statements 2008-09.
In the year ending 31 March 2009, the agency had one debtor in excess of £50 million and one further debtor in excess of £100 million.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the components are of the impairment charge referred to on page 74 of the Homes and Communities Agency's Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2008-09; [300522]
(2) what percentage of the asset writedown due to impairment of development assets referred to on pages 83 and 97 of the Homes and Communities Agency's Annual Report and Financial Settlements 2008-09 relates to (a) land and (b) property assets; [300603]
(3) what percentage of the asset writedown due to impairment of development assets referred to on pages 83 and 97 of the Homes and Communities Agency's Annual Report and Financial Statements 2008-09 relates to assets previously held by (a) English Partnerships, (b) the Housing Corporation and (c) the Academy for Sustainable Communities. [300604]
John Healey: The main component of the impairment charge for 2008-09 referred to on pages 74 and 83, and the revaluation of development assets on page 97, reported in the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) annual report and accounts 2008-09, was a reduction in market value of the HCA's development asset portfolio due to the market downturn. The reductions in value were spread widely across HCA's numerous development asset holdings.
The HCA's records for its development asset portfolio do not include a breakdown into sub-categories of land and property.
Of HCA's predecessor organisations, only English Partnerships role and activities involved holding development assets, and the reduction in value of HCA's development assets related wholly to development assets inherited from English Partnerships. The reduction in value of its development asset portfolio reported by
HCA for 2008-09 included, and was not in addition to, the reduction previously reported by EP for the first eight months of 2008-09.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new homes have been built with support from the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor on (a) brownfield and (b) greenfield sites in each of the last three years. [300524]
John Healey: Information available on the number of Homes and Community Agency funded new homes by brownfield and greenfield sites is limited to 2008-09 and also to only some of the dwellings provided. In 2008-09, available information showed that 13,230 homes were provided on previously developed sites (brownfield), 5,240 on non-previously developed sites (greenfield) and 34,857 on sites which were not classified by type. The figures include both new build and acquisitions.
Information on the number of affordable homes provided through the National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) for April to September 2009 were released by the HCA on 24 November.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local authorities received loans from the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies in each of the last three years; and how much was provided in such loans in each such year. [300525]
John Healey: No loans have been issued to local authorities by the HCA or its predecessor bodies in the last three years.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many registered social landlords received loans from the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies in each of the last three years; and how much was provided in such loans in each such year. [300526]
John Healey: Within the last three years there was one such loan in two payments, issued by the Housing Corporation. The two loan payments were:
| Year ended | £ |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the amount of Homes and Communities Agency (a) debts and (b) liabilities in each of the next three years. [300527]
John Healey: The Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) debts and liabilities are reported in HCA's Annual Report and Financial Statements 2008-09, which includes a forecast for future years.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what Homes and Communities Agency assets are available for sale; and what the book value of such assets was in each of the last three years. [300596]
John Healey: The Homes and Communities Agency's development asset portfolio, for which the book value for 2008-09 and 2007-08 is disclosed in note 26 on page 83 of the HCA's Annual Report and Financial Statement 2008-09, is available for sale and will be brought to the market in a phased and orderly manner. The equivalent figures for 2006-07 were shown on pages 85-86 and 118 in English Partnerships financial statements 2006-07.
In addition, Note 22 of the financial statement reports on the HCA's financial assets that are available for sale-these are stated at fair value for 2008-09 and 2007-08. There is no equivalent balance at 31 March 2007 for 2006-07 because these balances arise from a change in accounting policy in order to adopt, from 1 April 2008, new financial reporting standards on financial instruments.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much grant-in-aid funding from his Department was drawn down by the Homes and Communities Agency in each of the last (a) 24 weeks and (b) 12 months. [300600]
John Healey: The information requested is as follows:
(a) The following table shows the amounts drawn down as grant-in-aid funding from Communities and Local Government by the HCA within each of the last 24 weeks.
| (£) | |
| Week commencing | Drawn down within the last 24 weeks |
(b) The following table shows the amounts drawn down monthly as grant-in-aid funding from Communities and Local Government by the HCA within each of the last 12 months.
| (£) | |
| Monthly | Drawn down within the last 12 months |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was transferred from the Homes and Communities Agency to the Government Banking Service at the end of each of the last 30 days for which figures are available. [300601]
John Healey: The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) is part of the Government Banking Service, however it retains a commercial banking service with Barclays.
The following transfers were made from the HCA's commercial account to the HCA's account in the Government Banking Service, within the last 30 days.
| £000 | |
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will place in the Library a copy of the Homes and Communities Agency's Single Equality Scheme. [300606]
John Healey: The HCA launched its Single Equality Scheme on 24 November 2009. A copy is available on the HCA's website at:
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what business EP(LP) Ltd undertakes as a subsidiary of the Homes and Communities Agency; and if he will make a statement. [300607]
John Healey:
EP (LP) is the limited liability partner for English Cities Fund (ECF). ECF is a Limited Partnership whose purpose is to show that high quality mixed use area based regeneration schemes provide viable, attractive and worthwhile opportunities for
institutional investors in the medium and long term, alongside community benefits and environmental improvements.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many bad debts the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor acquired in each of the last three years; and what the monetary value of each such debt was; [300609]
(2) what the net cost to the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor was of each bad debt incurred against it in each of the last three years. [300615]
John Healey: In the year ended 31 March 2009 the Agency wrote-off 69 debts and wrote-back 70 debts (where monies had been received on debtors that had been previously written off). The net write-off was £265,000. The Agency also had to provide for a debt of £12.6 million after exercising its step-in rights to seize possession of development land previously disposed of.
For the year ended 31 March 2008, English Partnerships, one of the HCA predecessor bodies, incurred 27 bad debt write-offs and wrote back 103 debts. The net write-off was £126,000. The Housing Corporation incurred a write-off of £346,000, but this had been provided for in the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2002.
For the year ended 31 March 2007, English Partnerships incurred 83 bad debt write-offs and wrote back 210 debts. The net write-off was £56,000.
Debts written-off include those debts that had been provided for in previous years and aged debts that had been inherited from predecessor bodies, including those inherited by English Partnerships (EP). Many of the debts written-off had very little monetary value (many are small rental balances inherited by EP from the Liverpool Housing Action Trust some years ago) and due to this, and also because it would not be appropriate to disclose individual debtors' details many of whom are private individuals, it would not be meaningful to provide a full list of anonymous balances.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the monetary value of the sums owed (a) by and (b) to the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor was in each of the last three years; and how much of each amount is due to be paid in each of the next three years. [300610]
John Healey: The amounts owed by, and owed to, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), and its predecessor bodies for the last two years, are reported in the Annual Report and Financial Statements 2008-09, a copy of which has been laid before the House.
For 2006-07, the figures are shown in the following table:
| Year ended 31 March 2007 | £ million |
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