| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
26 Jan 2010 : Column 770W—continued
Housing
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the average deposit paid by a first-time home-buyer. [307831]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department does not collect this information.
Housing: Lone Parents
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new additional places in supervised homes the Government plan to fund to house all 16 and 17-year-old single parents. [307067]
Mr. Ian Austin: £30 million capital funding over three years from Communities and Local Government will provide new places in foyers and specialist supported housing through the National Affordable Housing programme.
Local Government and Fire Services: Pensions
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the provisions relating to public sector pensions announced in the pre-Budget report 2009 will apply to the (a) local government and (b) firefighters' pension scheme. [311714]
Barbara Follett: The pre-Budget report 2009 stated that cap and share arrangements intended to limit contributions made by employers will apply to the teachers, local government, NHS and civil service pension schemes. Consideration is being given to extending this requirement to the firefighters' pension schemes.
Local Government: Reorganisation
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the timetable is for bringing forward secondary legislation relating to unitary local government restructuring in Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon. [311661]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The period for making representations on unitary proposals ended on 19 January 2010. The Secretary of State is now carefully considering the Boundary Committee's advice, all the representations received and all other relevant information, before taking his statutory decisions which he intends to take as soon as practicable.
If he were to decide to implement any unitary proposal, he intends immediately, or very shortly, after his decision to lay before Parliament a draft of an order, which if approved by Parliament, he would make to give effect to his decision.
We would therefore expect that, subject to parliamentary approval, any new unitary proposals which the Secretary of State decides to implement would be established on 1 April 2011.
Regeneration: Rural Areas
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many times the forum to co-ordinate cross-Government working in coalfield areas met in (a) 2008 and (b) 2009; and who attended each such meeting. [311658]
Mr. Ian Austin: Since the coalfields forum was established it has met seven times. Details of these meetings are set out as follows.
Repossession Orders: South East
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been repossessed in each (a) district, (b) county and (c) unitary authority area in the south- east in each year since 1990. [313052]
Mr. Ian Austin: There are two independent sources of data on actual numbers of mortgage repossessions: The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). However both are only available for the United Kingdom as a whole.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders latest press release on repossessions is on their website at:
The Financial Services Authority data are available on its website at:
Snow and Ice
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what consideration his Department has given to the effectiveness of local authority distribution of car snow chains to individuals affected by cold weather conditions. [312444]
Mr. Khan: I have been asked to reply.
The Department for Transport has not considered the effectiveness of this measure. Due to the infrequency of severe snow and ice in the UK, snow chains are likely to be used rarely, and only on minor roads where it may be unrealistic to expect local authorities to bear the responsibility of keeping the roads open.
Whether to distribute snow chains is a matter for individual local authorities.
Social Rented Housing: South-East
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been built by (a) social landlords and (b) local authorities for owner occupation in each (i) district, (ii) county and (iii) unitary authority area in the south-east in each year since 1990. [313050]
Mr. Ian Austin: A table containing available information on the number of new build dwellings provided for low cost home ownership by registered social landlords in each local authority area of the south-east region since 1991 has been placed in the House Library. The information is based on the location of the dwelling. These figures are homes offered through the shared equity, shared ownership and intermediate rent schemes.
Not all affordable housing is provided by new build completions, some can be provided through acquisitions.
Dr. Ladyman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been available for rent from (a) social landlords and (b) private landlords in each (i) district, (ii) county and (iii) unitary authority area in the south- east in each year since 1990. [313051]
Mr. Ian Austin: The term 'social landlords' has been interpreted to mean local authorities and registered social landlords (RSLs).
Information on the stock of dwellings owned by local authorities as at 1 April each year from 1994 is supplied to Communities and Local Government by local authorities on the annual Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix (HSSA) returns and is published in live table 116 on the Communities and Local Government website at the following link:
Reliable estimates of the number of local authority-owned dwellings in each district, county and unitary authority are not available for earlier years.
Information on the stock of dwellings owned by RSLs as at 31 March each year is supplied to the Tenants Services Authority by RSLs on the Regulatory Statistical Return (RSR) and is published annually from 1997 in live table 115 on the Communities and Local Government website at the following link:
Information on the number of homes available for rent from private landlords in each district, county or unitary authority is not held centrally. However, estimates of the number of dwellings in the south-east region available for rent from local authorities, RSLs and private landlords, based on survey data, from 1991 are published in live table 109 on the Communities and Local Government website at the following link:
Streatham
Keith Hill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will set out, with statistical evidence relating as closely as possible to Streatham constituency, the effects on that constituency of changes to his Department's policies since 1997. [313400]
Barbara Follett: The information requested is not available. The Department evaluates the impact of major programmes and policies countrywide. We do not assess the specific impacts on individual areas.
Details of research projects commissioned by Communities and Local Government and its predecessors are available from our research database (RD) at:
The database provides information on projects commissioned by Communities and Local Government and predecessor Departments going back to 30 November 2001. This includes details of evaluations.
Supported Housing
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the media background briefing note accompanying the Prime Minister's announcement on places in supported housing for 16 and 17-year-old single mothers of 29 September 2009, from what part of the social housing budget funding for those places will be drawn. [308430]
Mr. Ian Austin: Capital funding is being delivered through the Homes and Communities Agency's Affordable Housing programme budget.
Culture, Media and Sport
Arts Council for England: Expenditure
Mr. Todd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the reason for the cost of (a) the finance function of his Department and (b) the (i) finance function and (ii) IT for Arts Council England referred to in the publication Benchmarking the Back Office: Central Government; and if he will make a statement. [312678]
Mr. Simon: The Department's annual business planning process includes an assessment of structure, costs and performance, which in addition to its strategic purpose aims to identify improvements to efficiency and effectiveness. Further to this as part of the Operational Efficiency programme DCMS is exploring, with arm's length bodies, including Arts Council England, what more can be done to improve performance and deliver efficiency.
Cultural Heritage: Shipping
Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what progress his Department has made on the development and implementation of a policy on historic ships; how many historic vessels have been recorded since the publication of the consultation document, Understanding historic vessels; and where each such vessel is located. [310992]
Margaret Hodge: The Department's policy on historic ships was developed in response to the DCMS public consultation on 'Ships for the Nation' in 2003 and the Select Committee hearing on maritime heritage and historic ships in 2004-05. This led to the creation of the advisory committee for national historic ships in July 2006. This committee advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on policy and priorities for the historic ships sector; co-ordinates work within the sector to assist those directly engaged in preservation; and promotes public interest in historic ships as a key component of the maritime heritage.
The committee receives revenue funding from the Department. In addition to advising on priorities for the sector, the committee uses its funding to compile and maintain the national register of historic vessels; to provide strategic development grants to assist owners, trusts and societies responsible for vessels included on the national register.
The register for national historic vessels is a database of over 1,000 vessels which can be used to identify and prioritise vessels that should be preserved, provide guidance on how best to allocate funding and give an early warning of any vessels that may be 'at risk'. It allows Government to identify the vessels that are of national and regional significance which may need to be prioritised for long term preservation.
The committee has also created the 'National Ship Preservation Network' which is an online directory of organisations involved in vessel conservation, allowing
owners to access up-to-date information about the skills and services available in their area. In addition to this, the committee has published a range of guidelines on preserving, conserving and deconstructing historic vessels.
In 2007, the committee carried out a consultation entitled "Understanding Historic Vessels". As a result of this, they published two guidance documents called "Recording Historic Vessels" and "Deconstructing Historic Vessels". "Recording Historic Vessels" is designed to help vessel owners to create and maintain a record of their vessel so that information about the vessel can be preserved for the future. "Deconstructing Historic Vessels" was designed to help vessel owners carry out any necessary deconstruction work in a way that saves a valuable record of the ship's structure and operational life for future generations. These documents are freely accessible to the public on the Committee's website at:
There is no central register to track the use of the guidelines or the results of any recordings. It is impossible therefore to determine how many historic vessels have been recorded using the guidelines and where the vessels are located. The committee have applied the methodologies to Golden Galleon before deconstruction and to HMS Bronington (currently located in Birkenhead) ahead of a possible deconstruction programme.
Departmental Disclosure of Information
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether (a) agencies and (b) non-departmental public bodies for which his Department is responsible sell information on a commercial basis to (i) companies or individuals in the private sector and (ii) other organisations. [313221]
Mr. Simon: The Royal Parks does not sell information on a commercial basis to companies or individuals in the private sector and other organisations.
It is not possible to provide full information for the extensive range of NDPBs for which my Department is responsible, as the information is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate cost.
Departmental Manpower
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many layers of management reporting from the most senior to the most junior there are in his Department and its agency; how many officials are employed in each such layer; and how much was spent on salaries and associated employment costs of staff at each such layer in the latest year for which information is available. [312876]
Mr. Simon: The data supporting this answer are for the year 2008-09 as this is the most recent complete financial year.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |