| 2007-08 | ||||
| New Build HomeBuy | Open Market Homebuy | FTBI | SHB | |
| 2008-09 | ||||
| New Build HomeBuy | Open Market Homebuy | FTBI | SHB | |
For New Build HomeBuy the table shows completions of homes built, as the F1CA holds information on completions and not purchases. The first HomeBuy Direct sales were from April 2009.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will take steps to ensure the appropriate expenditure by Castle Point local authority of funds for independent living adaptations and equipment; if he will visit Castle Point constituency for that purpose; and if he will make a statement. [315448]
Mr. Ian Austin: All local authorities, including Castle Point borough council, are required to complete an annual claim and monitoring form to the Department and maintain financial records which are subject to auditing requirements for disabled facilities grants. In fulfilling the audit requirements local authorities have to be able to document that they have spent the grant appropriately.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities which exhausted their allocated funds for independent living adaptations and equipment within a 12 month period in each of the last five years. [315453]
Mr. Ian Austin: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what percentage of properties entered onto the non-domestic Energy Performance Certificate database to date have had an energy banding of G. [315677]
John Healey: Up to and including 2 February 2010 there have been 13,381 properties that have had Band G rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) lodged on the Non-Domestic EPC Register. This equates to 9.25 per cent. of the total non domestic EPCs lodged.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that students undertaking the National Day Nursery Association Early Years Professional Status full-time Pathway training course in partnership with the Open University are exempted from liability for council tax; and if he will make a statement. [314830]
Barbara Follett:
Full-time students are exempted from council tax liability and are disregarded in the calculation of the liability of the council tax payers with whom they live. It is for the relevant billing authority to decide whether an individual qualifies for the disregard and exemption. The Government do not intend to make
special provisions for students undertaking the National Day Nursery Association Early Years Professional Status Full-time Pathway training course.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much consultants employed by his Department and its agencies have been paid (a) in total and (b) in reimbursable expenses in each of the last 10 years. [313995]
Barbara Follett: Figures for (a) the amount the Department has spent on consultancy can be found in its published reports for the last three years here:
For 2006-07 spend (contained in chapter 10, table 4—page 115)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/2007-annual-report.pdf
For 2007-08 spend (contained in chapter 10, table 5—page 141)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/05.pdf
For 2008-09 spend (contained in chapter 10, table 13—page 165)
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/corporate/pdf/1281142.pdf
Figures for earlier years could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
The amounts paid in (b) reimbursable expenses could be supplied only at disproportionate cost.
The Department’s agencies report the following expenditure on consultants:
| £ | |||
| FY | Planning Inspectorate | QEII Conference Centre | Fire Service College |
Reimbursable expenses and these could be identified only at disproportionate cost.
David Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his
Department spent on (a) new furnishings, (b) works of art and (c) new vehicles in each of the last three years. [312423]
Barbara Follett: The Department has spent the following on new furnishings:
| £ | |
This is part of Open Space Works and Spaceflex projects which moves Communities and Local Government staff from two buildings into one, enabling savings of £4.5 million per annum on reduced operating costs.
The Department for Communities and local Government has not incurred expenditure on works of art in the last three years. Works of art displayed in Eland House are on loan from the Government Art Collection (GAC), which publishes an annual list of acquisitions.
The Department has not purchased any new vehicles in the last three years.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which 20 local authorities have the highest level of (a) long-term empty social housing and (b) long-term empty private housing. [306408]
Mr. Ian Austin: The term social housing has been interpreted as social rented dwellings let by local authorities or registered social landlords. The term “long-term empty” has been interpreted as dwellings that have been vacant for more than six months.
Figures for the 20 local authorities with the highest proportion of social rented dwellings which are long-term vacant are shown in the following tables.
Estimates of the proportion of private dwellings which are long term vacant are not available. Figures for the 20 local authorities with the highest proportion of dwellings across all tenures which are long term vacant are shown in the tables. The reasons for homes becoming and remaining vacant are varied ranging from an over supply of accommodation, the redevelopment of an area to the standard of accommodation and in some circumstances individual failure to maintain a property in good repair. Numbers of empty properties within local authorities should not therefore be seen as a reflection of the approach adopted by local authorities to tackle these issues.