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2 Mar 2010 : Column 1128W—continued


Affordable Housing: Newcastle upon Tyne

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) which 33 sites were presented for consideration to the Homes and Community Agency as sites for new and affordable housing development by Newcastle upon Tyne City Council; [318824]

(2) how much funding has been provided to each of the projects in Newcastle upon Tyne supported by the (a) Homes and Communities Agency and (b) National Affordable Homes Programme in the last 12 months. [318826]


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John Healey: It is not clear which 33 sites are referred to in the question and therefore we are unable to provide this information.

Investment by the Homes and Communities Agency in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the 12 months to 31 December 2009 broken down by programme is as follows:

Programme Spend for 12 months to 31 December 2009 (£)

National Affordable Housing Programme

6,320,000

Property and Regeneration

288,835

Places for change

426,940

Housing Market Renewal Grant(1)

44,828,347

Total

51,844,122

(1) This is spend for the Newcastle Gateshead Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder. It has not been possible to disaggregate the spend between the two areas. In addition, £48.6 million Decent Homes ALMO funding has been allocated to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for 2009-10 financial year. This funding, while not direct Homes and Communities Agency funding, is managed and monitored by the Homes and Communities Agency on behalf of Ministers.

Association of Home Information Pack Providers: Finance

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department has provided (a) directly and (b) by indirect means to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers since that body's inception. [319280]

Mr. Ian Austin: The Department has not provided any financial assistance to the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, either directly or indirectly.

Bullying: Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many formal complaints of (a) bullying and (b) harassment were submitted by staff of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister during the period of its existence as a Government Department. [319227]

Barbara Follett: According to the information available to us, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received 13 formal complaints of bullying and harassment from its staff during the period of the Department's existence. Bullying and harassment were classified as one issue by that Department.

Community Development: Roehampton

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding was granted under the (a) Working Neighbourhoods Fund, (b) Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, (c) Deprived Area Fund, (d) Local Enterprise Growth Initiative, (e) New Deal for Communities, (f) Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders, (g) New Communities Fund, (h) European Regional Development Fund, (i) Inspiring Communities Grant, (j) Connecting Communities, (k) Single Regeneration Budget, (l) Land and Property Programme and (m) other regeneration programmes to Roehampton ward in each year since 2000. [318608]


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Ms Rosie Winterton: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 10 February, Official Report, column 1027W, which details funding for these programmes by each local authority in London.

Community Infrastructure Levy

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether local authorities will be able to negotiate flexible Community Infrastructure Levy rates on a site-by-site basis to assist particular regeneration schemes. [319138]

Mr. Ian Austin: CIL Regulations provide that charging schedules may include differential rates where they can be justified either on the basis of the economic viability of development in different parts of the authority's area or by reference to the economic viability of different types of development within their area.

As an additional measure, the CIL regulations also provide for an exceptional cases procedure, through which (subject to certain conditions) individual developments could apply for a reduced CIL liability where its payment would render the development unviable. It will be for charging authorities to decide whether to permit such a procedure in their area and each request will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Community Infrastructure Levy will be optional for local planning authorities. [319199]

Mr. Ian Austin: The Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is provided for by sections 205 to 225 of the Planning Act 2008. Section 206(1) of this Act states that "a charging authority may charge CIL in respect of development of land in its area". As potential charging authorities, local planning authorities will therefore be able to choose whether they decide to charge CIL in their area or not, to meet local infrastructure needs.

Council Housing: Finance

Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how much was allocated to the local authority new build fund from the (a) Budget 2009 announcements and (b) Housing Pledge; [318718]

(2) how much was allocated to the Kickstart Housing Delivery programme from the (a) programmes announced in Budget 2009 and (b) Housing Pledge. [318722]

John Healey: The local authority new build, and the Kickstart Housing Delivery programme are programmes announced as part of the housing stimulus package. Funding levels were announced at Budget 2009 and in the Housing Pledge, part of the Prime Minister's Building Britain's Future announcement. The budgets for each programme are published in the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) corporate plan 2009-10-2010-11.


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Council Housing: Property Transfer

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes from local authority housing stock in Castle Point were disposed of in each year since 1997. [318084]

Mr. Ian Austin: Information on disposals of local authority stock can be estimated from information on right to buy, other local authority sales, large-scale voluntary transfers and small scale transfers to registered social landlords, and demolitions.

Information on all sales of local authority stock (including large-scale voluntary transfers and small scale transfers to registered social landlords, right-to-buy sales and other local authority sales) is collected from local authorities on the Quarterly Housing Monitoring (PIB) return. This information is published to local authority district level on the Communities and Local Government website in table 648:

Information on local authority demolitions is reported by local authorities, for the financial year, on the Business Plan Statistical Appendix (BPSA) return. BPSA data returns since 2001-02 are available at:

Council Housing: Standards

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will issue guidance to local authorities on (a) the fitting of individual thermostats for radiators under the Decent Homes Programme and (b) individual billing of heating for tenants in council housing served by communal heating systems. [318953]

Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 26 February 2010]: The Department will shortly be publishing, jointly with the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Household Energy Management Strategy setting out the Government's proposals to improve the energy efficiency of our housing stock to reduce carbon emissions. This will be supported by a range of guidance on which we will be consulting in due course.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent discussions he has had with local authorities on costs arising from the replacement of communal heating systems in council housing stock dating from the 1980s. [318954]

Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 26 February 2010]: There have been no policy discussions between local authorities and the Department for Communities and Local Government regarding the costs involved in replacing communal heating systems.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on the thermal efficiency of windows fitted during works funded through the Decent Homes Programme. [318955]


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Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 26 February 2010]: The Decent Homes standard does not include any specification for the thermal efficiency of windows a landlord may decide to fit as part of their local decent homes programme. The standard is a minimum standard that homes must not fall below not a standard that work should be completed to.

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government who is responsible for inspecting works conducted on council housing stock to ensure compliance with the decent homes standard; and what mechanisms exist for appeals from residents where works are determined not to have reached the required standard. [318956]

Mr. Ian Austin [holding answer 26 February 2010]: A local authority is responsible for ensuring that their social housing stock does not fall below the Decent Homes standard and the works they do comply with the standard. If a council tenant considers that their home falls below the standard they should make a formal complaint to the local authority. If, after this process, they consider the local authority has treated them unfairly then they may make a complaint to the local government ombudsman.

Counsellors: Allowances

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much all local authorities spent on allowances and expenses for counsellors in each year since 1997 for which figures are available. [319263]

Ms Rosie Winterton: We do not collect or report on allowances paid to local authority members, which are matters for each council to decide, having regard to the recommendations of their independent remuneration panel. Councils are accountable for their decisions on allowances to their electorate and are required to make publicly available each year a statement of the amount of allowances paid to each member.

Departmental Meetings

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers in his Department have had with representatives of (i) the Association of Home Information Pack Providers, (ii) Luther Pendragon and (iii) Quintus Public Affairs in the last 12 months. [319281]

Mr. Ian Austin: I met with representatives from the Association of Home Information Pack Providers (AHIPP) on 25 November 2009. AHIPP were also represented at a meeting of home buying and selling stakeholders that I chaired on 15 December 2009. I am not aware of any meetings with Luther Pendragon or Quintus during the last 12 months.

Disadvantaged: Roehampton

Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the level was of each indicator of deprivation in Roehampton ward as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation in each year since 2000. [318607]


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Ms Rosie Winterton: The score and rank in each domain for the Roehampton ward are provided in the table where a rank of one would represent the most deprived ward and a rank of 8,414 would represent the least deprived ward.

Roehampton Ward

Index of Multiple Deprivation Score

40.05

Rank of Index of Multiple Deprivation

1,116

Income Domain Score

34.61

Rank of Income Domain

897

Employment Domain Score

17.49

Rank of Employment Domain

1,123

Health Domain Score

.89

Rank of Health Domain

1,431

Education Domain Score

.56

Rank of Education Domain

2,203

Housing Domain Score

1.33

Rank of Housing Domain

641

Access Domain Score

-.59

Rank of Access Domain

6,312

Child Poverty Index Score Rank of

66.74

Child Poverty Index

206


Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2010, Official Report, column 1135W, on the Audit Commission: internet, what timetable has been set for publishing online the names of those councils which operate fortnightly refuse collections; and if he will request the Audit Commission to undertake a statistical analysis of the dataset in respect of the relationship between public satisfaction with waste collection services and the frequency of refuse collection services. [319125]

Ms Rosie Winterton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission and I will ask the Chief Executive of the Audit Commission to write to the hon. Member direct.

Letter from Steve Bundred, dated 2 March 2010:


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