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9 Mar 2010 : Column 214W—continued
Lighthouse Project: Finance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding (a) his Department, (b) the Government Office for the West Midlands and (c) each of his Department's agencies has given to the Lighthouse project in each year to date. [320723]
Barbara Follett: The Government Office for the West Midlands has not directly allocated any funding to this project.
Local Government: Apprentices
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what information his Department holds on the number of apprentices each local authority employed in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10. [320796]
Barbara Follett: The National Apprenticeships Service is responsible for monitoring the number of apprentices within the public and private sector, including local authorities. Details can be found on their website
Authorities recently volunteered information on the overall number of apprenticeships across the sector this year to the Department, and aggregate information was included in a press notice issued by Communities and Local Government on 2 February this year.
Multiple Occupation: Greater London
Justine Greening: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent estimate his Department has made of (a) the proportion of affordable housing in London provided in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and (b) the number of people living in HMOs in London. [321351]
John Healey: This information is not held centrally.
Property Development: Floods
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what proportion of new dwellings have been built in areas at risk of flooding in each (a) region and (b) local authority area in each year since 1997. [320527]
Mr. Ian Austin: Annual information of the percentage of new dwellings built in areas of high flood risk by Government office region since 1989 is published in Land Use Change Statistics Live Table 251. The table can be found at
Statistics on the proportion of new dwellings built in flood risk areas by local authority area are not currently published and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
Tenancy Deposit Schemes
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which tenancy deposit schemes charge for services related to adjudicating on disputes relating to the deposit. [320820]
Mr. Ian Austin: None of the three Government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme providers are permitted, under the terms of their contracts, to make direct charges for their alternative dispute resolution services.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the financial viability of each of the authorised tenancy deposit schemes; and whether his Department has responsibility to ensure the financial viability of such schemes. [320926]
Mr. Ian Austin: The three tenancy deposit protection schemes are operated by private companies under contract with Communities and Local Government and are designed to be self-financing. All the contracts contain safeguards to ensure the financial viability of the schemes.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when each tenancy deposit scheme provider's contract expires. [320927]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Department for Communities and Local Government's contracts with the three tenancy deposit protection scheme providers for the provision of tenancy deposit protection schemes will run until the end of March 2012. All three contracts have the option of a further one year extension.
Valuation Office
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) of 15 May 2006, Official Report, column 766W, on the Valuation Office Agency, whether any changes have been made since May 2006 to the Valuation Office Agency's (a) powers and (b) policy on revaluing, re-assessing or re-classifying a domestic hereditament or composite hereditament after (i) a material change to a property and (ii) a council tax appeal. [319647]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
There have been no changes to the (a) powers granted to listing officers of the Valuation Office Agency since May 2006. In two limited respects (b) the approach to the banding or identification of a domestic hereditament, or a composite hereditament, has changed.
In finding that changes to the curtilage of a property created a new hereditament, the Lands Tribunal case of Baker(VO) v. Tower Hamlets in 2007 clarified the law relating to the identification of hereditaments. Any material change to the curtilage of a dwelling, such as reduction or increase of plot size, will create a new or different dwelling, which must be entered with an appropriate band in a council tax valuation list.
(ii) After a council tax proposal
Where it has become apparent that an agreement has created a valuation list entry that is inaccurate, VOA advice has been clarified to make it clear that the listing officer is empowered to correct it.
Both these changes are reflected in Council Tax Manual Practice Notes, which are published on the Valuation Office Agency's website.
Home Department
Alcoholic Drinks: Young People
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many retailers in each local authority area in the South East were convicted for selling alcohol to minors in the last 12 months. [320814]
Mr. Alan Campbell: The number of persons found guilty at all courts and the number of penalty notices for disorder (PND) given for the sale of alcohol to a person under 18 years, broken down by police force area (PFA) in England and Wales 2008 can be viewed in the following table. The PFAs in the South East are Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley.
Court proceedings data for 2009 are due to be published in the autumn 2010.
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