| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
30 Mar 2010 : Column 1123W—continued
Housing: Asylum
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to pages 125 and 126 of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's report on Refugees and asylum seekers: a review from an equality and human rights perspective, whether (a) the Housing Corporation and (b) the Homes and Communities Agency had any role in the provision of accommodation to asylum seekers; and what records his Department holds of the housing associations which (i) provide and (ii) facilitate accommodation for asylum seekers. [324732]
John Healey: The Housing Corporation did not have a direct role in the provision of housing for asylum seekers. However, the Corporation did fund research and develop a range of policies that aimed to improve conditions for refugee communities and new migrants.
Asylum seekers do not have access to public funds and are therefore not entitled to the benefits of social housing. Consequently, the Homes and Communities Agency cannot develop housing for them.
However, the HCA can develop homes which refugees (who do have a form of leave which allows them some access to public funds) can access.
Information about refugees housed by housing associations is captured in two sets of statistics via the:
1. Regulatory and Statistical Return (RSR) which contains information about the number of units intended for refugees, and asylum seekers under the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) contracts:
2. Continuous Recording of Lettings and Sales (CORE) which captures information about new lettings including, since April 2006, where tenants were housed by the Asylum Support Service immediately before their new letting:
https://core.tenantservicesauthority.org
3. Home Office collect figures on the number of asylum applications each year in their "control of immigration" quarterly stats release:
Housing: Capital Investment
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what capital projects the Homes and Communities Agency will have in 2010-11; and what the budget for each is in that year. [324503]
John Healey: Details of the Homes and Communities Agency's (HCA) planned expenditure by programme for 2010-11 can be found in HCA's Corporate Plan. Details of all of HCA's approved capital projects for 2010-11 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Housing: Conferences
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was spent by (a) his Department and (b) the Homes and Communities Agency on accreditation for the MIPIM international property conference in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009; and how much has been spent in 2010 to date. [323248]
Barbara Follett: The Department made the following spend on accreditation at the MIPIM conference in the years given:
Accreditation was included as part of a participation package equating to £675 (plus VAT) per delegate in 2007;
Accreditation was included as part of a participation package equating to £700 (plus VAT) per delegate in 2008; and
£1,500 (plus VAT) in 2009.
No departmental Ministers or officials attended in 2010.
The Homes and Communities Agency was established in December 2008 and has, therefore, only attended the conference in 2009 and 2010. Its spend on accreditation was:
£10,862 in 2009; and
£2,981 in 2010.
These costs were inclusive of taxes and foreign currency charges.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff of the Homes and Communities Agency will attend the MIPIM international property conference in March 2010. [323249]
Barbara Follett: Two delegates from the Homes and Communities Agency attended the conference.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 23 March 2010, Official Report, columns 272-73W, on housing: conferences, what the job title was of each Homes and Communities Agency employee who attended the MIPIM International Property Conference 2009. [325275]
Barbara Follett: The Homes and Communities Agency had seven officials in attendance at the MIPIM conference in 2009. Their job titles are as follows:
Chairman
Chief Executive
Director New Ventures and Partnerships
Head of Marketing
Senior Corporate Marketing Executive
Corporate Marketing Executive.
Housing: Construction
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many £60,000 homes have been built following the Design for Manufacture competition to date; in which locations have such homes been built; and what the average sale price has been; [323047]
(2) what assessment he has made of the effect on the construction costs of new housing of the Design for Manufacture competition. [323048]
Mr. Ian Austin: The Design for Manufacture competition launched in April 2005 is run by the Homes and Communities Agency (formerly English Partnerships) on behalf of Communities and Local Government. The competition was the Government's challenge to the housebuilding industry to build high-quality, well-designed homes for £60,000. The figure of £60,000 relates to a target cost for building a two bedroom home and does not reflect the sale price. Developers are responsible for final sales for individual homes setting prices in accordance with local market conditions. The programme comprising ten sites is currently on track to deliver the target of building 30 per cent. of the homes on each site for £60,000 The Homes and Communities Agency will report back on the exact number of £60,000 homes built on each site following completion of the programme. The sites and target number of £60,000 homes to be built are listed in the following table.
A detailed publication on the lessons learned so far from the Design for Manufacture competition was published by English Partnerships in June 2006. It sets out the 10 initial lessons learnt including one about constructions costs. The overall assessment was that these costs can be controlled whilst at the same time improving the quality of homes being developed.
The Design for Manufacture lessons learnt publication is available at:
The Homes and Communities Agency intend publishing Lessons Learnt II shortly.
| Sites | Total number of homes to be built | Target total of £60,000 homes to be built( 1) |
| (1) Unable to report back on number of completed £60,000 homes until the programme is over and all sites fully built out and developed. | ||
Housing: Olympic Games 2012
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much funding has been provided by (a) his Department and (b) the Homes and Communities Agency for the development of the Olympic Village on the London 2012 Olympic Games site; and how much more funding he expects to be provided. [321197]
Mr. Malik: Communities and Local Government contributes alongside other funding departments within the overall £9.325 billion Olympic Budget. The gross construction cost of the village is £l,095 million. This includes post-games transformation for legacy use. The Homes and Communities Agency is providing a grant of £110 million to Triathlon Homes toward the social housing element which is included in the overall cost. No further funding is expected to be provided.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many of the homes provided in the Olympic Village after the London 2012 Olympics (a) will be (i) flats and (ii) houses and (b) will have (A) one, (B) two and (C) three or more bedrooms. [321198]
Mr. Malik: There will be 2,818 apartments and town houses in the Olympic Village, 1,379 of which will be affordable. The following table sets out the current plans for different tenures.
| Market | Intermediate | Social rented | Additional intermediate | |
Housing: Standards
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much is charged by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment for Building for Life assessor accreditation. [321549]
Mr. Ian Austin: Building for Life assessor accreditation is free of charge for one officer from each English local authority. Additional officers are charged £360.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many local planning authority staff have been trained by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment to become accredited Building for Life assessors. [321550]
Mr. Ian Austin: 404 local authority officers have started the training since the programme started in January 2009. Of these, 229 have now completed the full accreditation.
Kent
Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what schemes in Kent Thameside have received funding from his Department and its executive agencies in each of the last five years; and how much funding was allocated to each of those schemes. [323059]
Mr. Malik: The following table sets out the funding provided by the Thames Gateway programme to projects in Kent Thameside in each of the last five years.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |