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Homeless People: Bed and Breakfast Accommodation
Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- How many homeless people in England were in bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation on 31 March; and of those (a) how many were children; (b) how many were in London and the South of England; and (c) what was the average length of stay per household.[HL4277]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Figures for numbers in bed and breakfast as at March 31 2002 will be available on 17 June. As at 31 December, there were 12,110 homeless households in bed and breakfast in England. Of these, 8,700 were in London and 1,270 in the South East. The Bed and Breakfast Unit has estimated that there are some 6,500 homeless households with
children in bed and breakfast accommodation. The statistics to be released on 17 June will for the first time include data on length of stay.My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions recently announced a new commitment to ensure that by March 2004 no family with children will be placed in B&B other than in an emergency. This was accompanied by changes in housing benefit subsidies to make leasing self-contained temporary accommodation more cost-effective, and an additional £35 million from DTLR to help local authorities find alternatives to B&B.
Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they are taking to reduce the numbers of homeless households in bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation; and how effective these steps have been.[HL4228]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: The Bed and Breakfast Unit (BBU) has undertaken a national consultation exercise, including a conference, and a number of regional good practice seminars. Examples of good practice have also been identified and shared through a newsletter and are posted on the BBU pages of the DTLR website. Shortly, the first action advice teams will go into authorities to audit procedures for getting people out of B&B.
In March this year my right honourable friend the Secretary of State announced a £35 million programme to ensure that by March 2004 no homeless family with children is in B&B for more than six weeks. In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions has made changes to housing benefit subsidy arrangements making the leasing of self-contained property for homeless households more financially viable. High B&B using authorities are producing action plans showing how they will reduce numbers and length of stay for homeless families with children in B&B over the next two years to meet the Secretary of State's commitment.
Lord Ouseley asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What was the cost for the year ending 31 March of providing homeless people with bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation.[HL4229]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: Based on the latest information supplied by local authorities in England, gross expenditure on bed and breakfast provision in 2000-01 was £193 million. Net expenditure, after taking into account income arising from charges to clients and housing benefit subsidy, was £74 million.
My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions recently announced a new commitment to ensure that by March 2004 no family with children will be placed in B&B other than in an emergency. This was accompanied by changes in housing benefit subsidies to make leasing self-contained temporary accommodation more cost-effective and an additional
£35 million from DTLR to help local authorities find alternatives to B&B.Electoral Registers: Access and Sale
Baroness Andrews asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to allow local authorities to sell electoral registers to third parties.[HL4297]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: We have today published a policy paper and draft regulations setting out the Government's intentions for regulations making provision about access to and sale and supply of electoral registers.
The approach we are adopting strikes a balance between the individual elector's right to privacy and the needs of others to receive the data to carry out their functions. There will be two versions of the register, the data in which will have been compulsorily obtained—a full one and an edited one containing particulars about only those electors who have not requested that their details be removed from the edited register.
The full register will be available for electoral purposes, for law enforcement and crime prevention and for other purposes where there is a strong public interest in preserving availability. These include checking identity for credit purposes. The edited register will be available for sale to anyone for any purpose.
Both the policy statement and the draft regulations have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and on the Internet for public comment on the regulations. Our aim, subject to parliamentary approval, is to make the regulations to have effect from the 2002 canvass.
Infrastructure Projects: Inquiry Procedures
Baroness Billingham asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What plans they have to streamline the inquiry procedures for major infrastructure projects.[HL4298]
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My right honourable friend has today laid before Parliament a statutory instrument: The Town and Country Planning (Major Infrastructure Project Inquiries Procedure) (England) Rules 2002. A departmental circular (DTLR Circular 02/2002) is also being issued today to accompany the new statutory instrument. This circular explains the new procedures for handling inquiries into those major infrastructure projects in England, as defined in the schedule to the rules. Copies of the statutory instrument and the circular have been placed in the House Libraries.
The new arrangements for major infrastructure project inquiries, which are due to come into force on 7 June, are part of the package of measures announced
by my right honourable friend on 20 July 2001 to streamline the planning procedures for major infrastructure projects. The department has also consulted on a key part of that package which is the proposed introduction of new procedures to enable Parliament to make a decision in principle on applications for major projects before the detail of the application is considered at a public inquiry.The new rules build on the improvements already made to inquiry procedure rules more generally in August 2000.
- The introduction of round table sessions will allow parties to discuss areas of concern with each other. Experience at other inquiries has shown that these can be a very effective means of agreeing facts and narrowing areas of disagreement both before and during the inquiry.
- The introduction of a technical adviser who will be tasked with assessing the technical evidence of all parties and will produce his own independent report on the technical issues.
- The introduction of mediation into inquiry proceedings which will help to narrow the issues before and during the inquiry.
- A date for the delivery of the inspector's report will be announced at the end of the inquiry. This will give certainty to the parties about the length of time.
- The provision to limit cross-examination where the inquiry timetable is put at risk has been introduced so that a situation should not arise where people at the beginning of an inquiry are not allowed to encroach into cross-examination time allocated to those at the end of the inquiry.
Litter on Roads
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- Whether they consider the quantity of litter on England's roads to be excessive; and, if so, what action they propose to take.[HL3869]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty): The Government do not collect centrally information detailing the quantity of litter on England's roads. However, the national annual local environmental quality survey currently being developed will assess the quantity of litter on main roads (excluding motorways), rural roads and other highways.
Litter clearance is the responsibility of the local authority or the Highways Agency depending upon the type of road.
The Highways Agency aims to secure continuous improvement in its routine maintenance through a move towards performance related procurement for
all new contracts. One of the performance criteria of these new contracts is an environmental amenity index that examines the overall appearance of the road taking account of litter and debris, grass cutting, weed growth, cleanliness and visibility of signs.The Government are also committed to undertaking a review of litter legislation that will examine how effective the current cleansing powers are under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Lord Marlesford asked Her Majesty's Government:
- What steps they intend to take to reduce the amount of litter on the roads in the United Kingdom.[HL4180]
Lord Whitty: The national annual local environmental quality survey currently being developed will assess the quantity of litter on main roads (excluding motorways), rural roads and other highways.
Litter clearance is the responsibility of the local authority or the Highways Agency depending upon the type of road.
The Highways Agency aims to secure continuous improvement in its routine maintenance through a move towards performance related procurement for all new contracts. One of the performance criteria of these new contracts is an environmental amenity index that examines the overall appearance of the road taking account of litter and debris, grass cutting, weed growth, cleanliness and visibility of signs.
The Government are also committed to undertaking a review of litter legislation that will examine how effective the current cleansing powers are under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
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