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6 Nov 2009 : Column WA87



6 Nov 2009 : Column WA87

Written Answers

Friday 6 November 2009

Audit Commission

Questions

Asked by Baroness Whitaker

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission, and I will ask the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the noble Baroness direct.

Letter from Steve Bundred, Chief Executive, Audit Commission, dated 6 November 2009.

Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me for reply.

The Audit Commission did not look explicitly at the role of good design in its national study on the strategic housing role. The report Building better lives-Getting the best from strategic housing reports councils' concerns that affordable housing targets encouraged them to build large numbers of small flats even if that was not the type of housing that best met the needs of their locality. If councils are prepared to allow such an interpretation of targets to colour their housing strategy, this suggests that the strategy is neither robust enough nor founded in understanding of local needs.

A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.

Asked by Baroness Whitaker

Lord McKenzie of Luton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission, and I will ask the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the noble Baroness direct.

Letter from Steve Bundred, Chief Executive, Audit Commission, dated 6 November 2009.

Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me for reply.

The External Advisory Group, the members of which are listed below, comprised experts from the housing and academic world. It included people from the public and private sector with experience in planning, commissioning new housing and strategic housing management. As the focus of the study was on the strategic housing role, not specifically on new build or design, we did not seek specific design expertise for the advisory group.



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Members of the External Advisory Group:

Alan Murie, Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham;Andrew Griffiths, Chartered Institute of Environmental Health; Howard Revill, National Audit Office;Ian Potter, Association of Residential Lettings Agents; Jenny Allen, National Housing Federation; Martin Field, East Midlands Development Agency; Nick Hooper, Bristol City Council;Reniera O'Donnell, Improvement and Development Agency; Ric Pallister, South Somerset Council; Richard Bayley, Places For People;Richard Capie, Chartered Institute of Housing; Rob Cogings, Derbyshire Dales & High Peak Council;Roy Donson, Barrett Developers; Ruth Lucas, Local Government Association; andTony Hatch, Communities and Local Government.

A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.

Asked by Baroness Whitaker

Lord McKenzie of Luton: This is an operational matter for the Audit Commission, and I will ask the chief executive of the Audit Commission to write to the noble Baroness direct.

Letter from Steve Bundred, Chief Executive, Audit Commission, dated 6 November 2009.

Your Parliamentary Question outlined above has been passed to me for reply.

The Audit Commission interviewed a variety of stakeholders as part of its research into the strategic housing role of local authorities. These included the chief executive and head of policy at the Homes and Communities Agency. We also shared a draft of the report with the Homes and Communities Agency and invited comments. However, the role of good design was not a focus of the study and we asked no specific questions of the Homes and Communities Agency or of other stakeholders about it.

A copy of this letter will be placed in Hansard.

Autism

Question

Asked by Baroness Thomas of Winchester



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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The available information is provided in the table.

Great Britain-Incapacity Benefit/Severe Disablement Allowance claimants with Pervasive Development Disorders as main condition

February 2009

4,530

Source: Department for Work and Pensions Information Directorate: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Notes:

1. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest 10.

2. Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation.

3. To qualify for incapacity benefit (IB)/severe disablement allowance (SDA), claimants have to undertake a medical assessment of incapacity for work which is called the personal capability assessment. Therefore, the medical condition recorded on IB/SDA claim form does not itself confer entitlement to incapacity benefits, so, for example, the decision for a customer claiming IB on grounds of mental or behavioural disorders would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities in the personal capability assessment; or on the effects of any associated mental health problems.

4. IB/SDA claimants whose main diagnosis is autism are recorded within the diagnosis code for pervasive development disorders, and which is unable to be broken down further.

5. Employment and support allowance replaced incapacity benefit and income support paid on the grounds of incapacity for new claims from 27 October 2008.

Aviation: Air Passenger Duty

Question

Asked by Lord Ouseley

The Financial Services Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Myners): In line with Cabinet Office guidance, HMRC conducted an impact assessment of the new banding system and published it on its website at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ria/apd-reform-ia.pdf.

Aviation: Carbon Emissions

Questions

Asked by Baroness Hanham

The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): Technology exists to capture fume events on aircraft. This was developed by Cranfield University as a precondition of being able to begin the current research

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work into cabin air contamination. The published report on what equipment to use is available on http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/aviation/hci/cabinairtest.pdf.

When we know what contaminants are in cabin air fume events, and in what concentrations, we will then be able to begin to make judgments about whether they cause ill health and what remedies, technical or otherwise, may be appropriate.

Asked by Baroness Hanham

Lord Adonis: We are following the advice of the Committee on Toxicity (COT), which saw the logical first step as research to examine potential exposure. This is currently proceeding.

When we know what is in cabin air and in what concentrations, then we can begin to make judgments about any need for, and the possible design of, epidemiological studies.

Buses

Question

Asked by Lord Bradshaw

The Secretary of State for Transport (Lord Adonis): The Department for Transport responded to the Office of Fair Trading's consultation on its proposal to refer the market for local buses services to the Competition Commission. A copy of the response has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Church Buildings

Question

Asked by Lord Mawson

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): The wider community use of church buildings, and of the buildings of other faiths, was the subject of a joint working group between the Church of England and five government departments. This led to the publication of a report, Churches and Faith Buildings: Realising the Potential, in March 2009. The report sets "out a range of actions to help faith groups engage

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effectively in local and regional agendas, it outlines some resources that might help to make faith buildings more user-friendly as part of wider community activities, and .... ways in which providers of funding and policy makers might better understand what faith groups bring to community".

Climate Change: Population

Question

Asked by Lord Laird

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): The United Kingdom will not be proposing measures for population control at the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen this December.

Climate Change: Sea Temperatures

Question

Asked by Lord Stoddart of Swindon

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): Professor Easterbrook has claimed that global average temperature may decrease over the next 30 years, due to the onset of a cool phase in a natural pattern of Pacific climate variability that is often referred to as the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). My department is not, however, aware of any scientific articles published by Professor Easterbrook to support his claim and considers the suggested scenario to be very unlikely.

Historical records of global average and regional temperatures show that the PDO produces at most only a small effect on global average temperature. As a result, the PDO is not expected to produce a global average effect large enough to overcome the amount of warming expected over the next 30 years from current and future levels of greenhouse gases.

Communities: Preventing Extremism

Question

Asked by Baroness Neville-Jones



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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): I refer the noble Baroness to the Answer that my honourable friend the Member for Dewsbury (Shahid Malik) gave to the honourable Member for Putney, Roehampton and Southfield (Justine Greening) on 19 June 2009 (Official Report, col. 509W).

Courts: Fees

Question

Asked by Lord Lucas

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Department for Work and Pensions (Lord McKenzie of Luton): No assessment has been made. It is a matter for local authorities to decide what level of costs to charge. Regulation 34(7) of the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992 allows local authorities to charge reasonable costs incurred by the authority in obtaining a liability order to the debtor.

Local authorities enforce council tax through the magistrates' courts only.

Crime: Rape

Question

Asked by Lord Campbell-Savours

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon): The Government announced a review on 22 September 2009 into how rape complaints are handled from when a rape is first disclosed until the court reaches a verdict. The review, led by Baroness Stern, will report in February 2010. The Stern review terms of reference are:

to examine the response of the public authorities to rape complaints and examine how more victims can be encouraged to report;to explore ways in which the attrition rate in criminal cases can be reduced and how to fairly increase the conviction rate;to identify how to increase victim and witness satisfaction, and confidence in the CJS in addressing rape;to explore public and professional attitudes to rape and how they impact on outcomes;

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to utilise findings and information available from other relevant work, particularly the work on victims' experience being led by Sara Payne and the Department of Health Taskforce led by Professor Sir George Alberti, avoiding unnecessary duplication; andto make recommendations, with particular reference to improving the implementation of current policies and procedures.

The review will not, however, consider changes to the law.

Education: Home Schooling

Question

Asked by Lord Lucas

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Children, Schools and Families (Baroness Morgan of Drefelin): The detailed evidence collected from local authorities is not being made available as it is could be used to identify individual children. The aggregated data which Graham Badman provided to the Select Committee with his letter of 28 October has been published on the Every Child Matters website. This letter includes a breakdown of the number of child protection plans for each authority but does not identify individual local authorities.

Energy: Anaerobic Digestion

Questions

Asked by Lord Cameron of Dillington

The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): We have no intentions of introducing targets for the number of anaerobic digestion plants to be built in the UK. Such a policy would encourage plants to be build for the sake of the target rather than encourage cost-effective, well thought-out proposals to deliver both renewable energy and carbon savings. We are nevertheless working with local government, business and farmers to identify the potential of anaerobic digestion in their sectors. We have developed jointly with a broad range of stakeholders Anaerobic Digestion-Shared Goals. This sets out our collective ambitions for the use of anaerobic digestion in this country, as well as the aspirations of individual sectors. It includes an aspiration by the National Farmers Union to have 1,000 farm-based anaerobic digestion plants by 2020.


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