§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to introduce a performance target for tackling the backlog of repairs in the local authority sector; and if he will make a statement. [128903]
259W
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe Housing Green Paper issued in April sets out a range of proposals for tackling housing problems, including our commitment to ensure that all social housing is of a decent standard within 10 years. The Department's Public Service Agreement (PSA) target on the council house repairs backlog agreed in the 1998 Comprehensive Spending Review is to deliver a reduction of 10 per cent. in the backlog by April 2002. Any further targets will be announced following the current spending review.
§ Mr. PoundTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the impact of the proposed council housing stock transfer programme for 2000–01 on the rents of(a) existing tenants and (b) future tenants; and if he will make a statement. [129065]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe table shows(a) the transfer rents of existing tenants and (b) the relet rents of new tenants for local authorities who have places on the 2000–01 housing stock transfer programme. These rents are guaranteed to rise by not more than RPI plus 1 per cent. for five years after transfer under the new landlord. We would expect rent increases to be kept below this level wherever possible. We have also set out in the Housing Green Paper, our proposals for achieving rent harmonisation over the next 10 years.
Birmingham CC and Sunderland CC have yet to be formally accepted onto the programme.
Weekly Rents at Transfer (a) Existing tenants (b) New tenants Barnsley MBC 32.33 35.56 Blackburn with Darwen BC 49.69 49.69 Birmingham CC 44.10 51.60 Calderdale Metropolitan BC 37.06 44.48 Chester CC 40.48 50.60 Chichester DC 52.92 61.23 Coventry CC 39.17 47.00 East Northamptonshire DC 40.00 50.00 East Staffordshire BC 38.75 44.56 Fylde BC 37.08 48.19 Horsham DC 59.00 64.90 Manchester CC—Handforth Estate 43.30 49.80 Manchester CC—Knutsford Estate 45.90 50.50 Mendip DC 44.80 49.29 LB Richmond 62.83 68.62 South Bedfordshire DC 48.83 53.71 Staffordshire Moorlands DC 39.31 47.17 Sunderland CC 42.73 49.13 Torbay Council 46.94 54.23 Walsall MBC 39.54 44.35 Waverley BC 59.85 68.83 West Oxfordshire DC 47.25 51.98 West Wiltshire DC 52.87 60.79 Wgycombe DC 52.44 57.44 1Weekly rent figures are based on 52 weeks