HC Deb 15 October 2001 vol 372 cc876-9W
Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average expenditure on capital improvements of(a) council and (b) registered social landlords in each year since 1997 is; and what plans he has to change the rule on capital investments in local authority housing. [7626]

Ms Keeble

The average expenditure on capital improvements by council landlords in each year since 1997 are 1997–98: £446 (22 per cent. of dwellings received work), 1998–99: £490 (23 per cent. of dwellings received work), 1999–2000: £479 (23 per cent. of dwellings received work). 2000–01 is £627 (this is a provisional figure based on authorities planned expenditure). Corresponding data are not collected centrally from Registered Social Landlords. We announced our intention to end direct control of local authority borrowing as part of a wider move to reform the local authority capital finance system. Details on the operation of the revised arrangements will be included in a White Paper, due to be published in the next few months.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what his estimate is of the cost of holding housing stock transfer ballots per dwelling affected by local authority district that have conducted ballots in the last five years. [7063]

Ms Keeble

We do not hold this information.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will list for each of the past five years the total housing stock for English local authorities held by(a) local councils, (b) registered social landlords and (c) housing companies. [7064]

Ms Keeble

The estimated total of the housing stock of local authorities and registered social landlords in England are given in the table.

Number of dwellings (thousand)
As at 1 April Local authority Registered social landlords
1996 3,470 942
1997 3,401 989
1998 3,309 1,049
1999 3,178 1,162
2000 3,012 1,278

The number of dwellings held by housing companies is much smaller and is not distinguished from the numbers given.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what information he has collated on the number of(a) families in bed and breakfast, (b) families in other temporary accommodation and (c) total waiting lists for each London borough. [7627]

Ms Keeble

My Department seeks information about local authorities' activities under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1996 on the quarterly PI (E) housing returns. Data, which relate to households

London boroughs' reported action under the homelessness provisions of Housing Acts
Decisions made during the period1 April to June 2001
Accepted as being homeless and in priority need Eligible, homeless and in priority need, but intentionally so Eligible, homeless but not in priority need Accommodated by the authority on 30 June 2001 in bed and breakfast Number of households on the Housing Register2 as at 1 April 2000
Barking and Dagenham 38 7 9 1 1,925
Barnet 331 11 101 139 5,489
Bexley 104 3 150 84 3,592
Brent 282 11 59 625 12,603
Bromley 198 11 103 102 3,264
Camden 288 25 87 46 5,884
City of London 4 3 3 4 787
Croydon 275 12 347 500 6,265
Ealing 211 14 203 436 7,709
Enfield 315 4 57 268 6,001
Greenwich 297 15 82 3 5,473
Hackney 209 3 25 160 7,011
Hammersmith and Fulham 189 3 22 423 4,726
Haringey 320 6 3 191 9,510
Harrow 98 16 81 101 2,610
Havering 4 4 4 4 1,738
Hillingdon 313 10 103 473 3,656
Hounslow 4 4 4 4 5,017
Islington 277 13 229 118 11,590
Kensington and Chelsea 165 12 31 699 8,206
Kingston upon Thames 4 4 4 4 3,113
Lambeth 312 24 61 261 16,220
Lewisham 263 3 143 3 9,774
Merton 44 4 36 36 3,920
Newham 375 18 98 820 11,107
Redbridge 109 7 3 242 3,555
Richmond upon Thames 76 11 32 106 4,992
Southwark 4 4 4 4 5,543
Sutton 124 14 69 54 2,154
Tower Hamlets 357 13 14 212 6,751
Waltham Forest 289 25 67 144 7,476
Wandsworth 202 8 126 282 2,441
Westminster 291 17 172 901 8,099
1 Decisions during the quarter are those where applicant households were found to be homeless and eligible for assistance under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1996 and associated legislation.
2 Local authorities have different practices for compiling and managing housing register/waiting lists which mean that simple comparisons between authorities can be misleading.
3 Nil
4 Information not reported

Source:

DTLR quarterly PI (E) housing activity and annual Housing Investment Programme returns rather than individuals, include the number of households being temporarily housed by the authority, and separately distinguish those in bed-and-breakfast hotels, as well as other types of property such as hostels or privately leased accommodation. This information is summarised in a quarterly Statistical Release, the most recent of which was published on 12 September 2001 covering results up to the end of June 2001. Copies are available in the Library of the House and are on the DTLR website.

Annual Housing Investment Programme (HIP) returns also seek basic data on the total number of homeless households accommodated on 31 March, and this year additionally asked for confirmation of those in bed-and-breakfast accommodation. As in previous years, the 2001 HIP return also sought a range of summary information about the number of households on local authorities' housing registers. HIP data are made available on the DTLR website normally in December once the data have been checked and confirmed by the authorities.

The latest available information as reported by London boroughs is presented in the table. This represents households without distinguishing between family groups and individuals.

Jeremy Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions if he will estimate the average investment by(a) registered social landlords and housing companies and (b) local authorities per dwelling where a large scale stock transfer ballot has been held. [6999]

Ms Keeble

The information requested cannot be provided for registered social landlords and housing

Average expenditure per local authority dwellings
£000
1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
Rochford—November 1988 261 197 177 310 372 n/a 302 376 167 326 205
Salisbury—December 1988 364 59 l11 82 161 195 196 257 489 241 265
Arun—January 1989 738 716 494 734 668 1,103 1,009 542 672 908 568
Three Rivers—March 1986 124 384 193 293 421 1,139 1,334 966 1,030 1,552 1,695
Canterbury—November 1989 666 n/a 538 444 755 619 631 851 616 1,141
Brentwood—November 1989 146 n/a 237 267 317 272 190 225 225 256
Redbridge—December 1989 833 1,108 1,165 821 883 1,315 1,206 921 1,089 964
Bournemouth—January 1990 416 553 452 376 419 383 287 206 182 181
Wokingham—April 1990 154 248 618 647 583 700 319 445 452 435
South Holland—July 1990 392 461 442 485 485 514 559 579 490
North Kesteven—December 1990 447 589 735 825 667 617 543 604 554
Hillingdon—July 1992 723 796 904 864 824 773 895
Kingston—August 1992 992 681 697 846 849 592 516
North Somerset—August 1992 (Woodspring) 708 722 783 589 584 572 518
Westminster—October 1993 1,281 1,283 1,158 1,536 1,628 1,342
Maidstone—November 1993 463 619 682 778 340 331
Poole—November 1993 400 330 298 405 506 245
Cherwell—April 1994 219 280 445 202 653 328
Castle Point—September 1994 239 148 237 317 286
Berwick—July 1996 419 377 309
Cheltenham—August 1997 179 239
Cambridge—February 1999 228

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