Housing (Hansard, 21 April 2004)

§ 10. Mr. Jack
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what studies his Department will be making of the impact of his latest housing policies on the north-west of England. [R] [166263]

§ Keith Hill
The Government's housing policies are encapsulated in the Sustainable Communities Plan. With four of the nine Housing Market Renewal Pathfinders located in the north-west, the region is set to benefit from £332 million over the next two years. A full programme evaluation for the pathfinder programme is to be commissioned. In addition, a full review of North West Regional Planning Guidance will start later this year, and will give further consideration to housing provision.

§ 11. Mr. Blizzard
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to increase the amount of affordable housing for rent in rural areas. [166264]

§ Keith Hill
The target for approvals of rural housing in small settlements within the Housing Corporation's Approved Development Programme has been increased from 800 in 2000–01 to 3,500 over the two years 2004–05 and 2005–06. The target for these two years has been exceeded by about 500 in the programme announced last month. The programme includes homes for both rent and low cost home ownership.
493W

§ Mr. Ben Chapman
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the effect of changes in the level of council funding for housing upon residents of Wirral, South since 1997. [166635]

§ Mr. Frank Field
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how the change in the level of council funding for housing has affected the residents of Birkenhead since 1997. [166214]

§ Phil Hope
Since 1997 allocations of capital funding to local authorities for housing purposes have risen consistently by about 15 per event. per annum on average. This includes the Major Repairs Allowance the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister introduced in 2001–02 specifically for the improvement of local authority stock alongside the Decent Homes standard which sets out minimum standards to be met by 2010. Wirral's allocations in the period 1997 to 2003–04 have risen by over 140 per cent. In addition to this welcome increase there is support through the Community Housing Task Force and Government Office for the North West to help the local authority and its tenants to choose the best strategy for long term improvement.

§ Matthew Green
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list those respondents to the consultation paper on licensing houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) who(a) supported and (b) opposed the proposal to introduce a duty of care on the owners and managers of all HMOs to ensure the health and safety of their tenants. [166201]

§ Keith Hill
A total of 579 responses were received on the 1999 consultation paper on Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation in England. 363 of them expressed no views on the proposal to introduce a duty of care on the owners and managers of HMOs.
The five who were opposed to the proposal were:

Mr. D Ugustod

South London Family Housing Association

Mr. G Clements

Leeds Property Association

An anonymous respondent

The 211 respondents in favour of the proposal were:

National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting (NICEIC)

Mr. Trevor Alan Murphy

Leicestershire Fire Brigade

Society of Mary and Martha

Mr. Tom W M Turner

Oxford Fire Service

Middlesbrough borough council

University of Newcastle

Torbay borough council

Mr. John Stather

Wigan metropolitan borough council

Mr. Duncan McCargo

Yorkshire Coast Residential Landlords Association

Warrington borough council

Cornwall county council

Landlord's Association for Wessex

Cheshire Fire Brigade

Leicester city council

South Ribble borough council

Mr. David Patey
494W
Kingston-upon-Hull district council

The London borough of Croydon

University of Sheffield Union of Students

Preston borough council

Havant borough council

Reigate and Bansted borough council

Hertfordshire county council

The Institute of Legal Executives

The UK Association of Letting Agents Ltd. (UKALA)

Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority

Great Yarmouth Residents Association

Lancaster city council

London borough of Newham

Association of Housing Advisory Services

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

The Institute of Building Control

Tonbridge and Mailing borough council

Nottingham Landlords Liaison Panel to Nottingham city council

The NHS Confederation

Redcar and Cleveland borough council

Humberside Fire Brigade

Guildford borough council

Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service

Slough borough council

City of Salford Housing Services

Cumbria Fire Service

Ipswich borough council

Exeter city council

Blyth Valley council

Winchester city council

Royal Berkshire Fire Authority

South West Landlords Association

Metropolitan borough of Wirral

Nottingham city council

Cannock Chase district council

Selby district council

South Headingley Community Association

Lancashire Combined Fire Authority

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors

Torridge district council

London Fire Brigade

Teignbridge district council

Wyre Forest district council

Stafford borough council

The borough of Basingstoke and Deane

Hartlepool borough council

London Private Tenants Workers

West Yorkshire Fire and Civil Defence Authority

Portsmouth city council

Southampton city council

Cherwell district council

Metropolitan borough of Bury

Gloucester city council

Hereford and Worcester Combined Fire Authority

Maidstone borough council

Woking borough council

Wansbeck district council

Norfolk County Council Fire Service

Greater Manchester County Fire Service

St. Helens metropolitan borough council

Borough of Spelthorne

Somerset Fire Brigade
495W
Stroud district council

City of Sunderland Health and Housing Services

Royal borough of Kingston upon Thames

Stoke-on-Trent city council

Surrey Heath borough council

Newcastle-under-Lyme borough council

The Energy Conservation and Solar center

Association of Tenancy Regulations Officers

Taunton Deane borough council

South Hams district council

Professional Briefings

Ellesmere Port and Neston borough council

The Fire Brigades Union

Sedgemoor district council

Henstead Road and Canton Street Residents Association

Rushmoor borough council

East Hampshire district council

Stockton-on-Tees borough council

Lewisham Organisation of Private Tenants

Brent Private Tenants Rights Group

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service

Field Studies Council

Bradford metropolitan borough council

Tyne and Wear Metropolitan Fire Brigade

Brentwood borough council

City of Durham

Swindon borough council

Newcastle city council

The Hull and District Landlords' Association

Vale of White Horse

Chester city council

Chichester district council

London borough of Hillingdon

The Housing Corporation

Bill Olner MP

UNIPOL

Thanet district council

Northern Consortium of Housing Authorities

The Royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Swale borough council

North Hyde Park Neighbourhood Association

British Property Federation

Wandsworth borough council

West Berkshire council

City of York council

Blackburn with Darwen borough council

Sheffield city council

The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals of Universities (CVCP)

Yorkshire Region HMO Group

Nottinghamshire C I E H Housing Working Group

Doncaster metropolitan borough council

Gloucestershire Directors of Environment Services Housing Technical Sub Group

Brent borough council

Dudley metropolitan borough council

Oldham metropolitan borough council

Welwyn Hatfield council

Eastbourne borough council

Hart district council

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service

Barnsley metropolitan borough council

Home Office Fire Policy Unit
496W
Northampton borough council

Herefordshire council

Allerdale borough council

Borough of Hackney

St. Edmundsbury borough council

Shepway district council

Rother district council

Leeds city council

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health

The National Council for Housing and Planning (ROOM)

Canterbury city council

Gateshead metropolitan borough council

Alan Simpson MP-Nottingham, South

Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire county council

London borough of Ealing

Solihull metropolitan borough council

Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association

National HMO Network

Chartered Institute of Housing

Mr. N Burn

Mr. J S McConnell

Child Accident Prevention Trust

Association of London Government

London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

City of Plymouth

East Lindsey district council

Cardiff county council

Powys county council

Newport county borough council

Greater Manchester Private Sector Housing Group

Manchester city council

Julia Drown MP

Shelter

North Somerset council

North Hertfordshire district council

Mrs Jean McAndrew

Mr. Peter Brackley

Sefton council

London borough of Hounslow

Bristol city council

Reading borough council

Trafford metropolitan borough council

Greater Manchester House in Multiple Occupation Working Group

Rochdale metropolitan borough council

Hastings borough council

Association for Student Residential Accommodation

Cambridge city council

Local Government Association

The Association of Building Engineers

Small Landlords Association

Harold Best MP

Lincoln city council

Merthyr Tydfil county borough council

Monmouthshire county council

Isle of Anglesey county council

Shelter Cymru

Pembrokeshire county council

Blaenau Gwent county borough

National Union of Students Wales

Rhondda Cynon Taff

City and County of Swansea

Conwy county borough council
497W
Denbighshire county council

Gwynedd council

North Wales Society of Directors of Public Protection

The Treforest Community Joint Committee

Residential Landlords Association

Mr. Ben Prescott

§ Mr. Hopkins
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to help local authorities to rehouse families on the housing waiting list. [166259]

§ Yvette Cooper
Local authorities are no longer required to hold 'housing waiting lists', and are now required to allocate housing following their published allocation scheme. In November 2002, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister issued a revised Code of Guidance on the Allocation of Accommodation; this encourages local authorities to provide housing applicants with a choice of accommodation in their allocation scheme.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister announced a major new affordable house building programme worth nearly £3.5 billion over this and next year, and we are allocating £260 million over 2003–04 to 2005–06 to tackle homelessness.

§ Mr. Betts
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the(a) level of housing basic credit approvals (as included in HIP allocations), (b) volume of reserved capital receipts from Right to Buy, (c) volume of usable capital receipts from Right to Buy and (d) capital receipts used by local authorities for housing investment were for (i) each local authority with a housing revenue account and (ii) England for (A) 1990–91, (B) 2000–01, (C) 2001–02, (D) 2002–03 and (E) 2003–04. [166637]

§ Keith Hill
Information on(a) local authority capital allocations since 1990–91 is available in the Library of the House.
The information requested at (b), (c) and (d), with the exception that no information is available yet for the year 2003–04, has been made available in the Library of the House.