HC Deb 31 January 2001 vol 362 cc195-6W
Mr. Waterson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will list the names and salaries of the three most senior staff at the Rough Sleepers Unit. [147800]

Ms Armstrong

Louise Casey, the Director of the Rough Sleepers Unit, is a member of the Senior Civil Service on fixed-term contract whose salary is within the band £70,000 to £75,000. Gordon Campbell the Deputy Director of the Unit is on secondment from London Borough Grants and DETR reimburses LBG for his employment costs which currently are £54,000. The third most senior member of staff Carol Sweetenham is a band 7 civil servant whose salary is within the pay range for this grade, which is currently £45,526 to £60,095.

Mr. Waterson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the annual budget is of the Rough Sleepers Unit. [147797]

Ms Armstrong

The Rough Sleepers Unit was established in April 1999 and has a three-year programme expenditure budget up to 31 March 2002 of just over £198 million. This includes a number of funding streams previously administered by other Government Departments, most notably the Department of Health and the Department of Social Security. Almost £73 million of the available funding is capital expenditure administered on the Unit's behalf by the Housing Corporation to provide a range of temporary and permanent accommodation for rough sleepers. The remainder meets the on-going costs of a range of accommodation and support services throughout England to help rough sleepers move away from the streets and to rebuild their lives. The Unit has the ability to use its three-year budget in a flexible manner. Therefore it would not be appropriate to give an annual budget figure.

Over the same three-year period, the Rough Sleepers Unit has an administration budget of £3.641 million.