§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what priority he intends to give to reducing the number of empty homes in his guidance to local authorities under the Homelessness Act 2002. [48729]
§ Ms KeebleAs I said on 12 July 2001 at the first sitting of the Homelessness Bill in the Commons, the statutory guidance on the homelessness provisions in the Homelessness Act 2002 will urge local housing authorities to include a review of empty properties within their district as part of the homelessness review that will inform their homelessness strategy.
796W
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what assessment was made of congestion levels in each region when determining house-building targets; and what influence this had on the final targets: [50518]
(2) what the estimated environmental cost is to each local authority arising from meeting the house-building targets. [50519]
§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what new money has been made available to help combat homelessness following the publication of the report 'More than a roof'. [50527]
§ Mr. ByersThe DTLR has allocated £125 million to the Homelessness Directorate for 2002–03 to tackle homelessness. This is made up of the Rough Sleepers Unit existing baseline of £30 million, the remainder being found from DTLR's End Year Flexibility and savings on other existing budgets.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2002,Official Report, column 667W, what assessment he has made of the factors underlying the change in the numbers of successful cash incentive scheme grant applications by local authority tenants between 1997–98 and 2000–01. [48714]
§ Ms KeebleWe have not conducted a detailed assessment of the change in the number of successful applications. However, there was a significant reduction when separate ring-fenced funding was phased out in 1999–2000 (even though total housing capital funding was increased substantially). At that stage a number of authorities cut back or discontinued the scheme.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what recent guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on(a) establishing a cash incentive scheme and (b) the types and size of local authority property that should be prioritised for release under the cash incentive scheme. [48710]
§ Ms KeebleGuidance on the operation of cash incentive schemes is issued by the Department from time to time, most recently in February 2000. Decisions about targeting the scheme on particular types and sizes of properties are for authorities to take, in the light of local circumstances.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (1) what the maximum grants available are for housing association tenants of(a) bedsits, (b) one-bedroom properties, (c) two-bedroom properties, (d) three-bedroom properties, (e) four-bedroom properties and (f) properties with five or more bedrooms under the Tenants Incentive scheme; [48718]
797W(2) what factors determine the relationship between the rate of maximum discount available to housing association tenants under the Right to Acquire scheme and the rate of maximum grant available under the Tenants Incentive scheme; [48719]
(3) what the maximum discounts available are for housing association tenants of (a) bedsits, (b) one-bedroom properties, (c) two-bedroom properties, (d) three-bedroom properties, (e) four-bedroom properties and (f) properties with five or more bedrooms under the Right to Acquire scheme. [48717]
§ Ms KeebleThe Right to Acquire scheme gives eligible tenants of registered social landlords the right to purchase their rented home with the help of a discount. The discount generally varies from £9,000 up to a maximum of £16,000, irrespective of the size of the property, and depends on the local authority area in which the dwelling is situated.
The Tenants Incentive Scheme was discontinued on 31 March 1998. It provided a cash payment, equivalent to the right to acquire discount, funded by the Housing Corporation to help existing tenants vacate their housing association property and purchase their own home.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. pursuant to the answer of 26 March,Official Report, column 978W, on housing, if he will place in the Library copies of the research programmes that have been carried out into the cash incentive scheme. [48712]
§ Ms KeebleCopies of the three research reports, are available from the Libraries of the House. (Cash Incentive Report 1989–1990, 1991–1994, 1994–1997).
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2002,Official Report, column 668W, on right to buy, if he will make an assessment of the impact of increasing the maximum cash incentive scheme grant available in London to a level (a) equal to the maximum right to buy discount available in London and (b) 25 per cent. higher than the maximum right to buy discount in London. [48713]
§ Ms KeebleWe have no plans to carry out any further research/analysis on the impact of the cash incentive scheme in the immediate future.
§ Lynne JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, pursuant to the answer of 22 March 2002,Official Report, column 357W, if he will publish his assessment of Birmingham city council's application for a place on the housing transfer programme. [49823]
§ Ms KeebleThe assessment of Birmingham city council's application for a place on the housing transfer programme is internal advice to the Secretary of State and as such it would be inappropriate to make it publicly available.
§ Mr. RammellTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what the average weekly rent level is for(a) housing association and (b) local housing company tenants in those local authority areas where housing has been transferred from the council under large-scale voluntary transfer. [48874]
798W
§ Ms KeebleIn answer to part(a), the average weekly rent levels for housing association tenants in local authorities where all housing had been transferred from the council as at 31 March 2001 were as shown in the following table:
799W
£ Local authority Average weekly rent Allerdale 43.64 Basingstoke and Deane 63.09 Bath and North East Somerset 45.38 Bedford 59.07 Bexley 63.58 Blackburn with Darwen 50.51 Boston 39.49 Breckland 49.66 Broadland 53.72 Bromley 65.76 Burnley 44.51 Calderdale 38.97 Chester 41.49 Chichester 55.25 Chiltern 59.73 Christchurch 58.47 Congleton 43.45 Cotswold 61.29 Coventry 42.97 East Cambridgeshire 50.71 East Dorset 54.23 East Hampshire 62.18 East Lindsey 43.56 East Northamptonshire 47.39 East Staffordshire 39.78 Eastleigh 63.16 Eden 53.57 Elmbridge 60.04 Epsom and Ewell 58.71 Fylde 39.70 Hambleton 42.17 Hart 60.48 Hastings 55.37 Havant 59.85 Hertsmere 56.26 Horsham 63.15 Huntingdonshire 51.97 Isle of Wight 62.56 Kennet 56.22 Kerrier 48.96 Lichfield 49.59 Maldon 61.93 Malvern Hills 53.60 Mendip 47.50 Mid Sussex 70.30 Newcastle-under-Lyme 36.57 North Devon 49.87 North Dorset 58.15 North Wiltshire 55.97 Penwith 52.52 Restormel 49.62 Richmond upon Thames 64.44 Rother 62.79 Rushmoor 60.93 Ryedale 50.16 Sevenoaks 61.88 South Bucks 63.58 South Hams 55.41 South Oxfordshire 60.79 South Ribble 47.74 South Shropshire 51.45 South Somerset 49.62 South Staffordshire 46.03 Spelthorne 67.84 Staffordshire Moorlands 42.24 Stratford-on-Avon 47.49
£ Local authority Average weekly rent Suffolk Coastal 47.57 Sunderland 45.58 Surrey Heath 57.35 Swale 65.20 Tameside 46.36 Telford and Wrekin 48.16 Test Valley 52.07 Tewkesbury 50.91 Tonbridge and Mailing 58.79 Torbay 51.90 Tunbridge Wells 65.48 Tynedale 42.33 Vale of White Horse 52.19 West Berkshire 59.55 West Devon 49.22 West Dorset 53.69 West Lindsey 41.60 West Oxfordshire 52.11 West Somerset 58.46 West Wiltshire 54.99 Weymouth and Portland 48.65 Windsor and Maidenhead 68.03 Worthing 54.60 Wychavon 49.03 Wyre 47.03 Wyre Forest 43.74 In addition, average weekly rents paid by housing association tenants in local authorities where only some housing had been transferred from the council as at 31 March 2001 were as follows:
£ Local authority Average weekly rent Cherwell 55.96 Enfield 64.06 Manchester 47.89 Mid Bedfordshire 52.27 Thanet 57.50 Tower Hamlets 60.54 Walsall 49.19 It should further be noted that since 31 March 2001, full transfer of council stock to housing associations has taken place in Erewash, Reigate and Banstead, East Hertfordshire, Chelmsford, Derbyshire Dales, Shrewsbury and Atcham and the rest of Mid-Bedfordshire.
In response to part (b), the term "local housing company tenants" has been interpreted as meaning the new "arms-length management companies". These have only recently been established and information on rent levels is not yet available.
§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions what information his Department has collated on those local authorities in London who add an additional premium to the cash incentive scheme grant to those tenants who purchase a property on the open market within the same borough. [48711]