Local Government (Hansard, 3 December 2002)

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the new housing strategy which will be prepared for each local authority under the Local Government Bill will be required to consider the aims and objectives contained in the existing homelessness strategies; what arrangements will be made for(a) the public, (b) registered social landlords, (c) the private sector and (d) other non governmental bodies involved in housing to participate in the preparation of the strategy; and what estimate he has made of the compliance cost. [84412]

§ Mr. McNulty
Local housing authorities have produced housing strategies for a number of years although they are currently non-statutory.
Existing guidance emphasises the need for authorities to demonstrate robust links with relevant strategies such as Homelessness Strategies. The new framework for housing-related plans will give councils the flexibility to combine their housing and homelessness strategies and other related strategies in a single document, where this suits local circumstances. The Local Government Bill does not change the provisions in the 2002 Act which relate to the objectives which may be included in an authority's homelessness strategy.
Existing guidance also stresses the importance of involving stakeholders in the development of the strategy, including residents, partner organisations and members. However it is up to local authorities to decide the appropriate arrangements according to their local circumstances. Of course, if the authority chooses to incorporate the homelessness strategy in the broader housing strategy the duties under the Homelessness Act relating to consultation and involvement of other bodies would still apply.
The Bill does not place a new burden on authorities. No estimate has therefore been made of the cost to authorities of complying with this requirement.

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how an empty home will be defined under the provisions of the Local Government Bill; what steps he took to ensure that evidence collected during the course of investigations to determine whether a home is empty is compatible with an individual's right to privacy under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights; and if he will make a statement. [84413]
705W

§ Mr. McNulty
Clause 75 of the Bill will allow billing authorities in England to reduce or end council tax discounts for classes of dwellings prescribed in regulations. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister hopes to produce a draft of regulations defining such a class of long term empty homes in time for the Commons' Committee consideration of this clause. The precise wording has still to be decided. We intend, however, to define empty homes as vacant dwellings which are not exempt from council tax. A dwelling is vacant if no-one lives in it and it is substantially unfurnished.
The provisions contained in the Local Government Bill will not impose any additional checks to those which local authorities already have to undertake to establish whether a domestic property is empty or not for the purposes of the existing 50 per cent, council tax discount for long term empty homes, or for the council tax exemptions for empty homes. Just as billing authorities will have to act compatibly with the Convention rights in investigating whether a dwelling is vacant for the purposes of the council tax, they will have to act compatibly with Convention rights in making any further use of the data as will be permitted by clause 85.

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) if he will list those authorities where the shortfall from handling stock transfer has resulted in an overhanging debt payment from his Department; and how much each of those payments amounted to; [84416]
(2) how much money his Department has set aside under clauses 40 and 41 of the draft Local Government Bill in each of the next three years to meet future payments of overhanging debt payable to (a) public works loans commissioners and (b) other lenders; and what the criteria will be for deciding whether such payments should be made. [84417]

§ Mr. McNulty
To date, seven one-off payments have been made. In 1999–2000 £20.99 million was paid to Burnley. In 2000–01 payments were made to Coventry (£111.68 million) Calderdale (£64.59 million) and Blackburn with Darwen (£78.9 million). In 2002–03 payments have been made to St. Helens (£87.2 million), Redcar and Cleveland (£25.4 million) and Knowsley (£126.13 million).
Resources required by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to meet commitments arising under clause 40 and 41 of the draft Local Government Bill will depend on the local authorities seeking to transfer their housing in any particular year. The resources are classified as Annually Managed Expenditure and as such are drawn down on an annual basis. Provision for 2003–04 is currently £616 million, and all payments would go to the Public Works Loans Commissioners. Provision for future years will relate to the 2003 transfer programme onward, for which applications from local authorities have yet to be invited. A local authority will be eligible where it has been accepted onto the housing transfer programme and where on disposal of its stock the receipt it will receive will be less than its housing attributable debt.

§ Mr. Clifton-Brown
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister (1) what the arrangements will be for transferring subsidies from those authorities with706W surplus housing revenue accounts to those authorities in deficit under the proposals in the Local Government Bill; what proportion of that surplus will be affected; whether it will be varied on an annual basis; and what effect this transfer will have on the ability of those surplus authorities to deliver their own housing strategies; [84419]
(2) what criteria will be contained in the new formula for calculating housing revenue account subsidies under the Local Government Bill; how much his Department has allocated over the next three years for this; and whether authorities receiving central Government subsidy will be debarred from receiving subsidies from those authorities that have surplus housing revenue accounts; [84411]
(3) what assessment he has made of the effect that the combined policies of pooling capital receipts, transferring surplus housing revenue accounts and resource equalisation will have on the ability of those authorities affected to deliver the existing range of services to the public; and how much will be redistributed in any one year under each of these three mechanisms. [84420]

§ Mr. McNulty
Under the arrangements proposed in the Local Government Bill, authorities with an assumed surplus on their Housing Revenue Account (HRA) will be asked to pay the whole of that assumed surplus to central Government. The surpluses, together with a contribution from the Exchequer, will be redistributed to those authorities whose assumed expenditure on their housing stock exceeds their rental income. This will not involve direct transfer between authorities.
This redistributive mechanism operates already at present, as an authority's assumed HRA surplus is netted off against the rent rebate subsidy due to them in the HRA subsidy calculation, thus providing the national resources to pay subsidy to deficit authorities. However, that will not be possible once rent rebates are removed from the HRA and subsidised separately; hence the need for the new mechanism in the Bill. As surpluses are effectively captured at present, this proposal will not, therefore, have any effect on the financial position of most councils, or their ability to deliver their housing strategies.
The assumed surpluses and deficits will continue to be determined annually as now. Authorities will be consulted on the formulae proposed each year in the normal way.
The pooling of a proportion of housing capital receipts will also ensure that resources are targeted to those areas where housing need is greatest so that all authorities can meet national housing priorities.
As with HRA surpluses, it is proposed that pooled receipts should be redistributed in full. The amount of pooled receipts will depend on levels of Right to Buy sales at the time.