§ Jeremy CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department for each English police authority, how many specialist police houses have been sold in the past three years. [36620]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 22 July 2002]: The only information available relates to the sale of police dwellings. The number of dwellings sold in the past three years by English police authorities is detailed in the table.
In its report entitled "Action stations—Improving the Management of the Police Estate" (published March 1999), the Audit Commission recommended that police forces identify and dispose of buildings that were unsuitable or had maintenance liabilities which were beyond the forces' means. further it recommended that the remaining residential estate was rationalised. In some cases, for example, it may be appropriate to sell off some vacant accommodation in order to refurbish and bring back into use other accommodation.
In those areas where high housing costs are hindering recruitment and retention of police officers, allocations from the starter home initiative (SHI) will help about 1,100 police staff to buy first homes over the three years to March 2004. (In London about 550 police staff are expected to benefit from the first round allocations announced in September 2001).
We have also recently agreed with the Department of Health that the role of the national health service housing co-ordinator will be extended to cover the police service and a secondee from the police service is due to join the co-ordinator's team shortly.
842W
Number of police dwellings sold Police authority 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 Avon and Somerset 19 8 8 Bedfordshire 7 1 2 Cambridgeshire 15 54 5 Cheshire 18 10 8 City of London 1 2 1 Cleveland 0 0 1 Cumbria 10 34 12 what the (a) closing date and (b) website address of each were. [72061]
§ Hilary BennThe details requested are listed in the table:
Number of police dwellings sold Police authority 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 Derbyshire 8 9 5 Devon and Cornwall 13 8 5 Dorset 12 7 14 Durham 6 3 1 Essex 19 34 36 Gloucestershire 10 37 8 Greater Manchester 21 17 16 Hampshire 14 30 18 Hertfordshire 106 141 34 Humberside 13 14 8 Kent 28 33 19 Lancashire 24 21 12 Leicestershire 2 1 0 Lincolnshire 5 11 7 Merseyside 1 5 5 Metropolitan 138 265 149 Norfolk 3 3 3 Northamptonshire 1 9 6 Northumbria 30 35 30 North Yorkshire 11 82 18 Nottinghamshire 8 13 2 South Yorkshire 8 6 7 Staffordshire 10 10 15 Suffolk 4 4 7 Surrey 30 16 14 Sussex 35 56 16 Thames Valley 46 33 25 Warwickshire 6 8 0 West Mercia 11 5 1 West Midlands 47 45 39 West Yorkshire 9 11 14 Wiltshire 13 9 3 Total 762 1,090 574