§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the(a) average and (b) recommended turnaround time has been over the last 12 months for making affordable empty homes available for new tenants. [61177]
§ Mr. McNultyI have been asked to reply.
The average time taken by local authorities in England to re-let their housing stock is one of the best value performance indicators for housing (BVPI 68) for 2001–02. The Audit Commission expects to publish information on authorities' performance against this indicator in 2001–02 in January 2003. The latest available information is in respect of lettings during 2000–01, as reported to the Audit Commission, and can be found in their publication "Local Authority Performance Indicators 2001/2002 Council Services Compendium for England, Volumes 1 and 2". Because of variations in the way local 1005W authorities maintain lettings records and compile these estimates, average figures and any comparisons between authorities should be treated with caution.
BVPI68 is a "top quartile" performance indicator. The Government expect local authorities to set targets for these BVPIs which are consistent with reaching the performance standard set by the top quartile of authorities over five years (i.e. by 31 March 2005). For 2001–02 the top quartile performance standards were:
Days London boroughs 42 Metropolitan boroughs 29 Unitaries 28 District councils 25 Corresponding information in respect of re-lettings by registered social landlords (RSLs) is collected by the Housing Corporation and a summary of the most recent data, for 2000–01, was published in "Housing Associations in 2001: Performance Indicators" (Source Research 56). The Housing Corporation's regulatory code does not set recommended turnaround time for RSLs to make affordable empty homes available to new tenants.