§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of whether the decent homes target will be met by 2010. [126166]
§ Keith HillSince 1996 the number of non-decent homes in the social sector has been reduced by over 700,000. Forward plans from local authorities show that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is on track to meet targets of reducing, by a third, the number of non-decent social homes between April 2001 and April 2004. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is also now on 575W track for all dwellings owned by local authorities and registered social landlords to meet the decent homes standard by 2010.
The number of vulnerable private sector households in non-decent homes has been reduced by 400,000 since 1996.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister which local authorities have not transferred their stock or set up an arm's length management organisation with PFI scheme. [126127]
§ Keith HillTabled as follows are those local authorities by region that have not transferred all of their stock. Local authorities that have transferred some of their stock are marked with a (P). Those authorities that have been given places on the 2003 transfer programme are highlighted.
Local authorities that have either set up an ALMO or are on the programme are also highlighted.
The table also highlights the two local authorities that have signed a PFI contract to date, as well as marking those that are on the PFI pathfinder programme.
576W
Region LA name East of England Barbergh Basildon (P) Braintree Brentwood Broxbourne Cambridge Castle Point Colchester (Provisional allocation on the Round 2 ALMO programme but has yet to be granted section 27 consent) Dacorum Epping Forest Fenland Forest Health (2003 Transfer Programme) Great Yarmouth Harlow Ipswich Kings Lynn and West Norfolk Luton Mid Suffolk North Norfolk Norwich Peterborough (2003 Transfer Programme) Rochford South Bedfordshire South Cambridgeshire South Norfolk Southend-on-Sea St. Albans Stevenage Tendring Three Rivers Thurrock Uttlesford Watford Waveney Welwyn Hatfield East Midlands Ashfield (ALMO set up) Bassetlaw Blaby Bolsover Broxtowe Charnwood Chesterfield Corby Daventry Derby (ALMO set up) Gedling Harborough High Peak
577W
Region LA name Hinckley and Bosworth Kettering Leicester Lincoln Mansfield Melton Newark and Sherwood North East Derbyshire (PFI pathfinder) North Kesteven North West Leicestershire Northampton Nottingham City Oadby and Wigston Rutland South Derbyshire South Holland South Kesteven South Northamptonshire Wellingborough London Barking and Dagenham (2003 Transfer Programme) Barnet Brent (ALMO) Camden (PFI pathfinder) City of London Croydon Ealing Enfield (P) Greenwich (P) Hackney (P) (2003 Transfer Programme) Hammersmith and Fulham (P) Haringey Harrow (P) Havering Hillingdon (ALMO—awaiting inspection) Hounslow (ALMO set up) Islington (P) (has signed a PFI contract) (2003 Transfer Programme) Kensington and Chelsea (ALMO set up) Kingston upon Thames (2003 Transfer Programme) Lambeth (P) (2003 Transfer Programme) Lewisham Merton (P) Newham (PFI pathfinder) Redbridge Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets (P) (2003 Transfer Programme) Waltham Forest (ALMO awaiting inspection) Wandsworth Westminster (ALMO set up) North East Alnwick Berwick-upon-Tweed Blyth Valley (ALMO set up) Castle Morpeth Chester-le-Street Darlington Derwentside Durham Easington Gateshead Hartlepool (2003 Transfer Programme) Middlesbrough (2003 Transfer Programme) Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Sedgefield South Tyneside Stockton-on-Tees (ALMO set up) Teesdale Wansbeck Wear Valley North West Barrow-in-Furness Blackpool Bolton (ALMO awaiting inspection) Chorley Copeland Ellesmere Port and Neston Halton
578W
Region LA name Hyndburn Lancaster Liverpool (P) Macclesfield Manchester (P) (has signed PFI contract) (2003 Transfer Programme) Oldham (ALMO set up) Pendle Preston (P) Ribble Valley Rochdale (ALMO set up) Rossendale Salford (ALMO awaiting inspection) Sefton South Lakeland Stockport Trafford (2003 Transfer Programme) Warrington West Lancashire Wigan (ALMO set up) Wirral (P) (2003 Transfer Programme) South East Adur Arun Ashford Aylesbury Vale Bracknell Forest Brighton and Hove Canterbury Cherwell (P) Crawley Dartford Dover Eastbourne Fareham Gosport Gravesham Guildford Lewes Maidstone Milton Keynes Mole Valley New Forest Oxford Portsmouth Reading (PFI pathfinder) Runnymede Shepway Slough Southampton Tandridge Thanet The Medway Towns Waverley Wealden Winchester Woking Wokingham Wycombe South West Bournemouth Bristol Caradon Carrick (ALMO awaiting inspection) Cheltenham (ALMO awaiting inspection) East Devon Exeter Gloucester Isles of Scilly Mid Devon North Cornwall North Somerset Plymouth Poole Purbeck (2003 Transfer Programme) Salisbury Sedgemoor South Gloucestershire Stroud (2003 Transfer Programme) Swindon Taunton Deane Teignbridge Torridge
Region LA name West Midlands Birmingham (P) Bridgnorth Bromsgrove Cannock Chase Dudley North Shropshire North Warwickshire Nuneaton and Bedworth Oswestry Redditch Rugby Sandwell (PFI pathfinder) Solihull Stafford Stoke-on-Trent (P) Tamworth Walsall (P) Warwick Wolverhampton Worcester Yorkshire and Humber Barnsley (ALMO awaiting inspection) Doncaster East Riding of Yorkshire Harrogate Kingston upon Hull Kirklees (ALMO set up) Leeds (6 partial ALMOs set up) (PFI pathfinder) North East Lincolnshire (2003 Transfer Programme) North Lincolnshire Richmondshire Rotherham Scarborough Selby Sheffield Wakefield (2003 Transfer Programme) York
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his estimate is of the time required by a local housing authority from the initial consideration of options to(a) complete a stock transfer, (b) reach agreement on and sign a PFI contract and (c) prepare for and complete establishment of an arm's length management organisation. [126128]
§ Keith HillThe length of time taken to implement an option will depend on the option chosen and the circumstances of each individual local authority. However the following timescales can be used as a rough guide for future schemes
Transfer—28 months from application to transferPFI—the pathfinder schemes have taken up to three years from application to contract signature, we aim to reduce this timescale to 18 months using lessons learned from the pathfinders.ALMO—15 months from ALMO bid to being inspected and, if successful, securing additional funds.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he expects to announce Government proposals on the way forward for housing capital finance following the recent consultation. [126130]
§ Keith HillThe decisions reached on the issues consulted on in 'The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance' are reflected in "Sustainable Communities: building for the future" and the Local Government Bill currently before Parliament. A letter went to all Chief Finance Officers in local housing authorities in England on 1 April setting out in detail the proposed 579W arrangements for the proposals consulted on. This letter is available at www.odpm.gov.uk and in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how the scheme funding requirements to meet the decent homes standard as a result of the change from fitness standard to the health and safety rating system will be financed. [126132]
§ Keith HillIt is too early to say what will be the financial impact of applying the housing health and safety rating system to the decent home standard when the fitness standard is abolished. The cost of rectifying health and safety hazards will vary, and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister expects many of them to be put right relatively quickly and cheaply. Guidance to authorities on the assessment of decency using the rating system will be issued.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what estimate he has made of the number of houses which will be brought up to the decent homes standard in each year up to 2010, broken down by the method of finance to be used. [126133]
§ Keith HillThe following table shows the estimated year on year change in the numbers of non-decent social sector homes from the baseline date of April 2001 to the target date of December 2010. The extent to which these numbers will be made up of ALMO/PFI/transfer schemes will depend on the results of the option appraisal process that each local authority is currently undertaking. This process is due to be completed by July 2005. In broad terms we have estimated that transfers will tackle between 200,000 and 250,000, ALMOs will tackle between 300,000 and 350,000 and PFI will tackle between 15,000 and 30,000 non-decent homes.
Remaining number of non-decent dwellings owned by local authorities and RSLs April 2001 1,600,000 2002 1,450,000 2003 1,250,000 2004 1,100,000 2005 900,000 2006 700,000 2007 500,000 2008 400,000 2009 250,000 2010 100,000 December 2010 0
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what conclusions he has drawn from the National Audit Office report on the costs of the large scale voluntary transfer programme. [126163]
§ Keith HillThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has concluded that the National Audit Office report Improving Social Housing Through Transfer confirms our belief that the benefits of transfer are clearly visible and worth the costs in ensuring tenants gain from faster renovation of, and improvement to their homes; greater tenant participation in decisions directly affecting their homes and surrounding area; and an increased sense of ownership and involvement in the local regeneration of the wider area.