HC Deb 23 July 2004 vol 424 cc740-1W
Sarah Teather

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what has been the cost to the London borough of Brent of vouchers given to tenants for refurbishment of Brent homes in each year since the scheme has been in operation; and for how many properties the vouchers were given each year. [186299]

Keith Hill

The London borough of Brent does not provide vouchers to tenants for the refurbishment of Brent owned homes. Vouchers for the decoration of council owned properties are issued in two instances:

  1. 1. Void property—assistance can be given to a tenant moving into a new property.
  2. 2. Decoration following Repair—in cases where we have damaged decorations whilst carrying out repairs.

This scheme has been running since the late 1970s. Information on the costs of maintaining properties prior to 2001–02 is not available.

The cost of the scheme and the numbers of properties refurbished over the last three years are as follows:

2001–02: 553 properties at a cost of £54,450

2002–03: 648 properties at a cost of £62,900

2003–04: 591 properties at a cost of £52,700.

Sarah Teather

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the cost of refurbishing and redecorating Brent council-owned homes was in each of the 10 years before the voucher scheme was introduced; and how many properties were refurbished and redecorated in each year. [186300]

£
2002–03 2003–04
Renovation Maintenance Renovation Maintenance
(i) Owned
Burlington House 0 83,400 0 55,000
QEIICC 29,000 139,418 1,853,300 3,127,511
Fire Service College 230,257 108,097 956,008 182,151
Government Office Network 0 0 0 0
(ii) Rented
ODPM—HQ:
Eland House 1,777,879 0 655,862 79,174
Ashdown House 0 0 70,343 570,220
Portland House 311,062 0 0 0
PINS 0 0 0 109,316
Fire Service Improvement—Marchington 0 42,416 13,318 52,766
Valuation Tribunal 42,822 255,204 115,166 193,059
Government Office Network 101,496 214,000 803,820 256,311
Rent Service 976,000 89,500 118,000 218,500

With regard to the maintenance figures, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister records an item of work as a project if it exceeds £15,000. Work of lower value is funded from bulk maintenance. The number of projects has prevented detailing each, as this could have been provided only at disproportionate cost.

The figures provided are gross expenditure and do not reflect receipts from other building occupants. Although the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has overall responsibility for the buildings occupied by Government offices, they carry out functions on behalf of 10 Departments.