§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the responses to his housing investment allowance proposals for council housing put forward in 2002. [174662]
§ Keith HillA copy of the summary of responses to the 2002 consultation paper, "The Way Forward For Housing Capital Finance", has been made available in the Libraries of the House.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans his Department has to increase financial support for affordable housing in Coventry. [176015]
§ Keith Hill£7,421,916 has been allocated for housing in Coventry to fund 174 new dwellings of affordable housing for the period 2004 to 2006.
The West Midlands Regional Housing Strategy is to be reviewed by early 2005. It will be underpinned by comprehensive research into the need for affordable housing in the region. This will inform future funding allocations.
§ Mr. HopkinsTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the level of housing revenue account debt for each local authority in England. [176819]
§ Keith HillThe level of housing revenue account (HRA) debt for 2002–03, the latest year for which we have audited figures, for each authority with an HRA and with debt is tabled as follows:
260W
£ Adur 11,980,239 Alnwick 9,718,380 Amber Valley 11,492,297
261W
£ Arun 8,525,809 Ashfield 28,138,261 Ashford 7,853,942 Babergh 5,481,723 Barnet 28,707,962 Barnsley 124,111,639 Barrow 13,689,577 Basildon 139,324,725 Bassetlaw 30,504,371 Birmingham 595,666,479 Blaby 2,234,916 Blackpool 21,294,853 Blyth Valley 34,326,841 Bolsover 14,138,688 Bolton 114,678,451 Bournemouth 18,166,931 Bradford 170,311,867 Braintree 8,087,328 Brent 259,863,909 Brentwood 848,458 Brighton and Hove 103,650,315 Bristol 192,398,196 Broxbourne 4,277,758 Broxtowe 8,810,051 Bury 23,600,492 Cambridge 5,208,820 Camden 457,183,667 Cannock Chase 26,679,398 Canterbury 7,565,000 Caradon 5,430,510 Carlisle 20,606,585 Carrick 1,188,690 Castle Morpeth 15,209,780 Charnwood 3,608,781 Chesterfield 32,033,259 Chester-le-Street 18,897,309 Chorley 7,331,821 City of London 13,266,865 City of York 23,519,361 Colchester 27,488,524 Copeland 13,890,484 Corby 1,761,802 Craven 1,143,178 Crewe 13,163,332 Croydon 84,012,395 Darlington 29,374,951 Derby 107,807,650 Derwentside 40,149,865 Doncaster 128,691,137 Dudley 77,545,051 Durham 25,341,465 Ealing 145,262,396 Easington 60,677,693 East Riding 6,211,562 East Stafford 2,879,961 Eastbourne 30,344,628 Ellesmere Port 14,126,800 Enfield 65,684,818 Fareham 5,887,470 Fenland 9,168,568 Forest of Dean 3,453,384 Gateshead 111,585,221 Gloucester 21,475,448 Gosport 3,080,297 Gravesham 6,272,160 Great Yarmouth 21,490,585 Greenwich 392,352,770 Guildford 2,766,263 Hackney 604,104,213 Halton 26,804,163 Hammersmith 205,711,402 Harborough 3,487,513 Haringey 391,956,681 Harrogate 7,968,684
262W
£ Harrow 32,764,732 Hartlepool 57,621,117 Havering 9,603,622 Herefordshire 8,839,288 High Peak 15,020,224 Hillingdon 25,810,833 Hinckley 1,094,273 Hounslow 150,040,088 Hyndburn 24,310,543 Ipswich 40,180,414 Isles of Scilly 553,925 Islington 648,599,804 Kensington 125,222,717 Kettering 4,485,944 Kings Lynn 16,540,894 Kingston Upon Hull 211,439,691 Kingston upon Thames 15,472,165 Kirklees 124,930,562 Knowsley 127,858,660 Lambeth 580,400,757 Lancaster 20,538,606 Leeds 369,981,780 Leicester 182,473,632 Lewes 13,730,655 Lewisham 378,302,773 Lincoln 32,497,281 Liverpool 545,233,243 Luton 28,366,330 Maidstone 12,484,329 Manchester 755,262,765 Mansfield 44,429,488 Medway Towns 18,437,478 Melton 3,709,727 Merton 8,756,390 Mid Devon 5,770,637 Mid Suffolk 17,784,743 Middlesbrough 96,288,162 Milton Keynes 91,510,405 NE Derbyshire 32,179,855 New Forest 9,805,772 Newark 21,239,654 Newcastle upon Tyne 291,513,082 Newham 415,928,280 North Cornwall 5,472,259 North East Linc. 46,344,741 North Kesteven 16,731,499 North Lincoln 31,749,110 North Norfolk 15,447,810 North Shropshire 2,609,437 North Tyneside 128,414,714 North Warwick 4,275,412 Northampton 10,243,355 Norwich 69,631,073 Nottingham 229,363,937 Nuneaton 14,256,521 NW Leicester 10,887,278 Oadby and Wigston 1,640,954 Oldham 131,958,003 Oswestry 4,117,708 Oxford City 26,067,542 Pendle 9,411,335 Peterborough 38,748,910 Plymouth 77,932,220 Poole 6,423,208 Portsmouth 49,467,918 Preston 47,509,366 Purbeck 6,486,383 Reading 50,964,473 Redbridge 5,278,701 Redcar and Cleve. 72,358,227 Ribble Valley 4,933,381 Richmondshire 4,558,475 Rochdale 125,619,325 Rochford 13,374,598
£ Rossendale 22,917,151 Rotherham 86,197,091 Rugby 9,621,945 Rushcliffe 10,193,380 Salford 264,700,682 Salisbury 3,100,516 Sandwell 153,475,617 Scarborough 1,628,567 Sedgefield 20,968,254 Sedgemoor 4,133,738 Sefton 62,818,383 Selby 1,869,973 Sheffield 453,874,631 Shepway 16,708,330 Slough 310,252 Solihull 41,456,202 South Derby 8,179,264 South Gloucs. 4,568,071 South Holland 3,749,509 South Kesteven 9,820,966 South Norfolk 8,818,239 South Tyneside 105,501,729 Southampton 99,562,116 Southend-on-Sea 26,946,215 Southwark 676,348,289 St. Albans 4,506,985 St. Helens 85,703,384 Stafford 19,348,657 Stockport 54,550,497 Stockton 78,603,105 Stoke-on-Trent 77,899,143 Sutton 11,089,142 Swindon 26,932,824 Tamworth 33,498,744 Tandridge 735,324 Taunton Deane 24,179,796 Teesdale 4,040,171 Teign bridge 1,618,058 Tendring 19,023,423 Thanet 11,588,305 Thurrock 10,606,151 Torridge 3,034,393 Tower Hamlets 492,204,784 Trafford 20,036,051 Wakefield 110,548.189 Walsall 120,591,468 Waltham Forest 182,472,943 Wandsworth 84,775,994 Wansbeck 20,667,542 Warrington 24,666,192 Warwick 8,649,597 Waveney 14,391,516 Waverley 3,898,313 Wealden 13,270,035 Wear Valley 26,998,490 Wellingborough 8,616,825 Westminster 146,739,718 Wigan 107,449,064 Winchester 9,380,413 Wirral 87,029,266 Woking 2,284,636 Wokingham 5,472,913 Wolverhampton 162,966,352 Worcester 25,039,132
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what research evidence he has on which to base his statement to the London Tenants' Federation conference on 27 November that some means of transfer meets the interests of the tenants better than having stock run by councils. [176274]
263W
§ Keith HillThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's research report Views on the Large Scale Voluntary Transfer Process—May 2000, which is available in the Library of the House, provides evidence that tenants of LSVT associations are more satisfied with their current landlord than local authority tenants as a whole.
§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will publish the evidence submitted by local authorities to the consultation, The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance', August 2002. [176277]
§ Keith HillCopies of the evidence submitted by local authorities, as well as other interested parties who responded to the consultation 'The Way Forward for Housing Capital Finance', August 2002, will be made available in the Library of the Houses.
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment his Department has made of the increase in housing waiting lists in the South East; and if he will re-evaluate the Government's pledge to provide a decent home for all in the South East to take account of this increase. [177474]
§ Keith HillThe number of households on local authority housing registers in the South East rose from 116,000 to 147,000 between April 2000 and April 2003. This does not, however, on its own, provide a robust assessment of housing need. This is because different criteria are adopted for inclusion in registers, some authorities operate joint registers with housing associations and some households will no longer be in housing need—the frequency of checks that applicants continue to require housing differ.
The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister remains committed to its targets to bring all social housing up to a decent standard by 2010 and to reduce the proportion of vulnerable private sector households living in non decent housing.
Our existing target to reduce the numbers of statutorily homeless families in temporary accommodation, as part of the Public Service Agreement framework, reflects our commitment to tackling shortages in affordable housing. Funding for affordable housing has increased significantly since 2001–02. Allocations for 2004–05 and 2005–06 reflect recommendations from the South East Regional Housing Board for prioritisation for local authority areas with particular affordability or homelessness problems.
In an initial response to the findings of the Barker Review of Housing Supply, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister made it clear that the Government accepted the need to increase the supply of affordable housing. Funding levels for 2006–07 and 2007–08 are being considered in the current Spending Review.