§ Mr. RosindellTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on progress with the Government's Sustainable Communities Plan. [189233]
§ Keith HillThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is making excellent progress with the Sustainable Communities Plan. Following the 2004 Spending Review, we will spend £38 billion on creating sustainable communities over five years to March 2008. Since 2002, this money has already helped to increase housebuilding by 10 per cent., delivered 34,553 affordable homes for rent and assisted over 10,000 key workers into home ownership. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has cut rough sleeping by over 70 per cent. since 1998 and we are exceeding our target to build 60 per cent. of new homes on brownfield land. Since 1997, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has made around £1 million social homes decent and increased grant to local authorities by 30 per cent. in real terms. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will celebrate this success with the international Sustainable Communities Summit, in Manchester, in January 2005.