To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homebuy loans were made in each local authority in London in each year since the scheme's introduction. [99172]

Tabled as follows is the breakdown of homebuy loans that have been made in each local authority area in London since the scheme was first introduced on 1 April 1999.

	Loans
Sponsoring authority	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–031
Barking and Dagenham	6	18	15	2
Barnet	12	20	18	8
Bexley	0	0	5	8
Brent	21	34	29	28
Bromley	8	21	16	14
Camden	9	12	17	12
Croydon	15	17	15	10
Ealing	9	32	18	6
Enfield	8	18	11	11
Greenwich	0	19	29	16
Hackney	19	39	17	32
Hammersmith and Fulham	27	31	17	15
Haringey	19	32	26	22
Harrow	4	11	8	2
Havering	0	7	10	7
Hillingdon	7	25	16	5
Hounslow	11	27	10	6
Islington	14	13	13	9
Kensington and Chelsea	14	5	0	0
Kingston upon Thames	6	3	6	5
Lambeth	20	16	17	17
Lewisham	22	23	13	19
Merton	6	8	13	4
Newham	57	42	0	8
Redbridge	0	9	0	17
Richmond upon Thames	10	6	6	1
Southwark	19	19	15	22
Button	1	7	8	2
Tower Hamlets	32	17	21	6

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many homebuy loans were made to (a) those in social housing, (b) those on housing waiting/transfer lists and (c) key workers in London in each year since the scheme's introduction. [99173]

A total of 2,529 people were helped into home ownership using the homebuy scheme during the first three years of its operation. The following table shows the breakdown between those from rented properties and those from the waiting list where available.

	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
On the waiting list	177	343	346
In social housing	355	569	519
Not available	394	584	449
Total	926	1,496	1,314

To be eligible for a homebuy loan, a potential purchaser must either be currently in social housing, or be on the housing waiting list and be recommended by the local authority as being in housing need.Information on the number of homebuy loans made to key workers is not collected. The starter home initiative is helping key workers into home ownership through equity loans based on the homebuy model and shared ownership schemes. To the end of January 2003 around 1,000 key workers in London had purchased homes with Starter Home Initiative assistance.

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of introducing (a) low tranche (below 25 per cent.) shared ownership schemes and (b) lower tranche (below 75 per cent.) homebuy schemes. [99176]

As announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 5 February and published in "Sustainable Communities: building for the future", the Housing Corporation has agreed to lead a task force which will look at existing programmes that support sustainable home ownership. This will include both the shared ownership and homebuy schemes. The task force will examine the scope for better targeting and design of the current home ownership initiatives to ensure they are cost effective and that the home ownership is sustainable.