To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps her Department is taking to bring social housing up to the decent homes standard. (109101)

Since 1997 we have reduced the number of non-decent homes by more than 1 million. We have increased the funding available to Councils to invest in improvement of their stock to about £1,100 per Council per home compared with spend equivalent of £800 in 1997. This is a 30 per cent. increase in real terms. On top of that we will have also made £3.7 billion available for ALMOs delivering improvements to council housing stock, and £2.7 billion for PFI schemes by March 2008. In total over £20 billion of public money has been invested in improving council housing since 1997. In addition £7.8 billion of private funding has been levered through stock transfer and private finance initiatives.

We expect 95 per cent. of the stock to be decent by 2010 and the majority of landlords making all their stock decent in this timescale. Work will have been completed to 3.6 million homes, with improvements for 8 million people in total, 2.5 million children among them.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bristol East of 7 December 2006, Official Report, column 706W, on housing, what proportion of each category of housing stock was empty as at October 2005 in the south-west, broken down by local authority. (109389)

The estimated proportions of vacant housing stock by tenure at October 2005 in south-west local authorities are shown in the following table. These estimates are based on all vacancies, including those of less than six months.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people were registered for rehousing in (a) Leeds West and (b) Leeds in each year since 2000. (110351)

Information on the waiting list is not collected at constituency level. The number of households on the waiting list for social housing in each local authority area is published on the Communities and Local Government website in table 600. The link for this table is as follows:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/853/Table600_id1163853.xls

Not everyone on the waiting list is necessarily in urgent housing need. The waiting list includes those who consider social housing as their preferred or one of a number of housing options, and those who decide to get onto the waiting list ladder before they need or want to move house—particularly where the priority system is heavily based on waiting time.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what temporary housing provision was made available to the homeless in (a) City of York council (b) Harrogate borough council and (c) Hambleton district council in each of the last three years. (114454)

Information reported each quarter by local authorities about their activities under homelessness legislation includes the number of households in temporary accommodation on the last day of the quarter, and the types of temporary accommodation. The figures include both those households who have been accepted as owed the main homelessness duty, and those for which inquiries are pending.

Data are published in our quarterly statistical release on Statutory Homelessness, which includes a supplementary table showing the breakdown of key data, including temporary accommodation and type, by each local authority. These are published on our website each quarter, and placed in the Library of the House. Also on our website is a similar table (live table 627) which summarises key data for each local authority, including York, Harrogate and Hambleton, for each of the last three years:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/312/Table627_id1156312.xls

Data provided include the total numbers in temporary accommodation for each year, broken down between bed and breakfast, hostel, LA/RSL stock, private sector leased and other types of housing.

Note that these supplementary type tables are not updated with revisions, but the figures for the three authorities of interest were not changed during the 2003-04 revisions process.

In January 2005 the Government set a target of halving the number of households in all forms of temporary accommodation used by local authorities to discharge their main duty under the homelessness legislation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what provision of (a) social housing and (b) affordable housing was in (i) City of York council (ii) Harrogate borough council and (iii) Hambleton district council in each of the last three years; and what the provision was in 1996-97. (114455)

The numbers of social rent homes managed by local authorities and registered social landlords in York, Harrogate and Hambleton, as reported by the local authorities and the Housing Corporation, are tabulated as follows.

Homes for social rent make up only part of the housing stock classified as affordable; the remainder are provided through low cost home ownership schemes. Between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 2006 an additional 295, 201 and 40 homes have been provided through a low cost home ownership scheme in York, Harrogate and Hambleton respectively.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if she will re-instate the Parker Morris housing standards. (107404)

The Housing Corporation's Scheme Development Standards (SDS) sets out the Corporation's requirements and recommendations for all housing projects which receive Social Housing Grant (SHG). It is a guide for Housing Associations and their consultants. It is also the basis upon which the Corporation will assess HAs' performance on developing housing projects. It concentrates upon design and quality issues relating to individual schemes and procedural compliance issues. The Housing Corporation has no plans to change these at the moment.

The Government have set out their intention to increase the number of homes which meet the lifetime homes standards, as set out in the Code for Sustainable Homes. “Lifetime Homes” have 16 design features that ensure a new house or flat will meet the needs of most households. The accent is on accessibility and design features that make the home flexible enough to meet whatever comes along in life: a teenager with a broken leg, a family member with serious illness, or parents carrying in heavy shopping and dealing with a pushchair.