To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what further steps she plans to take to increase the supply of (a) affordable shared equity and rented family homes and (b) key worker housing in (i) East Worthing and Shoreham and (ii) across West Sussex. (161910)

In June 2007, we published the Housing Green Paper: “Homes for the future: more affordable, more sustainable” in which I announced £8 billion for affordable housing during the comprehensive spending review period. This represents a 38 per cent. increase on current spending. The funding will enable us to deliver 70,000 more affordable homes by 2010. We are also committed to providing 45,000 new affordable homes for rent by 2010-11 (a 50 per cent. increase) and 25,000 shared ownership and shared equity homes a year funded by the Housing Corporation. In addition, we will look to support additional shared ownership homes through public sector land and local housing companies.

Since April 2006, key workers have priority access to all of the Government’s low cost home ownership products. Regional Housing Assemblies can focus resources where local need is greatest for example by prioritising key worker groups for assistance. We are currently waiting for the Regional Housing Board’s recommendations on how investment should be spent over the next three years in the south east.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what estimate she has made of the number of key workers living in East Worthing and Shoreham; (161911)

Information at constituency level is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the impact on public sector recruitment and retention of the Key Worker Living Scheme in (a) East Worthing and Shoreham and (b) West Sussex; and if she will make a statement. (161917)

DCLG commissioned an independent evaluation of the Key Worker Living (KWL) Scheme which was published in September 2006. The evaluation was undertaken by GHK Consulting and the Centre for Urban and Regional studies at the University of Birmingham.

The study found that the KWL scheme is making a positive contribution towards improving recruitment and retention of key workers.

It is for individual Departments and the regional assemblies to assess the impact on public sector recruitment and retention in specific regions.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what percentage of the funding available for key worker housing was given to the provision of housing in (a) East Worthing and Shoreham and (b) West Sussex in each year since 2004; and what percentage of this funding was provided for (i) Open Market HomeBuy, (ii) New Build HomeBuy and (iii) intermediate rental; (161919)

Funding allocations for the Key Worker Living programme were set in 2004 for the period 2004-05 to 2005-06. Of the funding available for key worker housing in the south east, 11 per cent. was given to the provision of housing in the county of West Sussex.

The following table shows the percentage of funding available for key worker housing that was allocated in the county of West Sussex (which includes the local authorities of Worthing and Adur) for (i) Open Market HomeBuy, (ii) New Build HomeBuy and (iii) intermediate rental.

Since April 2006, the Government no longer allocate funds for schemes specifically designated for key workers. Key workers now have priority access to all of the Government’s low-cost home ownership products.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how the work of HomeBuy agents is tracked and monitored. (162220)

HomeBuy Agents provide a one- stop-shop service for assessing eligibility and marketing low-cost home ownership schemes. HomeBuy agents are required to provide the Housing Corporation with a monthly self-assessment of compliance against Key Performance Standards, which are monitored by the Housing Corporation.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the potential impact on vulnerable people of the changes to private sector housing renewal funding in the south west; what effect this is likely to have on the decent homes standard; and if she will make a statement. (163936)

No final decisions have been made on funding for private sector housing renewal in the south west. We are currently considering advice from the regional assemblies on funding priorities for their areas. Through the Comprehensive Spending Review £789 million has been made available in the south west through the regional housing pot over the next three years to fund housing capital programmes including those for private sector renewal. The region’s allocation for the period ending 2010-11 is 50 per cent. higher than that for 2007-08. We remain committed to making funding available for private sector decent homes and in seeking the regional assemblies' priorities for funding we have asked them to continue to prioritise those most in need.