To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment she has made of the effect of the downturn in the housing market on the number of planning applications for substantive new housing developments. (211379)

No specific assessment has been made, but the Department does publish a quarterly National Statistics release on planning applications, decisions, enforcement activity, minerals and waste planning decisions at England, regional and local authority levels. The latest release published on 28 March 2008 can be found on the Department's website at:

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningand building/pdf/732759.pdf

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many new residential dwelling starts were made in England in each quarter since the first quarter of 2007. (211386)

The following table shows residential dwelling starts in England since the first quarter of 2007.