Affordable Housing Mrs. Spelman To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when the London and Quadrant Up2You portfolio completed the investment management system process under the National Affordable Housing Programme. Mr. Iain Wright The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) have concluded discussions with L&Q regarding the proposals to unlock additional affordable housing across the Up2U package of development sites. The specific bids which pertain to each individual site have yet to be entered onto the investment management system. This will be completed later this financial year. Mrs. Spelman To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the maximum household income is at which a household is eligible for intermediate level (a) affordable housing and (b) shared ownership schemes. Mr. Iain Wright There is no standard maximum household income at which a household becomes eligible for intermediate level affordable housing and/or shared ownership schemes. This will vary depending on the location and type of scheme. Purchasers’ household income must not exceed £60,000 and they must be able to demonstrate that they cannot buy without assistance but can sustain home ownership. Mr. David Anderson To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what regulations govern the provision of domestic properties via property purchase-and-rent-back schemes. Ian Pearson I have been asked to reply. Sale and rent back agreements are not currently regulated. On 6 February 2009, the Government published a consultation document, proposing that companies offering sale and rent back agreements are brought within the scope of Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulation. The consultation will close on 1 May 2009. It is available at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/consult_sale_rent.htm The FSA has published a separate consultation alongside on the detail of its proposed new regime, available at: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Policy/CP/2009/09_06.shtml Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many people have applied for assistance via the OwnHome scheme; how many applications have been granted; and what the average level of support provided has been. Mr. Iain Wright 6,409 applications were made for the Own Home scheme to the end of March 2009, of which 4,758 were approved by the provider for the purchaser to seek a property. The average level of support in terms of Government funding was £28,400. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much the Homes and Communities Agency spent on acquiring unsold stock for affordable housing in March 2009. Mr. Iain Wright Provisional figures show that the Homes and Communities Agency allocated around £118 million in March 2009 on acquiring unsold stock for affordable housing. In total over £350 million was allocated on the purchase of unsold stock from developers to provide around 9,600 affordable homes. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether she plans to review the level of maximum right to buy discounts in each region; and if she will make a statement. Mr. Iain Wright The Government have no plan to review the maximum limits on Right to Buy discounts. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what the maximum right to buy discount was in each region in each of the last 10 years; (2) what the maximum right to buy discount was in 2008-09 prices in each region in each of the last 10 years. Mr. Iain Wright The answer is as follows: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |£ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |London: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 1999 to March 2003 |38,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |March 2003 to date: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |All boroughs but two |16,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Barking and Dagenham, Havering |38,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South East: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 1999 to March 2003 |38,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |March 2003 to date: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |All districts but the following nine |38,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Chiltern, Epsom and Ewell, Hart, Oxford, Reading, Reigate and Banstead, Tonbridge and Mailing, Vale of White Horse, West Berkshire|16,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Eastern: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 1999 to March 2003 |34,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |March 2003 to date: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |All districts but Watford |34,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Watford |16,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 1999 to date: | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |South West |30,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North West |26,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |West Midlands |26,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Yorkshire and the Humber |24,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |East Midlands |24,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |North East |22,000| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many housing association tenants were eligible to take part in the preserved right to buy scheme in each region in each of the last three years. Mr. Iain Wright Assured tenants of housing associations who were formerly secure tenants of local authorities and have transferred to their present landlords with their homes under large scale voluntary transfers (LSVTs) have a preserved right to buy their homes. The number of dwellings transferred under LSVTs during each of the last three years is as follows: ---------------------------------------------- |Region |2006-07|2007-08|2008-09| ---------------------------------------------- |London |4,194 |8,984 |1,099 | ---------------------------------------------- |South East |7,470 |9,860 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |East |6,852 |21,338 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |South West |7,882 |2,354 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |East Midlands |0 |12,659 |5,241 | ---------------------------------------------- |West Midlands |0 |2,317 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |Yorkshire and Humber|12,256 |1,667 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |North East |23,780 |11,482 |1,911 | ---------------------------------------------- |North West |13,319 |22,933 |33,704 | ---------------------------------------------- |Total |75,753 |93,594 |41,955 | ---------------------------------------------- Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research her Department has undertaken into the effects of increasing the maximum right to buy discounts in each region. Mr. Iain Wright I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar (Mr. Pickles) on 28 October 2008, Official Report, column 970W. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords offered cash incentive schemes to assist their tenants to purchase their homes in each of the last 10 years. Mr. Iain Wright The number of English local authorities giving cash incentive scheme grants in the last 10 years is as follows: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |Number| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1997-98 |208 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1998-99 |188 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1999-2000 |84 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2000-01 |72 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2001-02 |56 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2002-03 |52 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2003-04 |46 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |42 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |47 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |44 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |2007-08 |37 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Source:HSSA (2001-02—present), HIP Annual Plan (1997-98—2000-01) as reported by 354 local authorities.| | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The figures supplied count the number of local authorities giving cash incentive scheme grants and will not include any local authorities offering cash incentive scheme grants that were not taken up in that year. In terms of registered social landlords, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Regent’s Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) on 10 March 2009, Official Report, column 322W. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes have been purchased under the right to acquire scheme in each year since the scheme began; and if she will make a statement. Mr. Iain Wright The following table shows the number of housing association homes purchased under the Right to Acquire scheme in each year since it commenced in 1997. ---------------------------------------------- | |Number of sales| ---------------------------------------------- |1997-98 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |1998-99 |0 | ---------------------------------------------- |1999-2000 |4 | ---------------------------------------------- |2000-01 |18 | ---------------------------------------------- |2001-02 |38 | ---------------------------------------------- |2002-03 |111 | ---------------------------------------------- |2003-04 |236 | ---------------------------------------------- |2004-05 |411 | ---------------------------------------------- |2005-06 |471 | ---------------------------------------------- |2006-07 |570 | ---------------------------------------------- |2007-08 |544 | ---------------------------------------------- |2008-09 (provisional figure)|184 | ---------------------------------------------- |Total |2,587 | ---------------------------------------------- Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was (a) retained by her Department and (b) passed on to the Exchequer from the proceeds of the right to buy scheme in each year since 1980; and what use was made of those receipts in the most recent year for which figures are available. Mr. Iain Wright Prior to 1 April 2004, receipts arising from the disposal of dwellings under right to buy (RTB) were retained by the local authorities, although authorities with debt set aside 75 per cent. of that receipt to repay their housing debt. The following table shows for each financial year since 2004-05 the total housing receipts paid by local authorities in England which were retained by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and those receipts which were passed to the Treasury. Most of these receipts arise from RTB sales, but data on this are not collected separately. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |Receipts passed to the Exchequer Consolidated Fund|Receipts retained by the Department for Communities and Local Government| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2004-05 |1,639 |54.9 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2005-06 |990 |74.5 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2006-07 |735 |104.3 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2007-08 |588 |106.1 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2008-091 |134.3 |23.9 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1 Figures for 2008-09 are estimates.| | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Receipts surrendered to the Exchequer Consolidated Fund are not hypothecated to specific policy areas but, together with other resources, contribute towards the overall fiscal package within which departmental public expenditure programmes are agreed as part of the Spending Review process. Receipts retained by CLG are used to support its housing and planning capital programme expenditure. In 2007-08 CLG supported £5.5 billion of housing capital expenditure. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) how many new social homes she expects to be built using the £100 million funding for local authorities to deliver new social housing at higher energy efficiency standards, as referred to on page 105 of the Budget 2009 Red Book; (2) whether funding from the £100 million fund to deliver new social housing at higher energy efficiency standards referred to on page 105 of the Budget 2009 Red Book will be available to housing associations; and if she will make a statement; (3) how much is planned to be allocated to each local authority from the £100 million fund for new social housing at higher energy efficiency standards as referred to on page 105 of the Budget 2009 Red Book; (4) what the higher energy efficiency standards will be for new social housing to be delivered with the £100 million of funding referred to on page 105 of the Budget 2009 Red Book. Mr. Iain Wright The £100 million of funding referred to on page 105 of the Budget 2009 Red Book could potentially deliver up to 900 new council homes. The funding is specifically for local authorities, not housing associations, and will be allocated against bids assessed by the Homes and Communities Agency. The higher energy efficiency standards will be those in the Code for Sustainable Homes, which are ahead of the current building regulation standards. Schemes at higher code levels will be favoured. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) on what date the first property was sold under Homebuy Direct; and how many properties have been sold under this scheme; (2) what the average level of financial support from the public purse has been for a home purchased under the Homebuy Direct scheme; (3) how many properties have been purchased through the Homebuy Direct scheme in each region; and what the average price of a property purchased through the scheme has been to date. Margaret Beckett The first HomeBuy Direct completions occurred during week commencing 20 April. Detailed sales data for the scheme are compiled and analysed on a monthly basis. These will be available early next month.