Homes and Communities Agency: Finance Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many (a) gifts, (b) losses and (c) special payments were reported to her Department as having been received by the (i) Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies and (ii) Tenant Services Authority in each of the last three years. Mr. Iain Wright In the last three years, it has not been a requirement under the terms of the management statements or framework documents of the Homes and Communities Agency, the Tenant Services Authority or their predecessors (English Partnerships, the Housing Corporation and the Academy for Sustainable Communities) to report to the Department gifts received. Instead the bodies have been required to maintain their own registers of gifts received. It is unclear as to how an organisation might receive a loss, so it has not been possible to provide information on this issue. The Housing Corporation received the following special payments in the last three years: 2006-07 Termination payment to contractor Termination payment to administrator of Elonex plc 2007-08 No special payments. Audited information for 2008-09 is not yet available, but will be made available in the respective organisations annual reports and accounts, all of which will be laid before Parliament. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what losses were incurred by the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies as a result of legal claims being (a) waived and (b) abandoned in each of the last five years; (2) what losses attributable to constructive losses the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies incurred in each of the last five years; (3) what losses attributable to the writing off of accountable stores the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies incurred in each of the last five years; (4) what losses attributable to overpayments of (a) salaries, (b) wages, (c) pensions and (d) allowances the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies incurred in each of the last five years. Margaret Beckett The predecessor bodies for the Homes and Communities Agency were English Partnerships, the (investment arm of the) Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities. A range of departmental programmes also transferred to the agency from Communities and Local Government. It is not possible to disaggregate losses for the investment arm of the Housing Corporation without incurring disproportionate costs. For the Homes and Communities Agency, English Partnerships, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities the answers are: There were no losses incurred as a result of legal claims being waived and abandoned in each of the last five years. There were no losses incurred due to constructive losses in each of the last five years. There were no losses incurred due to the writing off of accountable stores in each of the last five years. There have been no losses as a result of overpayment of salaries, wages or allowances during the period stated. Since 1 April 2004 there have been unrecovered pensions to the value of £843.28 as a result of death of pensioners. This loss is met by the EP/HCA Pension Scheme and not the employer. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many contracts were let by the Homes and Communities Agency and its predecessor bodies in which competitive tendering was not employed in each of the last three years; and what the monetary value of each such contract was. Margaret Beckett Since the Homes and Communities Agency’s inception on 1 December 2008, it has let six contracts by single tender to a total value of £102,190. These were valued at £25,000, £24,950, £25,000, £19,500 and £7,740 and £8,156. The predecessor bodies for the Homes and Communities Agency were English Partnerships, the (investment arm of the) Housing Corporation, and the Academy for Sustainable Communities. A range of departmental programmes also transferred to the Agency from Communities and Local Government. The Academy for Sustainable Communities entered into five contracts by single tender between 2006-07 and 2008-09 as follows: 2006-07: One contract valued at £45,000 2007-08: Two contracts valued at £66,304.60 and £4,261.60 2008-09 (to inception of HCA on 1 December 2008): Two contracts valued at £74,000 and £94,400. I am unable to provide details of single tender contracts awarded by English Partnerships as no central record was held. Similarly, I am unable to provide details of single tender actions undertaken by the investment arm of the Housing Corporation as it is not possible to differentiate between Housing Corporation spend on the basis of whether it related to that organisation's investment or regulation activities, the latter of which are now the responsibility of the Tenants Services Authority. Grant Shapps To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2009, Official Report, columns 1111-12W, on Homes and Communities Agency: finance, how much of the additional funding for the Homes and Communities Agency will be brought forward from funding allocations for future years. Margaret Beckett None of the additional funding for the Homes and Communities Agency will be brought forward from funding allocations for future years.