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Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

Answer

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the (a) total budget, (b) funding from his Department, (c) administration budget and (d) staff cost to his Department of (i) Regional Housing Boards, (ii) the Buildings Regulations Advisory Committee, (iii) the Community Housing Task Force and (iv) the Home Ownership Task Force were in financial years (A) 2002-03 and (B) 2003-04; and if he will make a statement on the (1) current and (2) future work of each body. [163639] Keith Hill: The information requested is as follows: (i) Regional Housing Boards (a-d) There were no identifiable budgets for the Regional Housing Board. (1) The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister received the first Strategies in July 2003 and accepted the broad thrust of the Boards' recommendations for 2004-05 and 2005-06. (2) Each Board has been asked to develop their Strategy with a view to producing an updated version in early 2005 in order to advise Ministers on how allocations for 2006-07 and 2007-08 should be made. One of the recommendations in the Barker Review was that Regional Housing Boards and Regional Planning Bodies be merged. The Government intend consulting with key stakeholders to consider how these bodies can be merged, and will come forward with proposals by the summer with a view to implementing them in 2005. (ii) The Building Regulations Advisory Committee (a-d) The Building Regulations Advisory Committee do not receive Government funding other than the internal costs to the Office of sponsoring this body. (1) The Building Regulations Advisory Committee was set up under the Building Act 1984 to advise the Secretary of State on the exercise of his power to make building regulations, and on other subjects connected with building regulations. It is currently assisting the Office with reviews of a number of parts the building regulations, including a review of Part B (Fire Safety) and Part C (Conservation of fuel and power). (2) In the coming year, the Committee will be assisting with new studies, including one on the potential for action through the building regulations to promote economy in the use of water and a review of the application to dwellings of Part M (Access to and use of buildings). (iii) The Community Housing Task Force (a-d) The administrative budget for the Community Housing Task Force for 2002-03 was £1,064,200 of which £568,800 were staff costs. For 2003-04 the administrative budget was £927,600 of which £620,600 were staff costs. (1) The Community Housing Task Force is working with 165 local authorities, their tenants and broader stakeholders providing support, advice and building capacity to enable delivery of robust Option Appraisals by July 2005. The Government Offices for the Regions are responsible for assessing and signing off the Options Appraisals submitted. The Options Appraisal process sets out how local stock owning housing authorities together with their tenants will deliver Decent Homes by 2010 considering the various stock investment routes available to them. (2) No change is envisaged in the Community Housing Taskforce's key role in working with local authorities and tenants in delivering decent homes. However, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the joint working between the Taskforce and Government Offices, the Department is currently considering integrating the Taskforce within the Government Office network. (iv) Home Ownership Task Force (a-d) The Office provided no direct funding specifically for the Home Ownership Task Force. However, in 2003-04 staff costs of £13,000 were incurred by ODPM in servicing the secretariat. (1) The Home Ownership Task Force was established by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister in the Sustainable Communities Plan to look at the whole range of programmes aimed at helping social tenants and others into home ownership. The Task Force's work is now complete and its final report "A home of my own" was published on 13 November 2003. Copies of the report and executive summary are available on the Housing Corporation's website at www. housingcorp.gov.uk.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

419 c1498-9W;419 c1500-1W; 163639

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Bureaucracy Finance Public expenditure Staff Non-departmental public bodies Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Building Regulations Advisory Committee Community Housing Task Force Home Ownership Task Force

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk