17. Mr. R. C. Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he will introduce legislation to ensure that rent allowances are payable to those tenants of properties under the control of the Charity Commissioners who make a contribution towards the upkeep of the homes rather than paying rent.
§ Mr. FreesonEligibility for rent allowances is broadly confined to tenancies subject to the Rent Acts. But I am asking the Advisory Committee on Rent Rebates and Rent Allowances and the Charity Commission to consider this question. Meanwhile the Supplementary Benefits Commission may receive applications for help in a number of cases. I wish to express my thanks to my hon. Friend for bringing this matter to my attention.
Mr. MitchellI thank my hon. Friend for that helpful reply. Is he aware that the Charity Commissioners have recently authorised increases of £2.40 a week on pensioners' flatlets under their control in Southampton? Is he further aware that, because these are not official rents but are called by another name, they are not subject to the rent freeze and the tenants, of course, are not eligible for rent allowances? Is this not a fiddle to get round the law?
§ Mr. FreesonI would not describe it as a fiddle. I presume that the organisation concerned is acting properly within the law and that it has its own rules of management. What I am concerned to do here is investigate ways in which we might—I stress "might"—be able to assist by a change in the law relating to the Rent Acts and the rent allowance system.
§ Mr. GouldDoes my hon. Friend recognise that, although these payments do not count for rent allowances, they count as rent for supplementary benefit purposes and that this is therefore an anomaly, which means that the massive increases which have been referred to bear particularly heavily on pensioners whose income only just exceeds supplementary benefit level?
§ Mr. FreesonI certainly agree that it is an anomaly. That is why, as a result of the correspondence that I have had with my hon. Friends the Members for Southampton, Test (Mr. Gould) and lichen (Mr. Mitchell), I am looking into the matter to see whether any changes could be introduced.
§ Mr. Douglas-MannIs my hon. Friend aware that it is not only the Charity Commissioners to whom this problem relates? There are many houses owned by his own Department, particularly in my constituency, where the tenants, who are paying a rent, not a contribution, are not eligible for a rent allowance. They are paying the full amount of the rent. The correspondence with his Department about this, dating back a considerable number of months, has not yet produced any arrangements for reducing the rent to the level that it would be if the rent allowance were payable.
§ Mr. FreesonI will certainly look into that point.