§ 9. Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he has any plans to use the housing benefit system to discourage people coming to London and claiming they are homeless.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardWe have no such plans. Housing benefit is available to anyone who has to pay rent for their home, without any residence qualification.
§ Mrs. GormanI thank my hon. Friend for her cogent reply. Is she aware that most people claiming housing benefit in central London insist on remaining in the most expensive central areas, as I know from my experience as a Westminster city councillor? Is my hon. Friend further aware that such people could easily find accommodation if they were prepared to travel to the outer areas, particularly across the river to Southwark, where there are thousands of empty units of accommodation? Do the Government have any plans to encourage those people to go where housing is available within easy travelling distance of central London?
§ Mrs. ShephardI remind my hon. Friend, who I know is aware of this, that housing is the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment. However, I am sure that she will also understand that local authorities are not expected to pay housing benefit on unreasonably high rents, and arrangements exist so that the rent officer can judge whether rents are unreasonably high.
§ Dr. ReidMay I congratulate the Minister on her first answer, rejecting the suggestion by the hon. Member for Billericay (Mrs. Gorman)? People throughout Britain, particularly in areas of high unemployment such as Scotland, would be horrified if the Government had any intention of imposing a residential qualification on those who do not have, and are never likely to have, a residence. May I remind the Minister that the specification that one must spend a specified time in a specified parish was the underlying principle of the poor law in Britain? May I express the hope that that is not the type of Victorian value that the Government or their supporters want us to return to?
§ Mrs. ShephardI shall repeat the words with which I began: we have no such plans.
Mr. Robert G. HughesIs my hon. Friend happy that the system of assessing housing benefit does the utmost to help all vulnerable groups? Is she aware that housing benefit is assessed only after a private rented flat has been found, and that that may not achieve the housing changes that we want or do the utmost to help vulnerable groups find housing for themselves?
§ Mrs. ShephardThere are sometimes problems with assessment for housing benefit and with a delay in the local authority making an award. It is the responsibility of local authorities to make the award within 14 days and they have powers to make an interim payment. From time to time, they need reminding of this power.