HC Deb 06 July 1992 vol 211 cc8-9
6. Mrs. Gorman

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what arrangements are made for itinerant people to claim social security benefits.

Mr. Lilley

Itinerant people who claim social security benefits are entitled to benefits under the same conditions as other people. Those who claim benefits for unemployment are required to be available for work with an employer and to seek such work actively.

Mrs. Gorman

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Will he explain how it is that people who call themselves travellers, gipsies and didicois, or who are just a thundering nuisance, seem able to move around the country getting benefits wherever they stop, whereas my constituents are, quite rightly, required to report regularly to a social security office or to a Jobcentre, where they have to show that they are actively applying for jobs so that they can receive benefits? Furthermore, if they take just a few days holiday with their families, they lose benefit.

Mr. Lilley

As I said to my hon. Friend, itinerants have to fulfil the same conditions as other people. If my hon. Friend or any hon. Member has evidence that they are not doing so, that would be a matter to follow up in the normal way.

Mrs. Fyfe

Would the Minister care to visit Centrepoint and talk to 16 and 17-year-olds who have travelled to London from towns and cities to the north and find themselves without a job and a home? They have to wait a long time before receiving any help or cash income from the Government and in the meantime they live in cardboard boxes.

Mr. Lilley

Last week, I visited one of the benefit offices dealing with itinerant people and they recognised the improvements in the conditions that we have created for them.

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