§ 1. Mr. Andrew Stunell (Hazel Grove)If he will make a statement on his plans to reform the housing benefit system. [107185]
§ The Secretary of State for Social Security (Mr. Alistair Darling)We are committed to reform housing benefit and will publish a Green Paper this year. In the meantime, we are making improvements to the way in which it is administered.
§ Mr. StunellThe Secretary of State must be aware of the concern at the Government's delay in producing their proposals. Does he accept that the housing benefit system is seen as being in disrepute? In Stockport, there is a particularly grave problem with private tenants who are the victims of oppression by the Greater Manchester rent officer service. What assurance can the right 2 hon. Gentleman give that, when and if we get the new system, there will be an end to the economic cleansing of private tenants from my constituency?
§ Mr. DarlingI am aware of the problems in Stockport which have resulted in assessments being made by the rent officers. I understand that the hon. Gentleman and the three other Members of Parliament who represent Stockport are going to see the local rent officers to discuss the matter, so I do not propose to say anything further on that matter.
The 400 or so tenants who have had their housing benefit reduced are covered by the exceptional hardship payments which are available. The amount paid out by the hon. Gentleman's local authority is actually less than the amount that the Government have provided for, so those people are well covered.
The housing Green Paper will be published this year and will cover far more than housing benefit, as financial support for housing is only one part of the problem. We will address a number of the problems that the hon. Gentleman and others have raised and, at that stage, we will have a full and proper debate.
§ Mr. Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead)When reforming the housing benefit system, will my right hon. Friend bear in mind the fact that some pensioners have what might be called offspring-engendered poverty, in that they do not get the contribution from their grown-up so-called children that they might otherwise get? That creates difficulties for some of them, who must meet substantial housing costs out of very low incomes.
§ Mr. DarlingMy hon. Friend is referring to the non-dependant deductions, which have been a feature of housing benefit for many years. If we did not take into account sums that someone living in a house could reasonably pay towards their upkeep, everybody else would have to subsidise that house. That is not right, as a 3 matter of principle. People who live in a house and who have their own income ought to make a contribution towards the running costs of that house.
§ Mr. Eric Pickles (Brentwood and Ongar)The Secretary of State was not very forthcoming about when the Green Paper is due—he was making similar promises this time last year. Will he confirm that his reforms have now run into the sand with a dispute between his and other Departments? Will he confirm that the biggest obstacle facing him is the £13 billion investment by housing associations, which borrowed that money on the basis of the level of benefit payments? Will any scheme compensate housing associations for that? Is he still serious about reforming housing benefit, or will the next Budget tinker with the poverty trap through the working families tax credit, which will leave 3 million out of 4.5 million housing benefit claimants unaffected?
§ Mr. DarlingThe hon. Gentleman is wrong on just about every point that he raises. The housing Green Paper will be published this year and will cover not just housing benefit, but other housing matters. He might want to reflect that, during the 18 years that they were in power, the Conservative Government did nothing about many of the problems with housing benefit.