HC Deb 15 March 1976 vol 907 cc429-31W
Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many and what proportion of exceptional needs payments at the latest available date are related to fuel debts and payment problems.

Mr. Meacher

Information on exceptional needs payments awarded specifically for fuel debts was obtained as part of the annual statistical inquiry in December 1975. I regret that this recorded information has not yet been analysed, but figures should be available about July this year.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what extra resources she is making available to social security offices and social services departments for implementation of the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards regarding fuel debts and disconnections.

Mr. Meacher

No immediate additional resources are considered necessary in social security offices, but arrangements have been made to monitor any increase in work loads as a result of the agreement. The undertaking to notify social service departments of potential welfare cases where the Supplementary Benefits Commission is unable to help is part of the fuel debts liaison procedure set up in 1972, and no extra resources are being made available to social service departments for this purpose.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what maximum level of savings will be allowed before persons covered by the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards regarding fuel debts and disconnections will be obliged to use their savings to repay a fuel debt.

Mr. Meacher

Where there are circumstances warranting the award of an exceptional needs payment the normal rule of disregarding the first £200 of capital will apply. Where there are no such circumstances, any capital possessed by the claimant will be regarded as available towards reducing the debt.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether persons from whose benefits it is proposed to deduct 50p or more per week to discharge a fuel debt or cover current energy consumption under the agreement between the fuel boards and the Supplementary Benefits Commission will be entitled to appeal against such a decision;

(2) whether, under the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards regarding fuel debts and disconnections, persons whose debts remain uncleared at the end of a two-year period will have the right to appeal against a Supplementary Benefits Commission decision not to clear the balance at that time;

(3) whether claimants for exceptional needs payments, under the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards on fuel debts and disconnections, will have a right of appeal against decisions made under the criteria laid down in paragraphs 4 and 5 of Mr. A. C. Palmer's letter of 10th February to the Electricity Council (Ref. ECN/35/1/1); and, if so, how they may exercise it.

Mr. Meacher

Yes. Any person claiming or in receipt of supplementary benefit has the right of appeal against decisions on these matters, namely the payment of part of benefit to a person other than the claimant and the refusal or the amount of an exceptional needs payment. An appeal must be made in writing and lodged at the local social security office within 21 days of the issue of the decision.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether, when a person is in receipt of benefits less than the average weekly cost of energy consumed or of a short-term benefit, exceptional needs payments will still be available for the purpose of paying fuel debts, despite the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards actual debts and disconnections.

Mr. Meacher

Yes, provided that it is reasonable in all circumstances to make such an award.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether social service departments are able to draw on Government funds other than under Section 1 of the Children's Act for the purposes of the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards on fuel debts and disconnections.

Mr. Meacher

The agreement concerns financial arrangements between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel authorities and does not impinge upon the financial resources of social service departments.

Mr. Mike Thomas

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consultations she had with the AMA, the LBA and the BASW regarding the agreement between the Supplementary Benefits Commission and the fuel boards on fuel debts and disconnections; and whether she will place their comments in the Library.

Mr. Meacher

None. The agreement concerned financial arrangements between the Supplementary Benefits Commision and the fuel boards. It did not in any way amend the general liaison procedures agreed in the memorandum of guidance on "Fuel Debts Among Low-Income Groups", to which the local authority associations were a party.