§ Mr. Dudley Smithasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will take steps to ensure that those who legitimately have the chance of buying their council house from a local authority are not, in any circumstances, able to obtain supplementary benefit to help with their mortgage or loan repayments if they find themselves in financial difficulty.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe regulations governing the mortgage entitlement of purchasers of council houses under the right-to-buy will be a matter for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Environment. The present position under the supplementary benefit rules is that an owner-occupier who could afford his repayments when he took them on has his interest payments included in his assessment if he has to claim supplementary benefit on account of, for example, unemployment or sickness. Where the claimant is a joint mortgagor with another member of his household, all housing costs are assumed to be divided equally. There are no proposals to alter the rules.