§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will now take steps to find out the average time that claimants have to wait to receive housing benefit or housing benefit supplement; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. BoysonThe responsibility for administering the housing benefit scheme rests with individual local authorities. I have no present plans to seek detailed information about the speed with which claims are cleared.
§ Mr. Lofthouseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will set out the amount claimed by local authorities in respect of administration costs for the housing benefit scheme for 1983–84, both in total and by 198W individual authority and showing the number of certificated and standard cases currently dealt with by each authority.
§ Dr. BoysonReliable information in the form requested will not be available for some months. We estimate that the number of people in receipt of housing benefit, by benefit type is as follows:
Number Certificated rent allowances 530,000 Certificated rent rebates 1,873,000 Certificated rate rebates 3,047,000 Standard rent allowances 300,000 Standard rent rebates 1,730,000 Standard rate rebates 3,810,000 Based on local authority subsidy claims, it is estimated that administration expenditure in 1983–84 will be £92 million.