§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will ensure that in any changes to board and lodging payments by his Department adequate flexibility is maintained to reflect the variations from area to area and from season to season in the list of board and lodging and that a mechanism is retained to consider appeals by persons familiar with local circumstances.
§ Mr. WhitneyOur proposals for changes to the present system of board and lodging payments were put to the54W Social Security Advisory Committee in November last year for consultation. Before finalising our proposals, we shall be considering fully its own views and all the representations made to it, including any which deal with the issues raised by the hon. Member.
§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many submissions have been made to the Social Security Advisory Committee regarding his recent proposals on board and lodgings allowances; what categories of persons or bodies have made such submissions; and how many submissions have been made by each.
§ Mr. WhitneyOver 500 submissions have been received by 25 January 1985. These fell within the following main categories:
- 1. Local authority associations and individual local authorities.
- 2. Voluntary organisations concerned with the homeless, young people, the elderly, handicapped and disabled people, the mentally-ill, alcohol and drug abusers, and ex-offenders.
3. Individual housing associations, hostels and housing trusts and associations representing them.
- 4. Housing advice and information centres.
- 5. Claimants' rights organisations.
- 6. Women's aid organisations and refuges.
- 7. Church organisations.
- 8. Residential and nursing home proprietors.
- 9. Organisations representing residential and nursing homes.
- 10. Professional bodies.
In addition, representations were received from a number of individuals. I regret that a detailed breakdown of the number of representations in each category is not readily available.