§ Mr. Hoyleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will make a statement on the problems experienced on the fuel direct scheme;
(2) if he will investigate the administration of the fuel direct scheme, with a view to providing a more effective programme of monitoring at both local and national level.
§ Mr. WhitneyFuel direct is a scheme devised to help people receiving supplementary benefit, who are threatened with disconnection of their gas or electricity supplies, to avoid disconnection and pay their debts. In 1982, the agreement between the Department and the fuel industries on the way in which the fuel direct scheme should be operating was revised and improvements made to the scheme. The agreement is published as appendix 9 of the S Manual, a copy of which is in the Library. In general, the scheme works well and we have no plans to conduct a special investigation of the administration of fuel direct or to take special steps to improve existing monitoring of the scheme. Later this year, however, we plan to introduce a microcomputer system which will assist and improve administration of the fuel direct scheme. We are also currently considering the findings of the supplementary benefit review which had as one of its main aims the improvement of the administration of the supplementary benefit scheme in general.