HC Deb 27 April 1988 vol 132 cc175-6W
Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what provisions exist for payment of benefit to a young person, living away from home, awaiting a place on a YTS course; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Portillo

I assume that the hon. Member refers to under 18-year-olds who, from September, will not be entitled to income support except in prescribed circumstances. The Government intend that young people under 18 who have applied for a youth training scheme and have good reason for being away from home, or have no parental home, will be entitled to income support, subject to the normal rules, during the child benefit extension period. This is the additional period (16 weeks for summer school leavers, and 12 weeks for others) during which their parents would be entitled to claim child benefit for them if they were at home. Regulations have not yet been laid, but our intention is that those with good reason for living away from home will include young people who have recently been in local authority care, those at risk of physical or sexual abuse if they remain at home, those under the guidance of the prison or probation service or a social services department who have been advised to live away from home and those whose parent or guardian is unable to support them because, for example, he or she is in prison.

The Government have guaranteed that every young person who wants a youth training scheme place will be offered one before the end of the extension period.

Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services, whether acceptance of a place on a YTS course leads to eligibility for income support for a young unemployed person living away from home; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Portillo

The Government intend that someone under 18 who is receiving a youth training scheme training allowance will be able to receive income support to supplement his training allowance if it is insufficient, by income support standards, to meet his living expenses, for example because he is in accommodation on a "board and lodging" basis. We plan to lay regulations later this summer to prescribe the circumstances in which someone under 18 will have title to income support.