§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what reviews or research he is undertaking into the degree of hardship associated with loans under the social fund.
§ Mr. ScottRepayment rates for social fund loans are flexible, and take account of individual applicants' circumstances to help ensure that they do not suffer hardship as a result of repaying a loan. The research currently being undertaken by the social policy research unit at the university of York looks at the extent to which the social fund is meeting need.
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will replace the system of loans under the social fund by an additional system of grants.
§ Mr. ScottNo. Interest-free loans provided by the social fund help people on income support to budget their expenditure. They are a more equitable form of help than grants, given that those on low incomes but not on benefit also have to budget for large items of expenditure out of their income.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of social fund loans was spent on(a) cookers, (b) beds and bedding, and (c) essential household furniture for the years 1988–89 and 1989–90.
§ Mr. ScottThe information requested is not available. However, the following figures on loans expenditure by application purpose may be helpful.
Per cent. Furniture and household equipment 1988–89 72 1989–90 74 Bedding 1988–89 2 1989–90 2
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many income support claimants were538W repaying a social fund loan of 10 per cent. Or more of their applicable amount on 1 January 1989, 1 January 1990 and 1 January 1991, respectively.
§ Mr. ScottThe information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many income support claimants were repaying a social fund loan on 1 January 1989, 1 January 1990 and 1 January 1991.
§ Mr. ScottStatistics are collated at the end of each month. The figures given are therefore those for 31 December each year. It is not possible to separately identify people who were receiving income support on these dates.
The number of people repaying loans was:
Number 31 December 1988 255,579 31 December 1989 400,590 31 December 1990 421,853
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each year since April 1988 how many cases referred to the social fund inspectors have resulted in(a) a decision by the inspector partly or wholly in the claimant's favour and (b) a decision partly or wholly in the claimant's favour following remittance back to the local social security office.
§ Mr. ScottThe information is in the table:
1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 Decisions made by an inspector to award a payment 83 522 2,008 Decisions referred back to local office by an inspector, and payment awarded 470 1,136 1,649
§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each quarter since April 1988 the proportion of social fund applications which have been refused for(a) community care grants, (b) budgeting loans and (c) crisis loans.
§ Mr. ScottThe information requested is as follows. The figures are percentages.
539W
1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 Budgeting Loans June 33 39 39 46 September 38 43 43 — December 35 42 45 — March 35 38 46 — Crisis Loans June 12 8 8 10 September 9 7 9 — December 8 7 9 — March 7 6 9 — Community Care Grants June 51 52 54 70 September 50 54 58 — December 48 54 60 — March 41 53 63 —
§ Ms. GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the number of(a) social fund applications and (b) crisis loans for each office in London for the last two years.
§ Mr. ScottInformation about numbers of applications and numbers of awards made, for all offices, is in the Library.
§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many claimants applied for grants or loans under the social fund during the financial year 1990–91 in each of the benefit offices of Newcastle upon Tyne; how many were turned down and for what reason; and what was the average size of the grant, crisis loan or budgetary loan in the year.
§ Mr. ScottThe administration of the social fund is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member with such information as is available and copies will be placed in the Library and the Public Information Office.
§ Ms. GordonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications for the social fund in each London office have been refused on the basis of overspent budgets in the year 1990–91.