§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many housing benefit claimants under the age of 25 have(a) applied for and (b) received hardship payments at the discretion of local authorities under the Housing Benefit Regulations, since the single room rent restrictions on housing benefit came into force; [39415]
(2) how many claims for exceptional hardship payments were made by housing benefit claimants; how many were paid by local authorities; and what was the average payment in the last year for which figures are available. [39413]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.
Further information on the number of discretionary payments and the average payment will become available in June.
Housing benefit recipients in Great Britain assessed under the local reference rent (January 1996) scheme with an additional discretionary payment made Recipients May 1996 920 August 1996 1,890 November 1996 2,840 February 1997 3,970 Notes:
- 1. Recipients may be a single person or a couple.
- 2. Number rounded to the nearest ten.
Source:
Housing Benefit Management Information System, caseload counts taken on the last working day in each quarter shown.
§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many housing benefit claimants renting from private landlords had their claims restricted and what was the average amount of those restrictions under regulations in force in(a) 1995–96 and (b) 1996–97. [39414]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe information is not available in the form requested. Such information as is available is set out in the table.
Number of rent determinations made by rent officers, in England and Wales, in which a restriction on the rent was made for housing benefit purposes, and the average weekly amount of the restriction Number of restrictions to rent made by rent officers Average weekly amount of restriction(£) 1995/96 431,000 16.15 1996/97 524,000 16.45 Notes:
- 1. Numbers of restrictions are rounded to the nearest 1,000 amounts to the nearest 5 pence.
- 2. Figures cover England and Wales only. Comparable information for Scotland is not currently available.
Sources:
379W
- 1. Figures for 1995 taken from "Rent Officer Statistics" second, third and fourth quarters 1995.
- 2. Figures for 1996 and 1997 calculated from determinations supplied by the Rent Officer Service to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of for State for Socal Security when she expects to announce the outcome of her review of the effects of the single room rent restriction on housing benefit claimants under the age of 25. [39411]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyWe are still gathering information from a variety of sources to gauge the impact of the single room rent restriction. In addition, we have commissioned, jointly with the Department of the Environment, Transport and Regions, a study on Housing Benefit and the private rented sector. We will decide the way forward once we have the findings from the study, which are expected in the summer, and sufficient information on the national impact of the changes.
§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how much housing benefit was paid to claimants who were tenants of private landlords in (i) 1989–90 and (ii) 1996–97 in(a) England and (b) Greater London. [39412]
§ Mr. Keith BradleyThe information is set out in the table.
Estimated housing benefit (rent allowance) expenditure £ million England Greater London 1989–90 1,162 311 1996–97 5,290 1,568 Source:
Departmental Reports and local authority returns to DSS